Delicate Condition

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I don't like that the group involved hide their selfishness under women's desperation for motherhood as well. The book is written to state that men and doctors do nothing but prey and ignore women going through or longing for motherhood, but so do the witches in the end.

Then her doctors tell her she's lost the baby. Despite her grief, Anna ignores the grave-faced men lecturing her - because she can still feel the baby moving, can see the toll it's taking on her weakened body. Isolated in a remote snowbound town, Anna is sure that whoever has been following her is closing in on her and her unborn child. And as her symptoms become more terrifying, she can't help but wonder what exactly is growing inside her... and why no-one will listen when she says that something is horribly wrong. What a wild ride this was! I will say that some parts were a bit redundant and repetitive, and I was ready for this book to move along- or maybe because I was just so curious as to how this story would end. Either way, I really enjoyed the Author’s Note at the end of the book, which I would even recommend reading before you start reading Delicate Condition. You get an idea as to why the author wrote this book, and where her ideas came from. I don’t want to say what aspect of horror this is for spoiler purposes, but it’s not a horror sub-genre that I usually go for. With this book, I absolutely loved it. This book starts as a thriller, then crescendos into horror as the book goes on. It has really cool little stories from centuries ago interspersed, of women who have also been affected by Anna’s maladies, and that just added to the suspense.No matter what the responses to the book were, though, the author likely would never have stopped pursuing her love for writing about all things dark, strange, and unsettling. Her next work, a young adult novel out next summer, is a summer camp-set slasher that she describes as “ The Parent Trap meets Friday the 13th.” After that, she’ll be finishing up her next adult novel, a horror story that she’ll only tease revolves around cooking. Wherever Valentine goes, it seems, goosebumps follow — and she wouldn’t have it any other way. They are just as predatory as the depecited men even going as far as to hijake surrogate mothers and thus the hiring parents in tote.

One of Delicate Condition’s most powerful elements is Anna’s increasing belief that when it comes to advocating for herself, she’s entirely on her own. As supportive as her husband, doctor, and friends may be, none of them is as convinced as she is that her baby is in imminent danger. While the situation is obviously exaggerated (most pregnant women aren’t worried their fetus might actually be a demon), the gaslighting Anna faces is all too real. No matter which way she chose to end the book, though (and no spoilers here!), it wasn’t going to be pretty. “At the end of the day, I am a horror novelist,” Valentine says. “I always knew I was going to take it to a really dark place.” I do appreciate the trigger warnings given at the beginning of the book. PLEASE take note of them before launching into reading it. If you are trying to have a baby or currently pregnant I do not advise reading this book right now. Thank you to HarperCollins Canada for providing an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.Anna and Dex desperately want to have a baby. After multiple IVF treatments, they learn that it was successful and Anna is pregnant. Simultaneously, strange things start to happen! For instance, her appointment times are changed, medications misplaced, stolen items and someone is following her. Is she going crazy and getting forgetful or is it someone else doing all this and why?? Following their move to a temporary location of safety, Anna is told she has had a miscarriage. Or is she still pregnant? During this time we also find out that Anna has an online stalker (I mean she is quite famous). Then someone breaks into their NY apartment. This is all too much for Anna and Dex, so they go and stay at a friend’s private beach house. Anna needs to take care of herself and the growing baby inside of her. While at this beach house, Anna starts to crave bizarre foods/meats, she develops a horrible rash on her body, her hair starts to fall out in clumps, she hears noises in the attic and outside her window, the baby moves and gives her sharp pains throughout her body. Nobody believes Anna, and isn’t there anyone out there who can help her? I had to jump on the Delicate Condition bandwagon when I heard it was the basis for the next season of American Horror Story, so thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the complimentary listening opportunity. Hillary Huber did an excellent job of narrating this creepy novel. Before I start my review, I would like to begin by saying that there was nothing ‘delicate’ about this book. 😬 This was definitely different, and a little strange. But I couldn’t stop reading, because I had to know what happened next and of course how things would end.