In this groundbreaking guide, the prominent therapist Dr. Robin Stern shows how the Gaslight Effect works, how you can decide which relationships can be saved and which you have to walk away from—and how to gasproof your life so you'll avoid gaslighting relationship. Your husband crosses the line in his flirtations with another woman at a dinner party. When you confront him, he asks you to stop being insecure and controlling. After a long argument, you apologize for giving him a hard time. Your mother belittles your clothes, your job, and your boyfriend. But instead of fighting back, you wonder if your mother is right and figure that a mature person should be able to take a little criticism. If you think things like this can’t happen to you, think again. Gaslighting is an insidious form of emotional abuse and manipulation that is difficult to recognize and even harder to break free from. Are you being gaslighted? Check for these telltale signs: 1) Does your opinion of yourself change according to approval or disapproval from your spouse? 2) When your boss praises you, do you feel as if you could conquer the world? 3) Do you dread having small things go wrong at home—buying the wrong brand of toothpaste, not having dinner ready on time, a mistaken appointment written on the calendar? 4) Do you have trouble making simple decisions and constantly second guess yourself? 5) Do you frequently make excuses for your partner's behavior to your family and friends? 6) Do you feel hopeless and joyless?
This book is the story of the life of Nisa, a member of the !Kung tribe of hunter-gatherers from southern Africa's Kalahari desert. Told in her own words--earthy, emotional, vivid--to Marjorie Shostak, a Harvard anthropologist who succeeded, with Nisa's collaboration, in breaking through the immense barriers of language and culture, the story is a fascinating view of a remarkable woman.
Whirlwind of Desire is a gripping romance that brings together passion, power, and forbidden love. William, a calculating and ambitious governor, has his life meticulously mapped out—until Zoey, the wild, unpredictable sister of his best friend, storms into his world. Zoey has dreamed of being with William since childhood, but to him, she's always been untouchable. Now, fate throws them together, and the lines between duty and desire blur. As Zoey makes her boldest move yet, she never expects the fallout—rejection and an unexpected pregnancy with the man she's loved her whole life. William, torn between his political career and his feelings for Zoey, is faced with an impossible choice. Will he protect his heart, or surrender to the whirlwind of emotions that threaten to upend his carefully built life? Whirlwind of Desire is a must-read for fans of steamy, slow-burn romance, packed with tension, drama, and the intoxicating allure of forbidden love. Dive into a world where passion overpowers reason, and discover what happens when love defies all expectations.
Imagine being granted the extraordinary gift of one last conversation with a loved one, knowing it would be your final chance to connect. Would you use this precious time to pour out your heart, share stories of love and gratitude, and bid a proper farewell? For most, such a divine opportunity would be treasured. But for Jolie, a middle-aged woman juggling the demands of her children, job, grieving father, and estranged sister, the conversation might take an unexpected turn. Why, for instance, did her mother choose to ignore the cancer ravaging her body, instead channeling her energy into hosting dance challenges from her hospital bed and teaching her grandchildren the joys of skinny dipping? Since her mother’s passing, Jolie has been consumed by grief and regret, finding even the simplest tasks overwhelming. Despite knowing that hiding under the covers and napping won’t solve anything, she feels too drained to seek alternatives. As she contemplates the tempting escape of running away – a choice that hardly seems fitting for a woman nearing fifty – Jolie receives an extraordinary gift: one final conversation with her mother. With so much left unsaid, where does one begin when faced with this singular chance? It isn’t until Jolie faces a heart-wrenching accident involving her own daughter that she finds her answer. You begin by acknowledging the importance of family, and the power of forgiveness and letting go. Woven with wisdom, humor, and a touch of magic, A Time to Talk is an uplifting story that explores the unbreakable bonds of family, the profound impact of a mother’s love, and the ability to find light even in the darkest of times.
23 strange-but-true stories of women flirting with perdition... In the steamy South, temptation is as wild and plentiful as kudzu. Whether the sin in question is skinny-dipping or becoming an unlikely porn star, running rum or renting out a room to a pair of exhibitionistic adulterers, in these true stories women defy tradition and forge their own paths through life—often learning unexpected lessons from the experience. As Dorothy Allison writes in her introduction, “The most dangerous stories are the true ones, the ones we hesitate to tell, the adventures laden with fear or shame or the relentless pull of regret. Some of those are about things that we are secretly deeply proud to have done.” A diverse array of contributors—mothers, daughters, sisters, best friends, fiancées, divorcees, professors, poets, lifeguards-in-training, lapsed Baptists, tipsy debutantes, middle-aged lesbians—lend their voices to this collection. Introspective and abashed, joyous and triumphant (but almost never apologetic), they remind us that sin, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
In #1 New York Times bestseller Lisa Gardner’s latest pulse-pounding thriller, Detective D. D. Warren must face a new fear as a serial killer terrorizes Boston. My name is Dr. Adeline Glen. Due to a genetic condition, I can’t feel pain. I never have. I never will. The last thing Boston Detective D. D. Warren remembers is walking the crime scene after dark. Then, a creaking floorboard, a low voice crooning in her ear. . . . She is later told she managed to discharge her weapon three times. All she knows is that she is seriously injured, unable to move her left arm, unable to return to work. My sister is Shana Day, a notorious murderer who first killed at fourteen. Incarcerated for thirty years, she has now murdered more people while in prison than she did as a free woman. Six weeks later, a second woman is discovered murdered in her own bed, her room containing the same calling cards from the first: a bottle of champagne and a single red rose. The only person who may have seen the killer: Detective D. D. Warren, who still can’t lift her child, load her gun, or recall a single detail from the night that may have cost her everything. Our father was Harry Day, an infamous serial killer who buried young women beneath the floor of our home. He has been dead for forty years. Except the Rose Killer knows things about my father he shouldn’t. My sister claims she can help catch him. I think just because I can’t feel pain doesn’t mean my family can’t hurt me. D.D. may not be back on the job, but she is back on the hunt. Because the Rose Killer isn’t just targeting lone women, he is targeting D.D. And D.D. knows there is only one way to take him down: Fear nothing.
Random Family meets Orange Is the New Black in A Little Piece of Light, a memoir of survival, redemption, hope, and sisterhood from a bold new voice on the front lines of the criminal justice reform movement. Like so many women before her and so many women yet to come, Donna Hylton's early life was a nightmare of abuse that left her feeling alone and convinced of her worthlessness. In 1986, she took part in a horrific act and was sentenced to 25 years to life for kidnapping and second-degree murder. It seemed that Donna had reached the end--at age 19, due to her own mistakes and bad choices, her life was over. A Little Piece of Light tells the heartfelt, often harrowing tale of Donna's journey back to life as she faced the truth about the crime that locked her away for 27 years...and celebrated the family she found inside prison that ultimately saved her. Behind the bars of Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, alongside this generation's most infamous criminals, Donna learned to fight, then thrive. For the first time in her life, she realized she was not alone in the abuse and misogyny she experienced--and she was also not alone in fighting back. Since her release in 2012, Donna has emerged as a leading advocate for criminal justice reform and women's rights who speaks to politicians, violent abusers, prison officials, victims, and students to tell her story. But it's not her story alone, she is quick to say. She also represents the stories of thousands of women who have been unable to speak for themselves, until now.
Growing up on his parents’ ranch in North San Diego County, Victor Villaseñor’s teenage years were marked by a painful quest to find a place for himself in a world he did not fit into. Discriminated due to his Mexican heritage, Victor questions the tenets of his faith and the restrictions it places on his own spirituality and sexuality. Ultimately, his search for identity takes him to Mexico to learn of his family’s roots, where he soon discovers that his heritage doesn’t determine his intelligence or success. Through this often humorous and poignant tale, Victor deftly undermines the macho stereotype so often associated with Latinos, while exposing the tender vulnerability and naïveté of a young man grappling with the roles foisted on him by the church and society. Victor’s youthful misadventures elicit sympathy, laughter, and tears as he attempts to divine the mysteries of the opposite sex in this powerful, revealing memoir. “The clarity that comes from Villaseñor’s personal and cultural experience is not matched in any of Steinbeck’s major works” (Los Angeles Times).
The Johnson sisters is the riveting story of a close knit bunch struggling to keep the family legacy going in spite of their differences. Vivian, the oldest sister, has the house, the nice car, designer clothes and money, but no man to share her life with. After a previous abusive relationship, she’s struggling with her self-esteem. What will it take to convince her she’s worthy of love? Shauna is the funny, happy-go-lucky sister. Give her a drink and she’s content with the world—until one tragic event forces her to face her demons. The revelation of her secret threatens to damage her relationship with her sisters. Dawn feels like the black sheep of the family, and this feeling is reinforced when her sisters voice their opinion of her upcoming marriage. Will she be forced to choose between her family and her future husband? Serena is the only sister who has a child, but she’s also got plenty of drama in her life. Her child’s father already has another crazy baby mama, so he has no intention of marrying anyone. Serena believes love can conquer all, but will love be enough for her to endure this roller coaster relationship? Phoenix, the baby of the bunch, says she’s never getting married. Diva extraordinaire, Phoenix enjoys the life she has, until one of her men invades the sanctity of her home and finds a way to lawfully squat in her home. When secrets begin to spill and resentments from the past come flooding back, it’s a pressure cooker of drama that could leave these sisters divided, and possibly destroyed, in the end.