Wings Of Glass by Gina Holmes ~ review

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers (February 18, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1414366418
• ISBN-13: 978-1414366418

This book is also available as an ebook.

Synopsis:

From the best-selling author of Crossing Oceans comes a heartrending yet uplifting story of friendship and redemption. On the cusp of adulthood, eighteen-year-old Penny Carson is swept off her feet by a handsome farmhand with a confident swagger. Though Trent Taylor seems like Prince Charming and offers an escape from her one-stop-sign town, Penny’s happily-ever-after lasts no longer than their breakneck courtship. Before the ink even dries on their marriage certificate, he hits her for the first time. It isn’t the last, yet the bruises that can’t be seen are the most painful of all.

When Trent is injured in a welding accident and his paycheck stops, he has no choice but to finally allow Penny to take a job cleaning houses. Here she meets two women from very different worlds who will teach her to live and laugh again, and lend her their backbones just long enough for her to find her own.

My take on this book:
"Wings of Glass" is a story that touches on physical as well as emotional abuse.  It was the summer of of 99 when Penny's dad hired Trent Taylor as a farmhand. Penny was only seventeen, about to turn eighteen and had never been paid attention to by any man , so with a little attention and a bit of sweet talk Trent literally swept her off her feet. After they elope she quickly learns that Trent has a short fuse and keeps score making her pay for whatever transgression he feels she might have caused by hitting her,or verbally abusing her, telling her what she could do and basically when she could do it! When Trent has an accident and can't work things start to change when he allows Penny to get a job. After years of Trent's abuse can Penny finally break free and stand on her own?

Gina Holmes certainly knows how to create a very realistic story that really allowed me to get into the heart and head of Penny.  Emotionally filled, I could easily imagine Penny's feelings, the physical abuse was hard, but honestly I think it was the verbal and emotional abuse that was the hardest to read. Thing is she is sure he loves her, so she hides what is going on between them! She is always trying to guess what might set him off, and somehow I felt like she actually blamed herself for the way that he was.Overall, this is a very well written story that portrays something that sadly goes on every day across the world, making it a very important issue that needs to be discussed. The discussion questions makes this a wonderful group read, and author's notes at the end of the story provide useful information for anyone who might be going thru this issue! 

A complimentary copy of this book was provided for review.