Thank you Nertgalley!
I enjoyed this memoir, it was at times hard to read, but these are stories that need to be told in order to help others in the same situation.

It's always hard to rate a book that is filled with violence and human ugliness, and yet, the thread of hope, courage, endurance, resilience, and promise that spurned the author on also ignites within you as you keep turning the pages to see their journey come to a point where they've escaped. What a story. What an incredibly brave woman. Even after all this has happened to her, she continues to try to find answers, no matter how hard and incredibly hurtful they have become, she moves on with hopes and dreams written on shreds of paper stuffed in her shoes. Bravo Brave One. The human spirit will not be crushed nor destroyed.

*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This review is my own opinion*

A wonderful tear-jearker. Tracie Breaux pens down a very tragic story that tug at your heart strings. A girl all alone in a world of abuse. From charting to her escape to feel it take it all. Reading it broke my heart. An absolute amazing book.

If one has grown up in a home with even a modicum of love and good care, it will be very difficult to conceive of a home where gross lack of loving care, and severe abuse is the order of each and every single day and night. Tracie tells her story in this memoir where she literally walked on papers of hope and longing to help her live from day to day. Hers is rather a horror story, made more horror-filled because it is true; it was her surreal reality.

Towards the end of her memoir, after she had become an adult and sifted through her nightmare of childhood events, Tracie says that the "single greatest gift she could give herself was to forgive" all those who had harmed her, especially her Dad. This really blew me away. Such a strength of mind, will and character to come forth and say and act so. It is a wonder. I need to learn from this.

As you can imagine, this was not an easy book to read. If it had been fiction we could easily overlook it but, no, it's real, true-life happenings. Those who have been traumatized by family violence will most likely be able to relate and may even be helped and encouraged by Tracie's story, and have courage to overcome. I hope so. Those of us who would be foreigners to such hate-filled living may gain some insight and hopefully some compassion and empathy for those we may know who have been, or who still are, being so wickedly mistreated. May all such victims of evil be able to find their way of escape and refinement.

~Eunice C., Reviewer/Blogger~

February 2022

Disclaimer: This is my honest opinion based on the complimentary review copy sent by NetGalley and the publisher.

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Refined
by Tracie Breaux
Pub Date 02 May 2022 | Archive Date 14 May 2022
Deacon & Roth, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles
Biographies & Memoirs | Christian | Nonfiction (Adult)



I am reviewing a copy of Refined through Deacon &Roth, Independent Book Publishers Association and Netgalley:




At fifteen Tracie ran away from her abusive father. By the end of her first day of freedom she was running away from two men with a rope. Racing through the Forest, she felt the papers in her shoes she had spent years scribbling her hopes and dreams on. Since the age of eight, she had written down her dreams, trusting the words would rewrite her future.


Every day after school she sprinted-shoes full of hope-to the local oil refinery, gawking through fence fabric at the flickering lights, as though they were beacons of promise.Her father was distrustful of other men, so public life was limited for Tracie. The windows inside the home were tacked with trash bags to block out any view of her mother. Violence permeated inside the home. Accusations were made daily.


When Tracie was old enough she grabbed a bag and left. That night two men watched her make camp in a forest and tried to capture her, but she escaped. The two men chasing her frightened her so much, she scrambled into a school the next morning for help. Tracie was placed in foster care with a loving family. The words in her shoes were coming to life.


When Tracie was an adult she grabbed a bag and left. That night two men watched her make camp in a forest and tried to capture her, but she escaped. The two men chasing her frightened her so much, she scrambled into a school the next morning for help. Tracie was placed in foster care with a loving family. The words in her shoes were coming to life.



Refined is a testament to the strength of young women, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising twist of DNA patterns handed down systematically from generation to generation. With words that are rich with life.



I give Refined five out of five stars!



Happy Reading!

I highly recommend this book about a girl whose childhood was near an oil refinery, living in a narrow, hostile world created by her paranoid father. A riveting account of growing up in a world where violence is part of every day life, and the emotional toll that takes on a child, to the incredible potent power of planning your own escape . If you grew up in a dysfunctional family or been gaslighted you will find in Tracie Breaux a true kindred spirit.

It's about the unimaginable toll of a lifetime of mental and physical abuse, of being denied not just childhood, but a sense of self; of how the people we love can try to destroy us by taking away our sense of identity, and how hard it is, but vital, to fight back.

Brilliant book. Wouldn't be surprised if it's the best thing I read this year.

I was captivated and moved by this powerful memoir. The author, born to teenagers, grew up in an abusive family in Arkansas and Louisiana, the oldest child. She was forced to keep watch on her mother, due to her father's mistrust of other men. Her dad tacked trash bags on their windows so other people couldn't see in. He "saw men everywhere." Her childhood is affected over and over by her father's violent and erratic behavior. She often hid near the oil refinery near her home.

As Tracie gets into her preteen and teen years, her father becomes fixated on her. In response to this, she runs away at the age of fifteen. Her first night, two men chase her with a rope. She is so frightened by this, she walks into a school in another town and asks for help. She becomes a ward of the state. The memoir becomes a story of her becoming strong---to believe she can push past the bullies in her life.

I've struggled with my past, of people not believing me, and I well know the feeling that the author has. One line, "the greatest gift I gave myself was forgiving those who wronged me", resonated with me. When you allow others to define you who are and don't forgive them, you allow them to still control you---Tracie Breaux is able to write about this so powerfully I was crying at points.

I hope this book gets wide readership. It's an amazing glimpse into a way of life that most of us will never know, and an inspiring story of one woman's ability to be refined into a strong, vibrant woman who wants to change the world.

This book was given to me as an ARC by NetGalley for my honest opinion.