Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Phantom Limb: A Gripping Psychological Thriller by Lucinda Berry

17 reviews

megmccreery's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

2.0

Well this was traumatizing, and the writing was boring. Very clinical and not suspenseful for a thriller. The twist was meh, and the ending was… something! If anyone reads this, you MUST check TWs. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Self harm, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Car accident, Suicide, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Excrement

likeagilmoregirl's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Self harm, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Pedophilia, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

astoriareader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

SYNOPSIS

• Elizabeth and Emily are identical twins. Their childhood is horrific. Eventually, they were finally adopted by a good family, but not before suffering imaginable things.
• Eventually, one of the twins finds herself in an inpatient psych unit at a hospital. She is very confused by what people are telling her, and it’s not in line with her memories of the last few years. 

MY THOUGHTS

• Very dark! Be sure to check out trigger warnings because there’s a lot of potentially triggering topics.
• I love Lucinda Berry, and I think she’s a phenomenal writer.
• This is her 4th book that I’ve read. I gave 4 stars to “The Best of Friends”, 5 stars to “When She Returned”, and 3 stars to “If You Tell A Lie.”
• Complex characters with excellent character development. I enjoyed the side characters, like Rose & Lisa, too.
• Berry writes a lot about mental health and trauma in this one, and I enjoyed how she presented the DSM and the look into the diagnoses. 
• The whole story is told from the perspective of the twin, who is hospitalized. I loved learning from her eyes. Through conversations with others, she gains a lot of insight. There are flashbacks and memories as well. And, there’s a small portion of the book at the beginning that is prior to the hospitalization.
• I felt really connected to the main character, and I felt like I was right there with her trying to understand what exactly happened to her. The pacing was great. I was satisfied with the ending.

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Lucinda, girrrrrl, you’ve done it again! I would definitely recommend this one, but I highly suggest checking out trigger warnings. Some heavy topics in this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Eating disorder, Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Blood, Sexual violence, Rape, Death, Sexual assault, Self harm, and Child abuse

Minor: Bullying and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

mik_kass's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

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

2.5

Honestly this book fell very flat for me. Was set up for such a homerun success, and was so let down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Self harm, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Death, and Eating disorder

paigeemma's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Death, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Mental illness, Car accident, Body shaming, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Blood, and Abandonment

anna_fyodorovna's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Abandonment, Mental illness, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Eating disorder, Rape, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment

nicole_cob_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Body shaming, Confinement, Self harm, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Bullying, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, and Vomit

court_greenwell's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Blood, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Grief, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Rape

kyra_joy's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

2.0

This is a really dark book and I highly suggest that you check content warnings before continuing to read this book. 

The writing itself was really good , the main character though not really “loveable” seemed to be highly relatable to those with mental illness and who have had extreme trauma until the end. The twists aren’t really ground breaking and the end was kinda meh. 

I know the author has a background in clinical psychology but this book is not an accurate look at mental health, the characters are all caricatures of mental illness. And the hospital setting was wild, all the therapists in this book needed to be fired. This needs to be made more clear somewhere, people shouldn’t go into this thinking it is realistic but due to her credentials being included anyone could get the wrong idea.

And the one thing I can’t really get over is the depiction of people with BPD, again I know the author has a background in clinical psychology but she should have known better. They are shown as being cruel, dramatic liars, and I don’t care if some of them are this is incredibly stigmatizing to people with BPD as a whole. I don’t have BPD however I have close friends and family that do and this very much so missed the mark. And even though I enjoyed the other parts of this book I don’t know if I’ll be able to read her other work as I greatly worry about she might depict other mental illnesses. 

I want to make it clear that my opinions come from being someone with mental illness, who comes from a background of severe childhood trauma, and adoption, who has not only been in hospital but who have close family that has, and on top of this has a grandmother with a PhD in psychology.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Eating disorder, Grief, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, and Sexual assault

snapeygan's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Should definitely come with a trigger warning! Except that, I adored the book, but was less attached to the story/characters than with Saving Noah, but couldn’t tell u why. Once again, Berry’s writting is flawless and totally on point. I love the fact that she was actually a therapist, and love to think she was a bit like Lisa. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Death, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Grief, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail