Hello My Fellow Book Dragons. I hope you are doing well. As promised, I am delivering my new weekly Gem. This week’s Gem is quite unique. It looks like pure Alabaster, milk white, smooth, luminescent, other worldly. But crack it open and the vilest of seams run through it. Black, brackish things with an odor of brimstone. However, dig though this poison and at the end there is yet another stone, in the shape of a Dove, that gives Hope and Healing. This is Gem Maker Sandy Phillips Kirkham’s “Let Me Prey Upon You: Breaking Free From a Minister’s Sexual Abuse”.
Imagine your Nestling is a well behaved, hard working, obedient little thing. The center of their life is Church (or Synagogue or whatever your place of worship). They are always involved in something church related and seem happy and content. But then as they age, they don’t seem to change much as regards their center. They don’t go away to college, they go local. He/she never goes on dates or on outings with friends – seems there is always a church duty calling to take up that time. And all this happens when a new Youth Pastor shows up.
He takes up all your Nestling’s time. He demands to have her (in this case) at this beck and call. She cannot have a normal job, friends, outings because this married man needs her to baby sit his children, hold meetings, she is his Girl Friday, so to speak. What would you do? What would you think? Especially if he is charismatic and you also are very involved in services and you are proud of your girl.
This is Sandy’s story. What started out as a normal girl who loved her church family becomes an odyssey of evil for which she may very well be expected to shoulder all the blame. But this story is not without Hope, it’s not without Healing, and it’s not without a Survivor.
If you or someone you love has been sexually abused, you need to read this book. If you even suspect this is so, you should read it. Whether the abuser held a position of power or not, all abusers hold positions of power over the person they abuse. This is especially so with sexual abuse. Sandy has come forward at great risk to herself and her family to tell her story. But she is compelled to do so in the hopes of saving others from her fate. I wish I had been able to read this when I was working with young men and women, it would have been a tremendous help in my work also.
Remember, if you are a Prime Member you get to choose one free Kindle Book each month! This would be a great one to choose! Here is the link. https://www.amazon.com/Let-Prey-Upon-You-Ministers/dp/1734195207
Until next week, I remain, your humble Book Dragon,
Drakon T. Longwitten
I received a review copy of this book. My opinions are my own.
Original review from Tales from the Book Dragon: Let Me Prey Upon You