The Girl Who Could Breathe Under Water by Erin Bartels

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I just finished this book and I am not even sure how to begin processing what I read. I will read anything that Erin Bartels writes and this book is no exception, but it is raw. It is also triggering as it deals with rape and suicide so I would recommend caution if those subjects are hard for you.

About halfway through reading, I flipped through to the back, because that's what I do when I get impatient to know what is going to happen, and I happened up the author's note. Erin, herself, had been molested as a girl of nine and this story is her journey to processing her own story. I don't know how much of the story is Erin's story, but for me the story changed at that point. It was no longer a good story, the depth, the emotion, the journey became much more real and alive at that point. While, I can't relate to the journey that Kendra needed to take, I was pulled into the story and my heart broke for Kendra and for all the Kendras out there who have suffered in silence for so many years. 

And yet, the story isn't just hopeless--there is hope at the end of the tunnel, but it doesn't come easy. Kendra goes back to verify the truth of her story. She has hard things to confront and hard truths to learn, but she does it. And in the process, she learns to trust again, she learns to see beyond herself and her pain to the good in her life. She learns to forgive, to find reconciliation or at least the start of it, and she learns to hope again.

Yes, there's a bit of a love story in here, but it is quiet and yet it is solid. Andreas is there as a solid, trustworthy, dependable man who teaches Kendra that there are good men out there. 

I really enjoyed this book. The only thing I would change is to put the author's note at the beginning of the book. For me, it made so much difference to know where Erin was coming from. I also want to add that, while it is from a Christian publisher, I would not call this book a Christian book. The hope and healing of Jesus was not evident in the book and a fair amount of alcohol and immodesty/sexuality was. 

I received this book from Revell and was not required to write a positive review.  All opinions expressed are my own. 

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