In Broken Places

 I just read In Broken Places by Michele Phoenix.  Personally I found it interesting that I read Wings of Glass about spouse abuse and then In Broken Places about child abuse.  I didn't plan it that way at all.  That said, I really like In Broken Places.  Maybe because her sarcastic whit is so me!  The story went back and forth; her childhood and her life now.  Shelby had a boring, predictable life.  Exactly what she wanted.  Then she is contacted, the her estranged, abusive father has died and has left her an inheritance.  Shelby's entire world is rocked.  She doesn't know what to do with what he left her.  What can she do?  In an attempt to start over she takes a teaching position in Germany, only to find she must face her past in ways she could never predict.  I loved the relationship Shelby and her brother Trey had.  It provided comic relief and blunt truthfulness, that carried the storyline well.  In the note from the author Michele writes, "Pain need not win.  There is life beyond bleeding.  There is love beyond fearing.  There is hope beyond despairing."  What a message for all of us, not just survivors of child abuse.