Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

15 reviews

keelirae113's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad fast-paced

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

5.0

The author said it best, “this book is for you and all the kids who, in dark times, find a light shining from the pages of books.” 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Miscarriage, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child death, Mental illness, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Addiction, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

emmakchapman's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad 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: Death of parent

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Medical trauma

kaylokay_'s review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Abandonment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Medical trauma

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

lizzymorang's review against another edition

emotional hopeful slow-paced

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

2.5

I did find myself wanting to return to this story and it's quite an easy read, but there are just so many issues that weren't handled well. Almost every relationship dynamic in this book is weird and even inappropriate in some cases.

I was hoping the protagonist would see how wrong she was by the end and become redeemable, but this just seems like wish fulfillment for selfish, naive people. Not for me. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse and Sexual assault

alanaschulte's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

dkamada's review against another edition

hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

Really sweet story, seems like it’s targeted at a slightly younger audience, but I appreciate a feel good story where everyone gets their wish in the end

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Incest, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Abandonment

lillypad827's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

I absolutely loved this book. I devoured it in two days, stayed up til midnight two nights in a row to finish it. It had drama, intrigue, tragic backgrounds, love, and so much more. Gave me TJ Klune vibes, very heartfelt, and made me tear up at the end. Sometimes books that end with everything tied up neatly in a bow and everyone happy can fall flat for me, but not with this.

I wanted everyone to have a happy ending and that’s just what happened.

Definitely excited for the author’s second book to come out later this year!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Medical trauma

emilywemily6's review against another edition

hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

This was a lighthearted, wholesome, easy read. I liked the premise and the general storyline, and fell in love with Hugo and Jack. This book felt very juvenile though, like just a couple changes would have made this a middle grade novel. It touched briefly on a lot of heavy topics but I would have loved more depth and length in those discussions. I didn’t particularly care for Lucy, she also felt immature and irresponsible in a lot of ways- like I was reading about an 18 year old and not a 25/26 year old. Overall this book was sweet but could have been a knockout if it was handled with different aims.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical trauma, and Abandonment

Minor: Homophobia, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, and Medical content

oxfordcommas91's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.5

This book made me feel all the warm fuzzies. A grown up Willy Wonka, where our heroine competes to win the newest book by her favorite childhood author on his secluded island in New England. While there’s some fast paced adventure moments, this book is sweet and soft and can be savored with a nice mug of tea curled up on the couch. Easily binge-able, this is at its core an emotional tale of found family and the lengths we will go to in order to be loved. It has some heavy elements but isn’t sad, and handles complex topics of grief, illness, and even abuse with careful thought and consideration. It was a wonderful book to start the year with. I wish these people existed in real life, they are the types of characters you wish could come off the page and into your living room for a nice dinner party.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Cancer, Miscarriage, Car accident, Abortion, and Pregnancy

abbyjme's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

4.0

Going into this book, I felt the first few chapters real little slow, but it was all worth it for the way that I fell in love with all of the main characters. I truly admired how the story explored parenting and how the effects of our upbringing last a lifetime. Not even just parenting, but how literature can raise a child. 

I saw the review VE Schwab left for this book and I could agree more “ Clever,dark, and hopeful—a love letter to reading, and the power that childhood stories have over as long after we’ve grown up”

I’m not gonna spoil anything but let’s just say I was happy scream crying while reading the last few chapters.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, and Abortion