Gosh, I was so looking forward to this after reading The Perfect Child in one sitting and getting that god awful excuse for an ending. This, however, felt like such a downgrade from The Perfect Child. Not only in terms of writing and storytelling, but somehow I felt the ending was worse.

Friends of mine love this author and which is why i wanted to give this a chance. Its just not for me which is the only reason for the 1 star since you have to give a rating

I read The Perfect Child and I absolutely loved it! When I saw Berry had written a follow up novel, I was super excited. Unfortunately, this book did not live up to my expectations. I love Berry’s novels and will continue to read her work but this one was not for me.

For an honest review, I was given an ARC. A gripping novella in the style of Lucinda Berry - you can't put it down. I read it in one sitting, not hard, but was engaged in what Janie was doing and why. There are some triggers (emotional abuse). As a sequel, it continues and leaves it possible for more. The ending was a little flat but overall a good read.

Lucinda Berry does it again! This is one author that has never (and will never) let my weird, thriller loving heart down.

Before reading, you need to know this is a short story follow up to Berry’s book The Perfect Child. Without reading The Perfect Child, you may not understand A Welcome Reunion.

I was thrilled to have a follow up of an amazing book and peek into Janie’s life again. Lucinda Berry is one of my favorite authors and I’ll follow her novels anywhere!

I read the perfect child before this, and it blew me out of the water. Creepy children are terrifying, and Lucinda Berry wrote it so well. HOWEVER, this one was not exciting at all and very rushed. I know it was a short story, but I think it could have been better executed.

This was a thrilling and captivating short story that WENT THERE !!! I will definitely be picking up The Perfect Child to get the back story …

I think to really enjoy this dark, short novella, it’s a benefit to have read the perfect child. That’s because this novella is about the same child, but now she’s released into the world again, and the family haunted by her, will need to handle what comes next. Trigger warning: emotional and physical abuse. You can’t have a faint heart reading this, because you will read about acts of violence that are hard to imagine. Berry has previously worked as a clinical psychologist, and I’m sure she draws from some of her experience and knowledge to dredge up scenarios that gets under your skin. We all know that there are some real psychopaths out there, and the novella shows how a female psychopath my harvest her skills and terrorize others. After she was found abused and neglected, Hannah and Christopher adopt young Janie. They take her in and give her a safe, welcoming home. It’s not long before Janie’s behaviors become not just disturbing, they’re down-right lethal. I do wish it was a little longer it seemed to have wrapped up a little to fast.

This one was really good but I wish I had read the first book! Highly recommend reading that one then this will make a lot of sense. This story was a great tie to the OG novel. It left me with questions and honestly just grateful this girl isn’t in my life! I will definitely be reading more from this author!

Thank you for Netgalley for this Novella read!!!!!!!!
What a thriller, could not stop reading from the moment of download!
Kept me engaged thru-out
Read the Perfect Child!!! as it is the Novella to the full length novel
You will enjoy this read!

This was definitely a short read and I did not read the original book that these characters come from, however I feel that I would like to read this at some point to get more of the details of the occurrences referenced in this novella. I felt that this story culminated in a very quick and unrealistic way, however it may have been appealing to Hannah because of what she experienced with Janie. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley. I thought this was an ok read.

After the way The Perfect Child ended, I had no choice but to pick up this book. A Welcome Reunion follows the story of Hannah and Christopher Bauer, a married couple whose adoptive daughter, Janie, once ruined their lives in every way possible. Flash forward 10+ years and Janie has left juvenile detention and is back to tell her version of the tale.

Just like the first book, A Welcome Reunion is a brilliant example of a domestic thriller. It's dark, it's gritty and it keeps you on the edge of your seat; I flew through this novella. Be warned: this has a similarly blunt ending to The Perfect Child which is equal parts amusing and annoying. It's a great way to keep you thinking about the important themes within the book, but frustrating not to have the full picture.

Thanks to NetGalley for the much-appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

A Welcome Reunion by Lucinda Berry is a short story/novella sequel to her book The Perfect Child. Majority of the readers were of the opinion that the first book needs to be read before reading this short story, which I didn't 😅. The question is will I read the first book now and the answer is probably not. I think this short sequel had enough of a background to the first book for me to guess what might have happened. Plus, none of the characters proved likeable enough for me to want to sit through an entire book reading about them. Apparently, Janie the psycho, adopted daughter gets what she deserves in the end of this story but I am not sure how that solves the issue of Cole Bauer being completely under her spell before the story ends.

My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher Amazon Original Stories and the author for the e-Arc.

I wish I would've known beforehand to read The Perfect Child before reading this short story. I would definitely recommend reading that book first before this novella. Regardless this intense dark short story had me hooked from page one. If you love intense thrillers then this book is for you. I can't wait to read more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for my complimentary copy.

I read The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry last year. It was highly disturbing, but I just could not stop reading. I was pleased to find a second book on Netgally and immediately requested it. A Welcome Reunion was a quick read with short chapters. There is a nice twist at the end. Highly recommend to those who read the first book of this series.

This was a great short story! It’s got me interested to learn more about this family and I love how the author uses real world explains to blur the lines of fiction.

A Welcome Reunion: A Short Story
Lucinda Berry
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
Pace: Fast
Available on Amazon and KU

As soon as I seen Berry was working on a continuation of The Perfect Child I was so freaking excited and knew I needed to experience it immedietly

And what a shocking way to wrap up the story of creepy Janie Bauer

But defenitly read The Perfect Child First, I promise you won't regret it

Despite this being of such short length, only 82 pages, it really did come with the perfect amount of drama, action, and revenge

I loved revisiting the Bauers and meeting Cole as a teenager and seeing where everyone ended up many years after the crazy events that went down in The Perfect Child. This is not how I seen things playing out, like at all. MIND BLOWN

Berry sure knows how to pull you in and keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time all the way up to the last page.

With all that said I still want more. I know. I know. Greedy much!?! But the ending did feel a little sudden and although this answered a lot of the unanswered questions I had I now have a whole new entire set of questions

Thank you to @netgalley and @amazonpublishing for the ARC in exchange for my honost thoughts and opinions.

A couple of years ago, I read Lucinda Berry's book The Perfect Child where we met Janie who was taken in by Hannah and Chris Barrett. They couldn't have children of their own and fell in love with this abused child. However, life wasn't to be all fun and games as it turned out Janie was anything but The Perfect Child and ended up killing Hannah's sister by pushing her down the stairs. Now Janie is 18 years old and has been released from Juvie and has written a memoir all about her experiences and she has changed her name to Hope. The whole world might be captivated by this, but those close to her which includes Hannah and Piper know that Janie will never change and is still as psychotic as ever. When Janie contacts Cole - Hannah and Chris's son and fills his head with lies and now he is ready to run away with her, Hannah knows that there is only one thing she can do as she can't lose her son to Janie. This was a quick read and put into perspective, how far a parent will go to save the ones they love from those who can harm them. I do wish we had seen a bit more interaction between Janie and Chris as those two had an unhealthy bond in the first book. But this was a good read to throw us back into Lucinda Berry's world of psychopathic children. I would strongly suggest, only read A Welcome Reunion once you have finished The Perfect Child.

What a powerful, gut wrenching story! I wish this was longer though for how short it was it explained the whole story perfectly. A true story of what a mother would do to protect her family against something or someone so evil. I really enjoyed this one!

3.5 stars -- short and a good thriller is not a little predictable

Janie is the last person Hannah and Christopher Bauer want to see again.

But Janie’s moved back to Clarksville. She’s no longer the frail child Hannah and Christopher adopted over eleven years ago. The child who destroyed their lives. Now Janie is out of juvenile detention—a beautiful, confident young adult—and publicly promoting her new tell-all memoir.

At just eighteen, Janie has a violent and tragic story to share, brimming with grisly details. Details the public can’t get enough of…and that the Bauers can’t bear to relive. Janie has taken a new name and claims to have reformed her sociopathic ways. She’s ready to make amends. But when the Bauers refuse to meet with her, she takes matters into her own hands.

After the social worker formerly assigned to the case makes disturbing revelations about Janie’s calculated behavior, the Bauers brace for Janie’s next move, determined to protect their family—at any cost.