Whoa. I’m not one for short stories, novellas, whatever you like to call them. Seems as if they’re over as soon as you become truly invested in the story. But, Lucinda Berry is one of my favorite authors so I thought I’d give it a try. Dude. This story is DARK. Full of suspense & super creepy. If you have 90 minutes you’d like to fill with dread, excitement, suspense….dive right on in. Kinda glad ur wasn’t full length. May have given me PTSD. Joking, kinda. A great, terrifying short story. Leave the lights on when you read it!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

For 82 pages, this novella is super-fast and action packed. We follow a mother and social worker dealing with the fact that a highly disturbed child that used to be in their care is now out of juvenile detention. Janie has a very intriguing backstory, and I thought a lot could have been gained from having chapters in her perspective.

My issues were that the characters felt off and the dialogue left a lot to be desired and felt stilted/robotic. On top of that, the ending seemed so melodramatic and silly. I thought for an author who is a “clinical psychologist and leading researcher in childhood trauma” that we could have a more nuanced view of Janie, but unfortunately she was simply a cardboard villain who’s only purpose is to raise hell and be vanquished.

Where do I start but to say wow what a story.
This short story pacts a lot in a few pages. Janie’s story is a interesting and horrific. It makes you wonder what a childhood like she had does to a child’s mind at that age.
We start with Janie being interviewed after she wrote a book and is now being released from the juvenile system after doing horrific things to people and as she was telling her side of the story I was getting scared for everyone especially Christopher and Hannah as if I knew them. Author Lucinda Berry really knows how to pull you in and keep you wondering what will happen next.
If you’ve read The perfect Child you will want to read this. I recommend reading this thriller.
Next to read by this author is Keep Your Friends Close coming out in Nov I am excited to read. Thank you netgalley and Amazon original story and Lucinda Berry

This was phenomenal!! I absolutely devoured it, as I do most of Lucinda Berrys’ books!! I loved the major plot twists throughout!!!

This is my first time reading Lucinda Berry’s work, and overall I really enjoyed her writing style and I’m looking forward to reading some of her other books. After reading, I realized that I should have read "The Perfect Child" first. However, even with that said, I still really enjoyed the short story and there was plenty of backstory.

Hannah and Christopher Bauer's nightmare has continued, as their troubled adopted daughter Janie has been released from Juvenile detention. Janie has now written her memoir and seemingly to wants to make amends.

I found the short story had a quick start that immediately grabbed my attention. Becasue of this I read it in one sitting. I do wish the ending hadn't ended so abruptly, as I felt I needed a little more resolution. But overall I really enjoyed this.

Thank you NetGalley and Lucinda Berry for the opportunity to review this short story. My review is my honest opinion.

This sequel had me in a choke hold the entire time! Thankful for the early access as I could not wait to read this and anything written by my favorite author!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
This short story follows Hannah and Piper in alternating points of view decades after the murder of their sister. The child, Janie, who committed the crime was the adopted child of Hannah. Janie is now an adult who is speaking out about her abusive childhood and her trauma. She is also secretly communicating with Hannah’s son.
I really enjoyed this fast pace short story which seems like an extended epilogue of “The Perfect Child” by the same author. It was creative and well written. I think I would have liked it even more if I read the novel prior, but nevertheless, it was a great read.

I haven’t read The Perfect Child, and I’m not generally a fan of the evil child trope, but I was definitely intrigued by the premise of an evil child now grown up and supposedly reformed, returning to the lives of the family who she’d previously tortured. Had the writing lived up to that premise, I’d have rated it higher, but I don’t think it was all there for me. That said, I’d definitely give Berry another shot and am interested in reading what she releases next.

Janie, Piper, Hannah, and Christopher return for a short story with a shocking ending. What would you do if a child had completely ruined your life and turned into a murderous sociopath of epic proportions? This picks up after Janie has been released from jail and is starting a new life. Has she changed for the better or is she a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I guess you’ll have to read to find out. Lucinda- I’ll be anxiously awaiting a follow up story and I absolutely loved this mini sequel to The Perfect Child!

Lucinda Berry does it again! She sucked me in. I devoured this book. This was the perfect sequel to The Perfect Child. Dark, gritty and oh so good.

Book Releases August 15, 2023

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the E-ARC

All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.

This story reminded me of Esther in Orphan movie. The story is so dark and the character, mainly Janie was so twisted and terrifying. I made a mistake reading this book without knowing it is a sequel to The Perfect Child. So it was a bummer for me. On the other hand, I've got a reason to devour in Lucinda Berry's books. I liked and enjoyed her way of writing. If you're looking for disgusting, dark, manipulative characters and plots, I suggest you to read any of Lucinda Berry's work.

Thank you NetGalley and the author for an advance e-copy of this book

I loved “The Perfect Child” so this was a nice short story where we learned what happened to the characters 13 yrs later.

As true to Lucinda Berrys writing, this was fast paced and had some gut wrenching moments.

Lucinda Berry is an automatic buy for me! I will definitely be purchasing this book when it comes out and make anyone who listens to me to read from her.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for opportunity to read and review this arc honestly.

This short story draws you in from the start. The storyline was great, and I enjoyed how the characters were portrayed. I do wish the story was longer but only because I enjoyed it so much; overall it was the perfect length for a short story but actually felt fully fleshed out and complete.

Edit to add* I didn’t realize this was a continuation for her other book A Perfect Child which is on my TBR list. Definitely going to read that one asap. Additional note: the story is actually pretty well done without having read the novel before it. I had enough of the information to read and follow it well.

Chris and Hannah took in little Janie after she was brought in the hospital and was deemed a child of extreme abuse but that was 10 years ago back when Hannah sister was still alive Janie was seven and Cole was just a three-month-old baby. Janie sentence to 10 years of juvenile incarceration for the murder of Hannah sister and now that she’s out she has a book all about how she was abandoned by Kris and Hannah abused by her biological parents and ultimately how everyone victimize poor little her. Hannah is disgusted by Janies whoa is me tour Pippa was once Janie social worker and wind up being blamed for everything that went wrong in the little girls life and unlike Hannah she is watching everything Janie has done since her release. She knows how Hannah feels about the girl that is why she is so shocked to see her waiting outside of one of Jamie‘s counselors office. It seem Hannah was doing everything she could to avoid the X juvenile prisoner but she recently found out something that made her nothing she went too far… Way too far! Unfortunately Hannah and Chris haven’t seen anything yet. Janie is spreading lies about Pippa, Hannah and Chris but she has gone and convinced the wrong person she truly is the victim. Although this is a short novella book and it is the second book after a novel about the adoption of Janie you can still read this on its own because I had never read the first book and found this one and throwing entertaining face paste with a wild OMG ending! I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it I do wish I would’ve read The first one only because it two sounds super interesting but don’t feel like I missed out on anything as I said. I want to think Net Galley and the publisher for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

This little girl…what a monster. While The Perfect Child was super difficult to read, I think this follow up would’ve been better as a full length novel. I was left with so many questions and would’ve liked more back story on several parts. Plus, the ending was very abrupt. However, I did enjoy the follow up and breezed through it.

Shout out to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved The Perfect Child and the sequel didn't disappoint. The only thing I can say is that I needed more! This could have easily been a novel and I feel like I've been cheated. I love that we get closure after then extremely ambiguous ending that The Perfect Child had. Lucinda Berry packs all this short story full of all things Janie and it is a wild ride.

Rating: 3.5/5

Wow this story pulled me in from the start. The author did and excellent job of painting a picture with only a handful of pages to do so. I felt this was on the way to 4-5 stars, waiting for the crazy twist at the end…. But no. It was a face value ending.
😭

Lucinda Berry did it again. As if I'm surprised.

The Perfect Child has been my favorite of her books so far, I was so excited for this sequel. I have to admit I was upset it was a Novella and not a full length novel.

But I loved all 82 pages of her brilliant mind!

This follows the story of Janie as an adult, who manipulates Hannah and Christopher's son into believing her horrible telling of the events that happened in the first book.

4/5 stars

4⭐️

A psychopath reformed???! After Hope gets released from the psychiatric ward for committing horrendous crimes at the young age of six; the people she traumatized grapple with wether she is reformed or what her motives are for coming back.

Okay so just to make sure everyone knows this is the sequel to Lucinda Berry’s The Perfect Child. I did not realize this going in so now I’m back tracking a bit to go read the first one. Honestly though the short story stood on its own. It hooked me right from the beginning with its unique setting and hit punched me with all the acts of horror we unraveled through the story. My only issue is that it leaves off on uncertain terms so we’re not sure what happens to the main characters at the end.

CW/TW

Infertility
Child abuse

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy! I’m a huge Lucinda Berry fan and was super excited when I saw there was a follow up to The Perfect Child! Now, that isn’t my favorite one of hers but I definitely enjoyed the read, this one.. not so much. I thought the novella could have definitely been an entire book and I think I would have rated it better but the whole thing felt like a good build up with a subpar ending. After I was done reading this.. I was pretty disappointed but will say I was left wanting more. If I was Lucinda Berry, I would take this back - make it a full thought out book and I think it would land better. Overall 2.5 ⭐️ rounding down to 2 ⭐️ on Goodreads.