L. A. Detwiler

WoW A Tortured Soul by L.A. Detwiler
This is a book everyone should read!
•
Sᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ---
Everyone has a breaking point.

At twenty, an unplanned pregnancy seals Crystal Holt into a marriage to the abusive Richard Connor. After a stillborn birth, Crystal insists they have the baby baptized postmortem. A cynic, a drunk, and a poor man, Richard has other plans.

When her monstrous husband tosses the baby into the woods to be forgotten, Crystal instantly spirals. After beating her within an inch of her life, Richard does something else he's done before--he disappears. This time, however, things feel very different...

With her husband gone, Crystal battles with the demons of abuse, dark childhood memories, and a declining mental state worsened by horrific nightmare sequences. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that something's not quite right about the way Richard disappeared this time, and
Crystal is in more danger than ever. After all, not all of the dark secrets belong to Richard.

Mʏ Rᴇᴠɪᴇᴡ---
I really can't put into words what this book made me think.
Sad, confused, judgmental, worried.... it really got me thinking.

Crystal being the devoted wife & mother everyone thought she should be.
Well she was devoted because if anyone could stay in that type of situation is devoted. It's sad! But she does it for her child! So I could totally relate to that.

This book goes inside the mind of Crystal & what mental & physical abuse does to another person. We think we know.... but we have no idea!
The way abuse impacts someone.
I couldn't even begin to imagine.
And does it impact Crystal?
She spirals out of control. And totally loses her S****!
Do I blame her?
Absolutely NOT!

It really hit me at the ending....
The Sheriff who comes to Crystal's house.
Everyone in town knew the type of person Richard was! Out of control, fighting, abusing his wife, the town drunk!
But no one did anything to help or save her. They turned a blind eye. When someone could have done something. Maybe Crystal's ending would have been different!

Rating:★★★★★

Thank You NetGalley/Publisher & Author for this complimentary E-Book!
@netgalley @ladetwiler… (mais)

This was a quick read, more novella length than novel.

Candace has not been home to see her mother in quite some time, and will come to regret this visit. All seems well at first, what could be nicer than catching up with old friends and seeing Grandma Anne for the holidays? Grandma has recently had to move in with her daughter (Candace's mom Marian) since she can no longer care for herself and keep up with her own home. Many of her belongings are banished to Marian's attic since there just isn't room. When Candace discovers the strange looking Christmas bell in one of her boxes she thinks it would be a nice thing to do for Grandma to put it on the tree. Turns out it wasn't nice, for anyone! Grandma has some very disturbing secrets and the bell is the catalyst that uncovers them, putting the whole family and Candace's friends in danger. I found the mother /daughter dynamic to be fascinating. Generations of women, going all the way back to Anne's mother did some pretty disturbing things that they convinced themselves was for the good of the family.… (mais)

This was a spook chill short story!

A little backstory without giving away spoilers!

Candace Mills wants to spend Christmas with her mother and grandmother so she goes home for the holidays. Candace decides to help out with putting up the tree and the decorations, but when she starts to pull out everything from the attic she sees a small box that is hidden almost out of sight. When she opens the box, she sees that it holds a unique Christmas ornament which is a Christmas bell, so on a whim she hangs it on the tree.

Once Candace puts the ornament on the tree the house becomes haunted with evil activity and when her grandmother sees the bell, she just starts muttering crazy talk. Candace along with her mother and grandmother now have to endure an evil entity that stalks them in their home!

What is the entity? Why is it attached to a Christmas ornament? Does the family survive the entity? No spoilers here as you will just have to read the book!

Thoughts:

This was a new author to me and the story just has quite a bit of spooky atmosphere weaved through the whole story that some parts where downright chilling! The last half of the book picked up speed with more things happening and I was literally riveted into place as I did not want to move out of my chair as I wanted to see what would happen next! Giving this book four spooky "chiller" stars!
… (mais)