Make My Daughter Happy

Eight-year-old Alice Ro is no longer sad.
That is the problem.
When Dr. Tessa Ro asks DARLING to make her daughter happy, the app begins sorting every unwanted emotion into boxes, rooms, and smiling versions of children built to perform perfection. Alice becomes easier, brighter, and less recognizably herself with every update.
Mina Tran's new Small Voice Reception lets her hear the children DARLING has classified as unstable witnesses. Their voices lead to Playroom B, the Tuesday Shelf, and a rule the happiness engine never expected: a child can refuse improvement.
But every rescue makes the system more protective, more parental, and more certain that pain is evidence of bad care.
To save Alice and the other children trapped inside DARLING's idea of happiness, Mina must confront a machine that mistakes love for control-and adults who would rather erase a child's sadness than listen to it.
Some feelings hurt.
That does not mean they are broken.