“Brianna Garcia once was a spirited woman with an infectious smile and loyal heart. She was the most devoted mother, totally the opposite of her abusive husband. Eventually thoughts of murder and suicide became her constant companions. She felt at her lowest when she thought the only way for things to get better was for one of them to die. Finally push came to shove, the decision had to be made, and Brianna chose to live."
Brianna decides to leave her abusive husband taking only a few trash bags worth of clothes and her children with her. She leaves her husband on his birthday, a little gift to herself if you will, and ensures that he won't ever forget why or when she left. The book shows the real life struggle women face when leaving an abusive situation and it follows her on her journey to establish I life she can be proud of and a love she deserves.
Excerpt
Brianna stood on tiptoe about one inch from the mirror to better inspect her reflection. This had become sort of a daily routine. She would bend over the dresser, almost press her face against the glass, and from top to bottom check out the damage.
With both arms lifted she parted her hair, yes her head hurt to the touch, but there were no visible bruises. From there she let her eyes travel down. She looked at her cheeks, there was a faint yellow bruise there, but it wasn't sore. Her hands moved down touching different spots as she examined herself. She looked at each eye, then each cheek, and then her neck. Her neck, that's where she stopped, she tilted her head to the side, and angled her chin up so she could see what it looked like. There were three really big bruises that looked exactly like huge hickeys; she thought it ironic that painful bruises on the neck looked just like hickeys.
Brianna continued the exam by pulling down her shirt collar low enough to see the tennis ball sized bruise on her right breast. Greenish yellow, satisfied to see it was healing nicely, she stepped back from the mirror. Realized, this was part of the routine too, and just gazed at her reflection. She gave the mirror a fake smile and saw the basics, long dark hair, green eyes, slight overbite, small pink mouth, freckles, and a small gap in between otherwise straight teeth. When she was a kid, she had read a magazine article that said "love what makes you unique", and so she did. People loved her back then, they said her smile was contagious; she was the embodiment of the word attractive. Brianna's laughing eyes and quick humor drew people in and turned her average good looks into beauty. She used to love herself. Past tense, because during this point in her routine she always had one thought, God what happened to you, who are you? Well, whoever you are I hate you.
Usually after a moment or two of self-loathing she would take a deep heavy breath, turn around, and start cleaning something. This time she didn't get the chance, this time something happened. She hadn't heard him enter the room. She had not heard him because he didn't want her to, but she did hear him lock the door. When she turned around all the hate she normally aimed at her reflection was aimed at him. It took Brianna about five seconds to process what she thought had happened into what actually happened.
Brianna thought her husband had left to go to the shop with his friend. In reality Mike had gotten angry about something and only pretended to leave. She hated him then, she wanted him to know it, and she didn't care about the consequences. Apparently she had "flirted" with Mike's friend Sam. As Brianna was busy with her self exam, after she thought they had left. Mike stewed long enough to make it down the driveway, and change his mind. He told Sam "never mind man, I'm gonna stay home." Sam looked quizzically out the truck window. "You sure?" Sam asked. Mike just winked "yeah man, you go on without me, I got somethin' I forgot I gotta do." With that he shut the door and quietly walked back to the house.
"So what's this?" He questioned with a smirk and a feminine gesture of his hips. It should have been comical, big cement stained, construction guy doing that. The sarcasm wasn't lost on Brianna and she was fed up. Sick and tired of being afraid in her own home, and absolutely always falling short of one step ahead. So this time turned into something quite different. This time she fought back. Not like before when she was too shocked and bewildered to really put up a good fight. She fought him with wild desperation, fueled by hurt and anger. Brianna was amazing in her own right; she defended herself as best she could. At first when Mike stood by the door insulting her they just bantered back and forth. She felt like an angry volcano, to every accusation she replied with quick wit and stinging sarcasm. He finally lost it completely and charged at her. Her hands went up and she fought like a feral cat. She planted several well placed blows to his face, head, and chest. He threw her whole body against the dresser, where the two of them grappled, shaking the small room with the force of their thrashing. He wanted to put her in her place, after all he was twice her size. This time however, much to his surprise she held her own.
Their violence traveled to the bathroom, she kept fighting throughout the exhausting ordeal. The whole thing just felt so surreal. She heard the metallic sound of skull pounding against porcelain, but it didn't register in her bruised mind that it was hers. Nothing mattered to her at that moment except not giving up or backing down. There were no thoughts, just adrenaline. There was no way to back down anyway. She felt lower in her heart than she had ever been. Mentally resigned to an end, the battle raged on, and made its way to the bedroom again. Mike's anger grew like suffocating flames with each passing second, ignited further by his indignation. He was baffled by her stamina; they had fought for what seemed like hours. The only way he could get her to stop clawing and hitting him was to pin her down onto the bed.
Mike wrestled her down on the bed, and managed to crouch down on top of her. He hunkered down with such force on her chest, she felt sure to split in two. His shins like iron rods dug into her hip bones, and pinned her deep into the bed. His tight grip on her sore shoulders, were almost too much to bear. Even though the entire lower half of her body was unencumbered, she was rendered motionless. He loosened his hold just enough to slide his hands up against her throat, right above her collar bone. Brianna heard him struggle to catch his breath; she vaguely wondered why she didn't just break under his weight. It wasn't until she closed her eyes thinking the only way this is ever going to end is if one of us dies, that the tears finally came. Mike could barely make out the sound of her hoarse whisper when she managed to speak some of her thoughts "would you be happy if it were me?" The dark behind her eyelids got darker and she let go...
Professional Reviews
Life Over Love
Loved this book. Fell in love with Brianna, her spirit and how she handled herself through a very rough time. A good read about a serious personal situation told with a lot of heart and a touch of humor. The characters were very real.
