When The Storm Ends by Rebecca L. Marsh

Erin Clifton is being held in juvenile detention pending her day in court for murdering her father, James. Her attorney, Lisa, is friends with child psychologist Beth Edgewick and has hired Beth to talk to Erin to try to get her to tell them why she shot her father, but Erin refuses to say anything.

The only way Beth believes she can gain Erin’s trust is to tell her about her own childhood. Knowing that this is not only an unconventional method of treatment, but also a bit unethical, Beth forges ahead and tells her what it was like when she was growing up.

Beth’s mom, Annabella, was 19 when Beth was born and four years later she married Jeff and they moved in with him. At first, Jeff was a nice person, but he began drinking not long after they married.

When Jeff drank, he became a raging jealous lunatic whose fists found Annabella all too easily. He later began to turn his anger toward Beth who suffered several broken bones because of his drunken rages.

When Beth’s half brother Jack was born, Beth’s aunt Amy (Anabella’s twin) told her that she would have to take care of Jack. It was at that moment that Beth realized that Amy knew what Jeff did to them, but still, she did not try to help them. When Jack was around four years old, they were taken away from Annabella and put into the foster care system.

Beth knows that Erin had a reason for shooting her father, so she took a chance on telling her story so that Erin could see that something good could come from a bad situation, she just had to tell Beth what had happened to her so that Beth could help her.

This is a really good book, with tons of emotional hot button issues. Beth, who has grown up, but has not really healed, still has issues that she needs to deal with. Erin also has issues that Beth needs to understand so that she can help not only with her defense but also with helping her to heal.

All of this is woven through stories of hope, where you see people in Beth’s life who helped her, much in the same way that she now helps the children she counsels.

This truly was a rewarding story to read and although I read it over the course of a day and a half, there were hard days, as I cried through more than 1/2 of the book. For me, a test of a good story is to laugh out loud, cry a bit, and shout for joy. This book performed on all of those levels and then some.

This truly is a book not to be missed!

Book Details: 

•  When The Storm Ends by Rebecca L. Marsh
• Paperback: 344 pages; Purple Angel Press (August 5, 2018)
• Kindle: 815 KB; 346 pages; Purple Angel Press (October 6, 2018)

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