"Where do you think you're going?"

"How could you be so stupid?"

Throughout her twenty-three-year marriage, Karen Heckman Stork endured belittling and insulting remarks, sarcastic jokes, and barbed criticisms from her husband. The barrage of verbal abuse and controlling behavior eroded her self-confidence. To protect herself, she adopted the coping mechanism of "walking on eggshells" to placate her husband. His controlling behaviors escalated until that night when Karen decided she would no longer deny her truth.

Screw the Eggshells: Finding My Self After Verbal and Emotional Abuse explains the author's struggle through years of verbal and emotional abuse, and the underlying risk of physical violence. She shares her early years of growing up, and takes the reader through the chapters of her life that followed, filled with the adventures and realized dreams she experienced after finding her "self." Helpful insights and resources are provided for those finding themselves in similar situations.