
It Will Only Hurt for a Moment
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Carlotta Brentan
About this listen
In this highly atmospheric thriller from the Bram Stoker Award–nominated author of The Violence, a young woman hopes to reinvent herself at an isolated artists’ colony . . . only to be drawn into its dark, twisted past.
“Filled to the brim with righteous fury and fright that cannot be quelled, this novel solidifies Dawson as an unstoppable force.”—Clay McLeod Chapman, author of What Kind of Mother and Ghost Eaters
Sarah Carpenter is starting over.
She’s on the run—leaving behind her unsupportive, narcissistic ex-boyfriend and alcoholic, abusive mother—and headed for a new beginning at Tranquil Falls, a secluded artists’ colony on the grounds of a closed hotel. There, with no cell signal or internet to distract her, she hopes to rediscover her love for pottery and put the broken pieces of her life back together.
But when Sarah uncovers the body of a young woman while digging a hole for a pit kiln, things start to fall apart. Her fellow artists begin to act in troubling ways. The eccentric fiber artist knits an endless scarf. The musician plays the same carousel song over and over until his fingers bleed. The calligrapher grins with ink-stained teeth. Not to mention the haunting dreams Sarah has night after night.
When she discovers glass shards in her clay, Sarah wonders if someone is out to get her—or if she’s losing her grip on reality out here in the wilds, where the pounding of the waterfall never, ever fades. As she investigates the beautiful valley and the crumbling resort looming over them all, she unearths a chilling past that refuses to remain buried . . .
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Critic reviews
“Steadily mounting mysteries and disturbing revelations at an art commune in this story about a woman’s liberation from an abusive relationship make this another must-read in Dawson’s growing canon of work.”—Chuck Wendig, New York Times bestselling author of Black River Orchard
"If Delilah S. Dawson writes it, I will read it. My bones were chilled, my blood boiled, and all my feral feminine energy ignited into flame! It Will Only Hurt for a Moment is Gothicly delicious!”—Sadie Hartmann, Bram Stoker Award–winning author of 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered
“Nothing illustrates how all present art is molded from our past so well as Dawson’s latest. We see how creativity can be transformative and liberating, and how the ghosts that haunt us can still serve us too.”—Kevin Hearne, New York Times bestselling author of The Iron Druid Chronicles
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Story
It’s the height of the industrial revolution and ten years into Lenore’s marriage to steel magnate Henry, their relationship has soured. When Henry’s ambitions take them from London to the remote British moorlands to host a hunting party, a shocking carriage accident brings the mysterious Carmilla into their lives. Carmilla, who is weak and pale during the day but vibrant at night. Carmilla, who stirs up something deep within Lenore. And before long, girls from the local villages fall sick, consumed by a terrible hunger . . .
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11/10 for both the novel itself and for the narration
- By britney giraffe on 03-10-25
By: Kat Dunn
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So Thirsty
- By: Rachel Harrison
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Sloane Parker is dreading her birthday. She doesn’t need a reminder she’s getting older, or that she’s feeling indifferent about her own life. Her husband surprises her with a birthday-weekend getaway—not with him, but with Sloane’s longtime best friend, troublemaker extraordinaire Naomi. Sloane anticipates a weekend of wine tastings and cozy robes and strategic avoidance of issues she’d rather not confront, like her husband’s repeated infidelity.
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Weak Ending
- By Jennifer on 10-09-24
By: Rachel Harrison
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Lucy Undying
- A Dracula Novel
- By: Kiersten White
- Narrated by: Mx. Nicky Endres, Linda Jones, Elizabeth Knowelden, and others
- Length: 18 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Her name was written in the pages of someone else’s story: Lucy Westenra was one of Dracula’s first victims. But her death was only the beginning. Lucy rose from the grave a vampire and has spent her immortal life trying to escape from Dracula’s clutches—and trying to discover who she really is and what she truly wants.
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Would be good if the novel Dracula didn't exist
- By Earl V on 10-01-24
By: Kiersten White
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The September House
- By: Carissa Orlando
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 13 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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When Margaret and her husband Hal bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street—for sale at a surprisingly reasonable price—they couldn’t believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings. Every September, the walls drip blood. The ghosts of former inhabitants appear, and all of them are terrified of something that lurks in the basement. Most people would flee. Margaret is not most people. Margaret is staying.
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Insufferable.
- By Jeremy Brandon on 09-23-23
By: Carissa Orlando
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Night Film
- A Novel
- By: Marisha Pessl
- Narrated by: Jake Weber
- Length: 23 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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On a damp October night, beautiful young Ashley Cordova is found dead in an abandoned warehouse in lower Manhattan. Though her death is ruled a suicide, veteran investigative journalist Scott McGrath suspects otherwise. As he probes the strange circumstances surrounding Ashley’s life and death, McGrath comes face-to-face with the legacy of her father: the legendary, reclusive, cult-horror-film director Stanislas Cordova - a man who hasn’t been seen in public for more than 30 years.
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What's Real?
- By Amanda on 01-12-14
By: Marisha Pessl
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Hex
- By: Thomas Olde Heuvelt
- Narrated by: Jeff Harding
- Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Welcome to Black Spring, the seemingly picturesque Hudson Valley town haunted by the Black Rock Witch, a seventeenth century woman whose eyes and mouth are sewn shut. Muzzled, she walks the streets and enters homes at will. She stands next to children's bed for nights on end. Everybody knows that her eyes may never be opened or the consequences will be too terrible to bear.
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Dark Story...Odd Narrator
- By Mr. Richard Smith on 08-08-16
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Listen to Your Sister
- A Novel
- By: Neena Viel
- Narrated by: Eric Lockley, Kristolyn Lloyd, Zeno Robinson
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Twenty-five year old Calla Williams is struggling since becoming guardian to her brother, Jamie. Calla is overwhelmed and tired of being the one who makes sacrifices to keep the family together. When Jamie’s actions at a protest spiral out of control, the siblings must go on the run. Taking refuge in a remote cabin that looks like it belongs on a slasher movie poster rather than an AirBNB, the siblings now face a new threat where their lives–and reality–hang in the balance. Their sister always warned them about her nightmares. They really should have listened.
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Great story and excellent performances
- By S K on 02-24-25
By: Neena Viel
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Victorian Psycho
- By: Virginia Feito
- Narrated by: Anna Burnett
- Length: 4 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Grim Wolds, England: Winifred Notty arrives at Ensor House prepared to play the perfect governess—she’ll dutifully tutor her charges, Drusilla and Andrew, tell them bedtime stories, and only joke about eating children. But long, listless days spent within the estate’s dreary confines come with an intimate knowledge of the perversions and pathetic preoccupations of the Pounds family—Mr. Pounds can’t keep his eyes off Winifred’s chest, and Mrs. Pounds takes a sickly pleasure in punishing Winifred for her husband’s wandering gaze.
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meh
- By Pamela Y. S. on 02-13-25
By: Virginia Feito
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The Night Guest
- By: Hildur Knútsdóttir, Mary Robinette Kowal - translator
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal
- Length: 2 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Iðunn is in yet another doctor's office. She knows her constant fatigue is a sign that something's not right, but practitioners dismiss her symptoms and blood tests haven't revealed any cause. When she talks to friends and family about it, the refrain is the same—have you tried eating better? exercising more? establishing a nighttime routine? She tries to follow their advice, buying everything from vitamins to sleeping pills to a step-counting watch. Nothing helps. Until one night Iðunn falls asleep with the watch on, and wakes up to find she’s walked over 40,000 steps in the night.
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Interesting & creepy
- By Jaimie Welbourn on 09-20-24
By: Hildur Knútsdóttir, and others
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The Bog Wife
- A Novel
- By: Kay Chronister
- Narrated by: Shannon McManus
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Since time immemorial, the Haddesley family has tended the cranberry bog. In exchange, the bog sustains them. The staunch seasons of their lives are governed by a strict covenant that is renewed each generation with the ritual sacrifice of their patriarch, and in return, the bog produces a “bog-wife.” Brought to life from vegetation, this woman is meant to carry on the family line. But when the bog fails—or refuses—to honor the bargain, the Haddesleys, a group of discordant siblings still grieving the mother who mysteriously disappeared years earlier, face an unknown future.
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Excellent writing that backs out of its own ending
- By Corinne on 03-22-25
By: Kay Chronister
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Model Home
- A Novel
- By: Rivers Solomon
- Narrated by: Gabby Beans
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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The three Maxwell siblings keep their distance from the lily-white gated enclave outside Dallas where they grew up. When their family moved there, they were the only Black family in the neighborhood. The neighbors acted nice enough, but right away bad things, scary things—the strange and the unexplainable—began to happen in their house. Maybe it was some cosmic trial, a demonic rite of passage into the upper-middle class. Whatever it was, the Maxwells, steered by their formidable mother, stayed put, unwilling to abandon their home, terrors and trauma be damned.
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They eat every time
- By Anonymous User on 02-23-25
By: Rivers Solomon
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Diavola
- By: Jennifer Thorne
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Jennifer Thorne skewers all-too-familiar family dynamics in this sly, wickedly funny vacation-Gothic. Beautifully unhinged and deeply satisfying, Diavola is a sharp twist on the classic haunted house story, exploring loneliness, belonging, and the seemingly inescapable bonds of family mythology.
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Witty, Original, VERY satisfying ending
- By Andrea S on 04-26-24
By: Jennifer Thorne
What listeners say about It Will Only Hurt for a Moment
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Laura Tripp
- 10-26-24
an elegantly twisted story
this book was very well performed, and incredibly well-written. It is haunting and manipulative and terrifying and satisfying and really really worth reading. The imagery has really stuck with me, and I am definitely going to read it again, probably in print and very slowly this time.
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-11-24
Engaging and healing
Delilah has a beautiful writing style that always draws me right in. Her descriptions are so real and even in the deepest depths there is always hope.
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- Amber Hume
- 03-25-25
It’s for Justice
I enjoy most of the Dawson’s stories. This one didn’t vibe with me like most of her horror/thrillers do.
The FMC gets her justice in the end. There is an interesting element of possession that shines though and I wish more had been done with that.
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