Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry

80 reviews

averageawkwardasian's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Version: audiobook narrated by Christine Williams, Erin Bennett and Dan John Miller

 

Start slow and warm then gets rather upsetting towards the end. The contrast paired with the rush towards the stark ending makes the whole experience more unsettling. 

The 3-person narrative brings different perspective to the same events and added more suspense and mystery.

Certain triggers in the later part of story might be hard to stomach.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Child abuse, and Infertility

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, and Mental illness

Minor: Blood, Confinement, Murder, and Medical content

amaranth_wytch's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pregnancy, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, and Grief

Moderate: Self harm, Torture, Violence, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, and Medical content

Minor: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Ableism

thechaoticreader_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

the perfect child was free on audible & decided to give this author a chance. by 20%, i stopped & ran straight to my kindle. while the audible was nice, it was too slow for me & i needed to dive deeper into the story faster. definitely a page turner & i couldnt stop until i finished it. i have to say… the ending was just not it. i love books that don’t always give happy endings but i felt like i didnt get any thing, not even so much of a tiny closure. it felt like the end of a chapter & not a book! but thankfully it has a sequel in which i’ll be reading right away. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Vomit, Violence, Terminal illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Pregnancy, Animal death, Death, Infertility, and Grief

Minor: Domestic abuse and Drug use

katelynndzindzio's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

If you have ever wondered if someone is born evil or if that is possible then Janie is here for proof. Chris and Hannah wanted nothing more than to have a happy family, as a surgeon and nurse they were the perfect parents for the problems that Janie had. Or so they thought. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Death of parent, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Child abuse, Miscarriage, Infertility, Grief, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Panic attacks/disorders

april0727's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.75

The ending was terrible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Violence, Death of parent, Mental illness, Murder, and Death

midnightrose_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry is a tense psychological-thriller that will make you question the ‘nurture vs. nature’ debate. Perfect for fans of the movie ‘The Bad Seed’!

Fantastic narition by Christine Williams, Erin Bennett, and Dan John Miller.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Infertility, Pregnancy, and Murder

aerialwhitney'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Child abuse, Animal death, and Abandonment

Moderate: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, and Infertility

twistykris's review against another edition

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This is my first Dr. Lucinda Berry book and I am curious to read more, but if all of her books have a non-ending like this under the guise of a cliffhanger, then I don't know if they'll be a good fit for me.

A very disturbing book (PLEASE check the trigger warnings) filled with moments that made me recoil in horror and more that made me roll my eyes.

WHY ON EARTH would you get a cat for a seriously disturbed child who has PURPOSEFULLY injured her "friend", just because she's experiencing some jealousy over a new baby?? HUH???? And I'm sorry but,  y'all 

The ending left a lot to be desired. I can be content with a more open-ended, unconcluded ending; I am also okay with an unhappy ending. But give us ANY ending! This book genuinely feels like the last chapter was accidentally left out, or the author just gave up writing and published it.

What happened to Janie? Did the treatment facility help (I was fulling expecting for there to be some hint that she injured to killed the woman running it)? What happens to Piper and her job? Does Hannah ever find healing? Does she divorce Christopher because he is the WORST? (But seriously, HOW was this man so fucking oblivious and selfish and dismissive of Janie's problems???) What happens with Greg's lawsuit? There was some sort of hint about Piper's relationship with Christopher- was it she just had a crush on him or was there something more? That felt loose and not developed at all

There are just so many unanswered questions and the ending feels very unsatisfying and lazy.

There was zero character development and despite there being multiple POVs, there was no differentiation on who was speaking.. they were all written the same way. And the audiobook quality was just.. not good? The first narrator (the one for Piper) sounded too muffled and quiet, and the narrator for Christopher just annoyed me (only because of the character himself, not the narrator) and I just ended up reading the e-book for the majority.

Honestly, the more I think about Christopher, the more angry I get. 
I've dropped .5 more stars just writing this review.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Child abuse

Moderate: Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Confinement, Infertility, and Murder

Minor: Physical abuse and Vomit

sincerely_inayah's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.75

This was every lifetime movie with an

extremely oblivious husband who believes in his demented child more than the wife hes known for far longer. Wanted to shake sense into him.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

gneumann's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

this was a really tough read. i should not have read this

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal cruelty, Confinement, Grief, Child abuse, Animal death, Death, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Medical content, Abandonment, and Excrement

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts