Review: Fighting for Freedom by Brandi Kennedy
September 01, 2013
He'd beaten me TO DEATH.
For years, I'd been taking it, accepting the beatings, silently
believing the worthlessness he saw in me. I'd obeyed his rules, I'd catered to
his whims.
I woke up in a hospital bed. Bruised, broken, in shock.
That was The Moment.
In that moment, I knew that I had to get out. I loved my husband.
I missed him. But I needed more than he would ever offer. I deserved more than
I'd been given, more than flying fists and fragile tempers.
I deserved to wear what I chose. I deserved to go where I wanted.
I deserved goodnight kisses. I deserved gentle touches. I deserved to feel
LOVED, and not POSSESSED.
I deserve to FIGHT for my FREEDOM.
“Have you ever had to smile carefully at the person who
punched you repeatedly in the mouth, pretending to be happy to see them because
if you weren’t happy, you’d be beaten?”
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.
“Peyton. You have to be aware that I can’t protect myself
with a court order. Other than balling it up and throwing it at him, I don’t
see a piece of paper being able to save my life if my husband is released from
jail.”
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.
“He raised one hand to tangle in my hair, urging my head
down so that my cheek pressed against his chest, sighing deeply as I tuned into
his heartbeat. “It’s still yours,” he whispered. “It always was.””
Fighting
for Freedom is the first part of a two part
series, with Still Fighting for Freedom
set for release in January 2014
About the author...
Brandi
Kennedy is an American writer who is finally living her childhood career dream.
As a child, books were her world, and through adulthood that love of words has
never changed. A woman of varied interests, Brandi loves photography, music of
all kinds, knitting, crochet and of course, mothering her two young daughters.
Currently,
she finds her home in the heart of Knoxville, Tennessee, among the mountains
and the members of her extended family, where she spends her days at the
computer, bringing fresh and incredibly real characters to life.
Stalk Brandi here...
On Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/author/brandikennedy
On Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/AuthorBrandiKennedy
On Blogger, http://authorbrandikennedy.blogspot.com/
On Twitter, https://twitter.com/BrandiKennedy84
And On Goodreads, http://www.goodreads.com/AuthorBrandiKennedy
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