3 out of 4 stars
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CJ Pierce is a counselor for victims of abuse at a shelter called Safe House. Everyday she works with women who have been battered and bruised by their husbands; women who are more eager to go back than file a restraining order. But what happens when she herself becomes the victim?
Give 'til It Hurts by Marilyn Donnellan is a novel that I would classify as Christian fiction. There is a strong element of faith in God along with the typical question of why bad things happen to good people. For this reason, I would only recommend this book to Christians or those who are open to faith.
The characters in this book were one of the strong points of the story. CJ is flawed like everyone of us, and it shows when she becomes a victim of something that she councils women on everyday. Next, though, we see the abusers; we can feel their anger and resentment towards their significant others. Even the secondary characters are filled with the contradictions that are replete in humanity. I was sad when the story ended forcing me to say goodbye to the characters.
On that note, the ending was a bit disappointing for me. While the overarching theme of the story was wrapped up, the ending felt abrupt. I was left with questions especially regarding the relationships of various characters. I am unsure if the author is continuing this book as a series, but that would make the most sense given the almost unfinished feel of the last chapter.
I also feel that I should point out that there was an almost circular feel to the plot. The protagonist finds herself in more trouble than she can handle. Then all is resolved. Then, once again, she is overwhelmed with trouble only to find it abate again. At first, I was irked by this revolving plot; however, I started thinking about my own life. Isn't that how it happens in reality? I usually find myself in too deep and wondering how I'm going to get out of a certain mess. Then, circumstances even out for a while and all is well before it repeats over again.
There were also a fair number of grammatical errors throughout the book. These mostly consisted of typos or missing words. While they were not overly distracting, a good editor would have caught these before publishing.
Overall, I enjoyed reading Give 'til It Hurts. It was a good story but not outstanding. With this in mind, I rate Give 'til It Hurts 3 out of 4 stars. If I could, I would give it 2.5 stars simply for the "okayness" of the story. I just don't feel it was bad enough to knock it all the way down to 2 stars. I would recommend this to those who enjoy rather simplistic Christian fiction novels.
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Give 'til it Hurts
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