Review: Good but Confusing
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 19, 2013
This story is about recovery from an abusive relationship. Jasmine's fiance has attempted to control her life in every possible way. When he cuts off their engagement, she is forced to face the choices and responsibilities she has gotten herself into. With the help of her parents, counseling, and old friend Rory, Jasmine recovers from the abuse and discovers that she can make her own decisions after all.However, I found Jasmine's friends who help rescue her from her fiance's control confusing. They appear to be more angry with her at times than sympathetic. Rory often tries to control Jasmine's actions and thinking, acting similar to the jerk she almost married (albeit out of affection rather than a hunger for power). During her recovery from abuse, Jasmine continues to allow her friends to tell her what to do, because she is apparently incapable of thinking correctly on her own, having been deceived by her fiance and his church. I was unsure at times whether the author was trying to show how bad her fiance Philip and his church were or how dumb Jasmine was. Once when she wore a head covering for church, Rory tore it off her head in a an angry statement against what he saw as abusive control. Since she was on her way to "healing" from previous abuse, Rory's violent action and interference with something she had chosen to do seemed out of place in abuse recovery. Other than that, it was a pretty good story.