Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry

8 reviews

bekahzabel's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

4.0

The Perfect Child is told in alternating points of view. Focusing on a couple who’s struggled with infertility, a social worker assigned to a strange child abuse case, and a seemingly innocent mysterious child.  

All the Bauer’s ever wanted was a baby. When a mysterious young girl shows up at the hospital with terrible injuries, she wins over Christopher Bauer’s heart. The Bauer’s decide to take Janie into temporary foster care, with the intentions of helping her transition and adjust to a better life. As Janie’s behaviors and past begin to unfold, things seem to get darker at every turn and crossroads. 

Boy oh boy, things got pretty dark between these two covers. Very hefty child abuse and violence trigger warnings. 

For me, The Perfect Child had me white knuckling my kindle, and salivating for the next page. Even though I guessed some of the twists, this dark tale was a great read for me. My only qualm is how abruptly it wrapped up. 4/5 stars! 🌟

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Infertility, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Murder, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Medical content, Death of parent, Violence, Vomit, Animal death, Self harm, Miscarriage, Death, and Medical trauma

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

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

rebeccaelizabeth94's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Abandonment, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Excrement, Self harm, Murder, Vomit, Child abuse, Confinement, and Cursing

Moderate: Infertility, Physical abuse, Blood, Gore, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pregnancy

elfmumma's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Gore, Grief, Blood, and Child death

Minor: Child abuse

lapluie8's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Murder, Animal death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Vomit, Child abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Confinement, Death, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, and Torture

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Grief, Alcoholism, Blood, Eating disorder, Infertility, Sexual content, Medical content, and Toxic relationship