Believed
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4.3 • 109 Ratings
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Publisher Description
Kelsea Jones is like a lot of girls at the University of Northern Minnesota. She has a boyfriend, she works at a coffee shop, and she’s on the swim team. But she’s not a girl. She’s a mermaid.
Trouble brews when star hockey player Chad Andersen takes an interest in her. She tries to avoid him, but he won’t leave her alone. A son of wealth and privilege, he takes what he wants, and he gets away with it. He wants Kelsea, she says no, and so he rapes her. Kelsea stands on a tail and two fins to fight the most painful trial of her life. Despite her trauma and a crisis of faith, she speaks the truth of what Chad did, but will she be believed?
A note from the author:
1 out of 4 college girls experiences rape or sexual assault. That breaks my heart. It’s a crime that has affected people I love, and it has to stop. This novel is my way of raising awareness and showing survivors that someone hears them.
Believed is a product of my friendship with a survivor who is an author and advocate. She opened my eyes to a world of trauma and PTSD that had been largely invisible to me before I met her, and it was life-changing. I needed to share that with others. The burden on my heart was too great to not say something, and fiction is the method I know best to convey the thoughts, truths, pains, and struggles that I see.
Sexual assault is not my story. I haven’t experienced it, I don’t live with the resulting trauma, and I do not wish to profit from the pain of survivors. This is a book for them. It’s a book for those who love them. It’s a book to encourage readers to think and to empathize and to consider the realities of so many whose lives have been affected by this crime. If you would like to listen or read for free, audiobook and e-book files are available at my website: www.michaeljamesemberger.com/believed
Customer Reviews
Loved it!
This was a great listen. Great way to say that GOD loves us all! He does!!!
He’s got us!
When the Story Paints the Picture
The frame doesn’t matter. I listened to this book in one sitting. I could not break free. There were moments where I thought, “I can’t listen while I…” fill in some chore, but that moment would be followed immediately with sentences that encompassed the very question that I asked or the exact attitude I had to navigate. The storyline was such a gentle and eloquent way of describing the internal struggle that grips every subsequent decision. You masterfully addressed stereotypes, social norms, and inherent bias. Your fictional writing was warm and inviting to realities that are ugly and hidden; for a moment it was ok -it was good - to open the shed door and look at all that lay tattered bathed in sunlight shining bright with (self)acceptance and (self)forgiveness,. Thank you.
WOW - should be a Movie
The raw truth in this story with the overlap of the mermaids is done so perfectly! I would love to see this in a movie! Not only was the truth shown in the impact of the assault but also in the impact that church members can have on an already hurting soul. The weaving of the church and faith in this story are done on an amazingly real level! I am a survivor - I was raised in church and left for nearly 30 years due to similar circumstances. Very well written!!!