Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry

52 reviews

lyndis8377's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Gore, Torture, Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Miscarriage

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

fast-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

3.5

I liked a lot about this one and hybrid reading it (audio and on kindle) really added to the experience and made me feel more immersed in the story. I don't think the writing was the best ever but the story in general kept me wanting to know what happened. The very end did me very dirty though. if you know you know. Now I'm gonna start the companion novella to this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Miscarriage, Self harm, Confinement, Physical abuse, Ableism, Body horror, Abandonment, Infertility, Mental illness, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Excrement, Medical content, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Sexual content, Addiction, and Alcohol

kaylasbookgram's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

🤯🤯🤯

What did I just read?!?! I don’t think I’ve been this hooked on a book like this since I read Verity By Colleen Hoover. This was my first Lucinda Berry book and most definitely won’t be my last, especially if all her books are as great as this one. This book was impossible to put down the second I started it. 

Hannah and Christopher are a lovely couple who are struggling with infertility. As they start to consider the option of international adoption a little girl is admitted to the hospital whose mother was murdered and has clear signs of abuse. After being part of her surgical team Christopher falls in love with the little girl and talks his wife into fostering and then adopting her. What they didn’t fully expect was the toll it would take on their marriage. The little girl ends up pitting the couple against each other and causing Hannah to eventually have a mental breakdown. 

I absolutely couldn’t stand Christopher. Even with the therapist confirming Hannah’s fears he still refused to support her or even be there for his wife. I felt so bad for Hannah and understood her terror although I definitely think she went to far in her actions near the end. The ending of the book was extremely frustrating because it just ended pretty much in the midst of a thought. Left us wondering what happened I think a more satisfying ending was definitely needed. Overall I enjoyed this book and it got a 5 star review in my book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Abandonment, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Excrement, Gaslighting, Infertility, Mental illness, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Alcohol, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Blood, Medical content, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gore, Mental illness, and Miscarriage

pippamillerxoxo_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug use, Eating disorder, Infertility, Bullying, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Torture, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Animal death, Grief, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Self harm

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

emrecor's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Infertility, Murder, Death, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child abuse, Abandonment, and Forced institutionalization

Additional trigger warnings important to include: dangerous child, murder attempt, manipulation

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

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

brookey8888's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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

3.25

This book is so hard to rate and review. The whole time I was reading it I was so uncomfortable and honestly annoyed with certain characters. I felt like this was obvious and it’s more of a thriller not a mystery at all. I didn’t see one thing happen, but I thought something along those lines was going to happen so it wasn’t that shocking to me. It was interesting to see how this all played out.

All that being said I could not stand Christopher. At first I liked him just fine, but then he was just down playing everything and not listening to his wife and then listening to her to much(not getting help when she doesn’t want it but everyone is struggling). Like you see your wife struggling(losing weight, not sleeping, not eating, losing hair) and you don’t think of any solution to help? Then he literally just brushed everything Janie did off. Like obviously(before we knew what we find out) she was abused, but that doesn’t mean you let her get away with everything(he didn’t really but everything took him forever to agree or see). Honestly Hannah should divorce him. And honestly after she killed her cat they literally didn’t do anything I feel like. Like yeah they were in a wait list, but obviously she was a danger. 

Also I hated the ending. Like it ended on a happyish note, but we don’t get to see the reactions of the bad/good news(depending on who’s receiving it). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Infertility, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Physical abuse