BLURB As a 15 year old girl, growing up is hard for anyone, especially when you're socially awkward, overweight and good in school. I wanted only to be like the girls I surrounded myself with; pretty, carefree and popular with both friends and boys. I did and still do to a point consider myself somewhat of a hopeless romantic, daydreaming as many at the time did about finding prince charming, falling in love and growing old together and I thought that was all that i wanted... for my love life at least. Through one of what I now know to be many frogs, I met Joe. Beautiful, kind, understanding, similarly strange and hopelessly loving Joe, and things were perfect for a while. Over the course of 3 years of my adolescent life I devoted to this boy I learnt about love; both beautiful and toxic and the whirlwind of romance I'd experienced turned into lies, pain and manipulation. From the pinnacle of my 'first time' to standing in his bathroom mirror wondering how concealer had become my staple piece in hiding from others I'd been sure to make seem perfect, but had secretly become hellish. I write to others in the hopes that we can look beyond the cliche's of 'why didn't you just leave?' and 'surely you know better than to stay with someone like that?' in a brutally honest journey which I hope can both educate the innocent and provide support to the victims. This is the story of my first love, how I ended up being the victim of domestic violence and how I escaped, warts and all. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am using this as a testing platform for a book i'm writing; it's an open, honest, no holds barred story, which due to the nature, I wish to remain anonymous and as such am using a pseudonym. Please be aware this contains graphic descriptions of violence, sex and strong language.All Rights Reserved