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DietVale
A DIVORCCE DESPERATE TO GET THE BODY SHE WANTS. A SADISTIC HEALTH SPA PROMISING MIRACLES. Selling your soul never looked so fabulous!
Marilyn is ready to drop the weight and stop looking like a 'before' photo. So when her good-for-nothing husband kicks the bucket during divorce proceedings, she thinks the perfect place to blow his dough is at a secluded New Zealand health retreat.
But more frightening than low-carb and bikinis is the sinister force on the other side of the razor wire fence. One with dark cravings of its own...
With the daily enemas and kale salads not working, and the spa determined to maintain their success rate, she's signed up to an exclusive add-on. It's one that'll transform her body in ways she's never imagined - even in her wildest nightmares.
Will Marilyn succumb to the shadowy power that hungers for much more than her extra curves, or will it be the spa treatments that prove fatal?
Trigger warning: Contains torture and rape. The retribution is both swift and brutal.
Marilyn is ready to drop the weight and stop looking like a 'before' photo. So when her good-for-nothing husband kicks the bucket during divorce proceedings, she thinks the perfect place to blow his dough is at a secluded New Zealand health retreat.
But more frightening than low-carb and bikinis is the sinister force on the other side of the razor wire fence. One with dark cravings of its own...
With the daily enemas and kale salads not working, and the spa determined to maintain their success rate, she's signed up to an exclusive add-on. It's one that'll transform her body in ways she's never imagined - even in her wildest nightmares.
Will Marilyn succumb to the shadowy power that hungers for much more than her extra curves, or will it be the spa treatments that prove fatal?
Trigger warning: Contains torture and rape. The retribution is both swift and brutal.
ebook
Published August 6, 2023
About the author
Sydney Hunter
1 book1 followerAuthor also writes under Andrene Low, Andrene N. Low and Andie Low
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 8, 2020
I primarily read horror, but do dabble into other genres. I love cozies...is cozy horror a thing? If so, other than the This book could be a cozy. Most parts of the story are beautiful ly written, but I couldn't speed read this. I got hung up a few times and stumbled on many sentences. The book is hilarious, however there were many references that went above my head, probably culture differences since this book takes place in New Zealand. I still need to google what TWIG means. It's in this book a whole bunch, and I still haven't figured it out.
For some reason, before I read the book, I had an image in my head that this would be something with a demon and possibly selling your soul to be thin and fit. I couldn't have been more wrong. This story was nothing like that
For some reason, before I read the book, I had an image in my head that this would be something with a demon and possibly selling your soul to be thin and fit. I couldn't have been more wrong. This story was nothing like that
October 17, 2020
A book which will make you reconsider the latest fad diet. Dietvale is the sort of book every woman should read! Definitely 'horror for women'. Queasy in parts, darkly humorous in others, the message is clear - if it's too good to be true, it probably it!
Set in the Coromandel in New Zealand, the protagonist pays for a long term stay at a health spa, a place popular with "B" list celebrities and wealthy wives. But the retreat she signed up for, and the experience she gets, are two very different things. I couldn't help but laugh at parts of the books where I should be squirming uncomfortably.
The author has a very dark sense of humour, which masks the brutality of the diet treatments the protagonist endures at the 'retreat'.
Not everyone makes it out alive, and in some ways, being dead is preferable to staying any longer at this health spa! Always read the fine print before signing your life away and heading into wifi free wilderness...
Think reality TV's The Biggest Loser under the smothering blanket of the dark web. Definitely Horror for women!
Set in the Coromandel in New Zealand, the protagonist pays for a long term stay at a health spa, a place popular with "B" list celebrities and wealthy wives. But the retreat she signed up for, and the experience she gets, are two very different things. I couldn't help but laugh at parts of the books where I should be squirming uncomfortably.
The author has a very dark sense of humour, which masks the brutality of the diet treatments the protagonist endures at the 'retreat'.
Not everyone makes it out alive, and in some ways, being dead is preferable to staying any longer at this health spa! Always read the fine print before signing your life away and heading into wifi free wilderness...
Think reality TV's The Biggest Loser under the smothering blanket of the dark web. Definitely Horror for women!
November 2, 2020
Fad diets, retreats in the middle of nowhere, forced friendships, mysterious happenings, starvation, yoga, chocolate shakes and plenty of unfriendly characters, this book is a fantastic read. I was hooked from early on, Marilyn is extremely flawed and yet her situation, her headgame and her plight is strangely relatable. I've not read horror since my teen years reading Steven King and Steven Coonts. This book was an excellent return to that genre for me. Andrene wove an intriguing story and definitely leaves you hungry for more - I'll stick to the Chocolate blocks and brisk walks around my neighbourhood though, thanks. Highly recommend.
April 1, 2021
Loved this! What a romp, so funny and horrific - a combination I never thought would work but totally does.
April 17, 2021
What a ride
Marilyn is an overweight unhappy ex wife, fighting to get what she wants, or what she thinks she wants because she has influential friends. Wanting a boob job, but being too fat, she brisks it all, and goes to an exclusive diet clinic where she hopes to lose the extra weight, in order to get the surgery. But the Vale isn't all it seems.
Marilyn seems quite a submissive person at the start, but after the adventures Ashe endures, she finds her backbone, and develops into a rather scary character.
A dark comedy, with moments of sheer brilliance, a great, disturbing, read.
Marilyn is an overweight unhappy ex wife, fighting to get what she wants, or what she thinks she wants because she has influential friends. Wanting a boob job, but being too fat, she brisks it all, and goes to an exclusive diet clinic where she hopes to lose the extra weight, in order to get the surgery. But the Vale isn't all it seems.
Marilyn seems quite a submissive person at the start, but after the adventures Ashe endures, she finds her backbone, and develops into a rather scary character.
A dark comedy, with moments of sheer brilliance, a great, disturbing, read.
December 9, 2020
Horror fiction - comedic or not - is not my scene, but having met the author, I bought it and read it and the four star rating I have given it is for other reasons than the horror aspect.
I really like the way Andrene Low writes! Her language is fluid and precise at the same time, she gives her characters their individual style/personality by indirect means rather then by repetitive 'observer' descriptions. And staying with single-person point of view makes the reader live the plot as it unfolds, rather than watch it unfold, which to my mind is a great way to engage the readers and make them feel they are part of the story.
Without spoiling the story I must mention that I loved the hunters and their diverse characters - I could see them in my mind as I read!
I really like the way Andrene Low writes! Her language is fluid and precise at the same time, she gives her characters their individual style/personality by indirect means rather then by repetitive 'observer' descriptions. And staying with single-person point of view makes the reader live the plot as it unfolds, rather than watch it unfold, which to my mind is a great way to engage the readers and make them feel they are part of the story.
Without spoiling the story I must mention that I loved the hunters and their diverse characters - I could see them in my mind as I read!
November 17, 2020
This book is not for the faint-hearted! A complex story akin to the likes of Stephen King, this book will delight horror fans with its gruesome twists and turns. The characters, flawed and relatable, find themselves on a treacherous path they could not have imagined, all in desperation to be thin. The retreat they had anticipated is vastly different in reality, leaving the reader questioning their ability to endure the experience. The author has artfully woven a bucket-load of dark humor in and amongst the goings on, as well as a supernatural element, making this a roller coaster of a read. A must-read for lovers of the macabre.
December 2, 2020
I had never read this author before, but the cover intrigued enough to give it a go. I was not disappointed.
The writing style is easy to read and humorous. Some of the content is darker than the writing style at first suggests, just a warning for anyone that picks it up. The setting of the health retreat in New Zealand was vivid and well written - I could almost imagine I was there, but thank goodness I wasn't!
This author also writes cozy mysteries - I'll definitely check them out, as I enjoyed the author's voice immensely.
The writing style is easy to read and humorous. Some of the content is darker than the writing style at first suggests, just a warning for anyone that picks it up. The setting of the health retreat in New Zealand was vivid and well written - I could almost imagine I was there, but thank goodness I wasn't!
This author also writes cozy mysteries - I'll definitely check them out, as I enjoyed the author's voice immensely.
October 1, 2020
There’s nothing like some blood and guts and good old fashioned revenge to escape into.
Buy this book if you’re into, gore, fantastic scenery, unusual urges & spirituality.
Andrene weaves a great story and all of the horror is completely in keeping with the story.
Buy this book if you’re into, gore, fantastic scenery, unusual urges & spirituality.
Andrene weaves a great story and all of the horror is completely in keeping with the story.
December 6, 2020
Difficult to put down, even though in a few places, my stomach turned! But I had to read on. Engaging characters, rivetting storyline - definitely enough to make me want to triple check any spas before I go there.
If you like your storylines dark and funny - this is for you.
If you like your storylines dark and funny - this is for you.
November 10, 2021
Before proceeding any further, it's worth repeating the trigger warning from the blurb for DIETVALE:
"Contains torture and rape. The retribution is both swift and brutal."
The story, in a nutshell, is one of recently divorced Marilyn, who, in an attempt to regain some control over her life, heads off to a remote, expensive health spa popular with "B" list celebrities and wealthy wives, where it turns out that daily enemas and kale salads are far from the worst possible thing that could happen.
It's worthwhile remembering that there is a dark, brutal sense of humour at the core of this novel - because frankly things get very confrontational at points. Rape, torture, and alas, many people not making it out alive are thrown up against some interesting character personalities, not the least of which is Marilyn herself. A supremely unlikeable woman, made sympathetic by an horrific attack, promptly becoming more and more unlikeable despite seemingly trying to be a better person - at least for a while. And even more unexpectedly was the idea that despite all this awful, just awful stuff going on, regardless of Marilyn and many others in the cast, being really quite horrible people, was a tendency to laugh at a lot of the observations - which are dry, and dark and really quite funny - I guess as long as you have a sense of humour that veers towards the darkest end of the gallows.
Probably doesn't hurt at all that the setting - a health farm / diet obsessed fat removal factory is the sort of place in which horrors are easy to imagine, but potential readers need to be aware that there's also a bit of the supernatural built into DIETVALE, although I have to admit this was less than convincing - feeling somewhat ancillary for want of a better description, along with the more real life horror's associated with Marilyn and a bunch of other ... patients ... inmates .... victims ... whatever you want to call her fellow captives attempt to escape a nightmare that's less to do with kale and more to do with real life threats.
I have to admit I spent most of the time I was reading DIETVALE wondering what I'd encountered. What with really disliking Marilyn, to feeling some considerable sympathy, to hoping like hell she'd be able to inflict a lot of retribution on the way out, to end up really disliking her again, only this time feeling profoundly guilty for doing so was a bit of a journey.
All in all a wild ride, perhaps a bit erratic in places, but, has to be said, a novel that was most definitely different from the standard fare.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/revi...
"Contains torture and rape. The retribution is both swift and brutal."
The story, in a nutshell, is one of recently divorced Marilyn, who, in an attempt to regain some control over her life, heads off to a remote, expensive health spa popular with "B" list celebrities and wealthy wives, where it turns out that daily enemas and kale salads are far from the worst possible thing that could happen.
It's worthwhile remembering that there is a dark, brutal sense of humour at the core of this novel - because frankly things get very confrontational at points. Rape, torture, and alas, many people not making it out alive are thrown up against some interesting character personalities, not the least of which is Marilyn herself. A supremely unlikeable woman, made sympathetic by an horrific attack, promptly becoming more and more unlikeable despite seemingly trying to be a better person - at least for a while. And even more unexpectedly was the idea that despite all this awful, just awful stuff going on, regardless of Marilyn and many others in the cast, being really quite horrible people, was a tendency to laugh at a lot of the observations - which are dry, and dark and really quite funny - I guess as long as you have a sense of humour that veers towards the darkest end of the gallows.
Probably doesn't hurt at all that the setting - a health farm / diet obsessed fat removal factory is the sort of place in which horrors are easy to imagine, but potential readers need to be aware that there's also a bit of the supernatural built into DIETVALE, although I have to admit this was less than convincing - feeling somewhat ancillary for want of a better description, along with the more real life horror's associated with Marilyn and a bunch of other ... patients ... inmates .... victims ... whatever you want to call her fellow captives attempt to escape a nightmare that's less to do with kale and more to do with real life threats.
I have to admit I spent most of the time I was reading DIETVALE wondering what I'd encountered. What with really disliking Marilyn, to feeling some considerable sympathy, to hoping like hell she'd be able to inflict a lot of retribution on the way out, to end up really disliking her again, only this time feeling profoundly guilty for doing so was a bit of a journey.
All in all a wild ride, perhaps a bit erratic in places, but, has to be said, a novel that was most definitely different from the standard fare.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/revi...
March 30, 2024
A laugh-out-loud story until it’s not…and then it is again…
This book will have you questioning your sense of humour.
Such a great read, a sassy FMC, Marilyn, with the help of her voluptuous friends and bush whacker mates, gets her revenge back in spades.
This book had me giggling at the shape wear antics, then blinking in horror at the plot twist, then spitting out my coffee at Marilyn’s come backs.
Now, if I was confident in it’s meaning, I would call this book an oxymoron - I’m going to anyway.
I now have an appreciation and understanding for gallows humour and I’m here for it!
The author sent me this book in return for my honest thoughts.
This book will have you questioning your sense of humour.
Such a great read, a sassy FMC, Marilyn, with the help of her voluptuous friends and bush whacker mates, gets her revenge back in spades.
This book had me giggling at the shape wear antics, then blinking in horror at the plot twist, then spitting out my coffee at Marilyn’s come backs.
Now, if I was confident in it’s meaning, I would call this book an oxymoron - I’m going to anyway.
I now have an appreciation and understanding for gallows humour and I’m here for it!
The author sent me this book in return for my honest thoughts.
November 12, 2020
Finding this book was happenstance, for me. I was walking through Havelock North, where my grandmother was born, with my mother, on the first trip we'd made to her hometown, Napier, in about eight years. We were just coming back from breakfast, when the cover of DietVale in the window caught my eye. I, being a dumbass, thought it wasn't coming out until the following Thursday, because that was when the author was coming to visit the store. My mother, having a brain, pointed out that they probably wouldn't have copies in the window if you couldn't buy them.
If there's one thing I can honestly say about this book, it's that it's unlike anything else I've read this year, which contributes towards my general goal to read more widely.
I rated this book three stars overall, because I did enjoy it, generally, but I don't think it was quite... For me? The marketing of this book didn't quite deliver on what was promised. The first half of the book had a definite chicklit bent, and I don't particularly enjoy chicklit. I did enjoy that it was set in New Zealand, and written by a Kiwi author, and that, along with the combined factors of the amount of time I have left to finish my Reading Challenge and the promise that it was eventually transition into the horror side of what was promised, kept me from giving up and reading something else.
The horror finally starts, and it's presented in the form of rape. I don't like rape as a plot point, but that's on me. I've never liked rape as a plot point, I know this about myself, and I looked up the GoodReads page for this book before I bought it, so I'd been adequately warned. Kudos to the author, or whoever set up the GoodReads page, because most of the time I have to get my trigger/content warnings through extensive googling, which comes at a risk of spoilers, or my friends.
I spent most of the book utterly baffled by the references to supernatural/paranormal themes I found on the blurb and in the few review I'd read, and ultimately I was disappointed by the supernatural elements. I found it incredibly difficult to take the references to "male energy" seriously, at the same level I struggled with the obsession with weight and body image in the first half of the book, but that is baked into the concept of a weight loss spa, and the entire ghost of Elizabeth Collins plot seemed entirely out of left field. As far as I could tell, there was no buildup, and I found the ending somewhat unsatisfying. In addition, I didn't particularly feel that the three women at DietVale had their friendship built up in a way that was satisfying. Bev and Tee felt somewhat one dimensional to me. I didn't know anything meaningful about them, which is a shame, because I really liked Marilyn, and if these other characters had been developed the same way she was, it has the potential to really hit that "women being friends" vibe for me.
I think the biggest issue I had with my experience reading this was one of feeling misled. The combination of all the marketing of the book itself, and the prologue, or first chapter, implied that I'd be getting something entirely different from what I did get. I would recommend this book, to someone, because I do think it's an engaging story, conceptually, and I do think it is very well written. It's definitely for someone, just maybe not for me.
If there's one thing I can honestly say about this book, it's that it's unlike anything else I've read this year, which contributes towards my general goal to read more widely.
I rated this book three stars overall, because I did enjoy it, generally, but I don't think it was quite... For me? The marketing of this book didn't quite deliver on what was promised. The first half of the book had a definite chicklit bent, and I don't particularly enjoy chicklit. I did enjoy that it was set in New Zealand, and written by a Kiwi author, and that, along with the combined factors of the amount of time I have left to finish my Reading Challenge and the promise that it was eventually transition into the horror side of what was promised, kept me from giving up and reading something else.
The horror finally starts, and it's presented in the form of rape. I don't like rape as a plot point, but that's on me. I've never liked rape as a plot point, I know this about myself, and I looked up the GoodReads page for this book before I bought it, so I'd been adequately warned. Kudos to the author, or whoever set up the GoodReads page, because most of the time I have to get my trigger/content warnings through extensive googling, which comes at a risk of spoilers, or my friends.
I spent most of the book utterly baffled by the references to supernatural/paranormal themes I found on the blurb and in the few review I'd read, and ultimately I was disappointed by the supernatural elements. I found it incredibly difficult to take the references to "male energy" seriously, at the same level I struggled with the obsession with weight and body image in the first half of the book, but that is baked into the concept of a weight loss spa, and the entire ghost of Elizabeth Collins plot seemed entirely out of left field. As far as I could tell, there was no buildup, and I found the ending somewhat unsatisfying. In addition, I didn't particularly feel that the three women at DietVale had their friendship built up in a way that was satisfying. Bev and Tee felt somewhat one dimensional to me. I didn't know anything meaningful about them, which is a shame, because I really liked Marilyn, and if these other characters had been developed the same way she was, it has the potential to really hit that "women being friends" vibe for me.
I think the biggest issue I had with my experience reading this was one of feeling misled. The combination of all the marketing of the book itself, and the prologue, or first chapter, implied that I'd be getting something entirely different from what I did get. I would recommend this book, to someone, because I do think it's an engaging story, conceptually, and I do think it is very well written. It's definitely for someone, just maybe not for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 19, 2020
Marilyn, a pretty, but slightly overweight divorcee is recommended a specific health spa that will magically melt the kilos away. Having nothing to lose but the excess weight, she is seduced by the glossy brochure of Diet Vale, an upmarket health spa and retreat for minor celebrities and wealthy women.
Once there, in the beautiful Coromandel bush in New Zealand, she realizes something is not quite right.
This comedic horror with a supernatural twist had me on the edge of my seat until the very last page.
The author's clever way with words and lashings of dark humor shines like a beacon throughout.
For a thrilling read, I highly recommend Diet Vale.
Once there, in the beautiful Coromandel bush in New Zealand, she realizes something is not quite right.
This comedic horror with a supernatural twist had me on the edge of my seat until the very last page.
The author's clever way with words and lashings of dark humor shines like a beacon throughout.
For a thrilling read, I highly recommend Diet Vale.
December 1, 2021
OH. MY. GOD. WHAT. JUST. HAPPENED.
(I appreciate the blurb for this book comes with content warnings specifically for torture and rape - they are not kidding around with that, its pretty graphic - be careful and take care of yourself if this triggers you).
This is like when people say they can't help rubber necking at crash sites, you can't look away, you're horrified, but morbidly curious. The worst of humanity on display.
I don't have to hazard a guess that this book is not for everyone (even the author says it's polarizing), however, if you're looking for a super fast, weirdly disturbing, gore fest of a horror, with a sprinkling of black humour, and some reasonably satisfying vengeance (ah the cricket bat), give this go.
I fully appreciated how very Kiwi this book was - the slang, the humour and the landscape.
PS. The Coromandel is one of my favourite places in NZ, I promise it's not scary ;)
NOTE: I was given a copy of this book in relation to my work with Narrative Muse. All views are my own.
(I appreciate the blurb for this book comes with content warnings specifically for torture and rape - they are not kidding around with that, its pretty graphic - be careful and take care of yourself if this triggers you).
This is like when people say they can't help rubber necking at crash sites, you can't look away, you're horrified, but morbidly curious. The worst of humanity on display.
I don't have to hazard a guess that this book is not for everyone (even the author says it's polarizing), however, if you're looking for a super fast, weirdly disturbing, gore fest of a horror, with a sprinkling of black humour, and some reasonably satisfying vengeance (ah the cricket bat), give this go.
I fully appreciated how very Kiwi this book was - the slang, the humour and the landscape.
PS. The Coromandel is one of my favourite places in NZ, I promise it's not scary ;)
NOTE: I was given a copy of this book in relation to my work with Narrative Muse. All views are my own.
September 16, 2021
Wow, wow, wow! This was not what I was expecting, but in a good way. I don't know where the ideas came from for this book, and I'm not sure I want to, but it was a great read!
Such a different take on a thriller/supernatural story, and I don't think I'll ever look at weight loss programmes the same again!
Such a different take on a thriller/supernatural story, and I don't think I'll ever look at weight loss programmes the same again!
September 25, 2021
Too sick for my taste
After it turned gory I just skimmed to the end.
Too sick for me, and the added paranormal at the end also was a bit random.
I didn't enjoy it and wouldn't consider it a psychological thriller, more of a horror of what the worst of human nature can dream of
After it turned gory I just skimmed to the end.
Too sick for me, and the added paranormal at the end also was a bit random.
I didn't enjoy it and wouldn't consider it a psychological thriller, more of a horror of what the worst of human nature can dream of
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews