Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Saving Noah by Lucinda Berry

19 reviews

ksamaine95's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

I signed up for Psychological thriller.. this was giving horror. 

4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I give this rating because I can’t imagine how hard it was to write about something so controversial, triggering, and nuanced. This is how you use your pen to inform, confront and create space for difficult real life topics. not demonized, not romanticized. 

I would not say this made me question my morals or force me to “see both sides”. It did shine a light on the harsh extremes we put on delicate and devastating situations. 

As a story by itself I would give
2 ⭐️⭐️

I found the characters deeply irritating. I think the mother and father had to be rigid in their roles and stances for this to work. As someone as in the mental health field, I wasn’t triggered by the content as much as I was internally at war with my professional brains and my human/gut reactions to the characters & their responses. 

I spent the last three chapters repeating “girl — hell no!” I think the twist was necessary.  I called it early but felt maybe that would be too obvious.  I’m glad it was not what I was bracing myself for. 


I’ll probably sit with this one for a bit before reading more by Dr. LB. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

karlyf615's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Suicide attempt

aleen_elizabeth's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

luna_98's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

i don’t know how to rate this book. it was so good in the sense that it made me feel things, it left a mark on me. but i doubt i’d reread and i don’t think i would recommend it. the story is so raw, vulnerable, and difficult and i feel like it was written in a way only a child psychologist could pull off (hence DOCTOR lucinda berry!!). 
it altered my brain chemistry and made me uncomfortable and uneasy but because of that, it was an impactful and real life story. it made me question how would i handle this situation if it happened to me. it’s unlike any book i’ve ever read and part of me misses the person i was before reading it lol. 

in short, if you read books to make you happy and feel good, do not read this. 
if you read books to FEEL emotions and delve into the human experience, then proceed with caution. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Incest and Sexual assault

abbiebonnyman's review against another edition

challenging emotional fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Blood

katiearcher's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-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

4.75

How unconditional is your love for your child? Saving Noah tests the boundary of human empathy and how far a mother will go for her child, in spite of everything. It made me angry, sad, and confused, as I hurt for Noah and because of Noah. Not a five star because of some of the more graphic descriptions of abuse and illness. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

princess_marie's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Animal cruelty, Cancer, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

paperkindle's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-paced

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

3.0

This is a difficult book to review because of the subject. I felt his mother downplayed a lot of what he did. Saying things like "Noah’s case was the least serious. He was like the kid in treatment for smoking pot a few times surrounded by kids who shot heroin." And "Their (the girls) lives weren’t going to be ruined forever. They just weren’t. But, the world wouldn’t be satisfied until they’d annihilated him. He was more of a victim than those girls" SA has trauma on everyone, whether you're a kid or an adult. The ending explained a lot about Noah, I didn't see it coming. 

TW: rape, sexual assault, suicide attempt, suicidal thoughts, suicide, cancer, grief, violence, pedophilia

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child death, Drug use, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Rape and Vomit

hauntedantiqueshop's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

0.5

Hey, quick question. What the fuck was this??

The mom was so fucking insufferable, oh my god. It’s “yes my son did something terrible but can you PLEASE get over it?” every other sentence. I feel like this book tried very hard to garner support and sympathy for pedophiles, even making light of the molestation and that does not sit right with me. Perhaps I’m a bit of an extremist but I do think they should all d*e 🤭 btw, I didn’t appreciate the twist. The dad being a secret pedophile when he could have just been normal and against pedophilia and utterly disgusted with his child? Lame and he should have k*lled himself too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Blood, and Vomit

Minor: Animal cruelty and Cancer

This entire book is about a pedophile, features a lot of brushing off/under reacting of the abuse, and almost victim blaming tbh.

julienicole1106's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Blood, Death of parent, and Pregnancy