Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

...yes I read it because there's a movie adaption coming out.
The Fantine and Cosette vibes without the Cosette vibes. 
The NA romance genre has ruined me because then I read Christian romance, and there is no spice. sigh.
Michael is so soft and I love him. He's great. He's perfect. We stan. 
We love a girl who fight her abuser. Also like... Let's talk about trauma, because like. Some of that hit me, and I don't appreciate being attacked by this. Like...my heart hurt. 
.....There is no fandom content. And like I'm not surprised, but also I am...because there is so much potential.
480 Pages

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk

Ok but the mention of how people who were able to go home after 9/11 and be comforted were able to recover. 
I'm just...going to be snapping...because like...yes it's saying stuff I know, but I listen to trauma podcasts. 
and like.. how trauma makes it difficult for a person to judge if a situation is dangerous or not because of the amygdala. 
"Emotions assign value to experiences, and thus are the foundation of reason" snaaaaaaaaaaaaaps.
Reads a book about trauma. *talks about depersonalization. *laughs uncomfortably
Go off about the DSM5. Go off. I'll drink my tea and love it. 
So I knew this book was going to attack me...but like...
Also I really appreciate that we talk about how trauma doesn't stop affecting the body and the mind when we're not thinking about trauma, and how often times victims of trauma know that their reaction is an over-reaction, but they can't stop it because the body has trained itself to keep itself safe. 
464 Pages

Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker

Ok but like....am I seeing how far I've come in my healing...yes... Am I still working on stuff. Also yes. 
I really liked that he went through and showed the process of healing and the steps (in terms of things that need to be dealt with first in order to more fully deal with deeper issues), and gave examples of flashbacks.
I also really liked how he went into the four trauma responses (fight, flight, freeze, fawn) and detailed other ways that they present themselves even as subtypes.
376 Pages