When I'd heard that this novel was to be a feminist horror/ thriller, I was really excited for the opportunity to receive and read this ARC. While the contents are technically of a feminist nature, the execution of the concept fell flat for me.
We are following 26-year-old Sarah as she flees from her abusive ex and senile alcoholic mother to seek solace at an "off-grid" artists' retreat. It quickly becomes obvious that escaping her troublesome past won't be as easy as Sarah had anticipated.
I feel that the beginning of the book should include certain content and trigger warnings as there is animal abuse and death as well as explicit rape scenes which I wasn't entirely prepared for and which threw me off guard. While we are on the topic, I found the barbarism to be unnecessary and simply for shock value, as it did not add anything to the plot. The use of animal cruelty didn't reveal any new information, didn't accelerate the pacing and was only included for "gore factor" which feels tactless and lazy, in my opinion.
For a book which dubs itself a "feminist horror", I feel that it fell short on feminism. The whole book, Sarah was degrading and projecting her own insecurities and standards onto the other woman at the retreat. For instance, Gertrude Rose is too dramatic, Antionette is too regal, Kim only cares about male validation and Ingrid is some weird goth. Sarah is so judge-y, I honestly was rooting for her downfall the whole book.
For a lack of better ways to describe what I mean to say; it felt as if the author was just using Sarah as a way to project her own thoughts and beliefs into the narrative. For instance, goths are weird, gory, and angry. 19-year-old boys should be angsty, eating all day and listening to Nirvana. The chef was just an angry, controlling snob. I could go on!
Sarah is over all just a very negative and unlikable character. The entirety of the novel she is looking down her nose at all the other artists for being "weird" and "unorthodox" with their mediums; music, fashion, calligraphy, sculpting, glass cutting, but may I remind you that Sarah makes vases and plates... VASES AND PLATES. I could cut her some slack if she chose to be original with her medium but it's so anticlimactic and run-of-the-mill. I don't see where she gets off on being an absolute prick.
As for the writing itself, I felt that the author tried using 3rd person perspective but it fell flat. Instead of telling us her feelings and what she's thinking, it was used as a way to "question prompt" the audience. If the writing was executed well, I would be asking myself those questions and it wouldn't need to be prompted for me. In addition, I felt it to be redundant and often many chapters were extraneous and offered no real value to the rest of the text other than to show us how millennial the author is. For instance, referencing Taylor Swift and Nirvana and using the word "pic" unironically (repetitively). I know not everyone minds pop-culture references in their books but when it's used on every other page, it begins to feel like a brand deal and product placement. I think that if I had to read any more mentions of Apple and their products. TikTok, and Instagram than I did, I was going to DNF this ARC. AirPods could be generic earbuds and it wouldn't have affected the story at all (except for making it better). I am 22-years-old and I know that if I was planning to go on a 6 week retreat sin internet or cell reception, I would think to bring a few books with me. But naturally 26-year-old Sarah is still relying on her phone to use the reading app... because that makes sense.
I felt that there were so so so so so many plot holes:
1. The animal deaths added nothing to the plot and we never learn the reason they were maimed and killed.
2. A character died and Sarah thought they looked like they died of fear and they were found holding a certain recurring object in their hand, but we never learn the significance of the object nor how the character really died.
3. There are glass shards found in some clay but we never learn why or how it was put there- it's implied that a ghost would have done it but there was never any ghost! And the "ghost" only manipulated the glass shards...
4. THE ENTIRE CONCLUSION!
There are many many more but I don't want to be a spoiler.
Sarah has vision-like dreams about the retreat in its earlier years of operation but if this is a feminist novel, and we can all agree the 97% statistic is valid, then why is Sarah the only woman at the retreat with this connection? Shouldn't all the women be affected? And, with the 97% in mind, why does Sarah walk around the place thinking she is the only person who has gone through some life-altering traumatic event? Sarah's attitude is justified but all the other characters are just dramatic cry babies dealing with their first ever inconveniences?
I think this book would be better categorized as a thriller than a horror because WHERE WAS THE HORROR? Unless the scariest thing was meant to be Sarah's superiority complex, nothing was scary! I could predict the ending less than 30% through the book and I'm the kind of reader who believes in suspension of disbelief to enjoy a book... there was no suspending my disbelief with this novel. It was as easy as 1+1. I expected page-turning. heart pounding, mind racing horror and instead I got a glowing blue orb 10 pages from the end of the novel...
I feel that if this was to be a well-done feminist horror novel, the rape scenes would have to be less tacky or just not exist. We know rape is bad! We know marital rape was once normalized. We know the feeling of having our "no," go unappreciated. Was there meant to be a moral or theme or was it just an explicit example of what rape can look like? If the point of the scenes were meant to show how women feel about getting raped then I feel the same effect could have been reached without the play-by-play and, instead, the 3rd person narrator could have dome what a 3rd person POV is meant to so and just show us her thought process and how he feels without telling us what is being done to her. It felt like a 6th grade execution of a women's rights poster board project. "Raping women is bad!" "Consent is key!" "Men used to use women as incubators which is not fair!" Like yes, these are all very obvious points only left to be doubted by incels and ingrates. The only reason this book was given two stars by me, instead of one star, is because of Ingrid. She was the only likable character in all 328 pages!! Over-all I absolutely hated this book and would probably not recommend it to a friend. Maybe I'd recommend it to someone I hate- not for them to learn anything but just because I want them to suffer as much as I did.

It Will Only Hurt For A Moment is creepy and enjoyable thriller.

When Sarah decided to leave her controlling boyfriend and resume her passion for pottery, she did not expect to find the remote art colony to be haunted. The ghosts of the past and villains of the present collide in a story of reclaiming identity.

This book, unfortunately, was not for me. There are many graphic sexual assault scenes that were upsetting. I also found the plot to develop rather slowly and it lost my interest.

Thank you for the opportunity to read in advance!

I enjoyed this book. It's so unsettling and atmospheric, and perfect. After reading it, I feel even more wary of mountain retreats. One unexpected aspect that I loved was the feminist rage portrayed in the novel. The depiction of how women were treated at the "Spas" made my blood boil. I appreciated Dawson's open ending, but I wish I could have seen what happened after she and Ingrid left the hotel. The ending was effective because it satisfied me and kept me thinking about the afterward. The author's writing was vivid; as I read, I could almost feel the mist from the waterfalls and hear the birds and silence around the retreat. Overall, I'm impressed, and I eagerly await her next book!

The premise to this novel sounded fascinating, but the constant sexual assaults and repetitive language was tiring for this reader.

I am familiar with Delilah's Dawson's work, and her rhythm and cadence are both lulling and strategic, since the gotcha moments really getcha that much harder! The twist at the end of this story was *chef's kiss* and I audibly gasped and had to explain myself to my kid sitting nearby. No spoilers, but this was very VERY satisfying! Thanks to #Netgalley for the ARC!

3.75 stars!

This novel follows Sarah who, having recently left her toxic ex-boyfriend, heads to an artist retreat to rekindle her love of pottery. While there, she’s drawn to the off-limits hotel on property and becomes wrapped up in the history of the women who stayed there. This novel goes into the trauma women faced in the past as well as the present and has a strong emphasis on self-discovery and empowerment.

I really enjoyed the atmosphere of this novel and felt like I had a good grasp of the writers retreat. I loved Delilah S. Dawson’s writing and imagery. The ending left a bit to be desired but didn’t detract too much from the overall feel of the book. Don’t pick this one up if you need all loose ends tied up - this definitely leaves story aspects up to the imagination which I actually enjoyed about it. Overall I liked this read and look forward to picking up more of this author’s work.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group Ballantine, and Del Rey for access to this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Dawson has the uncanny ability to craft worlds and characters that make you laugh then terrify you then make you laugh again. In "It Will Only Hurt for a Moment," the reader finds themselves transported into an art commune that is hiding more secrets than one would expect of a few hippies in the woods. While some of the bumps are predictable, there are scares aplenty and enough twists to satisfy many fans of the genre. In many ways, Dawson's strengths led to vivid picturing of events - some of which will terrify from a horror perspective and others due to personal trauma. If you have personal triggers of any type, I'd recommend doing your research and as always, plan accordingly. Sometimes, the most frightening monsters are the ones we deal with every day.

Appreciate the opportunity to review and highly recommend checking it, if it matches your tolerances and mindset.

I have heard nothing but great things about this authors other novel, Bloom, so I was excited to get to read this one. However, this book did not do it for me like I'd hoped. This book has great commentary and themes relating to what it's like to be a woman in today's society along with in the past, how (unfortunately) women will likely always be treated as lesser than. how women are seen as crazy or need medication and therapy because they have feelings or disagree with a man. Overall, the themes of this book really did resonate with me and that women are not property or things to be told what to do, are not "crazy" for being opinionated, and God forbid are not what a man is entitled to. I did, however. think this book was way too long andabruptly ended without clearing up some questions about certain characters. I do think that I would read from this author again though. as maybe this just wasn't for me. Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House Publishing for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I was incredibly excited to receive an ARC for this book, because I recently read Bloom by the same author and absolutely loved it.

One thing Dawson knows how to do very well is create a beautiful, atmospheric setting. It’s my favorite part about her writing style.

I went into It Will Only Hurt for a Moment with high expectations, but it was, unfortunately, a let down for me. I didn’t find the characters engaging at all. I kept having to force myself to pick it up and continue reading.

The graphic sexual assault scenes were really unsettling and unnecessary for me, especially when there were no trigger warnings to indicate that I would need to be prepared for something like that.

Sarah decides to join a group of artists at an artist retreat in the middle of nowhere. There is no WiFi, no television, etc. This seems perfect to Sarah, who is hiding for her emotionally abusive ex. Everything seems to go wrong, though, and she’s constantly in the middle of it. Then she starts to have weird dreams… but are they dreams or something more?

I don’t get why this book currently has a 3.34-star rating. It explores important topics, particularly the way that men have used and abused women for centuries. Perhaps some people didn’t like the supernatural theme or expected it to be like The Violence. I, however, thought it was well put together.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased review.

After reading Dawson's last horror Bloom, I was super excited at the opportunity to read ,It Will Only Hurt For a Moment however it didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

One thing the author does is create an incredible atmosphere. It makes the reader feel very immersed in the book & I loved that. She did the same in the book Bloom.

I just felt like this book was too long, didn’t really go anywhere and the ending was pretty abrupt , without the closure I thought there should be.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love this author and our library has purchased her work in the past. I loved the atmosphere and felt it really went far in increasing the suspense. The dual timelines were effective in showing how far/not far women have come regarding basic rights. I found the sexual assault scenes to be very brutal and disturbing. It's not that they were incredibly graphic, they were just powerful. This is an incredibly suspenseful story of a haunting that is just so memorable. Having said all that great stuff, this was not perfect and not my favorite by this author. The plotting became repetitive and character actions sometimes strained credulity. So, this was a good horror read, just not her best.

I loved Dawson's book, The Violence so was really looking forward to this one and it was great! Sarah leaves abusive boyfriend, Kyle to go to an artists' retreat at Tranquil Falls for three months. There, she meets six other budding artists, determined to have the time to devote to their craft in a peaceful setting. But she has no idea what awaits her as she begins to have strange "visions" and finds odd things that shouldn't be there as she investigates the older buildings. It's creepy, it's dark, but it's an awesome tale that had me hanging on every word!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Sarah is fleeing an abusive relationship. Even though she hasn’t made anything in years, she was accepted into a retreat for artists at Tranquil Falls. with no Internet or cell reception, she hopes to find herself again. What she doesn’t anticipate is finding a body and learning about the very dark history contained behind the decrepit walls of a once grand hotel.
Quite a bit happens while Sarah tries to focus on her pottery. That never quite works out, though, since death seems to follow her around. It was a strange and creepy tale. While the ending wasn’t my favorite, I enjoyed most of the journey.
I don’t like to put trigger warnings in my reviews, but DM me on Instagram(@reneesramblings) if you’re interested

I didn't like this book and it's a shame because it had some potential. Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ebook arc. All opinions are my own.

The characters are fine for the most part. They're all a certain stereotypical caricature and they don't really have that many personality traits outside of the little box that the author created for them. I think the worst one is Bernie. She just thought "what is the worst man I can think of?" and then multiplied by 10. His only personality trait was that he hated women.

The writing was really good, but then there was a like every so often that made me roll my eyes. Two women are talking about a man and one of them thinks about how their conversations are never going to pass the bechdel test. That's not a normal thing to say. There's also a character that says another character has main character syndrome. Just really odd choices.

I did not know that this book had trigger warnings and so I went into this completely blind. Safe to say, the multiple graphic sexual assault scenes threw me off. They were completely unnecessary as well. There are a lot of ways to indicate that a relationship is abusive without having to show something like that.

The idea and atmosphere of this is probably where the novel shines because I was pretty interested in the mystery up until the last two chapters. It all went downhill in the final act. A new villain is randomly introduced and it's not even explained how they knew to go down in the basement. We are also left with a lot of loose ends. There are two characters that disappear and we never learn what happened to them or if they are even still alive. The overarching message about the patriarchy was interesting, but it wasn't explored well at all.

Seriously the ending is terrible and I feel like the author had no idea how to finish the story so she just pulled a random ending from a hat. It definitely drags the novel down a few stars.

I really wanted to like this book. The description gave several themes I love, like fresh starts, nature, no connection to the outside world, an awesome sounding artist’s colony, and in the first half, those things felt moody and creepy and mysterious. By the second half, I was just trying to get it over with.

I enjoyed the ideas of the characters, but most of them felt like a stereotype of a person and not like someone I would want to get to know. Sarah herself is a bit plain and at times, difficult to connect with, in my opinion.

The atmosphere was great, with the secluded nature trails and waterfalls, creepy cabin, the forced proximity of sharing time with strangers, and the reveal of what was previously going on at the old hotel felt gradual enough, and interesting as we found out pieces of information from the building itself as well as Sarah’s “dreams.”

I felt that the last few chapters and the villain reveal was rushed, added as a shock value plot twist that probably most people could see coming a mile away. I was unimpressed by this clumsy ending most of all.

As I said, I wanted to like this gloomy, artsy atmosphere and the series of increasingly creepier events, but the book did not land anywhere near where I’d have liked.

Trigger warnings for this book (includes spoilers): Sexual assault, drugging, domestic violence, self-harm, animal mutilation/animal death, asylum/improper medical practices.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

When Sarah Carpenter is invited to an artist colony, she is all too happy to escape her current life, only to be thrust into the haunting and atmospheric Tranquil Falls.


Synopsis:

Sarah Carpenter, a potter, is fleeing an emotionally abusive and controlling boyfriend, Kyle, and headed to Tranquil Falls, an artist's retreat on the grounds of an abandoned hotel. Surrounded by the forest, waterfalls, and no cellphone signal, Sarah hopes to reinvent herself and reinvigorate her love for pottery. However, when she uncovers a corpse in a scratched-up coffin, her attempt at tranquility is shattered. Her shocking discovery starts an unsettling chain of events: the costume artist knits an endless scarf; the musician plays the same carousel song until his fingers bleed; and the calligrapher smiles with ink-stained teeth. While all the artists are falling apart, Sarah is plagued with haunting dreams of the corpse she discovered. As she investigates the crumbling hotel and its dark past, she refuses to let the past remain buried.


Review:

Let's start with the positives.

Dawson crafts compelling characters and an interesting plot. The two main characters, Sarah and Ingrid, are vastly different, so watching them interact is fun and intriguing. As Sarah's nightmares begin to haunt her daily, we watch as she struggles to maintain her grip on reality and find a new version of herself. How the nightmarish past and Sarah's present intersect is highly impactful and well crafted. Dawson writes with finesse and striking imagery.
What I loved most about Dawson's novel is the feminist commentary that discusses the blatant misogyny that most women face at some point in their lives. Sarah shares a studio with Bernie, a selfish, aged prick who refers to her as a little girl and tells her to take her "perky ass" and sit down. In response, Sarah explains that it's not the first or last time she's had to contend with a swaggering jerk who believes he is entitled to whatever he wants because he's a man. Sarah is used to this type of abuse as her ex-boyfriend subtly demands that Sarah serve him and follow his wishes. When she doesn't, he gaslights her into believing that she is in the wrong and that yes, she is overreacting. Kyle continually told her that she was crazy for thinking Kyle was too controlling or anything similar. How many times have women been told this exact sentiment? Isn't it so crazy that a woman would desire independence and the freedom to laugh at what she finds funny?!? (Sarcasm intended).
Dawson also takes on a much heavier part of womanhood: sex. In Sarah's dreams, she hears a man explain that "it's not a wife's prerogative to tell her husband no. [She] swore an oath under God to obey [her husband]." Holy crap, this struck a chord with me. I have a very vivid memory of sitting in pre-marital counseling and my pastor looking me in the eyes and saying, "Now Lara, you know a wife has to submit to her husband." While he might not have said that I was expected to have sex with my husband whenever he desired it, the message was clear: submit to whatever my husband's desires and demands are. Multiple times in the novel, several men talk about their husbandly rights, and it is disgusting to read. Thankfully, my husband is a normal man who respects me and would never push sex on me. But the idea that women are just supposed to lie down whenever their partner wants sex is all too real. While it would seem like such a sentiment is an old-fashioned idea, it's not. Consider Craig Kahler, who demanded that every single night his wife, Karen, have sex with him, even if she didn't want to or didn't feel like it. While I consider myself a feminist, the idea of consent is NOT a feminist idea. Consent is about respect and equality, and so many times we hear that a man cannot rape his wife. Marital rape was not even considered a crime in all 50 states until 1993. Only in the past 31 years has marital rape been viewed as illegal in the eyes of the law. Dawson's story, however, clearly points out that rape is rape and consent is consent, no matter the marital status or year. As readers, it is impossible not to be disgusted by such a belief, which is Dawson's goal.

Now, Dawson struggles to write an interesting exposition and sufficient resolution. The novel is off to a slow start and the resolution is a little too perfect. Dawson even falls into the trap of having a character simply explain everything that happened, much like a villain monologue. These are genuinely my only two contentions with the novel.


Ultimately, Dawson's commentary and dark imagery make this novel stand out. Make no mistake, this is a horror novel, and there are some haunting moments, but the commentary about womanhood is truly the horror of the story. I give this novel four stars and would highly recommend it.

This is not a faced paced, twisted thriller. Repeat after me this is not a thriller!!! Don’t go into it expecting that. This is a slow burn horror. It’s what I would consider a “weird book for weird girls” iykyk. If you’re going to read this, read it for the vibes. Don’t read it for the mystery/thrill because you will be disappointed, but that’s also not the point of this. I loved the setting/atmosphere SO much. It was so spooky and I really felt like I was there. Vibes 10/10. This will be such a good fall read.

I loved the (kind of) dual stories going on. The past storyline was SO interesting. Honestly, I really enjoyed both storylines and the parallels between them, and the slow decent into madness by the characters.

I do think this was slightly too long imo. And the ending wrapped up a little too nicely for my liking. Most of the story was a 4-5 for me but the ending was more like a 2. I almost would have liked it to get weirder and less based in reality

This was such a great read. Fast paced, gives you the spooky vibes that you would expect to come from it. Twisty, lots of turns and keeps you guessing to the end. We have so many secrets and so much going on in the book and will definitely keep you thinking. I love how we have a very good mix of plot and character within this and I loved every single one of the characters in here.

We follow our main character as she is trying to escape her life for a fresh start and ends up uncovering something sinister and some things are not what they seem. I cannot wait to see what else our author Delilah Dawson comes out with because I need more of her writing style. A must have on the TBR.

Pub Date: October 22, 2024

Thank you @netgalley, @randomhousepublishing and author for the arc in exchange for my honest review.