I had a much different opinion of this book while I was reading it versus how I felt when I was done. I think this is because the author has a very personable and relatable tone, so everything in the text is easy to connect to. However, after some reflecting, I'm disappointed by the overall content.

Elizabeth Melendez Fisher Good is an advocate for victims of sex trafficking and created an organization to help these victims back in 2011. She talks frequently in this book about the thousands of people she's helped, but according to my Internet research, she's no longer associated with the organization at all. Not sure what the falling out was but it made all of these references feel a bit odd to me.

"Groomed" does not really go into detail about the grooming that sexual predators use on their victims (which is what I thought this book would be about). It's more about different types of grooming that our parents or other authority figures impose on us. This was an interesting take on the term, but I think I would have preferred this to be a side note, and the real definition of the term to be explored in a more in-depth way.

Lastly, I got turned off by her use of religion when describing ways to escape grooming. Not everyone is religious, and many people are triggered by mentions of religion because of the ways they've been abused (often by people connected to churches and organized religion). I think more people could relate to this book if the author had chosen terms like 'higher power' or faith rather than words like God and Jesus.

I would not recommend this to victims of sexual abuse because I don't think there's enough value in the overall message. Although I tip my hat to the author telling her own personal story, this book would have been much more effective as a fact-based non-fiction take on the process of grooming.

As a sexual abuse survivor when I hear the word “groomed” I often think about it in those terms. Abusers groom their victims. But this book give a different bend to that word.
We can still think of the word in those terms but also in other ways. I was definitely groomed to please people, to look good on the outside no matter the turmoil going on inside of me.
We can be groomed for many different things, such as being invisible, pleasing others, looking good, being a leader, assertive.
I appreciate Elizabeth’s ministry and what she is doing to help women who have been trafficked. I also enjoyed Elizabeth’s openness and honestly in sharing her story, which at times was hard to read.
Have you been groomed? You might be surprised what you discover.

A copy of this book was given to me through Netgalley.com. All opinions are my own.

This is a good book for understanding how young girls are set up to be trafficked and also for how we are "groomed" by the people in our lives, often in negative ways. She gives helpful ways to deal with the grooming we've all experienced. The author shares her experiences and also those of women she has worked with in her ministry to help women get off the street.