Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry

3 reviews

rebeccaelizabeth94's review against another edition

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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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uchihas's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

A fairly predictable story but the writing style, while a little flat in the beginning, was easy to read and flowed well. The story kept me interested regardless! Most of the characters were likable but Christopher was INFURIATING most of the time, and I wasn’t a fan of the ending even though it was the logical turn of events - just felt like things could’ve been tied up a bit more neatly. 

Please be aware there’s a somewhat graphic depiction of animal cruelty at one point! 
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elfmumma's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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