Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry

22 reviews

michelle_my_belle's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Death of parent, Excrement, Medical content, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Infertility, Murder, and Vomit

Moderate: Miscarriage

Minor: Drug abuse

clairebonney's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Vomit, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Animal death, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Child abuse

Animal cruelty and animal death involve a kitten

torivanorder's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Self harm, Violence, and Vomit

leer_amor's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Child abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Death of parent, Excrement, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Physical abuse

rebeccaelizabeth94's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I was hooked from the first page of this book. It was so dark and twisted from the beginning. We find Hannah working in the hospital when an abused toddler comes in after being abandoned in a parking lot. The next day her husband Christopher is assigned to be the lead doctor on her case. He immediately falls head over heels for this baby and wants to help her in every way he possibly can. He convinced Hannah to become emergency foster parents for her. Despite the fact that they have no background with raising children, especially children with severe disabilities and CPTSD they get to be her guardians. Then when they try to get her real foster parents Chris makes the snap judgement to become her foster to adopt parents. Hannah goes along with it but Janie drives a wedge in between the couple. We see Hannah slowly unravel and Chris seems to think she is just a kid. We find out Janie is 6 and old enough for school but they enroll her in pre-school. She continues to get kicked out because she is aggressive towards her peers and throws her poop. ( unrelated to the plot but my opinions that I need to share: This child should have had in home care and psych help. She should have been enrolled in a public school so she could receive behavioral supports from the county. She could have been sent to the special services school and that could have helped. She needed routines and strong structured activities.) Hannah and Chris should have had some parenting classes but back to the story. Chris was obsessive in his need to save Janie and didn’t want her to get the support Hannah thought she needed. The demands that the therapists gave them seem cruel but in the grand scheme of things are more like consequences than torture. Hannah was right she needed some consequences for her actions but not to the level Hannah inflicted. Each character in this book was some form of twisted and it made for a dark but good read. Piper started as a strong ally but she slipped when she wasn’t doing frequent checks. Hannah should have asked for help and Chris should have been more receptive. He literally threw their lives away with his desire to help a child. He had noble intentions but he sacrificed his family for someone he didn’t have the skill set to help. It’s noble to want to help people in need but it’s wrong to insist you are the best person for the job when you don’t have the proper training and background.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Abandonment, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Excrement, Self harm, Murder, Vomit, Child abuse, Confinement, and Cursing

Moderate: Infertility, Physical abuse, Blood, Gore, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pregnancy

smixter88's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Let me start by saying HOLY SH*T, what a wild ride. It's a very disturbing read, but man does Lucinda Berry nail it. Go in blind if you don't have triggers. If you do, you must look them up, because this book may not be for you. She kept me hooked from the very first page. I can't wait to read the second novella for this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Abandonment, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Medical content, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Torture

deilas_journal's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Would’ve been a 4 star read if it wasn’t for the ending…. but that is not the author’s fault since the editor told her to cut out the epilogue. Lucinda Berry has posted her reading the epilogue… the epilogue was amazing and I wish she would’ve been able to include it in the book. Excited… and scared for the sequel!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Death

Moderate: Blood, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Miscarriage

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit

lapluie8's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Murder, Animal death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Vomit, Child abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Confinement, Death, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, and Torture

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Grief, Alcoholism, Blood, Eating disorder, Infertility, Sexual content, Medical content, and Toxic relationship

viccreadsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The end felt incomplete and rushed. The last few chapters felt like it was supposed to be a major twist uncovered when it really just felt lacking. 
The story was somewhat enjoyable, but there was a lot of frustration with the behavior of some characters. 

I would have been interested to see the demonic aspect explored more or flushed out as just paranoia from the parents side

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Child abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, and Self harm

Minor: Infertility

juliaaa02's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Violence, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Vomit, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Abandonment