Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

11 reviews

alanaschulte's review

hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Medical content, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

dkamada's review against another edition

hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

Really sweet story, seems like it’s targeted at a slightly younger audience, but I appreciate a feel good story where everyone gets their wish in the end

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Death, Incest, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Chronic illness, and Miscarriage

lillypad827's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I absolutely loved this book. I devoured it in two days, stayed up til midnight two nights in a row to finish it. It had drama, intrigue, tragic backgrounds, love, and so much more. Gave me TJ Klune vibes, very heartfelt, and made me tear up at the end. Sometimes books that end with everything tied up neatly in a bow and everyone happy can fall flat for me, but not with this.

I wanted everyone to have a happy ending and that’s just what happened.

Definitely excited for the author’s second book to come out later this year!

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent and Child death

Minor: Terminal illness, Miscarriage, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, and Medical trauma

emilywemily6's review

hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This was a lighthearted, wholesome, easy read. I liked the premise and the general storyline, and fell in love with Hugo and Jack. This book felt very juvenile though, like just a couple changes would have made this a middle grade novel. It touched briefly on a lot of heavy topics but I would have loved more depth and length in those discussions. I didn’t particularly care for Lucy, she also felt immature and irresponsible in a lot of ways- like I was reading about an 18 year old and not a 25/26 year old. Overall this book was sweet but could have been a knockout if it was handled with different aims.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Cursing, Grief, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Bullying, and Chronic illness

Minor: Miscarriage, Homophobia, Pedophilia, and Medical content

oxfordcommas91's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This book made me feel all the warm fuzzies. A grown up Willy Wonka, where our heroine competes to win the newest book by her favorite childhood author on his secluded island in New England. While there’s some fast paced adventure moments, this book is sweet and soft and can be savored with a nice mug of tea curled up on the couch. Easily binge-able, this is at its core an emotional tale of found family and the lengths we will go to in order to be loved. It has some heavy elements but isn’t sad, and handles complex topics of grief, illness, and even abuse with careful thought and consideration. It was a wonderful book to start the year with. I wish these people existed in real life, they are the types of characters you wish could come off the page and into your living room for a nice dinner party.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness

Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Child death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Medical trauma, and Abandonment

Minor: Pregnancy, Cancer, Abortion, Car accident, and Miscarriage

abbyjme's review

hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

4.0

Going into this book, I felt the first few chapters real little slow, but it was all worth it for the way that I fell in love with all of the main characters. I truly admired how the story explored parenting and how the effects of our upbringing last a lifetime. Not even just parenting, but how literature can raise a child. 

I saw the review VE Schwab left for this book and I could agree more “ Clever,dark, and hopeful—a love letter to reading, and the power that childhood stories have over as long after we’ve grown up”

I’m not gonna spoil anything but let’s just say I was happy scream crying while reading the last few chapters.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Grief, Drug abuse, Abortion, Alcoholism, Addiction, and Death

mollywill's review

adventurous hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Child death

Moderate: Medical trauma, Miscarriage, and Drug abuse

Minor: Pedophilia and Sexual violence

knightylight's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Miscarriage, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Cursing, and Pregnancy

Minor: Homophobia and Pedophilia

This book feels like a coming of age movie- but if coming of age happened when you were 26+- mixed with the feeling of watching a Hallmark Christmas Movie. There's a lot of heavy themes here, but there's also a lot of heart and fun moments too. A lot of these characters have been through a lot of terrible things- sadly not anything unusual in our day and age. But despite all of it, it's definitely a story about hope, and "finding your village" as the story puts it. This book is a good contemporary fiction for those wanting to be reminded of the importance of community and making wild wishes

bookcasey's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Abandonment, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Death of parent and Grief

Minor: Child death, Medical trauma, Cancer, and Medical content

gholdreith's review

adventurous challenging dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Chronic illness, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Death of parent, Child death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Incest, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Death, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship