Review: A must read...
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 29, 2013
I've not been exposed to any kind of domestic violence in my life, and for that I'm completely grateful, but for many women, violent partners and husbands are a reality. As kids, they may have watched their father beat their mother into submission before turning around and taking their rage out on them. The physical bruises may fade away, but the emotional damaged is much, much deeper.Like all of Brandi Kennedy's books, she taken a somewhat taboo topic, and turned it into a story about a woman literally dying before she could find a way out of her abusive marriage. We meet Christine at her lowest point: she is about to be beaten so severely that she dies, and it is by her husband's hand.We follow this emotionally beaten woman through her journey from battered, bruised and laid up in the hospital, through to a woman gaining her confidence back. Relearning how to function in the real world again, she's faced with challenges that may seem trivial to us--like learning how to balance a check book--but for her, it's a huge step. Her husband had taken everything away from her: money, responsibility, the freedom to get a job, the freedom to have friends. She gave all of things up, but she refused to let him take her spirit.And it is this spirit which shines through in the book. Christine has to start her life over again, and with the help of Peyton Porter (I love this name), a victims advocate from the Knoxville Police Department, she starts doing that. She moves into a safe house, learns those vital skills she forgot, and works on becoming a self-assured, self-confident woman who doesn't cower at shadows anymore.But it's not just relearning to live that Christine needs to do. She needs to relearn how to love and trust men again, and that is facilitated by an old flame of hers that also happens to be her physical therapist and personal trainer. Aiden--her high school sweetheart--is back in her life, nurturing her, protecting her and helping her rebuild her life once more.People who have experience domestic violence or physical abuse may find this story a little confronting, but I recommend they read it anyway. They might just learn something from Christine and her own fight for freedom.