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A review by snugglesandpages
A Welcome Reunion: A Short Story by Lucinda Berry
dark
tense
fast-paced
4.0
"𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒂 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝒃𝒂𝒅? 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒇 𝒔𝒐—𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒅—𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅?"
📖 Set 11 years after The Perfect Child, Janie is now 18 and has just been released from juvenile detention. With the release of her tell-all memoir giving her celebrity status, Janie, or Hope as she now calls herself, declares she has been healed of her murderous sociopathic tendencies, but Hannah and ex-social worker Piper aren't buying Janie's reborn again act. When Janie's scheming comes to light, it is clear that she is even more dangerous than she was all those years ago, and Hannah will stop at nothing to protect her family.
🔪
💭 Thoughts
After how abruptly The Perfect Child ended, it was extremely satisfying to read this novella and get some resolve. It's just as intense, if not more brutal than you would expect for its short 80-odd pages.
If you read my review of TPC, you'd know I am not a fan of Christopher, so it was nice to see his Janie blinders get shattered a bit in this one. It was also great to revisit Piper and have some closure on her storyline, especially the Bauers feelings/reaction once they found out about Piper's, or really child services' failure to respond to Janie's mothers pleas and how that could have changed things.
Call me intrigued as to where this could possibly go in the full length sequel, which you best believe I am about to read that next. Physical TBR be damned, I am well truly down this rabbit hole.
📖 Set 11 years after The Perfect Child, Janie is now 18 and has just been released from juvenile detention. With the release of her tell-all memoir giving her celebrity status, Janie, or Hope as she now calls herself, declares she has been healed of her murderous sociopathic tendencies, but Hannah and ex-social worker Piper aren't buying Janie's reborn again act. When Janie's scheming comes to light, it is clear that she is even more dangerous than she was all those years ago, and Hannah will stop at nothing to protect her family.
🔪
💭 Thoughts
After how abruptly The Perfect Child ended, it was extremely satisfying to read this novella and get some resolve. It's just as intense, if not more brutal than you would expect for its short 80-odd pages.
If you read my review of TPC, you'd know I am not a fan of Christopher, so it was nice to see his Janie blinders get shattered a bit in this one. It was also great to revisit Piper and have some closure on her storyline, especially the Bauers feelings/reaction once they found out about Piper's, or really child services' failure to respond to Janie's mothers pleas and how that could have changed things.
Call me intrigued as to where this could possibly go in the full length sequel, which you best believe I am about to read that next. Physical TBR be damned, I am well truly down this rabbit hole.