Official Review: Abused But Not Broken

[Chigozie Anuli Mbadugha]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Abused But Not Broken" by Jacqueline Hall-Moore.]

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1 out of 4 stars

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Abused but Not Broken by Jacqueline Hall-Moore is a non–fiction memoir about the author’s life. She describes it as “My story of hurt and abuse to my journey of love and purpose.” She recounts several past experiences spanning from life–changing health challenges in childhood to marriage, domestic violence, and divorce. Abused but Not Broken explores several themes which are commonplace but which people do not readily discuss. The author discusses the challenges of being part of a dysfunctional family with secrets and awkward interactions. She shares her experience of domestic violence and sexual abuse. She carries us along her journey into romance, relationships, marriage, and divorce.

I enjoyed reading the book because the writing was simple and honest. The book highlighted issues that a lot of women have gone through in the past, and are still going through today. I liked the piano icon at the foot of most pages of the book and the colored floral pattern introducing new chapters. I admire the author's courage in sharing personal events in her life to help other people.

The major problem I had with this book was the poor editing and formatting. Every page of this book contained grammatical or punctuation errors. Sometimes the author would change from past tense to present tense in the same paragraph. Some of the punctuation errors were omission of apostrophes, commas, and quotation marks. There were also capitalization errors. I found several incomplete sentences that didn’t have any meaning.

An example of an incomplete sentence can be found in line 1, paragraph 2 of page 67.

My brother James told me that I need.

Readers are left to imagine what the author was told.

Some chapters started with headings or titles while others did not. I think some consistency would have been nice. The author suddenly and casually mentioned her son for the first time in page 61 and only explained the addition of the son to her family in the next page. In page 82, the author alludes to her son but this time referred to him as “Cassi” not “Isaac” that she had always called him in the book. She also refers to another child in her life as ''Marcin'' (page 62) and then calls him ''Dexter'' somewhere else (page 69).

The message of hope and faith in God is real in the author’s memoir. It can appeal to teenagers and young adults on the brink of making life changing decisions about their careers and relationships. However, in its present poorly edited state, I cannot recommend this book to anybody. I strongly feel this book was not professionally edited and I can only rate it 1 out of 4 stars. I will be elated if the author can edit and correct the errors in this book because I think there are lots of life lessons to be learned from the book.

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Abused But Not Broken
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[Faithmwangi]

Thank you for the very honest review. It usually is sad when a good book is poorly edited. I hope the author heeds your advice and makes the necessary changes.

[Jaime Lync]

WOW, Great review...seems like you got a copy of the book that still needs some heavy reviewing. Hope the author takes your review into consideration.

[bluedragonsii]

Thanks for your honest opinion. There is nothing worse than a poorly edited book. I have run across several that could have been otherwise good, but for the lack of attention in that area. The confusion it creates is incredibly frustrating.

[Itskai88]

This sounds like an amazing book presented poorly, it also sounds like it will be a pain to read. thanks for getting through and reviewing it.

[kandscreeley]

Once again, a book with poor editing. It's so sad. Even if it was well-edited, I have a hard time reading memoirs. They just aren't usually striking enough to capture my attention. I'm sorry you had to read through this one.

[Chigozie Anuli Mbadugha]

Thank you for the very honest review. It usually is sad when a good book is poorly edited. I hope the author heeds your advice and makes the necessary changes.

Thanks for reading and commenting on the review, Faith. It is indeed sad. Cheers!

[Chigozie Anuli Mbadugha]

Once again, a book with poor editing. It's so sad. Even if it was well-edited, I have a hard time reading memoirs. They just aren't usually striking enough to capture my attention. I'm sorry you had to read through this one.

Thanks for your kind words. Cheers!

[Chigozie Anuli Mbadugha]

This sounds like an amazing book presented poorly, it also sounds like it will be a pain to read. thanks for getting through and reviewing it.

Thanks for your kind words! Cheers!

[Chigozie Anuli Mbadugha]

Thanks for your honest opinion. There is nothing worse than a poorly edited book. I have run across several that could have been otherwise good, but for the lack of attention in that area. The confusion it creates is incredibly frustrating.

Thanks for your comments. You have a way with words. I like your last sentence: The confusion it creates is incredibly frustrating. You are so correct! Cheers!

[Chigozie Anuli Mbadugha]

WOW, Great review...seems like you got a copy of the book that still needs some heavy reviewing. Hope the author takes your review into consideration.

I hope so too! It will be such a shame if the author doesn't. The book has great potential in my opinion.