Review - Believe like a Child by Paige Dearth

Book Summary from Amazon

Alessa is just seven years old when her uncle rapes her for the first time. As the years pass, his sexual appetite becomes more voracious and his perversion more twisted, until the abuse has become almost a daily ritual, with the unspoken involvement of the girl’s mother. She flees her home to escape this hell, only to find herself descending into a more dangerous one.

Wherever she goes, however, trouble keeps seeking her out, until she meets three people who change the course of her life forever. Though Alessa’s bittersweet journey is perpetually fraught with challenges, she does, nevertheless, manage to find fleeting moments of joy along the way. But as she begins to settle down, a ghost from the past comes to haunt her again, threatening to destroy the very foundation of her small world and plunging her back into an abyss of despair, until she makes her final bid for escape.

Publication date - June 22, 2011

My Review - 4 1/2

I would start out saying I was an emotional train wreck from beginning to end, deep breath.  This is one of the most emotional heart wrenching dark family horror stories I have ever read but with an alluring character, Alessa, she made it worthwhile.

This was a novel but rang so true.  This book was inspired from the authors life, a balance between what lives on in her imagination and the evil that lurks in the real world.  This was a story she used as therapy for her own personal abusive turmoil.

Hardcore details have to be appreciated before trying to read this book.  Rape, incest, murder, drugs, abandonment, homeless life, physical abuse and scary drama.  There is no holding back, all the bad things in life you will find in this book, frightening disturbing scenes.   This story will pull you in from the first paragraph and won't let go until the end.

Alessa is a joy to know throughout her journey, you cry with her, for her, praise her, celebrate with her, fear for her and torture yourself with why is she a continuous victim but has the strength to go on. 

The character building was executed perfectly, many you will hate but again Alessa helps you to see the good in others even if it is only a glimmer.  Alessa always believed if she died no one would notice and care but in the end she touched so many and helped to save so many lives from their personal turmoils that she finally achieved life.  Note, Believe Like a Child has an amazing ending but no means is a happy ever after one.

Favourite quotes

"I guess I've never seen it as survival.  It was just my life.  Most kids are raised on Cheerios, but I was raised on sex."  41% on Kindle

Listen, until other people walk in your shoes and live your life, they can't know or understand anything about you.  64% on Kindle