Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Accidents of Marriage by Randy Susan Meyers

Accidents of Marriage explores a topic rarely shown in fiction: the destruction left in the wake of spouse’s verbal fury. Ben never meant to hurt Maddy. He never imagined his recklessness would lead to tragedy. 

Maddy is a social worker trying to balance her career and three children. Years ago, she fell in love with Ben, a public defender, drawn to his fiery passion, but now he’s lashing out at her during his periodic verbal furies. She vacillates between tiptoeing around him and asserting herself for the sake of their kids – which works to keep a fragile peace – until the rainy day when they’re together in the car and Ben’s volatile temper gets the best of him, leaving Maddy in the hospital fighting for her life.

My Thoughts…

I have decided I live in a sheltered world, never have I met someone who treated people like Ben.   That being said, I do not have my head in the sand and know that there are people out there who just cannot control their anger.  

I struggled with Ben.  Did I like him?  Not always, but when the going got tough he seemed to do the best he could and step up as much as he possibly could.   Did I trust him?  Heck no.   I was waiting for the other shoe to drop throughout this entire book.   I know he was trying to change his ways, but it was still not enough.   Did I want him to change his ways?  Absolutely.  I never want to see a family fall apart and held out hope until the very last page that he would figure out how to change his ways and control his anger.   Ben was put in an extremely tough place and had to flounder and figure out how to make it work for him, his wife, and his children.   Anyone man or woman would struggle with that and I really respected how he did step up and do the best he could.   

Accidents of Marriage is all about abuse, there was no physical abuse, but the anger and the emotional abuse was evident on almost every page.   Seeing Maddy and the kids make excuse and try to sugar coat it to the rest of the world was eye opening and extremely scary. 


This is not an easy read.  It is a story that will stay with me for a while after finishing it.   I highly recommend it, but know that once you start you will have to finish.   Putting the book down is just not an option. 

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“Beautifully written, poignant and thought-provoking, this novel refuses to succumb to stereotypical reader expectations, making it even more memorable.” — Kirkus Starred Review

“This is a wise and penetrating book.”
—Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author, Orphan Train

“An incredibly accomplished and satisfying read with an important message.”Jane Green, New York Times and international bestselling author,Tempting Fate

“It's amazing how warm Meyers' writing is even as her stories grip you by the hand and don't let go.”
—Jenna Blum, New York Times bestselling author, Those Who Save Us
“[Meyers] has managed to make us empathize with every member of this damaged family. This is an important story.”
—Brunonia Barry, New York Times and international bestselling author, The Lace Reader and The Map of True Places

“A bold and poignant look into the complicated, slippery world of what constitutes emotional abuse. Meyers …didn't let me go until the extremely satisfying end.”
—Amy Hatvany, author, Safe with Me

“Meyers captures the necessity and complexity of excavating the truth as the foundation of life moving forward.”                                                  
Janet Cromer, author, Professor Cromer Learns to Read:
A Couple's New Life after Brain Injury  

Friday, September 12, 2014

Six weeks done!

I can not believe I've been homeschooling for six weeks! The time has really flown by! I've been thrilled with the progress of everything! I can see the kids are learning and every week I'm learning how to more effective in our classroom and in prepping. 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      There has also been sweet finds along the way...C has really stepped up numerous times and helped M when she has a question or a problem. They work pretty well together (minus the time they are arguing, lol). C really enjoys being able to read to his sister and she loves helping him with artwork and she is always good about telling him how well he is doing!





We had one day that was about to try my nerves. C just would not settle down and work on school. I figured I could sit and fight with him or I could give up for the day, but since this is all so new I didn't want him to think if I just throw a fit no school. Plus I want to try and stay on schedule, because I know there will be days we will need to miss. It was beautiful outside, so I grabbed most of our books and threw them in a bag. I told the kids to get in the car and we drove to a local  park. I let them run around and play, then we read from our book CHARLOTTE'S WEB, played some more and then they were happy to sit and do homework. The only fail was I forgot to pack drinks.

We've been keeping very busy. We just completed our topic of volcanoes. The kids loved erupting a volcano in our backyard! We watched videos, read books and of course did artwork. The kids are brimming with ideas, so we set up a jar where we write our ideas down and pull a topic out of the jar. This is has helped with the fighting over who gets to pick. There will be some I will pick myself. I'm very excited to do a unit on Autumn!




Our first book order!!!