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Serious Book Reviews presents: In Our House by Marala Scott @Maralascott @jgHankins22 #amwriting

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WELCOME BOOK LOVERS!

thisSerious Book2014-05-31_2220

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Today’s book is by author

MARALA SCOTT

IN OUR HOUSE

Reading In Our House was a heartbreaking, painful, shocking, maddening, torturous journey of misery, and yet this book is one of the most riveting, thought-provoking books I’ll ever read.

Marala shares a number of the horrific instances of physical abuse, but not as many as one might expect. She goes into detail regarding her mother’s downfall, and the frightening & chilling results of what happens when she turns her soul over to a devil-worshiping cult (you’ll want to pray before you read this and probably all the way through.) The importance I found in this was that it shows how years of abuse can dismantle the core of a person’s being and turn them into someone they never would’ve been otherwise.


Throughout the book I wondered why Alley, the mother, didn’t go to the police, or social services and demand something be done, especially after Colin Jr., still a very young boy, was beaten and nearly choked to death hanging like a dishrag in the clutches of his father’s hands, and then kicked while he lay on the floor passed out. I wept like a baby reading that. All he’d done was eat a scoop of mashed potatoes while he, Stan, Marala, and Clark were cleaning up the kitchen after their father, for a ridiculous reason, kept them from eating dinner. Colin had only eaten a bowl of oats that morning.

It seemed Alley wasn’t one to take crap from anyone and was able to fight back verbally, but you can’t fight the devil, and she wasn’t strong enough nor had the support she needed to stop this tragedy. I feel she probably did try to seek help at some point, but when you’re verbally and physically beaten down as she was it affects how you think, it takes your confidence insult by insult until it’s finally gone. That’s when she turned to, them. We must never judge, because we just don’t know all the facts.

Either God picked Marala for this journey long ago or she has to be one of the strongest people alive to be able to put her childhood behind her and become such a loving, vibrant person. Not only did she suffer through her older brother’s merciless beatings, but she too was brutally beaten with a belt buckle just because she refused to say she was crazy like her mother; and the horrible degrading insults she had to endure were beyond atrocious. NOTE: I did some searches on the web and was able to see interviews she’s given in the last few years. It’s nearly impossible to place her in this home we read about, but she was there and if she can forgive & heal, anyone can.

I keep hoping because things are more open these days that something like what happened in their home won’t and isn’t going on undetected, but then I think maybe I should know better. Read the newspapers. No amount of money or time would be too much to put towards saving even one child from a hell like these children lived. If everyone does even a small part in whatever way they can, just think of what a million of those smalls can do.

May we all pray for God’s help to save any child going through abuse, and if it’s anywhere near as bad as what these poor children went through, we must hurry. That has to be the point of books like this one: instead of turning away because we don’t want to feel pain ourselves, maybe we need to learn the truth so as not forget what’s happening on a daily bases.

I’m glad I read In Our House because I’m making a commitment to heighten my awareness about child abuse.

Marala has excellent writing skills and is able to bring the reader right into the home.

Websites:
http://www.maralascott.com

http://www.maralascottsblog.com

http://www.seraphbooks.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaralaScot

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/marala.scott

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 Todays book is by author

Francene Stanley.

Still Rock Water 2014-05-31_2035
The book is about Liliha and her attempt to find happiness after her divorce and at the same time encountering a phenomenon that is literally mind-blowing.

As the story opens Liliha has been swept from her bed and is hurling through space. She’s trying to make sense of what’s happening to her when she realizes she’s heading towards an accident below. Suddenly she shoots down through the roof of the car and joins minds with the driver. She realizes that by manipulating his thoughts and things around her she’s able to save his son’s life. These events happen throughout the book and we find out they started after she received a ring as a gift.

The reader can always tell when another one of these mysterious events is going to take place. Each time I saw it coming my heart would speed up and I couldn’t wait to see who and how she would save the day for someone. This was definitely my favorite part of the book. I would’ve loved these incidents to be a bigger part of the story.

It’s apparent from the first that Liliha’s marriage is in trouble. When it ends, she leaves her daughters in a boarding school near their father and moves from Australia to England where she stays with an older couple who have been friends of hers for years. They have a son named Oliver and it’s apparent that Liliha and he have feelings for each other. Oliver has a girlfriend (who belongs in jail), and Liliha is, sort of, seeing someone else.

While Liliha struggles with her feelings for Oliver, she tries to deal with her daughters, and that on again, off again relationship she has with a man who takes advantage of her kindness. During the times Liliha and Oliver were cooping with these other relationships, I couldn’t wait for them to get together, and I longed to be whisk away with Liliha into another mind travel rescue.

‘Tidal Surge’: by Francene Stanley:
USA: http://www.amazon.com/Tidal-Surge-Francene-Stanley-ebook/dp/B00DX5YLXQ
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tidal-Surge-Francene-Stanley-ebook/dp/B00DX5YLXQ

By Kat

My true writing career began thirty some years ago while going through a valley, alone. I’ve come to believe that we all have a purpose in life, our path to walk.

Now that my middle son Chad Engstrom died on October 14, 2014, the rest of my life is not lived for myself, but to leave his legacy, not only because he was my son, but because of his beautiful soul.

May God guide me…. For our earthly selves are far from perfect, but may we be perfect in His love.

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