3 out of 4 stars
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Painful Reflections is written by Artie Woodington and is a realistic but fictional story about pain, abuse, heartbreak, and triumph. It is the second book of a series. When she was a little girl, Chock was raped by a man that she trusted. She also had to put up with racial bullying at her school. When she was sixteen, Chock married a man named Jimmy, who turned out to be an abusive monster. She suffered with him for twenty-three years but finally decided to leave him for good. She knew that if she stayed that she was going to either kill him, or he was surely going to kill her. Chock met Isaac a couple of years after her divorce and finally learned what a healthy relationship is supposed to be like. Can Chock ever have a life that is free of her possessive ex? Can she let go of all the emotional and physical trauma that she’s been through and finally learn to be happy? Will she find true love with Isaac, or will tragedy strike once again? Find out the answers to these questions and more in the second part of Chock’s emotional journey.
One of the things that I enjoyed about this book was that it was a very realistic story about abuse and perseverance. Even though I didn’t read the first book of the series, I still felt that Chock was a well-developed character. The events of the first book were also nicely summarized and discussed throughout this book. Chock was shown to be a strong woman of color who had to go through so much suffering, but she never gave up. She was a very relatable and endearing character that readers could wholeheartedly root for. It’s heartbreaking to read what she had been through in the first book and what she continued to go through with Jimmy in the second book. However, Chock finds a way to come out of everything, and she has such poise and strength that it’s inspiring. She learns to defend herself and stand up for herself. She truly goes through a journey and has a great arc.
Another thing that I liked was the way the relationship between Chock and Isaac developed. With him, she finally learned that love should not include pain. They had a great and healthy relationship that was based on communication, laughter, understanding, and mutual respect. Their relationship and traveling adventures together gave the book a nice balance and levity. It was a good contrast with the dark themes of the novel.
One issue that I had with the book was that it was kind of repetitive. Something would be stated to finish one chapter, and then the next chapter would contain the same lines. It was strange, and I’m not sure why it was done. The parts that were repeated made those sections tedious to get through again. Unless it was done for a specific purpose, maybe an editor could fix the issue.
I’m rating this book 3 out of 4 stars. I liked the realistic way Chock’s story was told, and I empathized with her as a character. She had real character development and growth. Chock was a survivor, and her journey was very inspirational. I’m taking a star away for the repetitive sections in the book because they really ruin the reading flow. The book was professionally edited with almost no grammatical errors, but the repetitive parts need to be looked at. I would recommend this book to people that like realistic stories about serious issues and also enjoy strong female characters.
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Painful Reflexions
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