Shattered Hearts

By: Stacy Lynn Carroll

Narrated by: Miranda Crandall

Length: 5 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Sarah Dunkin's world shatters when she walks in on her husband's secret addiction. Thrown into the world of pornography, therapy, and support groups, Sarah must find a way to forgive before she drowns in betrayal and despair. The task before her seems impossible as she struggles to care for their five children on her own. Growing up without religion in her life, Sarah is forced to make difficult choices and finds herself being drawn to a higher power she never understood. But with the help of a mysterious friend, Sarah just might be able to piece back together the life, and the love, she and her husband once shared.

©2015 Stacy Lynn Carroll (P)2016 Stacy Lynn Carroll

Powerful Story!

WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Sarah Dunkin’s world shatters when she walks in on her husband’s secret addiction. Thrown into the world of pornography, therapy, and support groups, Sarah must find a way to forgive before she drowns in betrayal and despair. The task before her seems impossible as she struggles to care for their five children on her own. Growing up without religion in her life, Sarah is forced to make difficult choices and finds herself being drawn to a higher power she never understood. But with the help of a mysterious friend, Sarah just might be able to piece back together the life, and the love, she and her husband once shared.

MY TAKE
This is such a powerful story. I found myself pulled right in with Sarah, right along with her feelings of betrayal and despair. I felt for her struggles doing the single parent thing but especially her fight to understand and forgive. It's not an easy place to be. Trust, once shattered, can be a hard thing to replace. The story becomes a religious one as Sarah finds God, but even if a reader isn't interested in the religious aspect, the uplifting story--in spite of the nature of the story--still has so much to recommend it.

I have a bipolar child who spent over a year in an adolescent treatment center. Many of the kids there struggled with all kinds of addiction, including pornography. One of them once said that porn is an especially difficult addiction to break because it's the one "drug" that you don't have to have in your possession to get a hit. It's all there in the mind. And so many people still deny that it's a problem.

Important story

This is not a your run of the mill novel. It's an important story to educate, advocate, and comfort not only those who are affected by pornography addiction, but everyone. I didn't love the narrators.

Tough Subject

Porno addiction is a tough subject to tackle, and Stacy Lynn Carroll does it here with sensitivity and tact while remaining honest. The book traces the problems it's caused in one marriage as they struggle to overcome it and keep their family together. I can't say much without giving the story away other than to say anyone who's ever been in a relationship where any kind of addiction has come in to play will understand this deeply, and anyone who hasn't struggled with, or loves someone who's struggled with, addiction will have a new love and understanding for the former.

The low stars on the performance are because the main narrator sometimes sounds too chipper or happy for such a heavy subject, and her voices for the children grate on the nerves and make what would read as charming characters annoying. A man reads the male parts, which would be refreshing if he didn't sound robotic and very clearly reading from a script. His voice had no personality at all which made it a little harder to get on board with the husband.

Other than my nitpicks over the voices, I highly recommend this book.