Thank you Nertgalley!
I enjoyed this memoir, it was at times hard to read, but these are stories that need to be told in order to help others in the same situation.

It's always hard to rate a book that is filled with violence and human ugliness, and yet, the thread of hope, courage, endurance, resilience, and promise that spurned the author on also ignites within you as you keep turning the pages to see their journey come to a point where they've escaped. What a story. What an incredibly brave woman. Even after all this has happened to her, she continues to try to find answers, no matter how hard and incredibly hurtful they have become, she moves on with hopes and dreams written on shreds of paper stuffed in her shoes. Bravo Brave One. The human spirit will not be crushed nor destroyed.

*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This review is my own opinion*

A wonderful tear-jearker. Tracie Breaux pens down a very tragic story that tug at your heart strings. A girl all alone in a world of abuse. From charting to her escape to feel it take it all. Reading it broke my heart. An absolute amazing book.

If one has grown up in a home with even a modicum of love and good care, it will be very difficult to conceive of a home where gross lack of loving care, and severe abuse is the order of each and every single day and night. Tracie tells her story in this memoir where she literally walked on papers of hope and longing to help her live from day to day. Hers is rather a horror story, made more horror-filled because it is true; it was her surreal reality.

Towards the end of her memoir, after she had become an adult and sifted through her nightmare of childhood events, Tracie says that the "single greatest gift she could give herself was to forgive" all those who had harmed her, especially her Dad. This really blew me away. Such a strength of mind, will and character to come forth and say and act so. It is a wonder. I need to learn from this.

As you can imagine, this was not an easy book to read. If it had been fiction we could easily overlook it but, no, it's real, true-life happenings. Those who have been traumatized by family violence will most likely be able to relate and may even be helped and encouraged by Tracie's story, and have courage to overcome. I hope so. Those of us who would be foreigners to such hate-filled living may gain some insight and hopefully some compassion and empathy for those we may know who have been, or who still are, being so wickedly mistreated. May all such victims of evil be able to find their way of escape and refinement.

~Eunice C., Reviewer/Blogger~

February 2022

Disclaimer: This is my honest opinion based on the complimentary review copy sent by NetGalley and the publisher.

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Refined
by Tracie Breaux
Pub Date 02 May 2022 | Archive Date 14 May 2022
Deacon & Roth, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles
Biographies & Memoirs | Christian | Nonfiction (Adult)



I am reviewing a copy of Refined through Deacon &Roth, Independent Book Publishers Association and Netgalley:




At fifteen Tracie ran away from her abusive father. By the end of her first day of freedom she was running away from two men with a rope. Racing through the Forest, she felt the papers in her shoes she had spent years scribbling her hopes and dreams on. Since the age of eight, she had written down her dreams, trusting the words would rewrite her future.


Every day after school she sprinted-shoes full of hope-to the local oil refinery, gawking through fence fabric at the flickering lights, as though they were beacons of promise.Her father was distrustful of other men, so public life was limited for Tracie. The windows inside the home were tacked with trash bags to block out any view of her mother. Violence permeated inside the home. Accusations were made daily.


When Tracie was old enough she grabbed a bag and left. That night two men watched her make camp in a forest and tried to capture her, but she escaped. The two men chasing her frightened her so much, she scrambled into a school the next morning for help. Tracie was placed in foster care with a loving family. The words in her shoes were coming to life.


When Tracie was an adult she grabbed a bag and left. That night two men watched her make camp in a forest and tried to capture her, but she escaped. The two men chasing her frightened her so much, she scrambled into a school the next morning for help. Tracie was placed in foster care with a loving family. The words in her shoes were coming to life.



Refined is a testament to the strength of young women, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising twist of DNA patterns handed down systematically from generation to generation. With words that are rich with life.



I give Refined five out of five stars!



Happy Reading!