Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Idealne dziecko by Lucinda Berry

10 reviews

pippamillerxoxo_'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug use, Eating disorder, Infertility, Bullying, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Torture, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Animal death, Grief, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Self harm

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

westernsunshine's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Murder, Physical abuse, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Animal death, Miscarriage, Drug abuse, Medical content, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Pregnancy, Death of parent, and Confinement

beckyrae's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Torture, Grief, Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Mental illness, and Death

Moderate: Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Miscarriage, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, Excrement, Gaslighting, and Infertility

uchihas's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

A fairly predictable story but the writing style, while a little flat in the beginning, was easy to read and flowed well. The story kept me interested regardless! Most of the characters were likable but Christopher was INFURIATING most of the time, and I wasn’t a fan of the ending even though it was the logical turn of events - just felt like things could’ve been tied up a bit more neatly. 

Please be aware there’s a somewhat graphic depiction of animal cruelty at one point! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal death, Excrement, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Drug abuse, and Drug use

wends_nblw's review against another edition

dark tense 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

2.0

i guess i was just expecting something.. more? i was waiting for the other foot to drop, but it never did. Chistopher was obnoxious, Hannah's character twisted into something I found quite bizarre

(really, she was suddenly crazed? i wished they just let her be paranoid without the sudden scribbled writings about the devil and angels; WHICH WAS NEVER ELABORATED ON!!)

, Janie was just.. awful and the "twist" (?) was obvious from the start. I think Piper was perhaps the only likeable character

despite her unprofessionalism within her work

. 

No ending, I'm curious as to her experience as a clinical psychologist, it makes a good amount of sense since the medical scenes with Dr. Chandler were good, but Chistopher??? Everything he did with Janie was completely inappropriate, no matter what. He came off as creepy instead of loving. 

Overall, despite what other reviews say, I think Berry should've amped up the disturbing content. Maybe not with Janie, but with Christopher. He makes excuses for Janie, but it was so annoying that she should have just said "fuck it" and made him completely under her spell instead of him pretending to care for his wife. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Death of parent, and Infertility

Minor: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Vomit

michelles_book_nook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

⚠️ TW: child abuse, infertility, drug abuse, animal abuse, mental illness, murder, parental death and brief mentions of miscarriages ⚠️ If you're looking for a deeply chilling psychological read that you won't be able to put down then you need to read this book! This book follows Hannah and Christopher Bauer, a happy married nurse and surgeon, who more than anything want a child. Then when Janie, an abandoned little girl, turns up at their hospital Christopher forms an instant connection with her and convinces Hannah they should take her home as their own. However, she's no ordinary child and proves to be more than they bargained for as her behaviour becomes increasingly disturbing. And as Janie’s behavior threatens to tear Christopher and Hannah apart, the truth behind her past surfaces and it might just be enough to push them all over the edge. This book weaves a dark web of suspense that you know is going to end badly but you just can't stop reading, while still having some truly shocking twists! Throughout the whole book you feel the need to check that you're reading a work of fiction because it is written so well that it could easily be a true story. I loved so much about this read but my favourite part was the multiple pov's between Hannah, Christopher and Piper, their social worker, because it made it feel all the more real and like you were experiencing all of the changing emotions as the story progressed. However, the ending felt quite rushed and it was left on a big cliffhanger which left a lot of unanswered questions. Overall though, I highly recommend this book but please take the TW's into account.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Death of parent, Drug use, and Murder

Minor: Miscarriage

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

silver_lining125's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Vomit, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, and Death

Minor: Drug abuse and Grief

amina2002's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

5.0

I knew that the child within this book was going to be something else but Janie was way worse than I expected her to be. She disrespected Hannah on a daily basis and drove her to a psychotic break.

She tried to kill Janie for all of the crazy things that she has been doing such as urinating everywhere, throwing feces on the walls, killing animals and bullying other children.

I honestly did not understand why Christopher always took the side of Janie even after it has been proved how manipulative she is. This book just threw me into a world wind and I can’t wait until the next book comes out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Violence, and Vomit