10 October Awareness Books!

DMAwareness

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

So many novels we read help bring to light the things that linger in the shadows of our world. This is one of those things.

I have read a few novels that have worked with this theme and wanted to share them with you all, as well as some that come highly recommended in the book world.

Help spread the message #LoveShouldntHurt

http://www.ncadv.org

I only put ten books on this list, but if we get ten more Recs, I'll make another list as well!

Any you think should be added to the list? Comment and let me know.

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Fate’s Mistake by Brandace Morrow

My Review|Amazon *Can be read as a stand alone novel***Intended for readers 18+**
He was the perfect gentleman, and my parents adored him. In time, I learned to adore him too. I married him. He was my forever. Until the day he hit me. Five years went by with the speed of a ticking clock, counting down my life one painful second at a time. Until Danny. Danny saw me. Danny was my hero. Danny was the one I was supposed to be with. But now I’m broken, shattered into pieces too jagged to fit back together. Isn’t that what fate is? Puzzles fit together by an unseen hand to form a life worth living. So when fate makes a mistake, who fixes it?

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22848383Surviving Broken by Beverly Preston

My Review|Amazon Most women have a wish list when it comes to what kind of man they want to date. JC Mathews used a strict set of guidelines as a safety net to keep herself out of trouble and out of love.
On hiatus from the bright lights and speculative gazes of her career in the fashion industry, JC lets her guard down...only to the wrong man. After escaping Italy and the hands of her abuser, she returns to Malibu to recover. The last thing she expects to find is a large, gorgeous intruder swimming naked in her pool. Reed Rider left Texas and his broken heart behind in order to settle his aunt’s affairs after her death. Seeking refuge from the California heat for a midnight swim in his neighbor’s backyard, he never expects to find a nude silhouette of a long-haired beauty standing at the water’s edge. As their passion ignites and the pages of JC's rulebook fade to grey, she unlocks her guarded heart to begin a new chapter in her life. When hidden truths are exposed and secrets unravel, will they survive the threats from their broken pasts?

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21518647Axel by Harper Sloan

Fate hasn’t always been friends with Isabelle West. In fact, fate has been a downright bitch. Isabelle has learned the hard way how hard life can be when fate isn’t by your side. It can hand you dreams on silver platters, but it can snatch them right back and hand you nightmares. One thing Isabelle knew for sure fate was consistent with was taking away everything she ever loved. For the last two years Isabelle has been slowly clearing the clouds of her past. Happiness is finally on the horizon. She has a thriving business, great friends, and her life back. All she has to do is jump over the last hurdle…her ex-husband. When problems start causing her to fear her new life, and memories that are better left forgotten start rushing to the surface the last thing she needs is a ghost from her past to come knocking on her door. Axel never thought he would look into the eyes of Isabelle West again, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to now. He’s carried his anger for so long he isn’t sure he can just turn it off, but when he is faced with protecting her and an unexpected desire to have her again, life gets a little more complicated. How will Axel and Isabelle deal when all their cards are put on the table and everything they thought was true blows up in their faces?

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20439619Undefeated by Scott Hildreth

Kace Meadows lives in Austin, Texas. Now 26, she has been in an abusive relationship since she was sixteen years old. As abusive as it is, she can’t seem to find a way to allow herself to end it. With her abusive boyfriend, she can’t seem to win. Shane Dekkar is an unknown, undefeated, and somewhat shy boxer from Compton California. After the death of his grandfather, he moves to Austin and meets Kace by happenstance as she and her boyfriend are in an argument in public. He is drawn to her, and she to him. When he meets her again two years later, he begins to believe in fate. But, as he prepares for a potential shot at a championship fight, there’s not time in his life or career for a woman. Shane fights his inner demons by using his fists. On the street or in the ring, Shane does what he does best, he wins at any cost. Unlike Kace, Shane can’t seem to lose. Undefeated is an extremely romantic erotica novel about fighting. Fighting for what you believe in. Fighting for life. Fighting to live. And fighting to find love in the most unlikely places. Be prepared to be moved, touched, stand up and cheer, and cry your eyes out. This book will, without a doubt, knock you unconscious.

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17257484Trouble by Tamara Towle

Mia Monroe is running. Running from a person she doesn’t ever want to find her. Running from a past she doesn’t ever want anyone to know. Desperate to find a future, that yesterday, she could only dream of having. Jordan Matthews likes easy. Easy women. Easy life. Then he meets Mia. She’s damaged, troubled and has more baggage than any person can carry. But the more Jordan gets to know Mia-for the first time in his life-he finds himself wanting to try hard for something … for someone … for her. And then life isn’t so easy anymore. Jordan is everything Mia shouldn’t want. A whole bunch of dirty hotness, tattooed, cocky bad boy, who made his money at poker tables and picked his women up in bars. Yet, Mia finds herself falling for him. Then the past Mia was running from, quickly starts to catch up with her. Because that’s the problem with running … you have to stop sometime. And when you stop, you get caught.

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17449438Fighting To Forgive by J.B. Salsbury

Amazon
What do you do when everything you avoid, turns out to be exactly what you need? Easy and predictable, just the way he likes it, Blake Daniels flies through life the way he burns through women: on his terms, no regrets. With his fighting career in full swing, he's on the threshold of title contention. But when his training is compromised by injury, the stakes grow impossibly higher. The rage that fuels his punches also chips away at his focus, and he risks losing everything he cares about. He won’t let that happen. Not again. Layla’s through with men. After a marriage that never should’ve happened, she hopes to reclaim the pieces of the woman she lost years ago. Emotional abuse has left her insecure and terrified. A master at faking what she’s not feeling, she masks her self-doubt in false confidence. She’ll never let another man hurt her. Not again. Chased by shadows of the past, Blake and Layla know what they don’t want, but their hearts have a different plan. As a web of lies and betrayal threatens to destroy them, they’re forced to make a choice. Is love enough to heal even the deepest wounds? Or will they be left Fighting to Forgive?

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7812659Save Haven by Nicholas Sparks

Love hurts. There is nothing as painful as heartbreak. But in order to learn to love again, you must learn to trust again. When a mysterious young woman named Katie appears in the small North Carolina town of Southport, her sudden arrival raises questions about her past. Beautiful yet self-effacing, Katie seems determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant relationships: one with Alex, a widowed store owner with a kind heart and two young children; and another with her plainspoken single neighbor, Jo. Despite her reservations, Katie slowly begins to let down her guard, putting down roots in the close-knit community and becoming increasingly attached to Alex and his family.But even as Katie begins to fall in love, she struggles with the dark secret that still haunts and terrifies her . . . a past that set her on a fearful, shattering journey across the country, to the sheltered oasis of Southport. With Jo’s empathic and stubborn support, Katie eventually realizes that she must choose between a life of transient safety and one of riskier rewards . . . and that in the darkest hour, love is the only true safe haven.

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21810466Saviour by Lesley Jones

Amazon Lauren is married to an abusive husband and is terrified of him; she is ashamed of this fact and has never revealed it to anyone, not even her closest friends. After a night of drinking vodka and shots she finally unloads her secret to her besties, and her friends convince her to leave her husband the following morning. Into the same bar as Lauren and her friends, walks Gabriel Wilde, out for a few Friday night beers with his brothers. Gabe is a single, serial shagging, commitment phobe, he is introduced to Lauren by a mutual friend and the attraction is instant and electric, his interest is spiked even further when Lauren refuses to go home with him. The two exchange numbers and agree to meet the next morning so Lauren can view a rental property that Gabe owns. On returning home that night, Lauren is brutally attacked by her husband and escapes into the night with just the clothes she's wearing and her mobile phone. Over the coming weeks, Lauren builds a relationship with Gabe, both slowly revealing the damaged side to their personalities, everything about their relationship is intense and the sex is explosive but will it be enough to save them from their pasts. Saviour rolls with the times to explore the powerful emotions of today's relationship

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18076876Reaper's Legacy by Joanna Wylde

Amazon Reaper's Legacy is a raw and intensely erotic tale in Joanna Wylde's Reapers Motorcycle Club series. Eight years ago, Sophie gave her heart-and her virginity-to Zach Barrett on a night that couldn't have been less romantic or more embarrassing. Zach's step-brother, a steely-muscled, tattooed biker named Ruger, caught them in the act, getting a peep show of Sophie he's never forgotten. She may have lost her dignity that fateful night, but Sophie also gained something precious-her son Noah. Unfortunately, Zach's a deadbeat dad, leaving Ruger to be Noah's only male role model. When he discovers Sophie and his nephew living in near poverty, Ruger takes matters into his own hands-with the help of the Reapers Motorcycle Club-to give them a better life. Living with outlaw bikers wasn't Sophie's plan for her son, but Ruger isn't giving her a choice. He'll be there for Noah, whether she wants him or not. But Sophie does want him, has always wanted him. Now she'll learn that taking a biker to bed can get a girl dirty in every way.

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17981514Don't Make Me Beautiful by Elle Casey

Amazon A ROMANTIC SUSPENSE NOVEL. No one knew a woman lived there or that she even existed. A monster, living in darkness... At twenty-two, Nicole doesn't even look human anymore. The beast made sure of that. So she hides. A monster, consigned to a life of fear and solitude. This is all she deserves, she is quite sure of that. And then one day out of the blue, the autographed baseball caught by Brian Jensen at the latest Marlins game enters her prison and manages to turn her world completely upside down. Temptation comes in the form of pity at first, and then perhaps something more. Does she dare to believe the things she's told, that this is not the life she was meant to live? That being a monster is not her forever-fate? And will she be willing to risk everything, to reach out and accept the helping hands around her and share her deepest, darkest secrets? She knows only too well that hands can hurt. Finding out whether they can also heal is a risky proposition, especially when the beast is still out there. Looking for her. **This story was inspired by true events. If you liked the movie "Sleeping With the Enemy", then you might like this story too. CONTENT WARNING: Violence, foul language, and adult situations. Not meant for younger readers .** DV