Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Idealne dziecko by Lucinda Berry

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

laurenellisx's review against another edition

dark sad medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Medical content, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Vomit

Minor: Miscarriage and Pregnancy

amaranth_wytch's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

southern_belle_books_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

Wow.  Wow, wow, wow.

I don't know where to begin.   This book was insane.  I sat down to read this at 12 and by 3 I had finished the whole book.  I physically COULD NOT put this book down! 

I don't think that I can properly explain what this book was.  It was the epitome of psychological thriller.  It was dark and... just crazy!

If you are into thrillers, read this!  BUT if you don't like dark and creepy books, please skip this one!  This book is as far from light and fluffy as you can get.  

I've been thinking about this book for a couple of hours and I'm still in shock.  I'm definitely going to have to read the sequel novella, because the ending was... wow.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

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

Minor: Domestic abuse and Drug use

fvreads'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
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

Minor: Domestic abuse and Sexual harassment

faithsbookreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This book was WILD. So many moments had my jaw dropping & gasping. However, it was a disturbing read. I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending. I think if the ending were a bit different, I would’ve rated higher, but due to the disturbing nature of the book & the not-so-great ending, I could only give 3 stars.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

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

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

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

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