18+ A ROMANTIC SUSPENSE NOVEL. No one knew a woman lived there or that she even existed. A monster, living in darkness…
At twenty-two, Nicole doesn’t even look human anymore. The beast made sure of that. So she hides. A monster, consigned to a life of fear and solitude. This is all she deserves, she is quite sure of that.
Description:
Published: September 9th, 2013
A ROMANTIC SUSPENSE NOVEL. No one knew a woman lived there or that she even existed. A monster, living in darkness…
At twenty-two, Nicole doesn’t even look human anymore. The beast made sure of that. So she hides. A monster, consigned to a life of fear and solitude. This is all she deserves, she is quite sure of that.
And then one day out of the blue, the autographed baseball caught by Brian Jensen at the latest Marlins game enters her prison and manages to turn her world completely upside down.
Temptation comes in the form of pity at first, and then perhaps something more. Does she dare to believe the things she’s told, that this is not the life she was meant to live? That being a monster is not her forever-fate? And will she be willing to risk everything, to reach out and accept the helping hands around her and share her deepest, darkest secrets? She knows only too well that hands can hurt. Finding out whether they can also heal is a risky proposition, especially when the beast is still out there. Looking for her.
This story was inspired by true events. If you liked the movie “Sleeping With the Enemy”, then you might like this story too. CONTENT WARNING: Violence, foul language, and adult situations. Not meant for younger readers.
A message from Elle about Don’t Make Me Beautiful:
A really long time ago, I read an article in a newspaper or a magazine (I haven’t been able to locate the original) about a woman who was so badly beaten over a long period of time, she couldn’t leave her house. I thought about that woman a lot over the years and about what her thoughts might have been, her fears, her reality … and this book was my attempt to both exorcise those thoughts from my brain and also shed some light on a subject —domestic violence— that I feel should never be left in darkness. (October is Domestic Violence Awareness month.)
EXCERPT - Chapter 1
She sits on the couch, staring out the window as the late afternoon sun tries to make its way through the glass. Dark beige curtains frame the outside edges of her only access to the outside world, while white sheers fill the middle, making it almost impossible to see what’s going on beyond the shrubs that run underneath.
Those gauzy curtains would also make it impossible for her to see what’s going on inside her house, if she were ever standing on the lawn or the sidewalk looking in. But that never happens. She never leaves the house. Not even at night. Well, once she did. But then never again. The aftermath was not worth the brief taste of freedom.
The clock is ticking.
Ticking … ticking … ticking.
It’s her only company for most of the day. Kitten lived for less than a day before her violent end came and she was put under a blanket of soil in the backyard. The rat remains hidden in the attic crawl space where he’s safe from the monster, so she rarely sees him. She hears him though, at night, and it gives her comfort to know she’s not totally alone.
There is no attic space for Nicole, though. She waits on the couch for the monster to come home. He’ll be here soon. An hour. Maybe a few hours if she’s very, very unlucky. It’s not that she wants to see him sooner, it’s just that if he’s late, it means he’ll be drunk. And anything can happen when the monster gets liquored up. Good, bad, ugly. It’s all the same. Nicole wishes that the clock would stop ticking, stop carrying time away from her and just give her a few hours of non-time to gather her brain back together, to think, to find a way out of this mess.
She takes a deep breath and sighs heavily, the familiar ache in her ribs and face reminding her of the reality she lives with day in, and day out. The clock might as well keep on ticking, because there is no escape from this mess. This mess is her life until the day she takes her last breath and is placed in the spot next to Kitten in the backyard. He already has the hole dug.
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About the author:
Elle Casey is a prolific, NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY bestselling American writer who lives in Southern France with her husband, three kids, and several furry friends. She writes in several genres and publishes an average of one full-length novel per month.
1 comment:
Hi, I'm Noelle, Elle Casey's assistant. Thanks for featuring Don't Make Me Beautiful. We hope your readers enjoy it! Happy reading :)
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