"Everyone has a breaking point..."
Rating: 3.5/5
I was offered by L.A. Detwiler, herself to read an arc ebook of A Tortured Soul. This is my first arc and I couldn't have been happier to read and review it. Thank you so much for letting me read your book!
“Everyone has a breaking point…”
There couldn’t have been a better statement to describe this book.
I just finished this at 12 am and I could simply not sleep with the ending of this book. Wrapping my head around the story of Crystal and her abusive husband, Richard. Going over everything that happened.
After years, of enduring her father’s personal religious views of what women should be and what is allowed. Crystal grows up believing that it is okay for men to be abusive towards women to keep them in line. That her womanly duties involve cleaning and tending to her father and someday her future husband’s needs whatever they may be. Her father physically and emotionally abused her all throughout her childhood. One day when Crystal’s father has her run an errand she meets Richard who she finds refreshing and sees him as her escape from her father. However, shortly after they’re married she quickly learns Richard is no better than her father, in fact, he could even be worse.
Years after they’re married, Crystal then has a stillborn birth, and shortly after Richard goes missing. With no one around that cares, Crystal tries to stick to her womanly duties while living in fear of when Richard might return. However, things slowly appear to not be as they seem. Crystal can feel something’s wrong.
Starting off things were slow. I didn’t truly get hooked until Crystal’s first night after her husband disappears and the nightmare she suffers. After this first night, I was hooked. I became invested, wanting to know what happened and what Crystal would do.
After this first night, I was hooked. I became invested, wanting to know what happened and what Crystal would do.
With the story being told the majority in Crystal’s point of view, I couldn’t help ask myself “how reliable are you?” There were holes in the flashbacks to Crystal’s past and how she spent her days while Richard was missing. I started to make assumptions.
The story starts to become repetitive as Crystals goes about her days without Richard. Even though her nightmares start to become more and more gruesome, I started to lose interest. It’s not until the very end that you finally learn the whole story of what happened that week. The ending was triumphant, sealing the deal for me in this book. It was nothing that I was expecting, but once it was revealed everything made sense in all the things I had initially missed.
If you’re not put off by domestic abuse this is a great read. I don’t want to say I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, because I didn’t. There were parts that made me cringe and I felt unnerving so please keep this in mind before picking it up
A Tortured Soul will be released later this year, expected release date - August 11, 2020.