Carolyn Woods

When I first started reading this, I thought the meeting between Carolyn and Mark was odd, the way he talked and how she described the scene would have pinged up a lot of red flags for me immediately. However, we have all been fooled by someone in one way or another and people do tend to give others the benefit of the doubt.
Less than 18 months was the length of the relationship but in that time, Carolyn was duped, that is for sure, Mark had the charm and charisma to get away with it and he was a master manipulator and had set everything up so well that I am sure anyone could have let their guard down eventually with him. He managed to get inside her mind and a lot of it was uneasy to read. Yes, I did think Carolyn, you are naïve, get out of there! But I can also understand that when it is actually happening to you and you are caught up in the bubble so far and every time you question things you are given an answer that could be believable due to his “job” and have no one to voice your worries because he has managed to isolate you and you are under his spell completely.
I am so glad eventually Carolyn saw sense and started to rebuild her life while fighting tooth and nail to get Mark arrested and exposed for what he had done.
I’m not so happy about missing information that the police “lost” it sounded very strange and frustrating.
Overall, it was a good but uncomfortable read, this really happened and it shows that abuse in a relationship is not always physical.
I am glad Carolyn found the courage to write this book and share what happened to her, and I hope it gives help to other people in similar situations.
… (mehr)

This book was not at all what I was expecting. Unfortunately for me it did not really read as a thriller but more of a memoir.

I found the authors retelling of the story rather dry and at times the chapters seemed to drag on a bit.

I also found it hard to empathise with author - although it is a true story, it just seems so far fetched that anyone would believe it. I disliked how the author seemed to come from quite a privileged life, yet didn’t seem to really take responsibility for herself. In the second half of the book she comes across as rather rude to the police, and I wondered where this sudden ability to stand up for herself came from.

As the saying goes - if something seems to good to be true, it usually is!… (mehr)

Finally, I reviewed Homeschooling for the Smart, Energetic, and Easily Bored: Hands-on Learning Methods for Your Gifted, ADHD, or Just Plain Wiggly Child, in exchange for honest review from Business to Blogger. I wanted to review the book because I used to homeschool Brad. Brad has Autism and ADHD. Homeschooling became too much. Brad became more antsy. I didn't feel like attending live classes and completing most of his work (even though the school knew Brad can't read or write). Oh Yeah, the teacher wanted student participation from my child, who can't say 2 or most of the ABCS. yeah, got burned out quick during the second year. Some days Brad did not want to do any work, except art. He would run out of the room, when he had online speech therapy. Not to mention, he was not always woke during live classes because of his meds.

Anyway, some tips include:

Working in smaller steps. Instead of tackling on a big assignment at once, you can break the assignment down into smaller steps to work on each day.
Develop a reward system for accomplishments
Relax. Sometimes parents need to relax. Kids will have good days and bad days. No point in torturing yourself

Woods also provided links to websites for additional learning.… (mehr)