A Welcome Reunion is a novella follow up to the full length book The Perfect Child. Lucinda Berry writes top notch psychologically twisted stories, all the more disturbing because of her background as a child psychologist specializing in trauma. I won't get too much into the plot of this novella as that would spoil some of the Perfect Child.

In The Perfect Child, Hannah and Christopher adopt a very malnourished and abused little girl named Janie. Literally everything hits the fan, and the book leaves us with a hauntingly open ending. A Welcome Reunion takes place years later, and I immediately felt connected to these characters again and very invested in their wellbeing. Berry really knocked it out of the park with drawing readers back in and creating so much depth with so few words.

I felt the ending of this novella was extremely abrupt and didn't really match the writing style of the rest of the piece. However, I flew through this and dropped every other book I was currently reading so that says a lot about how compelling it was. I highly recommend this and it's predecessor, The Perfect Child.

Readers will finally get the well deserved closure they've been seeking in this sequel to The Perfect Child! Janie is back, but as you can probably guess, the reunion is not so welcome. I was exceedingly happy with the finality after being so angry with the not-quite-wrapped-up ending of the first book. My only gripe is that I wish the story was longer and the ending more gruesome. My sick, twisted mind needed more torture.

Thank you to the author, Amazon and NetGalley for granting me digital access in exchange for my honest review!

Of all of Lucinda Berry’s book crazies, Janie has always stayed with me. I can’t really even talk about her books without saying, “OMG, Janie!”
Well, Janie’s back in this very, very short novella.
Maybe all of the reviews about Perfect Child made Berry want to wrap up the story a bit better, or maybe Janie remains her favorite demon child, too. Whatever the reason, she revisits Hannah, Christopher, and Janie 10 years after the ending of Perfect Child.
Janie is now 18 and has been released from the State program where she’s been since she was seven, following the havoc she wrought in the original book.
Hannah seems to have pulled herself together, but Christopher, oh my God, Christopher is the same idiot he was in PC. And now we have his mini-me in their son Cole.
But the book is so short that everything moves too rapidly. There isn’t much time for anything truly gruesome to happen, or any sufficient terror to arise, and those who were disappointed with the original ending, probably won’t be satisfied here.
Berry should have made this a full-fledged sequel. There was plenty of fodder for an adult, psychopath Janie story.
But, alas, we only get a brief taste. Just enough to bring back the horrible memories, but not enough to make any new ones.
I highly recommend reading Perfect Child before reading this. While the novella may stand alone, in a way, it really won’t have an impact without some history.
2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

Omg. I wish this sequel was longer!
I need more closure than this.
A short story that brought me back to The Perfect Child and all my emotions stayed in overdrive until the very end, again.
Loved it. Need more. 10/10.

Well that was a wild ride! A perfect little sequel to one of the most messed up books I’ve ever read- The Perfect Child.

This is the Sequel to “the perfect child” continuing the story of Janie, Hannah, Christopher and family. This was a fast easy read and I couldn’t put it down once I started it. I enjoyed reading it a lot and the ending was great. I highly recommend this!
Huge thanks to NetGalley and Lucinda for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

A Welcome Reunion is the short story sequel to The Perfect Child. We find out what happens to everyone many years later after Janie is released from detention and writes a memoir about her upbringing. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone so I won't share too much about the plot.

This story was just ok. It didn't hook me like The Perfect Child did. Maybe it was the length of it. I usually prefer novels over short stories. However, it was nice to see the same characters again and see what happens to everyone. There was nothing too shocking or unpredictable here. I don't have too much to say about this short story.

It is a quick read so I would recommend it to anyone that liked The Perfect Child and wants some closure on the story.

Thanks so much to Amazon and netgalley for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Well, I am a dummy and read this short story without realizing it was a sequel to The Perfect Child…but that’s okay because it was EXCELLENT, so much so that I started reading The Perfect Child immediately upon finishing so I could see where it all started with Janie, Piper, Hannah, and Christopher. Definitely give this one a read, it’s quick and offers a great conclusion to what was started in the first book.

Just WOW! Lucinda Berry does it again and hits it smack out of the park! Deliciously dark and creepy. Tough read but totally captivating. The characters were fantastic and had me flipping pages nonstop. Great little novella that sets a quick and twisty pace. Don’t miss this gem. Thank you NetGalley and Lucinda Berry for the opportunity to read and review this book

FINALLY!!! The sequel to The Perfect Child!! I won’t spoil anything in my review. Just know that Janie is still beyond messed up, but now she has her eyes set on Cole, the son of Hannah and Christopher. So freaking amazing and twisted. I loved every word.

No Spoilers, but this book comes after The Perfect Child.

Lucinda Berry is the queen of dark and believable psychological dramas. The Perfect Child is regarded by many as one of her very best books. Expectations for this book were sky high.

A Welcome Return revisits the characters from A Perfect Child eleven years later. Janie has been released from juvenile detention. Hannah and Christopher Bauer, the couple who adopted her as a child are moving on with their lives.

Janie claims to be reformed, has published a memoir and wants to reunite with the Bauers, who want to stay well away from her.

If you've read The Perfect Child you know this is going to get dark and disturbing very quickly. There are revelations and real pain, physical and emotional.

It hooks from the start and packs quite a lot into 82 pages, there are some graphic details to make you gasp.

It's a worthy follow on from The Perfect Child, the only downside in the length, I wish it was a full length novel. Still, well worth a read while waiting for Keep Your Friends Close which comes out November 7th.

Thanks to Netgalley and Amazon Original Stories

Janie has moved back to Hannah and Christopher's town 10 years after they had to relinquish their parental rights. Now 18 years old and renamed Hope, Janie has written a bestselling memoir about her journey with them and in juvenile detention, and how she has reformed her sociopathic ways. She wants to make amends to the couple, but they don't want to see her. And she just won't have it. What she doesn't know is that Hannah is ready to do anything to protect her family.
This psychological thriller is a short story, a sequel to The Perfect Child, which I read last year and I absolutely loved how disturbing it was (I don't know what that says about me...). So when I heard that Lucinda Berry was coming up with this short story and I saw it pop-up on NetGalley I had to put my hands it. It's told in dual POV, Piper (case worker) and Hannah, in first person. It's a very quick, entertaining and terrifying read, Lucinda Berry style. It was fun to get closure on the first novel (which remained fairly opened), but I was craving more as it left so many unanswered questions. Is it an opening to one more book? I felt the ending was rushed. I would also have liked to have at least a few chapters in Jamie's POV and get into her head a bit. Otherwise, this was twisted and chilling, just how I like my psychological thrillers!
I received an advance review copy of this book for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Snakes in the walls.

Shush......shush.

Lucinda Berry presents something from the dark, dark side of the shelf. There's enough Creep and Son and Daughter of Creep to fill a giant scrapbook.

Janie Bauer is on stage being interviewed by a top journalist. Janie has written a bestseller about her early life. Sitting prim and proper and well pressed, there is no indication of the gruesome start to her life. Janie was found in a Walmart parking lot in a diaper and covered in filth. She even had a dog collar around her neck. Small and severely undernourished, Janie wasn't a toddler but a five year old.

And here's where the Bauer family connects to this situation. Dr. Christopher Bauer was working at the hospital when Janie was brought in. Childless, he and his wife, Hannah, decided to adopt little Janie. And that's what opened Pandora's Box for them. Little Janie was gonna be BIG problems.

I've really enjoyed Lucinda Berry's novels. A Welcome Reunion should have been a full-out novel instead of a short story that flew by in a nano second. There were so many devious avenues that this one could have traveled down. And the ending? Not satisfying enough, but did provide closure. A Welcome Reunion is a rapid read that provides goosebumps upon goosebumps in its telling.

I received a copy of this short story through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Amazon Short Stories and to Lucinda Berry for the opportunity.

Thank you Amazon Original Stories for the ARC to read & review! I have been WAITING ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT for this since I saw it would be about Janie & the Bauers.

The child sociopath brought to you in The Perfect Child is BAAACK y'all! And she's no longer a child sociopath.....she's an ADULT sociopath! Wow, who would have imagine THAT progression! /s lol!

For so few pages.... this crushed it! I was SO MAD reading about how Janie was manipulating people even after she gets out after turning 18. Phewwww she is infurating! I was tense reading this whole story. It has been a lot of years since I read The Perfect Child so a teensy tiny bit more background on Hannah & Piper may have been beneficial but this was a super quick read as-is. I didn't have to invest too much time into this & I ended up loving it.

This was a bit abrupt! I loved the perfect child and was able to dive right back into this fictional world of Janie, Hannah and Christopher. I loved until the last 2 chapters. I know it’s a short story but beginning is a great buildup and the end felt rushed and too easy. Overall still enjoyed!

The perfect follow up to The Perfect Child. It's like that trainwreck you can't look away from. When I saw there was a short story sequel, I snatched that up so quick like it was a gossip magazine. 🤣🤣

Short story for this was great, otherwise it would have dragged. The author does have a habit of constant repeating of plot points that drives me nuts, but the story was good.

Also again with the abrupt ending.

I really enjoyed this short story. It was a quick and easy read and I didn't have to over think to remember what happened in the first book.

I loved how fast this went, you were just thrown into the drama on page one. I really enjoyed the insider info and seeing how the story played out. I did feel as though the end was rushed, maybe she's coming out with another one for this. That would be wonderful. Lucinda Berry can do no wrong in my book.

First off, I do want to say that I was worried going in without rereading The Perfect Child first, BUT Lucinda does such a good job of reminding us of the important parts without making it obvious that’s what she is doing?

Second, this had some dark scenes which we know I always love.

Third, Wow did I forget how CRAZY Janie was and in this one…. still crazy let’s just say that.

Finally, if you’ve read The Perfect Child.. READ THIS!! It was such a great short story sequel I loved that loose ends were tied up & yet it still has me asking some questions???

In true Lucinda fashion she did leave me wanting more, but this was great

A Welcome Reunion by Lucinda Berry is a compact, often disturbing, thriller that really packs a wallop.

Hannah and Christopher Bauer adopted Janie when she was seven years old. Turning their lives into a living hell, Janie was put into juvenile detention, but is now eighteen, out, and promoting a tell-all memoir. Will her sociopathic tendencies terrorize the Bauer family all over again?

Fans of The Perfect Child will want to read this follow-up. If you are new to the writing of Lucinda Berry, be sure to add her to your TBR immediately.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for an ARC.

This was the short story I never knew I needed after The Perfect Child. I read this in one sitting. Janie is all grown up and it was an adventure getting to see her in the future. If you’ve read The Perfect Child you definitely want to read this!

Thank you NetGalley, Lucinda and Amazon original stories for the chance to read this.