Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

79 reviews

sydoodle's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

5.0

This is one of my favorite books of all time.

---

Content Warnings

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

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

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

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."

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent

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

mtnest's review

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad 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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Miscarriage

bringmybooks's review

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

tl;dr → as a middle grade novel, this would have been fantastic

B̷R̷I̷N̷G̷ B̷O̷R̷R̷O̷W̷ ✨ 𝗕𝗬𝗣𝗔𝗦𝗦 ✨

I loved the idea of this novel, I loved the characters, I loved the island setting, I …. liked the book okay enough. 

That being said, I truly don’t think it should have been marketed for adult readers. 

Hear me out! Every element that felt weaker could have been stayed exactly the way they were if the elements around the children and the original book series had been emphasized. (For example, a lot of the relationships and interactions between the adults seemed oversimplified in ways that I would have expected from books geared towards a younger audience.)

I think that the pure simplicity of loving books and how much magic books hold for us will make this book work for a lot of people, and there are parts that brought a huge smile to my face, but it just missed the mark a bit overall. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

hrmason's review

dark emotional inspiring mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Emotional abuse and Physical abuse

kitausu's review

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. 

---

Content Warnings

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

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

infjkiki's review

adventurous emotional 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

I very rarely write reviews but this was one of the best books I have ever read. 

I highly recommend it to anyone who found solace in books to escape childhood trauma. 

The author does a beautiful job of highlighting the role that books can play in a person's life especially during their darkest points. I've said it before and I'll say it again, books saved my life. This book shows the life changing effects that a book can have on many people's lives and I just think that is so amazing. 

I cannot count the number of times I cried while reading this book. It was so beautifully written and I cannot wait to read another book by this author. 

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, and Miscarriage

Minor: Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault

louisekf's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, and Alcohol

jaimee_reads's review against another edition

DNF very early on. I can already tell I'm not going to like the way adoption is portrayed in this book. Lucy is obsessive and naive and is in no way fit to be a parent in her current situation. And no amount of money will change that overnight. Also her "wishing game" with Christopher seems super problematic and manipulative, setting him up with false hope.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

sheryl's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad 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

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol