Believe Like a Child by Paige Dearth FGuest Review

ABOUT THE NOVEL:

Alessa is just seven years old when her uncle rapes her for the first time. As the years pass, his sexual appetite becomes more voracious and his perversion more twisted, until the abuse has become almost a daily ritual, with the unspoken involvement of the girl's mother.

At the age of sixteen, after the death of her only friend, Alessa finds herself at the mercy of her real-life monster, with no relief in sight. She flees her home to escape this hell, only to find herself descending into a more dangerous one. Alone and helpless in the streets of North Philadelphia, she encounters more human predators who want to take over her life and devour her. About to hit rock bottom, Alessa manages to break away from her new tormentors and finds refuge in a shelter for homeless and abused women.

Wherever she goes, however, trouble keeps seeking her out, until she meets three people who change the course of her life forever. Though Alessa's bittersweet journey is perpetually fraught with challenges, she does, nevertheless, manage to find fleeting moments of joy along the way. But as she begins to settle down, a ghost from the past comes to haunt her again, threatening to destroy the very foundation of her small world and plunging her back into an abyss of despair, until she makes her final bid for escape.

About this author

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SOME DIRT ON PAIGE:

Born and raised in Plymouth Meeting, a small town west of Philadelphia, Paige Dearth was a victim of child rape and spent her early years yearning for a better life. To escape the unwanted attentions of her molester, a pedophile uncle who lived with the family, she married at the age of nineteen and moved with her new husband to Chula Vista, California. After two years of marriage during which she struggled to make ends meet, she became pregnant, only to discover that her husband was a heroin addict. Paige waited for the birth of her daughter and when the baby was just eight months old, moved back to Pennsylvania. With no formal education or money to fall back on, she courageously set out to pick up the pieces of her shattered life and make it whole once more.

Living through the fear and isolation of her youth, Paige developed the ability to create stories that would help her cope and finally put them to use by embarking on a series of novels. BELIEVE LIKE A CHILD, the author’s debut offering, is the darkest version of who she could have become, had fate not intervened in the nick of time.

WHEN SMILES FADE Paige’s second novel is a tale of endurance, perseverance, courage and the overwhelming desire of one child to fight back.

Paige’s novels always present a fine balance between what lives on in her imagination and the evil that lurks in the real world.

ORDER BELIEVE LIKE A CHILD FROM AMAZON
http://www.amazon.com/BELIEVE-LIKE-A-...
ORDER WHEN SMILES FADE FROM AMAZON
http://www.amazon.com/When-Smiles-Fad...

JUST LISTEN 

“When your mind is quiet and you listen closely, you will hear the children weeping silently. If you can’t quite hear their cries, then listen with your eyes. These are the children of the streets, who have learned pain and suffering before they ever had a chance to experience life. Do not ignore their cries for help, for all they wish is that you will rescue them. They do not have a family that wants them, they don’t know how it feels to be loved and they’ve never lived anywhere that felt like home…the streets are where they find their voice and relief from all of the suffering.

Just listen and you’ll see them.”

The Review

Alessa is just seven years old when her Uncle Danny rapes her for the first time.  And so starts ‘Believe Like a Child’, gripping the reader from the very first sentence.  Years filled with abuse continue and Alessa seeks protection from the one person destined with that duty, her mother, yet she finds herself badly beaten for speaking ill of her mother’s precious kin.  Due to a lack of money and utter disregard shown from her family, Alessa becomes the outcast at school, desperate to get through life and whatever it throws at her.  In her early teen years, while the sexual abuse continues on a nightly basis, she meets a kindred spirit in a classmate, Rhonda, and life looks to be taking a turn for the better.   This friendship is to be short-lived, however, as Alessa witnesses the murder of her best friend, leaving Alessa completely alone with no one to lean on. 

Left with no choice, Alessa runs away from home and sets out to make a better life for herself.  Through her teen years, she lives a brutal rollercoaster of running with the wrong crowd, becoming subject to sexual abuse most of us can’t even imagine, and a life on the streets.  She dances in night clubs to make enough money to start a new life, is raped more times than any woman could fathom, and meets the man who seems to be her savior, yet will ultimately be her true test of bravery. 

In a not-so-subtle manner, author Paige Dearth describes each moment, each sexual encounter, and each thought in gut-wrenching prose.  This novel, seemingly based on Dearth’s own experiences, leaves the reader with no need to imagine or infer even the smallest detail. The sexual episodes are vivid and disgusting, making it difficult to read at times.  Alessa’s thoughts and words are simplistic, yet believable, as she was not given an opportunity for education early in life.  Though the vulgarity is over the top at times, it is, again, believable as she is a child of the streets, a dangerous and indecent environment.

As Alessa gets older, life simply seems to keep pulling her down, dragging her through the dirt (sometimes literally) and opening her eyes to the most evil souls in this world. With family bonds shattered and occasionally rebuilt, dreams tested and realized, and hope a dangling lifeline, Alessa gains the strength to make this novel what it truly is – a story of survival.  The courage and sincerity of the narrative with leave you breathless.  This is a story of intense hatred, deep love and enduring hope.  It will make you think twice about judging that homeless woman and her child on the street corner. 

I received a copy of this book for review from the author, book was actually reviewed by my daughter Katie Kelly, and was not compensated for the review.