Reviewed by Author Anna del C. Dye for Readers' Favorite

Rose Mae Lolley is a girl abandoned by her mother at age 8 and left with her father. Soon she takes her mother’s place and her father uses her as a punching bag; which was the reason her mother had left.

Tired of her life at home and angry because of her mother’s betrayal, she faces the world alone. She moves from town to town, working as a waitress anywhere she could. Five years later, she meets and marries a man called Tom. Tom’s family owns a gun store and him. He isn’t paid enough and his father is abusive, not only to his wife but his entire family. Though the wife gets the fist, the boys get his tongue and so do their spouses.

It is before they marry that Rose Mae first feels Tom’s fist in her face. Even though he is a sickly jealous man, she marries him. It isn’t too long before he starts pounding on her for every breeze it touches her without his permission. No matter how she tries to keep him happy, he suspects her of betrayals that never happen. At other times it is because she doesn’t read his mind about what to cook that night.

Rose Mae’s life changes when she meets a gypsy in an airport who does a reading for her. The gypsy tells her that she has to choose between her husband and her life. After another beating, she takes her hidden gun and uses her husband for a target. She misses and he changes a lot with her. Soon they decide that they want to start a family. As you know, this doesn’t last long, and the next time he hits her, she ends up half dead in the hospital with a collapsed lung.

This book will get you thinking about why women let man abuse them to within an inch of death and still stay with them. The protagonist in this book had many people tell her how to get away from him, but she makes excuses and even lies to keep him free. It is a love/hate relationship. I recommend it for adults. It contains some unnecessary swear words, sexual innuendo and tactful bed scenes.