It Will Only Hurt for a Moment by Delilah S. Dawson @DelilahSDawson @delreybooks @SnyderBridge4

Posted September 30, 2024 by Robin in Book Review / 6 Comments

Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.


It Will Only Hurt for a Moment by Delilah S. Dawson @DelilahSDawson @delreybooks @SnyderBridge4It Will Only Hurt for a Moment by Delilah S. Dawson
Published by Del Rey Books on October 22, 2024
Genres: Horror, Thriller
Pages: 549
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Goodreads
AmazonAudibleLibro.fmBarnes & NobleApple
zero-flames
One StarOne StarOne Star

Sarah Carpenter is starting over.

She’s on the run—leaving behind her unsupportive, narcissistic ex-boyfriend and alcoholic, abusive mother—headed for a new beginning at Tranquil Falls, a secluded artists' colony. There, with no cell signal or internet to distract her, she hopes to rediscover her love for pottery and put back together the broken pieces of her life. But when Sarah finds the body of a young woman while digging a hole for a pit kiln, things start falling apart. Her fellow artists begin acting The fiber artist seems to be knitting an endless scarf. The violinist sounds like he’s battling the devil himself every evening. The calligrapher scrawls strange words and grins at everyone with ink-stained teeth. Not to mention the strange dreams Sarah has been having night after night. When she discovers glass shards in her clay, Sarah begins to wonder if someone is out to get her—or if she’s losing her grip out here in the wilds, where the pounding of the waterfall never, ever fades. As she investigates the beautiful grounds and the crumbling resort looming over them all, she unearths a chillingly dark past that can no longer remain buried. . . .

I want to first preface this review with, I do not read a lot of horror.  But it is fall and getting closer to Halloween and so I usually fit a few in this time of year.  It will Only Hurt for a Moment is a stand alone novel with a really cool and spooky setting.  Tranquil Falls is in the middle of nowhere and completely cut off from the world.  It used to be a place the posh went to “recover” and “take the waters”, now the old hotel is condemned and fenced off but the surrounding area has been set up as an artist’s retreat and Sarah needs to retreat from her live of the last few years.

Her fingers twitch for social media, for that pleasant, slot-machine call of scrolling. Somewhere, a baby wombat is getting weighed in a mixing bowl, and a rescue kitten is having a name reveal, and a high school friend is thanking Jesus for the new Chick-fil-A milkshake flavor, and Sarah is missing it all. She tells her brain to calm down and relax; her brain tells her to find a button and click it.

Sarah couldn’t wait to get to Tranquil falls.  She has just escaped her mentally abusive boyfriend and is looking for a restart to her life and her love of building pottery.  This is supposed to be the perfect place but there are issues from the beginning.  She ends up in a cabin not meant for the artists and the person she needs to share the shop with is a loud jerk with some issues playing well with others.  Still she can do this; she is going to get back to her life before she let a man derail her dreams.

“You seemed different in your application essay,” Gail says wistfully. “Everyone is different when they want something,”

The setting really makes this book.  Old cabins in the woods, trails throughout going to various spots and the looming old hotel that is forbidden.  It sets the gothic tone so well and helps to build the suspense of the story with all the spooky feelings.  I think I liked the setting and descriptions more than anything else in the story.  Especially once Sarah makes it inside the forbidden hotel that has been shut off for a hundred years.

Sarah’s time in Tranquil Falls is strange.  Her dreams seem to be invaded by the ghost of someone from that time.  Through those we learn of the hotel’s history and secrets until those final moments when we learn how the fire started and why it shut its doors forever all that time ago.  It is an interesting way to build the tension and mystery while also making us question how reliable is Sarah as the narrator, as in our glimpses of her past it is clear she has experienced some trauma she is suppressing.

Besides the setting, I liked a few of the characters at the artist retreat and wanted to know more about their lives.  Especially when they all start doing some strange stuff like only writing one word in calligraphy on a paper before tossing it to the floor, knitting a never ending scarf or playing a creepy old time song over and over again.

I did have some issues with this book though.  There were a few times it didn’t seem to know what it wanted to be horror, romance, both.  There is an almost romance that I was ready to get behind until it just fizzled due to some weird stuff happening, but then we never get closure on why the weird thing happened and where it went.  I also warn anyone sensitive to rape that there are a few scenes.  While well written with just enough detail before drifting out, but clearly rape was involved, it was unsettling and could be difficult for some readers.  My last complaint is that the ending seemed really rushed and there were numerous things that seemed unresolved or left open.  I don’t know if that is just because this was an arc and there will be some revisions after but as is the ending was a let down.  I couldn’t decided if they were so unresolved because Dawson wanted to do another book at the Tranquil Falls or because she wanted the reader left in the dark to the fates of various characters and the Artist retreat.

I would say for the spookiness and setting this book is well worth a read for those that enjoy horror, but go in knowing that the resolution at the end may be unsatisfying.

Sarah buys these e-books on a discount site and devours them like popcorn. Something about terrible things happening to women is comforting to her, probably because she’s a woman to whom terrible things have happened and it’s reassuring to know she’s not alone.

About Delilah S. Dawson

Delilah S. Dawson writes whimsical and dark Fantasy for adults and teens. Her Blud series for Pocket includes Wicked as They Come, Wicked After Midnight, and Wicked as She Wants, winner of the RT Book Reviews Steampunk Book of the Year and May Seal of Excellence for 2013. Her YA debut, Servants of the Storm, is a Southern Gothic Horror set in Savannah, GA, and HIT is about teen assassins in a bank-owned America. Her Geekrotica series under pseudonym Ava Lovelace includes The Lumberfox and The Superfox with The Dapperfox on the way. Look for Wake of Vultures from Orbit Books in October 2015, written as Lila Bowen.

Delilah teaches writing classes at LitReactor and wrote the Island of Mesmer world for Storium.

Delilah lives with her husband, two small children, a horse, a dog, and two cats in Atlanta.

Rating Breakdown
Plot
One StarOne StarOne Star
Writing
One StarOne StarOne StarHalf a Star
Characters
One StarOne StarOne Star
Dialogue
One StarOne StarOne StarHalf a Star
Overall: One StarOne StarOne Star
Robin
Follow me
Please follow and like us:
Follow by Email
Instagram
Twitter
Visit Us
Follow Me
RSS

Posted September 30, 2024 by Robin in Book Review / 6 Comments


6 responses to “It Will Only Hurt for a Moment by Delilah S. Dawson