Due to the lack of publicity this book has gotten, I really underestimated it. The writing is impressively articulate and the narrative is cohesive and compelling. The arbitrary events that trigger abuse from the author's mother are hard to believe. Seeking comfort from an adult who exudes stability and affection is completely understandable.

This book spoke to me in very unexpected ways. The adolescent age in a girl's life is one of the most confusing and emotionally intense time periods. Developing and recognizing romantic and sexual feelings, along with adjusting to a womanly body that is the object of many men's desires is a lot to deal with. The mixed feelings Morgan felt toward the older father figures in her life make a lot of sense. It is not evident that what they're doing is wrong and that she is being taken advantage of.

I experienced something very similar during this period of my life, albeit with someone who was only a few years older than me and almost everything happened virtually. But thinking back to that time still brings about very confusing emotions. On the one hand, I relished the attention and flattery, but in hindsight, I also know that it shouldn't have happened that way and he should have known better.

Cauley provides astute insight into her feelings during her physical relationship, as well as the complicated emotions that came afterward. From the outside, it can seem like black and white, victim vs perpetrator, but it is much more nuanced and intricate than just right or wrong. Especially in the case where the adult becomes such an important figurehead in a young person's life, giving love and affection that is lacking at home, lines are crossed and desires become entangled.

I'm glad I read this, and I think more people should read it to get a better understanding of why and how situations like this can escalate. This story is personal, vulnerable, and perceptive.

I really enjoyed this book! This book was generously provided to me through NetGalley. Highly Recommended!

A very open and honest insight into the crime of grooming children for abuse. The author was frank in her descriptions of her own feelings, both as she perceived them at the time and how she reflected on them later. This is not an easy book to read but it is an important one as grooming is so prevalent and so easy for some to dismiss as a lesser evil.

This memoir, The Places Left Unfilled by M.C. Cauley, is a raw and honest look at how the relationship between the abuser and the victim isn’t always recognised for what it is.

As a young girl, Morgan doesn’t have the ideal relationship with her father – or her mother, for that matter. Unsurprisingly, this leads to Morgan forming close relationships with other men who enter her life. One of these is with an adult neighbour, who she becomes close friends with. When suspicions arise and she is banned from spending time with him, Morgan really feels the loss of having a male role model.

When her stepmother introduces her to martial arts, Morgan is instantly drawn to the instructor. As a prominent figure in the community, family man, and teacher, Bill is well respected and loved by many. When he showers Morgan with the type of praise and recognition she feels is missing from her life, Morgan laps it up and soon finds herself eager to please Bill. What she doesn’t understand is that she is being manipulated and this is about to lead her down a dark and twisted path.

The Places Left Unfilled is not light reading. The events that take place are horrifying and anguish inducing. However, I felt compelled to keep reading. I wanted to hear Morgan’s story and I really wanted to know that she reached a happy ending. Instead, I found myself acknowledging the truth of what happens in many abuse cases; the truth that no one ever seems to talk about or admit. Morgan shares how her relationship with Bill feels to her, throughout the stages, and the lasting impact it has had on her life. It might not be what you are expecting.

The author tells her story without apology and she deserves to be recognised for doing this. For anyone who has had sexual abuse touch their lives, they will know how invasive and destructive it can be, both at the time and in the aftermath. The world can be so harshly judgemental of the victims. This book doesn’t scream holiday reading, but it definitely is worthy of your time. Please read it. Then share it with the other adults in your life. The ones that need to hear that someone else understands. The ones that might be overlooking signs they don’t know are there. The ones that maybe are struggling to understand what it might be like for a victim who is a part of their life. But first, read it yourself.

4/5 stars.

Harrowing.
That is all there is to say.
If you do want a little more, there will be some small spoilers:
While there are many stories out there about abuse and neglected and used children, this autobiography is different in that it portrays grooming in a way people will truly understand the psychological meaning of it.
It is a term regularly used when describing paedophilia, but rarely does the true manipulation come through the way Morgan Cauley portrays it in The Places Left Unfilled.
Despite having heard and read it more times than I care to think about, I am sad to say it took me longer than it should have to understand the true nature of what I was reading about. And if it is so hard to distinguish for an adult, how must it feel for a teenager desperately looking for a friend and father figure in her life? The Places Left Unfilled makes it clear just how tricky it can be to differentiate feelings and intentions. Nothing is as simple as it seems. For the longest time, Morgan doesn’t feel violated, but heartbroken. And it takes this book and her story to truly understand why.

This brutally honest account of what leads a young girl from a troubled home to find comfort in an older man sexually is a must read. The author's honesty about what led her to trust her abuser and the voids in her life that helped him take advantage of her is eye-opening.

The Places Left Unfilled by M.C. Cauley is the tale of her childhood with an violent and abusive mother and her search for a father figure,a search that led her into the clutches of a narcissistic predator. As a child .Morgan has men flit in and out of her life as her Mother's various partners come and go before eventually meeting her Father, who doesn't fully fit the paternal role she's so desperate for. There are good men in her life,on of her Mother's former boyfriends and neighbour Nate ,who treats her almost like a little sister before malicious insinuations see her being banned from seeing him. She later finds the source of those insinuations.
As all predators can ,her 45 year-old Taekwondo instructor senses Morgan's vulnerability and grooms the 14 year-old girl. What follows is 4 years of family man Bill manipulating Morgan while keeping up a "pillar of the community" front with friends and neighbours.
Morgan doesn't pull any punches when telling her story and is very honest about her feelings at the time and for several years after that might surprise or shock readers until she explains quite how effective some abusers are at making themselves seem the answer to their victim's problems even while pursuing their own twisted agenda. This won't be for everyone,it is very explicit and Ms Cauley's views won't go down very well with many, it is however very well written and thought provoking.

Raw, unsettling, Yet, a masterpiece

This has been my favorite memoir of 2020! This book takes you on a journey of a young teen trying to make it through her trying life. Morgan, at only age 14 struggles with not only friend drama but also, grew up in a broken, abusive home. With men coming in and out of her life and her mother not only being physically abusive but mentally abusive as well, Morgan looks for comfort in the wrong hands. She soon finds herself in a so called relationship with a married man who is much older. Someone she looked to as a father figure.

The Places Left unfilled, gave me some many emotions for Morgan and I felt myself just wanting to reach through the book and pull her away from her life. This is a great read for a mature audience but be mindful of the possible triggers.

While I really, really don't want to minimize the honest story of trauma told in "The Places Left Unfilled", I have to say the book gave me a very distinct fanfiction vibe.

For most of your book, it didn't feel like we were being given access to Cauley's thoughts and hindsight. I would have loved to have learned more about her healing process; but unfortunately that journey and the work that she was forced to take was very quickly skimmed over. This was a shame - because in the rare glimpses of the sky Cauley that we got, she is revealed to be an incredibly strong and insightful person.

Nevertheless, I do want to thank the publisher, Netgalley, and Cauley herself for giving me the chance to enjoy this book. Different perspectives on this terrible subject are incredibly important to have.

Child sexual abuse is always "done" to the child. It is very hard to read and accept that the child can actually be manipulated in to actually wanting a relationship with their abuser.
A Frank and insightful memoir of how Morgan fell for her abuser. How he not only manipulated her but others as well.
A bold book. I would recommend that anyone who works with young adults reads, so they could be aware of situations like these.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is a tough book to read because it's so sad yet this is an important subject for today's world. The ease that some of these adults have on manipulating young, vulnerable girls is frightening. The author is open and honest with her struggle with her feelings for and relationship with the predator. I hope writing this memoir was therapeutic for her.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the eARC I received in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This one was a tough one for me.

I would like to use it in my classes because I think the author does an amazing job painting a picture of how predators groom vulnerable, hurt kids who need affection and approval.

I would not like to use it in my classes because the writing itself is not very good. It’s not vivid or expressive, the language isn’t strong. To me, this is a case of a memoirist relying solely on having experienced a very salacious story. The ending, too, leaves a lot to be desired both in terms of literature and in terms of theme. It ends abruptly and feels unfinished, but it also misses the mark in terms of any kind of maturity or self awareness. She leaves as much of a mess as we found her and while I realize life doesn’t end in a neat bow, writing memoir doesn’t replace therapy. Ultimately, this was three stars to me because it was entertaining and had some value as a cautionary tale, but only three stars because I don’t think it was that well written.

This book was so sad to read. I'm very glad that the author found the strength to express her story with the world and hopefully heal a little bit. This book is all about our main character, Morgan, who has a less than ideal home life. Her mother is abusive and her father is gone, leaving her step father in his place only he is as absent and
abusive as her mother is. At age fourteen Morgan meets Bill her martial arts instructor. That is when things really start to go down hill for her. While Bill appears to be everything that Morgan needs in a male figure, it actuality he is everything but. His attention in the beginning is sweet because, it seems that he is filling in for everything Morgan's mother lacks however his attention eventually crosses the line and it goes from sweet attention to creepy and abuse. I liked how this book showed the slow progress that took place in the grooming process because it isn't always quick and usually takes years. Very different twist on the abuse books that I have read before but it was just as compelling. I'm very glad that I got the chance to check it out.

Wow, what an interesting but sad story. I think many teenage girls can relate to Morgan here in some ways, which makes it all the harder to read. What if that teacher we fancied reciprocated those feelings? I love how she has dealt with the events in her life and been truly honest about her feelings. A truly great read about an amazing women!

Glad author could tell her story. I can see how this can happen, but it's sickening to read and hear about.

Thanks to author ,publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.. While I got the book for free ,it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.