**BOOK REVIEW** "Private Scars" by Brenda Youngerman

Private Scarsby Brenda Youngerman
iUniverse, 2006, 172 pages
Paperback, $13.95
ISBN: 978-0-595-40292-5
E-Book also available

My Rating - 4 Stars! Fantastic!


Private Scars... What a great read it was! Nancy is one of the strongest characters I have come across in all my reading. The story takes place when Nancy was younger with her best friend, Sara. They are basically attached at the hip. But Nancy is the smart one in the pair and get accepted into college in Oregon and has to leave Sara behind to attend a community college. College for Nancy becomes extremely hard after hearing devastating news and becomes even worse when she is attacked on campus. After one semester, she returns home to the town of Greenbrair.

Nancy makes a new life for herself in, attending community college, working at Rite Aid, and making a few friends. Then she meets him... Vince... a man she falls in love with. Their dates were a little awkward, she had to pay for their dinner on the first date, he either didn't show or didn't call, but she was in love. There was always a good reason... right? He wooed her and won over her parents. Although she occasionally had doubts, but those doubts vanished when he was kind, loving, and caring. Within a short amount of time they were married and starting a life together.  Nancy had no idea that Vince had a different side of him. Through out her marriage, kids, jobs, would she be able to survive?

What I liked most about the book was the short yet descriptive chapters. Not the kind that take up three chapters to tell the scene. Brenda has a unique way of telling you everything you needed to know and more but in a direct route. I have a complete picture of what Nancy looks like, acts like, and yet it didn't take long. Same with Vince. I can completely picture him. And I am completely amazed that Brenda was able to tell this fantastic, heart wrenching story in so few pages. And I don't feel like I am missing anything. I was connected to the characters. There were times that I could have smacked Nancy if I could only reach into the book. And times I wanted to smacked Vince, again if i could only get in the book.

I can not wait to see what happens in the sequel, "Public Lies". I am anxious to to jump into reading it, but I want to wait and let the freshness of "Private Scars" set in some more. Thank you, Brenda Youngerman, for sharing your books with me to review. I was excited to review them and I was not disappointed!