“And though she be but little,
she is fierce.”
-William Shakespeare
Fading is
the beautiful, dark and inspirational debut novel by E.K. Blair that is a must
read.
I won’t bore
you with my ramblings about the story but I will say this…
It’s about a
young woman whose life is changed forever because she was sexually assaulted
one night by someone she knew. It’s a story about her struggle for survival and
moving forward the best way anyone can after going through what she went
through. We witness Candace suffering from PTSD, flashbacks and nightmares. We
witness friendships becoming closer while others are pushed away. We experience
anger, frustration, hatred, joy, love and happiness.
There is so
much pain and darkness you feel in this story, but with that pain and darkness comes
a breathtaking beauty that will leave you cheering with excitement and hope. Hope,
that no matter how dark and ugly life can get, how hard the struggles are to
overcome, that beauty is waiting for you around the corner.
E.K. Blair
did an amazing job with the flow of the story, the strong build of the
characters and the details and insight on what someone goes through when they
have been a victim of a sexual assault. You feel the passion and hard work that
was put into writing this story that you don’t get from a lot of books.
Clips from the book that had me ugly
crying:
* "I’m finding it hard to hear what they
are saying over my crying and heaving breaths. But the whole world stops moving
when I hear that unmistakable word. Don’t say that word. I can’t move. I can’t
blink. I can’t do anything. This isn’t me. This can’t be me."
*"I sit here, on the bottom of the
shower, and everything I know about myself, everything I love, everything I am
begins to fade."
*I feel so weak and tired, like I'm drowning.
I keep treading water, but I can never seem to get my head high enough out of
the water to take in a full breath of air. I've been drowning since that night.
There are times I feel like I can make it, but then I'm pulled right back
under.
*"I'm fading." I feel the heat of
my tears as they linger down my cheeks. "He took all my light, and I've
been fading ever since."
Clips that had me crying happy tears:
*Cradling my face in his hands, he says,
“You’re not fading. I won’t let you.”
*It takes a while, but when I finally feel
Ryan’s tense chest relax, he pulls back and looks me in the eyes as he says,
“This changes nothing for me. Okay? Nothing. No one will ever love you like I
do.”
*He pulls back and looks into my eyes and
when he does, I see it all. I see it clearly; he loves me, and I know I’m safe.
“What is it, babe?”
Brushing my hand down the side of his face,
I give him a part of me that I’ve been holding tightly to. “I love you.”
I know he’s be waiting a long time for me to
get here, but I know it’s okay when I look into his clear eyes and see the
lines appear at the corners when his smile grows.
“You’ll never know what those words just did
to me,”
I will end
my review with this:
1-5 women will be sexually assaulted in
their lifetime. College age women are 4
times more likely to be assaulted and every
35 seconds an aggravated assault occurs.
Approximately
80% of female rape victims were
raped before age 25; more than 25% of male rape victims were raped by age 10.
In 2012, 91.9% of rape victims were female. Of
these, 48% were assaulted by friends
or acquaintances, 25% by strangers
and 17% by intimate partners.
When leaving
your house, work, building, entering a parking garage during the day or night
time, please be aware of your surroundings. Carry a stun gun (if your state
allows it), pepper spray (also if your state allows it), a small fog horn or
any other personal protection with you.
If you
should find yourself in a situation to where you are being attacked, throw a
child-like tantrum. Shout, kick, punch, wiggle like a warm that had way too
much sugar and use your nails to claw at your attacker. Do whatever you have to
do to draw attention to yourself and to get away. Do not give in. Fight for
your life and for the life of your loved ones.
Until Next
Time…
Happy
Reading J
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