Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

20 reviews

mdavis26's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Grief, Rape, Addiction, Child death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, and Child abuse

elise_is_writing's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Reading this book feels like every child's dream coming true all at once somehow, and I loved every second of it. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but for book lovers — so basically replace all the candy with books? Just read it.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Cancer, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Medical content, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Addiction, and Abandonment

sydoodle's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

5.0

This is one of my favorite books of all time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Miscarriage, Death, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Abortion, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Cancer, and Medical content

alastaire's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Addiction, Death of parent, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Chronic illness, Miscarriage, Child death, Child abuse, and Grief

Minor: Sexual assault, Incest, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, and Terminal illness

tcameron85's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

Jack gives a bit of a Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder) impression but with the best of intentions for his "kids."

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Child death, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Incest, and Miscarriage

beckyg1016's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Bullying, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, and Miscarriage

If you have been through the heartbreak of trying to "adopt while poor" - this book is going to be hard to read in some places. Not really a tag for that.

kitausu's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

5.0

This book had me crying by page 16 and kept me emotional throughout the entire thing. What an absolute lovely gut punch of a book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Self harm, Rape, Pedophilia, and Medical content

laura_berger's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death and Grief

Minor: Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Miscarriage, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Drug use, Rape, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, and Abortion

srivalli's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

4.25

 4.2 Stars

One Liner: Beautiful but with a few teeny flaws

Jack Masterson, the best-selling children’s author of the Clock Island series, quit writing under mysterious circumstances. After years of silence and speculation, his announcement stirs the pot. He comes up with a one-of-a-kind game where four contestants participate in a series of challenges to win the only copy of the latest manuscript. 

Lucy Hart is a 26-year-old kindergarten teacher with too many troubles. Growing up as an unloved and unwanted child makes her determined to give the seven-year-old Christopher a permanent loving home as a foster mother. However, her financial position is messy at its best. Lucy learned the hard way that wishes don’t come true… but maybe they will. 

Lucy is one of the four participants who go to Clock Island for a week to compete for the prize. She knows it’s her only chance to make things happen and adopt Christopher. However, she has to deal with dangerous book collectors, other participants, and of course, Hugo Resse, the brooding painter and illustrator of the Clock Island books. 

What does Jack Masterson, the Mastermind, have in mind this time? 

The story comes from the third-person POV of Lucy and Hugo. 

My Thoughts:

I went into the book with high expectations after reading fabulous reviews from friends. And… luckily, I enjoyed most of the book and even got teary-eyed at a couple of places. That’s satisfying, isn’t it? 

The pacing is slow in the beginning but gains momentum after a couple of chapters. Then it sustains almost throughout. There are a few scenes from the book written by Jack Masterson, which align with the MC’s character arc. I loved how this is done. 

Lucy, Hugo, and Christopher are pretty much who they are, while Jack has a bit of mystery (but is actually a teddy bear). This suits the writing, which is just as straightforward. 

While we get Lucy and Hugo’s POVs, I wish at least one chapter had Jack’s POV. It would have enhanced the story. An issue with Lucy’s POV is that she sounds like an unrealistic overemotional girl in some scenes. She knows her reality, but the impression we get contradicts this. I put it down to a character flaw as she realizes things towards the end. After all, do we project our vulnerabilities on others in one way or another? 

The book deals with plenty of themes and some of them in passing. There could be triggers, too- parental neglect, child abuse, alcoholism, running away, bullying, etc. None of it is graphic or overwhelming. 

However, the emotional quotient gets too high at the end. It feels like the author tried to create a balance between reality and HEA by adding more elements to the already-heavy themes. Also, certain revelations feel more like an easy way out to deal with a complex issue. Since we don’t get the other party’s perspective, I didn’t really connect with the whole thing.  

The romance isn’t really romance in this one. It is squeaky clean and chaste. I understand the reason for most of it and appreciate the move to keep the focus on the core plot. However, I wouldn’t have minded a bit of it at the end. 

The other contenders are also good people with issues of their own. I like this approach, though it dims the intensity of the game. But the intent of the game goes beyond winning. It’s the Mastermind’s plan, after all! 

Three things I love about the book are the role of fiction in people’s lives, our wishes can get fulfilled in different ways, and the reaffirmation that money indeed buys happiness. 

As a writer who prefers reading lighthearted fiction with HEA (I didn’t say I write it too!), I know how much hope a happy ending in a book can give a reader. We see that here multiple times, and it makes me so so happy! 

To summarize, The Wishing Game is a beautiful story about hope, loss, longing for a family, love, and the power of fiction. A book isn’t just a bunch of pages. It’s a support system that keeps the tiny flame of hope alive despite the adversities. 

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House- Ballantine, for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. 

#NetGalley #TheWishingGame 

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P.S.: I think it helped that I didn’t read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (yes, I know!) and could be free of its influence (and avoid comparisons).

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Content Warnings

Minor: Miscarriage, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

goldenbeebookshop's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

This is a delightfully earnest and incredibly charming novel. While the author cites Willy Wonka as a core influence for the story, it also has a dash of The Westing Game and a sprinkle of Matilda.
There are so many delightful details that it also gave me a little hint of what I loved about my all-time favorite book, The Night Circus. The descriptions are whimsical and magical, and capture the sort of clever ideas that spark joy in the parts of us that love to believe that the well-loved places from our favorite childhood books are somewhere we can really visit.
It’s a book for adults, but the style and content of the story makes it a great read for a wide range of readers.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse

Minor: Homophobia, Cancer, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Addiction, Death, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Drug use, and Grief