PAPER DOLL LINA - ROBYN LUCAS
T/W - ABUSE - EMOTIONAL, PHYSICAL
PLOT - Lina Henry is married to David- an investment banker and is a SAH mom to 2 teenaged kids living in a beautiful home in Atlanta suburbs. To the outside world it's a perfect family, but no one's knows that Lina's paper doll life is actually in shambles due to her controlling and abusive husband.
An unexpected friendship with another man and reconciliation with her best friend she tries to come out of her marriage. But as David senses this he becomes more dangerous and lina must do everything she can to protect herself and her kids!!
MY THOUGHTS
A very important topic which is prevalent worldwide!! The author has portrayed Lina's character her internal dilemma, her submission yet at the same time her strength and her resilience to become independent and help her kids no matter what is remarkable and so well depicted!
Some women are lucky to get away quickly some not as much..and all this is possible with help of your friends and near ones and this book has some great secondary characters to help and support Lina!
Though a difficult topic to read the writing is good that I couldn't put the book down!!

I give this one 4.5⭐

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book is a great reminder - we don’t ever really know what is going on behind closed doors in other people’s homes. What may outwardly appear as a loving, successful family, might actually be a home filled with abuse and despair. Lina is a stay at home mom to 2 teens, wife to a successful banker, they are a church going family, living the dream. What we learn, though, is that Lina is verbally, emotionally, and physically abused by her husband. He is manipulative and controlling. The writing was so real and believable, I felt tense and anxious in many places throughout the book. This is obviously a tough subject but it’s a book very much worth reading.

This book is scary, not because it is a horror novel (although it could be thought of that way) but because it is happening every day all over the world. Domestic abuse doesn't discriminate by race, financial status, religion or geography. I liked how Robyn Lucas wrote all the characters and how she portrayed how abuse affects the whole family as well as friends. She also worked in all the types of abuse be it financial, physical or emotional/mental. This part of the story line just broke me. Abuse is about control, over money, body, mind and spirit.

The romance the main character has with a super famous actor was a fun one, it was sexy without being gross, funny and romantic. I appreciated that the author added the kids feelings into the scenario. We all have had a crush or two on famous people so this was a nice touch. However, I don't think both story lines together was very realistic and it belittled the spousal abuse story a little. I still loved the book and enjoyed it immensely and would read more by this author in the future.

Robyn Lucas's story of a woman in an abusive marriage isn't easy to read but it was also hard to put down.

Lina seems to have the perfect life - married to a successful investment banker, mom to two teens, living in a beautiful house. But what people don't see is the manipulation and emotional abuse she and her children suffer. It isn't until she reconnects with her best friend and develops a relationship with an extraordinary man that Lina realizes she needs to escape her marriage, but the more she asserts her independence, the more dangerous her husband becomes.

The themes in 𝗣𝗔𝗣𝗘𝗥 𝗗𝗢𝗟𝗟 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗔 are heavy and eye-opening. Lucas makes you understand why Lina has stayed with her husband - he's isolated her from friends and family, belittles her to chip away at her self-esteem and makes her think she'll be nothing without him - while you're also hoping she'll finally leave. I loved the relationship between her kids and how her bond with them strengthened as they realized what they were dealing with, as well as Lina's friendship with Nancy and the support she provided. There's a subplot about a second chance at romance for Lina that I wasn't as into (I wish she'd found the will to leave without another man) but her story kept me turning the pages until the explosive end.

Thanks KCCPR, NetGalley & Amazon Publishing for a copy to review.

Such a good story that had me gripped from the start, I couldnt put it down, both heartwarming and heartbreaking in equal measure, i really enjoyed it.

What a powerful, powerful read. You know I love a good book that helps me stretch and grow as a person and this one did that for me in unexpected ways.

Lina is a wife and a mom to two incredibly bright teenagers. She lives in a beautiful neighborhood in Atlanta. Her husband is a well-to-do investment banker. From the outside, it looks like she lives the perfect life. But in reality she is control by an abusive husband who chips away at her self esteem and independence. When an unexpected new friendship blossoms and she connects with friends of her past, Lina starts to realize just how dangerous her husband really is and what she has to do to keep herself and her kids safe and maybe even find happiness again.

This book is powerful. One thing it did for me is to really help me see what’s going on in the mind of someone who is experiencing this type of abuse. It’s heartbreaking. It’s a deep and heavy read but so well written! I read this with some other survivors of domestic abuse and it was emotional as we talked through this one. One thing I realized was how much this book needed to be out there especially for those who have been in this situation and need to feel seen, heard, and understood. Thank you Robyn for putting this story out into the word!

Lina was this amazing woman and character that was being pulled down and manipulated by her husband. This book was so well written that I could feel the pain for Lina, and I just wanted to give her a hug. She has to go through her own process throughout this novel, but in the end I was so happy to see her fight for her own happiness. I would highly recommend this book.

Great premise, good characters but a little too predictable of an ending for me. All in all enjoyable.

Overall Impression: This book is powerful and emotional in all the right ways. Major trigger warning about domestic abuse though.

From the outside, Lina lives the perfect Atlanta life: big house, fancy car, 2 smart kids, and perfect husband, but not everything is as it seems.

When on a trip to LA to help her kids promote their teen workout app, Lina meets a male celebrity and starts a text friendship with him, slowly becoming something more. Meanwhile, Lina is coming to terms with her husbands’ escalation from controlling to physically abusive. The more she begins to stand up for herself, the more dangerous he becomes.

This book had a lot going on at once, but I didn’t find it to be too much. Lina is an imperfect character trying her best to juggle being a good mom, obedient wife, and her own person. Listening to her husband’s gaslighting had me cringing constantly where I sometimes had to take a break to cool off. Watching him escalate was terrifying but also revealing in how many woman live daily, regardless of their appearance or socioeconomic status. Just because someone has money doesn’t mean they aren’t trapped in a daily hell. Hearing the kids talk about their father was a bit triggering for me at times, but not a fault of the author, only shows how realistic this book is in portraying DV. I’m so glad I got to do a discussion after with other readers about it to decompress. Thank you so much @letstalkbookspromo for the egalley and book chat in exchange for this honest review.

I could go on and on about this book, but I think it’s 100% worth the read, one I’m not likely to forget.

National Domestic Violence Hotline:
Call 1-800-799-7233
Text Start to 88788

Paper Doll Lina is not an easy read. You should know up front that the main character is the victim of domestic abuse, and there are scenes that hurt to read.

That being said, I could not put this book down. I was rooting for Lina from the beginning. Her resilience, despite the gaslighting and terror from her husband, is amazing. Her strength of character for her children is incredible. Lina captured my heart. I am so glad I got to read this!

This review is part of a book tour organised by Berit talks books

Lina was so brave. This is my first major thought about this book.

Domestic violence - in all its form is sadly more common than we think. In both men and women.

Although saying I enjoyed this book sounds completely wrong I am so glad that the issues of verbal abuse, emotional abuse and manipulation are being talked about.

It is such an important subject and hats off to the author for doing it so well and so sensitively.

Paper Doll Lina was an unsettling book that was hard to put down. Please understand that when I say "unsettling", by no means am I saying it wasn't a good book. Quite the opposite - but the content was definitely unsettling. I've read books with domestic abuse in them, but so often, it focused on the physical abuse. This was the first I've read that really looked at the mental/emotional side of it in depth. The mind games, the gaslighting, it was all so heartbreaking and made it so clear how someone could feel trapped in a situation like that.

***The rest of this review contains mild spoilers. Do not read any further if you do not want to learn anything beyond the synopsis.***

I really loved Lina as a character. While she was by no means perfect, and she made some questionable decisions, her life with David was just heartbreaking. I really appreciated her love for her children, as well as that difficult decisions she had to make for their sake. When is enough, enough? When is keeping your family together more detrimental to your children than splitting up? These are the decisions she had to tackle while being made to feel worthless, defenseless and trapped.

One thing I would have liked was for the story to go on a bit longer. The ending was not a cliffhanger, but seeing as Lina spent the majority of the book struggling, I would have liked to have spent more time with her character when she was filled with joy.

I appreciated that the fact that even though she had the love and support of a high-profile actor with plenty of money to support her and help her out of her situation, she really got out of it all on her own. That's not to say that Noah wasn't helpful and supportive in his own way, but ultimately when she got herself away from David and started a new life, she had cut Noah out. She did it all on her own.

Another thing I thought was really cool is that one aspect of the story closely mirrors the author's life. In the book, Lina's two teenagers create a website that they build and she helps market and promote. The website really takes off and her kids experience success. In reading the author's website, I learned that her two teenage children created a mental health app that helps people in crisis. I thought that was a really cool tie-in into the book. On a heavier note, I also learned that the author has her own story to tell in regards to domestic violence. While I have not learned the details of her story, it is heartbreaking to know that the inspiration for and content of this book may be based on her personal experiences.

I do hope this book can help anyone that is in a similar situation to Lina to realize that domestic violence is never okay. Mental abuse, gaslighting, and coercive control are NOT okay. This book shines a light on that and will hopefully give others the strength to get themselves out of those types of relationships.

An emotional portrayal of domestic violence.

As someone who was the victim of emotional abuse I was hesitant to read this and worried it might feel too triggering, but actually this story is very validating. While it is not an easy read it is so important to read about these situations to help people feel less alone for dealing with these situations.

This story felt so accurate and realistic. It was so easy to understand why the main character felt stuck. It was so easy to see all the reasons that the character felt like she should stay, it was easy to see what she was craving and wanted, It was also easy to see why she was scared, I just feel like even though readers wanted her out it was easy to understand why she didn't rush out. Which can be a very difficult thing to portray in novels like this, but the author really nails it.

I didn’t really get into this. And tbh had it not been a buddy read I probably would have DNF’d. There was potential for a good story but so much of it was monotonous and repetitive and then other parts were just way out there.
What should have been a suck you in story of an inter racial couple with a history of domestic violence and controlling, emotional abuse was just meh at best. The main character jumped from her abusive relationship to a new relationship with someone famous without any thought of time to herself or to therapy or anything. There was so much potential here and it missed it.
Thanks to Netgalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

Paper Doll Lina introduces us to Lina and David Henry, a prominent couple from Atlanta, well known in church and social circles. Together with their two teenage children, they live an enviable life by many people’s standards.

But behind closed doors their lives are anything but perfect. David is often moody, even quicker to anger when alcohol factors in to the equation. Lina tries desperately to make David happy, only to realize more and more this will never be the case. She knows their relationship isn’t right, but walking away completely would jeopardize everything she worked so hard for, especially when it comes to her kids.

Then Lina meets a man who makes her question everything she’s always accepted in a relationship. At first the two are just friends, but the further she finds herself pulling away from her husband, the closer she finds herself getting to this new man. As David’s actions intensify, Lina finds herself struggling to stay a step ahead. Can this paper doll break free of her fragility, or is she destined to be one dimensional forever?

I’m not going to lie- this is an upsetting read and definitely comes with trigger warnings regarding abuse. Your heart breaks for Lina and her children. You can’t understand how women like her don’t just walk away, but the more you think about the complexity of these situations, you can see how things often aren’t cut and dry. While readers will certainly feel for Lina, I would have liked her to come to the conclusion she can be okay without the presence of another man in her life to help get her there. No matter how healthy a new relationship might be, it would be even more rewarding if Lina found the strength in herself, by herself.

Important storyline about domestic abuse. Lina will do anything to protect her children. The one part I had trouble with was Lina's relationship with a celebrity. It seemed too unrealistic to me.

Paper Doll Lina shares with the reader that abuse exists in many forms - physical, mental and emotional. Lina Henry on the surface is living the perfect life in a gorgeous home with great children and a husband who provides for their every need. But behind closed doors, her husband manipulations and behavior are escalating, creating fear within her and her children.

A chance meeting with a renowned actor and a rekindled friendship with her college best friend, empowers Nina to taken action. How far will it go before she can save herself and the two children who need their mother?

A necessary book riddled with heavy themes and a sub-plot about trying again at love. It will give the reader all the feels with passages that will leave you gutted. Paper Doll Lina will grab you to the very last page.

Thank you to Let's Talk Book Promo, Robyn Lucas and Amazon Publishing for the complimentary copy.

This book gave me all the feels. It was truly hard to read due to some of the content (physical and emotional abuse), so read CW or tread lightly if this could be hard for you. I connected with the characters so deeply (well all but the jerk husband). Seeing what happens in these toxic relationships is very eye-opening and tragic. Seeing how a woman of color can feel so alone without support of the authorities while also going through an abuse relationship is truly so incredibly heartbreaking. Seeing the hoops Lina had to jump through in order to feel safe was so hard.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC. Pub day: Sept 1

“Paper Dolls came to her mind in that moment, two dimensional, pretty little things with permanent smiles, wide empty eyes, and the best wardrobe.”

Some books you just really connect with on a deeply personal level. This was one of those books for me. It’s not for the faint of heart as there are some parts that are very difficult to read. As a domestic abuse survivor, I felt so connected to the main character Lina, and my heart broke for her over and over again. She feels like a shell of a person who is putting on a brave face, but is in absolute turmoil. Her husband, David is a perfect gentleman in public and then a monster behind closed doors.

Lina is so resilient and strong, but leaving is not as easy as it seems. How will Lina escape this nightmare?

Trigger warnings: abuse, rape, miscarriage

Thank you to LetsTalkBooksPromo, Amazon Publishing, and Net Galley for the ARC.

While difficult to read at times, Paper Doll Lina definitely made the reader realize how very demoralizing psychological abuse can be. There was not only the toll the abuse took on Lina, but on her children also.

I did find parts a little unrealistic - not everyone has a friend who will swoop in with their checkbook to hire a fantastic lawyer, nor do most women in these types of situations know celebrities who will fly them somewhere in their personal planes...

That said, there is a lot going for this book. It will be interesting to see what this author writes next.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and publisher for an ARC at my request. My thoughts are my own.