Lucinda Berry

Be careful what you post online. Your next check-in might lead him right to you... A serial rapist is kidnapping teenage girls. But he's not interested in just any teenage girls-only virgins. He hunts them by following their status updates and check-ins on social media. Once he's captured them, they're locked away in his sound-proof basement until they're groomed and ready. He throws them away like pieces of trash after he's stolen their innocence. Nobody escapes alive. Until Ella. Ella risks it all to escape, setting herself and the other girls free. But only Sarah-the girl whose been captive the longest-gets out with her. The girls are hospitalized and surrounded by FBI agents who will stop at nothing to find the man responsible. Ella and Sarah are the key to their investigation, but Sarah's hiding something and it isn't long before Ella discovers her nightmare is far from over.

Appetite for Innocence

I’m starting this with saying if you are interested in this book please check your trigger warnings because this is extremely dark and the topics are really tough when consuming. 

Gosh, the stress that Lucinda’s books have put me through is hard to put into words. The emotional rollercoaster I went on reading this made me feel so many things and made me at times take a step back. The way Lucinda’s psychological thrillers have a way for you to think about the characters in different ways is also insane.  This a really good book but draining at the same time, not in a bad way, but in how invested I was in the story. 

Priscilla Stanfield

I’m starting this with saying if you are interested in this book please check your trigger warnings because this is extremely dark and the topics are really tough when consuming. 

Gosh, the stress that Lucinda’s books have put me through is hard to put into words. The emotional rollercoaster I went on reading this made me feel so many things and made me at times take a step back. The way Lucinda’s psychological thrillers have a way for you to think about the characters in different ways is also insane.  This a really good book but draining at the same time, not in a bad way, but in how invested I was in the story. 

Omnia AlYousef 

I understand Sarah is a victim too, but I am so annoyed with Ella’s mom bringing her Home with Ella!!!!!!!

Kaytlynn Friesen

4/5 stars: I highly suggest reading this book slowly as there are a lot of triggers that could set anyone off. It is very dark and disturbing. Otherwise, characters are well written. Wish we would have learned more about John's background.

Nichole Bogard

My heart is utterly broken, shattered to pieces on the floor. One minute I am all puffy faced and crying and the next I am completely numb trying to compartmentalize all the things I have read. If emotions can be devastated that is where at am at this moment. I am not sure I will ever recover from this book and its story will stay with me for a long time.

A serial rapist is out there preying on young teenage girls. He finds them through social media and studies their habits for weeks until he has their entire routine down. He stalks them until they are alone and then he abducts them and takes them captive in his basement.

This story flips between then and now being told between the viewpoints of Ellie and Sarah. It details that time they spent while captive and the time spent after their escape. We follow the struggle of the pair acclimating back to what life was like before the abduction. 

Lucinda Berry wrote a very intriguing story that kept engrossed until the very end. She delivered a gripping and entertaining ride that I shall soon not forget.

Amanda Autumn Berrey

This book was so good. There were so many moments in this book where it got so dark I didn’t know if I could keep reading, but that’s also what made me keep turning the page. This book was absolutely amazing and I highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys Psychological Thrillers.

Grace Holding

** spoiler alert **
           The reality of this book makes it more scary, how what happens in the pages can happen to anyone you know, including you...
How it shows the danger of social media, that us kids don’t see or don’t fully fear, and what can happen when you post everything about your life in it.
The main characters are relatable, the girl that develops Stockholm syndrome for being there for so long and the one that suffers through everything and search for a window of opportunity, not giving up who she is no matter what, to scape from the nightmare.
This is a thriller that can really keep you awake even when you’re not reading it, with the horros, the reality of everything, all the twist and turns.

Jolie

How do I start this review? Ok, maybe by saying that to date, this has to have been the creepiest book that I have read. Told from the viewpoints of Sarah and Ella and told in the past and present, I just got the chills from reading it. I just couldn’t place what was going to come next and there was some doozy of plot twists. I should also mention that there are several triggers in the book. So if you trigger easily, I wouldn’t read it.

Normally, I don’t like it when a book jumps from the past to present and back. Also, I don’t like it when there are many switches back and forth between characters. But, with this book, it worked and the author did a great job of letting you know when the book was in the past, when it was in the present and who was talking. The beginning of each chapter had the character’s name with (past) or (present) next to it. So there was no confusing about who was talking and if they were in the past/future.

I liked the warning that was throughout the book: Too much over sharing on any/all social media websites. That is what made it so easy for John to find his victims. He was able to track them, research them, through their Facebook profiles, their Instagram accounts and find out all about them. And since he wanted virgins, it made it easier for him to find those who took purity pledges. I have an 11-year-old and this is exactly my fear as she gets older.

My heart broke for Ella and you could see the change in her throughout her entrapment. She went from fighting with everything she had to just accept the inevitable to actually having the courage to do what Sarah couldn’t/wouldn’t. But what broke my heart, even more, was when she was rescued. She was so filled with guilt over what happened to Paige (even if it wasn’t her fault). Her depression and coping mechanisms, once she was home, was totally believable.

Sarah, however, I didn’t like. I mean, yes, I felt bad when I eventually found out what happened to her when she was younger and what she did to survive that first couple of years. But when other things were revealed, my feeling bad for her quickly evaporated and all I began to feel was disgust. Not going to get into what exactly happened but I was pretty shocked by the depth of her involvement in things at the house. Let’s just leave it at that.

The last few chapters of the book were a surprise and I was pretty happy with how things ended. But, I was a little creeped out by the last chapter.

How many stars will I give Appetite for Innocence: 4

Why: This is a genuinely creepy book that is going to give me nightmares. The characters were very well-developed and you couldn’t help but get attached to them.

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes but with a warning about triggers that I will list below

Age range: Adult

Why: Violence and language. Scenes of child abuse, dog attack, and rape. These could be triggers for some people and I would recommend reading with caution if you are triggered by them.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

Appetite for Innocence

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