Courage In Patience
Hope In Patience
Truth In Patience
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary.
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Courage in Patience
Price: $0.99 ebook (at time of post)
Courage to endure.
Courage to survive.
Courage to overcome.
Tenacious 14-year-old Ashley Asher claws her way back to normalcy after enduring six years of an unimaginable Hell. Uprooted from her negligent and selfish mother, Ashley finds solace in the safety of her father’s home. Building a relationship with her stepmother, she’s finally able to open up and confront the past that haunts her.
With the help of her stepmom, therapist, and a group of troubled adolescents, Ashley battles her demons, struggling to find the normal teenage life she’s always wanted. Can Ashley find the strength and courage to overcome the horrors of her past while fighting for the future she so deserves?
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My Thoughts: Heartbreaking But Honest.
This novel is truly raw, brutal, but real in helping readers understand abuse and the healing process. The author writes from the heart and gives realism to her character's situation. Reading this novel has enlightened me in so many ways.
Night after night, day after day fourteen year old Ashley Asher is frightened by her secret. Her home is not a safe place. No matter how many times Ashley tries to tell her mom that she is being abused and molested by her stepfather, Ashley is told she is imagining things. It's not until things go too far and Ashley mask of "normalcy" breaks in public that she is finally taken from her abusive home. Ashley is sent to a small town in Texas called Patience to live with her absentee father and his new family. It's in this new home that Ashley begins to find rest but not peace as she is still plagued with memories and pain of her abuse. With the help of her true family, therapist and new friends, Ashley begins the road of healing.
Overall, it's weird to say I loved the book when it's such a heartbreaking story, but it was very enlightening. This novel and character was needed to be written even if the subject matter is too horrid to think or talk about because it's all to real for too many people. I'm not a victim of abuse but I work with a young women and am always conscious of their situations and personal history. Ashley goes through the most unimaginable horrors as a child into teenage years but once she's "freed", it's clear her healing has only just begun and will take more than a few therapy sessions. I truly couldn't help but want to cry for Ashley as she literally tears herself apart trying to understand why and how everything evil happened to her. However, seeing Ashley find her real family and home with her dad, stepmom and stepbrother, uncle and cousin is the greatest. Plus Ashley's stepmom Bev is totally awesome. Also note that from a literature point of view I love how well written the novel was, there was an integration of another novel used in a classroom setting as a segway into bigger issues, which was genius, the side dialogue and characters from the school are great. So if you've ever been abused or know of someone that has been this novel is worth a read.
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Hope in Patience
Price: $3.99 ebook (at time of post)
Book Link: Click Here
Hope to evolve.
Still shattered from the horrific events of her childhood years, 15-year-old Ashley Asher is barely holding it together. Battling her vicious and vile mother who still sees her as the villain and not the victim, Ashley’s stuck in a cycle of self-injury and self-hatred as a result--despite the many people who trying to pull her out of it.
Adolescence is hard, but throw in a new school, a new family, and a father she hardly knows, Ashley's need for self-destruction and pain intensifies. Her new therapist, Dr. Matt, may be unconventional with bizarre antics, but he'll do whatever it takes to pull Ashley out of the doldrums. Ashley just wants a crack at normalcy. But can her counselor and the friends and family who love her teach her that "crazy is the new normal" and that nobody has it easy?
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My Thoughts: Hard Road To Healing.
This is the continuation of "Courage in Patience" and if you haven't read that novel I highly recommend it, so you can fully understand Ashley's emotional situation and her now journey of healing. However, if you are just starting the series at this novel you will not be too lost as the author died a great re-cap at the beginning.
Now fifteen and trying to recover from her near abduction and loss of safety, Ashley Asher just wants to start school like a normal teenager. Ashley finds that school is so much more difficult when topics like family set her off emotional. Working with her therapist, Dr.Matt, Ashley is learning not to inflict self-harm when bad things or memories occur. One such thing is a court hearing against her mom and stepdad aka Satan for the attack last summer. Now along with her family issues Ashley also has school to deal with which brings up a variety of issues like racism, censorship, new relationships, teachers and subject matter. Only thing clear is Ashley is on a long journey of recovery and it is uk to her whether or not it's successful.
Overall, great follow-up novel. Having Ashley still on her journey makes it all very real since in fiction most authors would be like "she met a boy and felt complete the end." But for Ashley the process and emotions are real and still being worked through. especially concerning her mom. The fact Ashley still struggles over trying to accept her moms actions in the situation is saddening, because everyone wants her to just write the witch off but Ashely still loves her mom even if she was horrible and still refuses her truth in the situation. Now again Bev is my fav teacher/stepmom/ character, she may have had her own past but nows how to own her class even with the Pams in there. Plus she knows how to handle Ashley even when she goes all crazy or mean girl moody on everyone. Again for this story loved the integration of a classic "Farewell to Manzanar" to help illustrate subplot, which are all key contemporary issues. Also I'm also happy to see some history class mentioned, but biased love history. So if you are continue Ashley's story or just starting join Ashley on the long road to find healing and understanding.
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Truth in Patience
Price: $2.99 ebook (at time of post)
Truth for tomorrow.
Finally adjusting to life in small town Texas, Ashley Asher sees a glimmer of what happiness really is. Even her new relationship with the attentive Joshua Brandt shows promise of a first romance. But Ashley's fear of intimacy after years of unspeakable abuse may cause friction and distance in their relationship.
Determined to prove to her that she's healing, Dr. Matt, her beloved therapist, shows her that "life is messy." And he doesn't know how messy it is about to get. When her mother decides that Ashley belongs back in their hometown with her, Ashley is forced into another family feud that she isn't prepared for. Refusing to leave behind the new life she created in Texas, Ashley and her mother go head-to-head. But can Ashley finally find the courage and strength to battle her demons when her mother might be the biggest demon of all?
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My Thoughts: Healing Is Day By Day.
The third novel in the Patience trilogy, one can't help but already feel connected and hopeful for Ashley's healing. With each step forward a challenge emerges that can either be conquered or surrendered to. By the end of this novel it's clear the journey to find healing isn't in regard to those who harmed you but for you to find peace and strength.
Beginning the second semester of her sophomore year in high school Ashley Asher should have a grip on most of her issues. But when ever her and her boyfriend begin to do couple things, Ashley can't help but flash into times with her abuser. Everything is tainted but him and her reactions against her boyfriend send mixed signals. Ashley is confused by her feelings and becomes even more unsettled when her mother finally reaches out to her asking for her return. Things become emotionally messy again for Ashley when dealing with her mom, boyfriend, school, friends and family so temptation to slip back into old harmful habits becomes ever pressing and when asked to find another outlet she does in poems. When Ashley mails her poem out to her mom, it brings them face to face and Ashley may finally have a chance to say her peace.
Overall, another wonderful continuance in Ashley's healing. Ashley slipped up a couple of times but the power of family and friends helped her return to them. The strength it takes for her to continue is inspiring and knowing real people have experienced her reality or worse truly saddens and angers me. This may sounds kinda cliche maybe, but I can honestly say that after reading the novels in this series I understand the victims side better than I ever did before. Emotional healing is truly a process that goes day by day and to rush it or discount how much strength it takes would be a horrible impact on the person you're helping. More people need to be aware of the pain people carry around with. Anyways, if you haven't read this series I would even if the content isn't in your norm.
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GIVEAWAY
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In addition to writing Young Adult Contemporary Fiction, Beth Fehlbaum is a high school English-Language Arts teacher who frequently draws on her experience as an educator to write her books. She has a B.A. in English, Minor in Secondary Education, and an M.Ed. in Reading.
Beth is a featured author on the 2015-2016 Spirit of Texas Reading List- High School for the Kirkus Starred Reviewed Big Fat Disaster (Merit Press/F+W Media, March 2014) and The Patience Trilogy: Courage (1), Hope (2), and Truth (3) (Steady On Books, April 2016).
Beth is a member of the RAINN (Rape , Abuse, Incest National Network) Speakers’ Bureau. She has a following in the young adult literature world and also among survivors of sexual abuse because of her work with victims’ advocacy groups.
She has been the keynote speaker at the National Crime Victims’ Week Commemoration Ceremony at the Hall of State in Dallas, Texas and a presenter for Greater Texas Community Partners, where she addressed a group of social workers and foster children on the subject of “Hope.”
Beth is in-demand as a panelist, having presented/appeared at the Texas Library Association Annual Conference, the American Library Association’s annual conference, YALSA, and N.C.T.E./ALAN, and she is a member of The Author’s Guild.
She is a survivor of a traumatic childhood, like Ashley in The Patience Trilogy, and the day-to-day manager of an eating disorder much like Colby’s in Big Fat Disaster. These life experiences give her a unique perspective, and she writes her characters’ stories in a way meant to inspire hope. Beth lives with her family in the woods of East Texas.
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