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Dancing Through The Shadows
Short stories all based on the theme of domestic abuse.
No one is safe from domestic abuse as shown within these powerful stories.
From the minds of ten authors, this anthology brings to life the real and so often unseen horrors and deeply kept secrets by those suffering the terrible acts.
All proceeds are going to the Domestic Abuse charity My Sisters Place... this book aims to show what goes on behind many closed doors.
No one is safe from domestic abuse as shown within these powerful stories.
From the minds of ten authors, this anthology brings to life the real and so often unseen horrors and deeply kept secrets by those suffering the terrible acts.
All proceeds are going to the Domestic Abuse charity My Sisters Place... this book aims to show what goes on behind many closed doors.
172 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 7, 2025
8 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 31, 2025
"Dancing Through the Shadows" contains twelve stories of domestic violence by ten authors. The stories are brutally honest, displaying abusive and coersive behaviors of all kinds (sexual, psychological, physical, financial) in many different situations (from CSA to abused women and men and everything in between). The upshot is hope, recognition, and support, the message being "YOU ARE NOT ALONE". The importance of such anthologies cannot be overstated, especially since all proceeds from this anthology are going to the Domestic Abuse charity "My Sister's Place".
The stories are all very well done and all equally significant. I didn't have any favorites, they were all shocking, uncomfortable, inducing anger, rage, compassion - but mostly rage, in my case. I'll say a few words on each story.
Lula Von Goth has two stories in the anthology: the opening one, "Your Love Letter," and the one closing the anthology, the titular "Dancing Through the Shadows". The first is a revenge tale with a twist: Michael is abusing his wife Hannah, until she decides to hit'im where it hurts; great ending! The second is an eye-opening portrayal of what's going on between closed doors, pointing a way out. It shows how vital charity organizations such as "My SIster's Place" are.
Matt Stone has a couple of stories as well: "Breaking the cycle," an extract from his book, an absolutely triggering and uncompromising story of abuse told from an unusual point of view, with a savage and vicious ending, almost certain to be divisive, and horrible for a lot of people. It stuck with me and I'm still thinking about it. "A Bitter Conception," Stone's other story, told in several short chapters of escalating tension, deals with Ralph's abuse by his wife Rachel. Again, it's the kind of story that needs to be talked about, especially the last line, which I found quite troubling.
C S Jones' "Tender" starts with an old married couple's apparently constant bickering, and then goes into an entirely unpredictable and horrifying direction; Gary and Polly are simply not what they seem. I hope noone gets any ideas and tries this at home - NOT recommended! Though justice has many faces...
"Look What You Made Me Do" by Ali Jane Sweet takes on female friendship, and gives it a rather harsh spin, showing the long-term effects of abuse at home. What I got from this (rather entertaining story, I embarrassingly admit) is that helping someone can't be forced, unless they themselves have recognized the problem and want to be helped.
Justin Boote's "It Started with a Kiss" is a nightmarish tale of Sarah's abuse by her partner John; John doesn't hesitate to involve Harold, a Rottweiler gifted to him by Sarah, in Sarah's own humiliating and harrowing maltreatment. The story conveyd very well one's shock of finding themselves a victim of abuse. Thankfully, Sarah decides that enough is enough. Apparently, Harold the doggo concurs.
"Bleak" by DE McCluskey is an awful story of CSA. The tale isn't for everyone, it's pretty graphic, and it'll incite intense emotions. It's a very complex story of long-term abuse, and has an ending that needs some figuring out morally and intellectually.
"The Shape of Agony" by Cici Perkins is (unfortunately) inspired by the author's own life experiences, and pulls no punches in displaying abuse as realistically as possible: the ending reveals that the story is the message, that's it's never too late to seek help if you find yourself in this situation.
"The Lie We Call Home" by Matt Wildasin (who's also done the cover) is an introspective, psychological look into a man trying to find the strength to do the right thing. It's a bizarre little tale of self-encouragement, with a bit of madness thrown in for good measure.
Ash Ericmore's "The Ground Beneath Me" is about Bill and Daryll, a gay couple in trouble. The story is told in such a way that it's impossible to talk about it without giving away the twist at the end. So I'll just say that it gives a picture of abuse in queer relationships that shows how any relationship between gendered people can be abusive. It's not limited to straight people.
Jerry Blaze's "Meringue" is on its own level, as it's a tale of extreme horror, and it involves a mother-daughter relationship. It's very good, with many unsettling moments of emotional toxicity and, well, physical torture. If I had a favorite story in the anthology, it'd be this one for sure!
In sum, "Dancing Through The Shadows" has a lot to offer both as fiction and as a wake-up call. It shows in harrowing detail how abuse exploits the victim's shame and shock; that "victim" does not mean "weak"; and, most importantly, that there's help available if you recognize yourself in these stories.
The stories are all very well done and all equally significant. I didn't have any favorites, they were all shocking, uncomfortable, inducing anger, rage, compassion - but mostly rage, in my case. I'll say a few words on each story.
Lula Von Goth has two stories in the anthology: the opening one, "Your Love Letter," and the one closing the anthology, the titular "Dancing Through the Shadows". The first is a revenge tale with a twist: Michael is abusing his wife Hannah, until she decides to hit'im where it hurts; great ending! The second is an eye-opening portrayal of what's going on between closed doors, pointing a way out. It shows how vital charity organizations such as "My SIster's Place" are.
Matt Stone has a couple of stories as well: "Breaking the cycle," an extract from his book, an absolutely triggering and uncompromising story of abuse told from an unusual point of view, with a savage and vicious ending, almost certain to be divisive, and horrible for a lot of people. It stuck with me and I'm still thinking about it. "A Bitter Conception," Stone's other story, told in several short chapters of escalating tension, deals with Ralph's abuse by his wife Rachel. Again, it's the kind of story that needs to be talked about, especially the last line, which I found quite troubling.
C S Jones' "Tender" starts with an old married couple's apparently constant bickering, and then goes into an entirely unpredictable and horrifying direction; Gary and Polly are simply not what they seem. I hope noone gets any ideas and tries this at home - NOT recommended! Though justice has many faces...
"Look What You Made Me Do" by Ali Jane Sweet takes on female friendship, and gives it a rather harsh spin, showing the long-term effects of abuse at home. What I got from this (rather entertaining story, I embarrassingly admit) is that helping someone can't be forced, unless they themselves have recognized the problem and want to be helped.
Justin Boote's "It Started with a Kiss" is a nightmarish tale of Sarah's abuse by her partner John; John doesn't hesitate to involve Harold, a Rottweiler gifted to him by Sarah, in Sarah's own humiliating and harrowing maltreatment. The story conveyd very well one's shock of finding themselves a victim of abuse. Thankfully, Sarah decides that enough is enough. Apparently, Harold the doggo concurs.
"Bleak" by DE McCluskey is an awful story of CSA. The tale isn't for everyone, it's pretty graphic, and it'll incite intense emotions. It's a very complex story of long-term abuse, and has an ending that needs some figuring out morally and intellectually.
"The Shape of Agony" by Cici Perkins is (unfortunately) inspired by the author's own life experiences, and pulls no punches in displaying abuse as realistically as possible: the ending reveals that the story is the message, that's it's never too late to seek help if you find yourself in this situation.
"The Lie We Call Home" by Matt Wildasin (who's also done the cover) is an introspective, psychological look into a man trying to find the strength to do the right thing. It's a bizarre little tale of self-encouragement, with a bit of madness thrown in for good measure.
Ash Ericmore's "The Ground Beneath Me" is about Bill and Daryll, a gay couple in trouble. The story is told in such a way that it's impossible to talk about it without giving away the twist at the end. So I'll just say that it gives a picture of abuse in queer relationships that shows how any relationship between gendered people can be abusive. It's not limited to straight people.
Jerry Blaze's "Meringue" is on its own level, as it's a tale of extreme horror, and it involves a mother-daughter relationship. It's very good, with many unsettling moments of emotional toxicity and, well, physical torture. If I had a favorite story in the anthology, it'd be this one for sure!
In sum, "Dancing Through The Shadows" has a lot to offer both as fiction and as a wake-up call. It shows in harrowing detail how abuse exploits the victim's shame and shock; that "victim" does not mean "weak"; and, most importantly, that there's help available if you recognize yourself in these stories.
January 27, 2025
Dancing Through The Shadows is not an easy read. The hardest kind of horror to read is the truth, a horror that can happen to anyone.
Some of these stories are true experiences, some are imagined with twists and turns. But all of them take a harrowing subject and deal with it sensitively, imaginatively and with a lot of soul. From C S Jones turning a story on its head, to Cici Perkin’s heart wrenching true story of loss and turmoil, each story will have you filled with sorrow, rage and discomfort. And that is exactly the correct way to feel.
Every facet of abuse is covered here, from physical to emotional and sexual, from parental abuse of children to male victims and female abusers. All of it is covered sensitively by a host of incredibly talented authors.
I was one of the lucky ones to leave my abusive situation before it became physical, but the emotional scars remain years later, and this anthology is an incredible achievement for signposting warning signs and providing key links to get help if you need it. I applaud every one involved with this anthology for the incredible work you have done and are still doing to help.
This anthology should be required reading, and all sales go to an amazing charity to support those in abusive relationships.
It does go without saying that trigger warnings are in place for Domestic violence, sexual assault including that of children and animals, emotional abuse, suicide, child bereavement and miscarriage, and animal death.
Some of these stories are true experiences, some are imagined with twists and turns. But all of them take a harrowing subject and deal with it sensitively, imaginatively and with a lot of soul. From C S Jones turning a story on its head, to Cici Perkin’s heart wrenching true story of loss and turmoil, each story will have you filled with sorrow, rage and discomfort. And that is exactly the correct way to feel.
Every facet of abuse is covered here, from physical to emotional and sexual, from parental abuse of children to male victims and female abusers. All of it is covered sensitively by a host of incredibly talented authors.
I was one of the lucky ones to leave my abusive situation before it became physical, but the emotional scars remain years later, and this anthology is an incredible achievement for signposting warning signs and providing key links to get help if you need it. I applaud every one involved with this anthology for the incredible work you have done and are still doing to help.
This anthology should be required reading, and all sales go to an amazing charity to support those in abusive relationships.
It does go without saying that trigger warnings are in place for Domestic violence, sexual assault including that of children and animals, emotional abuse, suicide, child bereavement and miscarriage, and animal death.
January 28, 2025
Ten stories involving domestic abuse with the profits going to charity,very dark, disturbing and emotional, with one of the stories involving the writers own experience, every story is well written and worth buying to support the charity.
February 3, 2025
Bookended by two stories from Lula Von Goth. (Scar, silent night gruesome night). Dancing through the shadows is an anthology, the theme domestic abuse. It's a mixture of genres, from dark horror to intense tragedy. It explores a very personal kind of horror. One where the person you are supposed to trust is your persecutor.
There are two reasons to buy this book. The first is that every story contained within is excellent. Powerfully written and gripping. It's taken from real experiences in some cases which lends weight to the human drama within.
The second is that this is a book published in aid of a very worthwhile charity in aid of domestic abuse victims. So not only do you get a superb book. But you're helping a worthy cause as well. Definitely two very good reasons to buy this. So get it bought today!
There are two reasons to buy this book. The first is that every story contained within is excellent. Powerfully written and gripping. It's taken from real experiences in some cases which lends weight to the human drama within.
The second is that this is a book published in aid of a very worthwhile charity in aid of domestic abuse victims. So not only do you get a superb book. But you're helping a worthy cause as well. Definitely two very good reasons to buy this. So get it bought today!
Read
February 4, 2025This is a difficult book to read, but very worthwhile. Each of these stories is about some aspect of abuse, which can be rough on the reader. However, we can’t just pretend that these things don’t happen. An important book for an important cause. Let’s make this shit go away already.
February 21, 2025
I have no words to express how truly exceptional these stories are. Each one is unique but carries the same underlying message. This book is going to stay with me for a long time.
April 7, 2025
Front Matter - Lula Von Goth
Love had become hate.
She's been keeping everything a darkened secret for three years, and finally Hannah is ready to shock the world with the atrocities of her own husband Michael. Beaten and battered since the night of their wedding night, she’s been compiling every assault, every bruise and every threat just waiting for her chance to escape. Constantly ridiculed by the very person supposed to love her, she knew her chance was finally here and so she attended this final work party with a smile still stuck on her lips. As she excused herself for the restroom, she would slip his keys from his pocket and set the pages free on all those attending. With a final gesture, she takes the last copy of all the documents and heads to the police office to finally free herself of her abuser.
Breaking The Cycle - Matt Stone
Mom and I became all.
In this shocking shrot exerpt a mother is facing the ultimate sacrfice where she will perform a deadly home abortion simply to prevent her child from being born into a life of abuse. With an abusive husband, it would take one final beating before her spirit would shatter and she would look to the cost hanger and see no other options for herself. Regretful as she performed, she would strike her own artery and find herself bleeding to death while still holding her stomach as the life within her is slowly fading out.
I could hear the constant drumming of her heartbeat under the undersea-like noises of the rest of her, and I could feel our blood pulsing through my veins. Her emotions, thoughts, and fears were my own.
Tender - CS Jones
She was late home from a night out… You drank too much and she wouldn't sleep with you.
A family prepared to kill and torture for justice to those who can't save themselves will quickly find themselves with another victim at their disposal. Polly and Gary, parents to Hattie are currently entertaining Eric who slipped through the cracks of his domestic assault charges three times over. Tethered to a dining room chair and attacked with a meet tenderizer, he refuses to admit any wrongdoing and sees only himself as they try to explain this assault in their own way. When he sees Hattie joining her deranged parents, he's troubled as she's the same girl he went on two dates with and learned is a police officer feeding them the files for victims. As he's paralyzed with another stroke to the neck, he's buried alive in the yard alongside other monsters.
Look What You Made Me Do - Ali Jane Sweet
“If you had just listened to me this wouldn’t have happened. I have you and you have me. We don’t need anyone else.”
As an only child, Stacy feels dejected and alone as she faces the proescepft of starting kindergarten all alone after her family uprooted their lives and moved across the country. Praying every night for somebody her age to move close by, she's overjoyed when Lisa, her mother and her boyfriend Roger purchase the house next door and give her the gift of a friendship. Instantly, the girls become inseperable as Lisa spent countless nights sneaking out to stay with Stacy. Trapped in a heavily abusive household, Lisa vore the scare and bruises as she tried everything for a sense of normalcy. Jealously courses through that little girl's veins from a young age causing her to murder Stacy's beloved dog Max and bury his body behind their houses. Years would fly by and the girls have reach senior year when Kristina shows as a new student. Baring the same look and bruises, Stacy recognized the signs of an abused girl and welcomed her into their group. Even inviting her to apply to Berkeley University so they could escape the pain together. One night, as they prepared for a movie and sleepover, Kristina would never show and it would take three weeks of her classified as a runaway before the horrifying truth would come out. Murdered to keep her from joining the friendship, Lisa would go on to kill Stacy as well when she found the freshly turned grave holding their newest friend. It simply goes to show that not everybody can be saved, and for many abused it'll become all too consuming to hold onto what you believe is yours.
“I am all you need. All you’ve ever needed.”
It Started With A Kiss - Justin Boote
It didn’t have to be the strongest punch or kick or slap that hurt the most; it just had to be the first. The most unexpected. The one thing a woman prayed would never happen to her, believing that the man she had married really did love her in all the ways expected.
Battered but still resilient, Sarah has been plotting the death of her husband John for the past three years ever since he first laid hands on her. Starting as a slap across the face, it quickly sprinkled into name calling, rapes and beatings before she thought buying him a Rottweiler puppy would save her. Instead, he took to Harold and used the dog as a weapon against his own wife. Degrading her day by day, she finally worked up the nerve that enough was enough and slipped sleeping pills into his Jack Daniels, but only enough to make him compliant. As he struggled through the grogginess, she sliced into his throat before sending the dog onto him where he was torn apart before her eyes. With a bloodlust to satisfy, she butchers her own husband and begins cooking down his body to continue feeding his beloved pet for the weeks to come.
“You’re going to die now, John, then go to hell. The last thing you see will be the two things you simultaneously loved and hated at the same time, me and your dog. I hope they treat you well down there, you pig.”
Bleak - DE McClusky
I was thirteen years old when the rage first took me. I was thirteen years old, and I had not been a virgin for at least five years.
A young boy cowers from the father who's done nothing but horribly beat and rape him and watches slowly as hit fear turned to hatred. Turning his rage against animals, his darkest fantasies begin coming to life as he wishes to victimize somebody else in all the horrific ways his father died to him. Watching his mother be beaten into nothingness, her hair is falling out, she's underweight and the bruises keep getting darker, he plans to hang himself in the barn loft but finds himself backing out last minute. Armed with a year of murdering he waits for his father to come in an drunken state before stabbing him too many times to count. As he approaches his mother, he would stab her gently and put her out of the misery she's suffered for for over fifteen years. Finally, with guilt and remorse in his chest for the first time, he hangs himself and ends the cycle of tragedy with him own death.
The Shape Of Agony - CiCi Perkins
You are nothing…but he says I'm his everything. He must hate me…but he says he loves me. You’re always wrong…he's always right. I was a human punching bag…why do I do shit to make him angry. It’s his world and I'm wrapped around his fucking finger. He would never leave me….no…he would never let me go.
A picture perfect relationship is how it all started, but by the end it would would become a deadly altercation. Believing Jay was the prince to her fairytale, she was excited and nervous to reveal to him she was pregnant. Waiting until the sixteen week ultrasound, he wordlessly left and didn't return for several months. When he began begging and pleading to salvage their relationship, she agreed but it'll soon all grow sour. When she came home early sick with morning sickness, she never expected him to cross the line into cheating but that's exactly what she would find. Angered by her appearance, he would brutally attack her and cause her to lose the baby and leave her to deliver her stillborrn son. Ignoring all Jay's pleading, she makes the difficult phone call and return to her parents house to grieve the loss of the baby she never got to know.
He convinced me that he was the only one I needed. Convinced me that no one else would love me the way he does. I was already broken, it took nothing but mere words and promises of love to get me hooked.
A Bitter Conception - Matt Stone
“Because, Rachel… you made me this way. You took everything from me. My manhood, my pride, my dreams. And now, I’m taking everything from you.”
A miserable marriage filled to the brim with resentment and disrespect would finally come to a crashing point when Davis can't take Rachel's abuse anymore. With anger towards him for failing to get her pregnant, she refuses to accept she could potentially be the issue and instead focuses all her pain into her husband. Fighting through, he finally sets a plan into action of slowly poisoning her foods and drinks to weaken her. Days go by, then weeks and she's in constant agony and sickness, her entire mind hazing in and out. Refusing to see a doctor for her worsening condition, she's suspicious of her husband's part in the whole scheme. Spending more and more time withering away in bed, he would eventually come clean that this is his plan this entire time and watches her eyes slowly fade. Feeling his first set of freedom since the begining of their relationship, he feels no guilt or remorse for the part he played in his own wife's horrific demise.
The Lie We Call Home - Matt Wildasin
Of all the things we differ, or hold in common, the most glaring difference is his eyes.
Believing he was truly and fully in love, Mark is devastated when the woman he was falling for admitted she was married and didn't want their affair anymore. Slipping down the slope of insanity, he began communicating with his own reflection as he pushed aside the pills and embraced this mental Insanity. As he sinks deeper and deeper, he begins to realize the man in the mirror is the only true thing he can trust and eventually puts aside thoughts of taking the pills altogether.
I knew that this darkness would always be with me until my final days, dancing in the shadows. I just never realized that I could ignore it and build for better days. The pain will still be behind every laugh, every smile, but I don’t need to let it rob me of anything further.
The Ground Beneath Me - Ash zero more
I don’t love him anymore. I just want revenge.
When your partner is grieving to those around you while your vengeful spirit watches, how long would you wait to take the final plunge for revenge? After his husband pushed him from the top of the stairs to his death, he's laying on everything for the final premier to cover up any guilt he's been feeling. When the one who died realizes he can touch Darryl, Bill would reach into the chest of his lover and stop his heart. Forcing him to die as well, this seemed the only way for revenge.
Meringue - Jerry Blaze
“Because I couldn’t see you as anything more than your sickness. Your condition. I didn’t want to be around you because I couldn’t see you anymore. You stopped being my daughter that day. You became a reminder of genetic impurity.”
A sickly diabetic mother desperately reaching for the hands of her three deceased children, would embark on a violent rampage against the one person who costed them their lives. Meringue was determined to lay to rest the abuses of her own mother Lenora, but found herself totally in shambles after the drunk driving accident left her child less. Clutching to her husband Casper, she never expected her own mother to falsify allegations to get him locked away, yet here she found herself. With her mother tied up in her garage, Meringue prepared herself for the brutality where she killed her own mother in a violent and gruesome attach. Ripping her ovaries out and slashing her flesh, her own mother died a horrible death before being set aflame. Now, her own daughter looks back fondly on the murder she just committed, even though no amount of revenge would bring her family back to her.
Dancing Through The Shadows - Lula Van Goth
It wasn't the first time, it more than likely wouldn't be the last but each time was still brand new.
Facing the hands of abuse from her husband Craig, Anne felt her world slipping from her fingers as she failed to protect her own children Michael and Katie from his cruelness. Rude and abrasive, his fists were more often than not his final attack on her as he worked tiredly to break down her self worth with name calling and insults. Determined to do more for her children, he was enraged to see his control over her was slipping away so he did the only thing he could. Stabbing her in her bed while she slept, he left her for dead as he fled the house leaving their children still asleep in their beds. Reaching out, she called a domestic violence charity shop where she would set in motion her first steps for freedom.
Love had become hate.
She's been keeping everything a darkened secret for three years, and finally Hannah is ready to shock the world with the atrocities of her own husband Michael. Beaten and battered since the night of their wedding night, she’s been compiling every assault, every bruise and every threat just waiting for her chance to escape. Constantly ridiculed by the very person supposed to love her, she knew her chance was finally here and so she attended this final work party with a smile still stuck on her lips. As she excused herself for the restroom, she would slip his keys from his pocket and set the pages free on all those attending. With a final gesture, she takes the last copy of all the documents and heads to the police office to finally free herself of her abuser.
Breaking The Cycle - Matt Stone
Mom and I became all.
In this shocking shrot exerpt a mother is facing the ultimate sacrfice where she will perform a deadly home abortion simply to prevent her child from being born into a life of abuse. With an abusive husband, it would take one final beating before her spirit would shatter and she would look to the cost hanger and see no other options for herself. Regretful as she performed, she would strike her own artery and find herself bleeding to death while still holding her stomach as the life within her is slowly fading out.
I could hear the constant drumming of her heartbeat under the undersea-like noises of the rest of her, and I could feel our blood pulsing through my veins. Her emotions, thoughts, and fears were my own.
Tender - CS Jones
She was late home from a night out… You drank too much and she wouldn't sleep with you.
A family prepared to kill and torture for justice to those who can't save themselves will quickly find themselves with another victim at their disposal. Polly and Gary, parents to Hattie are currently entertaining Eric who slipped through the cracks of his domestic assault charges three times over. Tethered to a dining room chair and attacked with a meet tenderizer, he refuses to admit any wrongdoing and sees only himself as they try to explain this assault in their own way. When he sees Hattie joining her deranged parents, he's troubled as she's the same girl he went on two dates with and learned is a police officer feeding them the files for victims. As he's paralyzed with another stroke to the neck, he's buried alive in the yard alongside other monsters.
Look What You Made Me Do - Ali Jane Sweet
“If you had just listened to me this wouldn’t have happened. I have you and you have me. We don’t need anyone else.”
As an only child, Stacy feels dejected and alone as she faces the proescepft of starting kindergarten all alone after her family uprooted their lives and moved across the country. Praying every night for somebody her age to move close by, she's overjoyed when Lisa, her mother and her boyfriend Roger purchase the house next door and give her the gift of a friendship. Instantly, the girls become inseperable as Lisa spent countless nights sneaking out to stay with Stacy. Trapped in a heavily abusive household, Lisa vore the scare and bruises as she tried everything for a sense of normalcy. Jealously courses through that little girl's veins from a young age causing her to murder Stacy's beloved dog Max and bury his body behind their houses. Years would fly by and the girls have reach senior year when Kristina shows as a new student. Baring the same look and bruises, Stacy recognized the signs of an abused girl and welcomed her into their group. Even inviting her to apply to Berkeley University so they could escape the pain together. One night, as they prepared for a movie and sleepover, Kristina would never show and it would take three weeks of her classified as a runaway before the horrifying truth would come out. Murdered to keep her from joining the friendship, Lisa would go on to kill Stacy as well when she found the freshly turned grave holding their newest friend. It simply goes to show that not everybody can be saved, and for many abused it'll become all too consuming to hold onto what you believe is yours.
“I am all you need. All you’ve ever needed.”
It Started With A Kiss - Justin Boote
It didn’t have to be the strongest punch or kick or slap that hurt the most; it just had to be the first. The most unexpected. The one thing a woman prayed would never happen to her, believing that the man she had married really did love her in all the ways expected.
Battered but still resilient, Sarah has been plotting the death of her husband John for the past three years ever since he first laid hands on her. Starting as a slap across the face, it quickly sprinkled into name calling, rapes and beatings before she thought buying him a Rottweiler puppy would save her. Instead, he took to Harold and used the dog as a weapon against his own wife. Degrading her day by day, she finally worked up the nerve that enough was enough and slipped sleeping pills into his Jack Daniels, but only enough to make him compliant. As he struggled through the grogginess, she sliced into his throat before sending the dog onto him where he was torn apart before her eyes. With a bloodlust to satisfy, she butchers her own husband and begins cooking down his body to continue feeding his beloved pet for the weeks to come.
“You’re going to die now, John, then go to hell. The last thing you see will be the two things you simultaneously loved and hated at the same time, me and your dog. I hope they treat you well down there, you pig.”
Bleak - DE McClusky
I was thirteen years old when the rage first took me. I was thirteen years old, and I had not been a virgin for at least five years.
A young boy cowers from the father who's done nothing but horribly beat and rape him and watches slowly as hit fear turned to hatred. Turning his rage against animals, his darkest fantasies begin coming to life as he wishes to victimize somebody else in all the horrific ways his father died to him. Watching his mother be beaten into nothingness, her hair is falling out, she's underweight and the bruises keep getting darker, he plans to hang himself in the barn loft but finds himself backing out last minute. Armed with a year of murdering he waits for his father to come in an drunken state before stabbing him too many times to count. As he approaches his mother, he would stab her gently and put her out of the misery she's suffered for for over fifteen years. Finally, with guilt and remorse in his chest for the first time, he hangs himself and ends the cycle of tragedy with him own death.
The Shape Of Agony - CiCi Perkins
You are nothing…but he says I'm his everything. He must hate me…but he says he loves me. You’re always wrong…he's always right. I was a human punching bag…why do I do shit to make him angry. It’s his world and I'm wrapped around his fucking finger. He would never leave me….no…he would never let me go.
A picture perfect relationship is how it all started, but by the end it would would become a deadly altercation. Believing Jay was the prince to her fairytale, she was excited and nervous to reveal to him she was pregnant. Waiting until the sixteen week ultrasound, he wordlessly left and didn't return for several months. When he began begging and pleading to salvage their relationship, she agreed but it'll soon all grow sour. When she came home early sick with morning sickness, she never expected him to cross the line into cheating but that's exactly what she would find. Angered by her appearance, he would brutally attack her and cause her to lose the baby and leave her to deliver her stillborrn son. Ignoring all Jay's pleading, she makes the difficult phone call and return to her parents house to grieve the loss of the baby she never got to know.
He convinced me that he was the only one I needed. Convinced me that no one else would love me the way he does. I was already broken, it took nothing but mere words and promises of love to get me hooked.
A Bitter Conception - Matt Stone
“Because, Rachel… you made me this way. You took everything from me. My manhood, my pride, my dreams. And now, I’m taking everything from you.”
A miserable marriage filled to the brim with resentment and disrespect would finally come to a crashing point when Davis can't take Rachel's abuse anymore. With anger towards him for failing to get her pregnant, she refuses to accept she could potentially be the issue and instead focuses all her pain into her husband. Fighting through, he finally sets a plan into action of slowly poisoning her foods and drinks to weaken her. Days go by, then weeks and she's in constant agony and sickness, her entire mind hazing in and out. Refusing to see a doctor for her worsening condition, she's suspicious of her husband's part in the whole scheme. Spending more and more time withering away in bed, he would eventually come clean that this is his plan this entire time and watches her eyes slowly fade. Feeling his first set of freedom since the begining of their relationship, he feels no guilt or remorse for the part he played in his own wife's horrific demise.
The Lie We Call Home - Matt Wildasin
Of all the things we differ, or hold in common, the most glaring difference is his eyes.
Believing he was truly and fully in love, Mark is devastated when the woman he was falling for admitted she was married and didn't want their affair anymore. Slipping down the slope of insanity, he began communicating with his own reflection as he pushed aside the pills and embraced this mental Insanity. As he sinks deeper and deeper, he begins to realize the man in the mirror is the only true thing he can trust and eventually puts aside thoughts of taking the pills altogether.
I knew that this darkness would always be with me until my final days, dancing in the shadows. I just never realized that I could ignore it and build for better days. The pain will still be behind every laugh, every smile, but I don’t need to let it rob me of anything further.
The Ground Beneath Me - Ash zero more
I don’t love him anymore. I just want revenge.
When your partner is grieving to those around you while your vengeful spirit watches, how long would you wait to take the final plunge for revenge? After his husband pushed him from the top of the stairs to his death, he's laying on everything for the final premier to cover up any guilt he's been feeling. When the one who died realizes he can touch Darryl, Bill would reach into the chest of his lover and stop his heart. Forcing him to die as well, this seemed the only way for revenge.
Meringue - Jerry Blaze
“Because I couldn’t see you as anything more than your sickness. Your condition. I didn’t want to be around you because I couldn’t see you anymore. You stopped being my daughter that day. You became a reminder of genetic impurity.”
A sickly diabetic mother desperately reaching for the hands of her three deceased children, would embark on a violent rampage against the one person who costed them their lives. Meringue was determined to lay to rest the abuses of her own mother Lenora, but found herself totally in shambles after the drunk driving accident left her child less. Clutching to her husband Casper, she never expected her own mother to falsify allegations to get him locked away, yet here she found herself. With her mother tied up in her garage, Meringue prepared herself for the brutality where she killed her own mother in a violent and gruesome attach. Ripping her ovaries out and slashing her flesh, her own mother died a horrible death before being set aflame. Now, her own daughter looks back fondly on the murder she just committed, even though no amount of revenge would bring her family back to her.
Dancing Through The Shadows - Lula Van Goth
It wasn't the first time, it more than likely wouldn't be the last but each time was still brand new.
Facing the hands of abuse from her husband Craig, Anne felt her world slipping from her fingers as she failed to protect her own children Michael and Katie from his cruelness. Rude and abrasive, his fists were more often than not his final attack on her as he worked tiredly to break down her self worth with name calling and insults. Determined to do more for her children, he was enraged to see his control over her was slipping away so he did the only thing he could. Stabbing her in her bed while she slept, he left her for dead as he fled the house leaving their children still asleep in their beds. Reaching out, she called a domestic violence charity shop where she would set in motion her first steps for freedom.
January 29, 2025
Now, this was a good read. How these authors took a very grim topic and put their own spin on it was amazing. I found quite a few of these stories gut-wrenching, especially Bleak. This book opened my eyes to abuse that you don't really hear about. All of these stories were very well written, and I have found a few new authors to follow. It's definitely worth a read.
February 15, 2025
A collection of short stories about domestic abuse, all told from varying perspectives with varying scenarios. I loved every story in this book. They were all incredibly thought provoking. I know this book will stick with me for a long time. All proceeds go to a women’s shelter.
January 24, 2025
Excellent anthology and contribution from 10 talented writers. A dark and disturbing look into abuse and the effects on the human psyche mentally and physically.
January 28, 2025
Dancing Through the Shadows is a collection of short stories about domestic abuse. Ten fantastic authors bring these horrific events to life. The proceeds from this book go to the domestic abuse charity My Sisters Place.
The scariest type of horror story is based on a true story or an event that could actually happen. Abuse can occur in all forms, from physical to mental, and to both male and female victims. No one is safe, and the scars will remain for a lifetime. Each story deals with a different facet of abuse and will have you in a chokehold. Not everyone escapes their abusers. Some of these stories were very difficult to read because of the victim of the abuse. I won’t lie here and say I didn’t cheer on the ones who sought revenge.
While I have been a victim of emotional abuse, I was able to remove myself without any physical damage, but those words still linger in my head and cause me to second-guess myself constantly. My heart goes out to those struggling to find their way out.
Thank you to Lula Von Goth for gifting me an eARC of Dancing Through the Shadows. I am leaving this review voluntarily. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
The scariest type of horror story is based on a true story or an event that could actually happen. Abuse can occur in all forms, from physical to mental, and to both male and female victims. No one is safe, and the scars will remain for a lifetime. Each story deals with a different facet of abuse and will have you in a chokehold. Not everyone escapes their abusers. Some of these stories were very difficult to read because of the victim of the abuse. I won’t lie here and say I didn’t cheer on the ones who sought revenge.
While I have been a victim of emotional abuse, I was able to remove myself without any physical damage, but those words still linger in my head and cause me to second-guess myself constantly. My heart goes out to those struggling to find their way out.
Thank you to Lula Von Goth for gifting me an eARC of Dancing Through the Shadows. I am leaving this review voluntarily. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
April 21, 2025
I received this as an ARC for an honest review. This was a truly fantastic book made up of incredible, heartfelt and devastating stories. I really lack the words to convey how amazing this book was, and what's even better is that the proceeds from this book will be donated to a fantastic charity called My Sisters Place that helps the victims of domestic abuse.
Even though every story was great there were some standout stories for me, Megingue by Jerry Blaze is just an out-and-out revenge tale from a long-suffering daughter to her god-awful 'mother' The violence and story in this one was quality.
Started with a kiss by Justin Boote which is about a woman who has been degraded, used and pushed to the edge and has finally snapped to take revenge on her husband, what really got to me was that ending..... Woof!!
I do also have to give a special shout-out to The Shape of Agony by Cici Perkins, as this one hit super god damn hard; it was so brutal and based on true events. This one genuinely brought some tears to my eyes.
5/5 really doesn't do this book the justice it deserves, so go check it out and get a book full of amazing stories, and you help out a charity. It's a win-win.
Even though every story was great there were some standout stories for me, Megingue by Jerry Blaze is just an out-and-out revenge tale from a long-suffering daughter to her god-awful 'mother' The violence and story in this one was quality.
Started with a kiss by Justin Boote which is about a woman who has been degraded, used and pushed to the edge and has finally snapped to take revenge on her husband, what really got to me was that ending..... Woof!!
I do also have to give a special shout-out to The Shape of Agony by Cici Perkins, as this one hit super god damn hard; it was so brutal and based on true events. This one genuinely brought some tears to my eyes.
5/5 really doesn't do this book the justice it deserves, so go check it out and get a book full of amazing stories, and you help out a charity. It's a win-win.
April 9, 2025
Even though the topics in this collection are sad and heartbreaking, I would have to say hands down my favorite book by Lula! This collection has 12 powerful stories by 11 amazing and talented authors. All the stories are centered on domestic abuse. For me I loved every story as they felt therapeutic to me. As a survivor of child abuse and domestic abuse reading stories like these help me. And Ms Lula I cannot wait to read your next book so hurry up lol!!!!!!
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