From Princess To Prison With Amnesia?
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This series must be read in order. This is the first book.  I can't wait to read The Bitches Of Enchantment!

Snow is on parole for a crime she does not regret. Living in town at Granny's is going to be hard to get used to but hopefully she will be able to manage. She can't remember the last time she lived with people. Why do strange things keep happening to her in the house? Is she going insane from living in such proximity to other people? Did someone drug here? Who are the other parolees she is rooming with? Why do they seem familiar? Can she keep her nose clean and get free of this awful mess? What does Granny mean... Remember?

This series brings to mind the cartoons called Fractured Fairytales... Only for adults! I loved the show and yet I love this more! What would happen if someone changed just one word in a magic book? Obviously Chaos!

***This series is suitable for adult readers who enjoy a little chaos in their fractured fairytales with a modern setting and plenty of intrigue and mystery :)
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For anyone who clings to clich&eacute;s about our prison system or the 2.3 million Americans behind bars, Amy Wickes-Passmores biographical book, "From Privilege to Prison  Finding Purpose in a Dark Place," written with Kristine Stevens (2014, Resilient Publishing), provides an education on the ad hoc culture that emerges when addicted, mentally handicapped, personality disordered, innocents, criminals, and others are caged in a one-size-fits-all deprived environment.

The book shines light on an inhumane corrections system in which imprisonment is just the beginning of the punishment. Its an eye-opening, compelling read.

Amy Wickes-Passmore references her early difficult years as the source of a simmering vulnerability that precipitated her overuse of prescription drugs and alcohol. She began shoplifting to pay for her addictions and to avoid relying on her husband in a difficult marriage.

From working as a model and enjoying a privileged life, Amy stumbled into the demeaning, debauched God-awful, sick and abusive Franklin County Jail Workhouse in Columbus and then the Ohio prison system.

While Amy admits to a long arrest record relating to her addictions, she was never violent. She was charged with aggravated burglary when a former friend beat her up, then claimed Amy was the aggressor and thief.

Amy eventually pled guilty to this crime she didn't commit for one of many reasons countless others have done so. Incarcerated for four months in a dirty, dangerous facility designed for short stays, Amy took a plea deal to escape the county jail and go to a community-based correctional facility.

Under heavy medication, she made a bad decision and was sentenced to four years in the Ohio Reformatory for Women. Conditions were deplorable, demoralizing, and dangerous. Amy struggled with Crohns disease and belatedly diagnosed bipolar disorder, but nothing was as devastating as having her children delivered by the system into foster care.

Amy was released from prison on January 2, 2011, with new purpose. Shes become an extraordinary advocate for reducing the prison population and developing Stay Out Plans. She is founder and CEO of the nonprofit organization, In the Name of Justice, dedicated to Support and Awareness to Benefit Children and Parents of the Incarcerated.

Amy believes her difficult journey has been Gods plan to bring purpose to her life. With faith matured in a dark place, shes become a force among opinion leaders, a voice for the forgotten.

"From Privilege to Prison" is an inspiring story of redemption and recovery, of prevailing over difficult losses, of finding faith and purpose when all seems lost. The book shines light upon the so-called corrections system in the most incarcerated nation in the world. As such, it is a wake-up call to all Americans who would find the conditions Amy describes as shameful. "From Privilege to Prison" calls upon the nations conscience to reverse destructive policies that are contrary to our foundational beliefs and national character.
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Dark Prayer
by Natasha Mostert
Natasha Mostert has delved deeper into the ideas an theories that are known about Memory. Her previous book Season of the witch looked into the concept of thought palaces. The completion of the book found a new life when she read Brain Researchers Open Door to Editing Memory by BENEDICT CAREY. The idea that research can find a way to help memory, wither its helping with PTSD or trauma patients or just Alzheimer research and creating access to memory. In her research she found an aspect of memory to write about. Memory is not stagnate it is not recorded and played back like a recording, it changes because of your personal feelings and your state of mind, as you record it and as you view it. This dynamic fashion of Memory retrieval is the aspect that is the central key to this book. The characters are faced with a choice of retrieving memory or letting your past completely go.  Eloise is in a fugue state she has been for two years. Her mysterious switch in personality and lifestyle is remarkable, but she has become a better person because of it. Will she choose love or knowledge? This is a book that will bring the reader to the realization that sacrifice can be used for good or evil, but it all has consequence.
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This book called Hidden by Paul Jaskunas is about a woman named Maggie Wilson; she believes so much it was her husband that assaulted her that one summer night. She confessed against him and sent him to jail. Six years later she's informed that an inmate has confessed to her assault. This confession cause Maggie to go through a great confusion by not knowing what or who to believe. Throughout the book, Maggie does everything she can to remember what really happened to her and why out of all people, her husband is the one she believed assaulted her.
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I wanted to learn as much as possible what happened to Jaycee.  She was captive for 18 years and what did she do to survive.  The book is very good, although she only touched the surface--I could not even begin if it were me.  The Officials should be ashamed of themselves, and really need to revamp their procedures.
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The year is 1894. Welcome to the Soothing Hills Sanatorium, Philadelphia, where Patient Twenty-Nine (whose real name is Jane) has been an inmate her whole life. Her affliction? She hears voices and sees colors in music. Throughout her stay, women have mysteriously disappeared, most of them being Jane's roommates. Could she be responsible for their disappearance, or is she herself in danger? We are introduced to a cast of interesting characters: Mason, the new orderly; kind Dr Grayjoy; the mysterious Dr Cloud; sadistic Dr Frost; his nineteen-year-old daughter Jules, whose mother died when she was young; and Maeve, her governess. But what really happened to Jules's mother, and who is the little girl Jules remembers from her childhood?

This book is part love story, part mystery, part Gothic horror story, but becomes more and more paranormal as the story progresses. The author skilfully captures the speech, mannerisms, and atmosphere of the time. However, I found the plot to be predictable and had it all worked out very shortly into the book. Nevertheless, the author manages to maintain suspense with the quick pace and the uncertainty as to how things will be resolved. Alternating chapters and passages are told from Jane's and Jules's points-of-view. However, some chapters/passages are labelled and some are not, making it very difficult to follow the story. Things are further complicated when the author introduces some passages from the points-of-view of Dr Grayjoy and Mason. With all this switching of viewpoints, the timeline doesn't quite work on some occasions, with characters seemingly being in two places at once from one scene to the next. There are also some inconsistencies with the ward numbers changing from time to time.

Warning: This book ends on a massive cliffhanger even though there is no indication that this book is the first in a series.

I received this book in return for an honest review.

Full blog post: [...]
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I read this wonderful book a few years ago and it was truly riveting.  i saw the movie this morning and at the end of the movie, which i think was made in the early 90's, that Barbara will be up for parole in 2006- how in the heck did she avoid life in prison without parole?
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I like this novel though I found it to be a little long.  Though what did I expect, the book is about a lady with Amnesia!
Anyway, apart from it being long it is a good read.  Half way through I got a little sick of it and contemplated not finishing it, but a week later I finished it off and am glad I did so.
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I enjoyed reading her description of being inside San Quentin visiting a Death Row inmate.  I don't believe Peterson ever confessed to her.  However, due to health problems and devoting five years to defending his innocence, she was desperate enough for a best seller to claim he confessed.  I do believe that she wrongly thinks Peterson made a conversational slip that indicated he killed his wife.  When emotions run high, intelligent people can mishear/misunderstand what is being said.  I actually had a close girlfriend think (on the way to our twenty year High School reunion) that I was confessing to an affair with the married father of a mutual friend (who had been my nemesis in H.S.).  I never even met this man, but it was very funny when my old nemesis came up and hugged me and sympathized with how hard it must have been for me to have to deal with her father's death when I couldn't tell anyone about the affair.  I admired her for her decency.  I should have told her I never met her father, but it took me a couple of days to figure out that our mutual friend had misunderstood when I was talking about having a business lunch with another mutual friend's father.  Thus, it is my opinion that Thomas (who was in the midst of a jealous fit at Peterson) misunderstood him when he said he planned for that day very carefully and was afraid of losing his "slip of paper."  All he probably meant was that he planned on getting away and going fishing for some time, and that the slip of paper he kept checking for was the Fishing Permit he needed to have.  Even Thomas admits she thought she may have misheard him.
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In Cimmerian Sunset, by Jennifer Waller, Arriella is a warror who specializes in security and management aboard a space vessel. When Arriella wakes up on her craft in the dark, silent, and musty cold with missing memories, she has to figure out what is going on before it is too late.

Through the story, Arriella flashes back and forth between the past and the present. The background information on her family, her dangerous career choice, her training, and her friendships, and the thoughts, feelings, and motivations of her queen add to the depth of the story.

As Arriella explores the ship and wonders what has happened to the ship's crew and inhabitants, her disturbing memories of recent events begin to trickle back in horrifying clarity.

This story held my attention, and I would strongly recommend it.
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BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP is a novel about a woman who has a unique kind of amnesia--she can't make new memories.  She is able to retain memories while she is awake, however once she goes to sleep, she forgets everything again, waking up in the morning, sometimes believing she is a teenager again, sometimes believing it's twenty years before.

She keeps a journal--the first part of the book talks about her meeting her husband (for what again seems like the first time) and her neuropsychiatrist calling her, telling her that she needs to read the journal she has been keeping for a while. He gives it to her, telling her to contact him if she wants to continue her treatment.  The idea is that she is progressively remembering her life before the "accident" that caused her amnesia.  For some reason, Dr. Nash has the journal on this day and has read it already--and he's giving her the choice of remembering or not, basically.

The first part is short--a chapter.  The second part is the meat of the book--The Journal of Christine Lucas.  And, yes, it reads like a journal.  But each day, Christine starts not knowing where she is or who she is in bed with to learn that she's married to a teacher named Ben.  She receives a call from Dr. Nash--and it's after she's read the parts that came before "today" that she writes to herself what happened that day.

I have always loved the idea of exploring memories and their connection to sleep.  There IS a connection--or so I've heard--some saying that it's in sleeping that we correlate the mind's contents which is why dreams are typically so fragmented.  We're taking everything that happened that day, everything that we saw or thought or heard or smelled or imagined and putting all those thoughts and memories into their proper places in our mind.  That's part of why, during times of sleep deprivation, we tend to slow down and become more forgetful.  Not only have we not taken the memories we created from short-term memory to long-term memory, but we're slowing down the accessing process.  It takes longer for us to get to those memories than before.

I really think this book was absolutely brilliant.  While there are a few stylistic things that I haven't been too keen on, nothing really distracted me from the story itself.  S. J. Watson has done a remarkable job of taking us through Christine's mind as she learns about events and people in her past and the frustrations involved in not being able to remember.  While reading the book, I felt as though I was there, trying to figure things out right along with Christine, and I enjoyed that immensely.

Definitely a satisfying book :)
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As the citizen of Tower, under the rule of The Protectorate, Desiree Six Haven has been taught to believe everything in life has been planned. She knows what her career is going to be, who her chosen mate is and at what age she will die. Even with the aid of Dreamscape, her sleep and dreams are managed.

Darian One Sterling, accused of theft and the murder of his parents is serving a lifetime sentence at the Olympus Jail. For the rest of his life he will endure Terrorscape - suffering through your worst nightmares.

The life that Desiree always knew will be forever altered and she will learn the truth about her government and secrets in her own family. With the help of childhood friend Darian, Desiree will do everything she can to uncover the lies and fight for her future.
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This is the story of Cynthia and her incarcerations. One in prison and one at the hands of a university lecturer who persuades her to study under him. Things go from bad to worse. The story is told as a diary that she is writing whilst in prison and has a very conversational style. Chapters alternate from what happened to her days in prison.
 I instantly felt empathy for her and from just a couple of chapters could see the type of man he was going to be as this is so well written. A Machiavellian, narcissistic, demeaning, degrading character.  We all meet controlling people one way or another during our lives and with a little thought (depending on your experiences) can see how someone could be so manipulated and controlled to the point of every thought.  Why didn't she escape?  She explains that she did think of this but his words were so manipulative, and her self -esteem was so very low that this was an impossible hill to even contemplate. When you measure place settings with a ruler and get told off for 2mm out, every waking and sleeping thought becomes about self -preservation. The ending is written so well (I won't spoil it). Is this real?? You will have to read it to find out.
One of the best books I have read this year (160+ and counting). Intense, page turning, captivating and thought provoking. A stunning read.
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I received this ARC from netgalley.com in exchange for a review.

She washes up on the beach, injured and doesn't remember her name or past. The police decide it was an accident. Then she starts to have hallucinations of someone pushing her in the water, but could they be memories?

Pretty good book. I did guess the true killer but not the little twist at the end of the book.
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Fifteen year old Jenny Kramer attends a highschool party. When she sees her boyfriend with another girl, she heads off alone into the nearby woods. She is brutally assaulted and raped a few hundred feet from the party. Her parents, specifically her mother, consent to a medical treatment that will wipe out her memories of the event. The premise is that she will be able to move on easier. The only problem is that she doesn't remember the event, but she knows she was raped. Her body can still remember the incident. This causes serious problems and she eventually tried to commit suicide. At this point, her parents agree to memory recall therapy with Dr. Alan Forrester. Will this help Jenny? Will her rapist ever be caught?

Dr. Forrester is the unreliable narrator of this story. As we begin to uncover the secrets of the family in their sessions with the doctor, Jenny also begins to remember. As she remembers, it might put someone in the town in the police's cross-hairs. What will Dr. Forrester do to help her recall those memories and make sure she does not form false ones. The characters in this book are all pretty much unlikable except maybe Jenny. It seems everyone is out for themselves and how this situation makes them feel or impact their lives. This is a good, not great, thriller. I definitely didn't see the twists and turns coming at the end. I might have enjoyed it more if I had empathy for the characters in the story. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley.
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How does one find herself after being kidnapped, and brainwashed? How does a character return to normal life, after the shame of loving her captor? Why does she love him more than her own mother, more than the foxes she played with daily as a child? Where is the good Flora? Find her.
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Charles King is living a nightmare.  Gifted, verbal and extremely articulate, the 7-year-old has been guarding a secret.  The secret comes out when Charles' mother, also bright and articulate and extremely driven finds a pair of blood stained briefs that belong to Charles.  This discovery is tantamount to removing the lid from a Pandora's box.  Horrors abound.  Who caused Charles to bleed?  Why would anyone harm an innocent child?
The list of suspects is quite long, from a neurotic, gay sitter who insists on bathing all of his young male charges; possibly an adult guest or even one of Charles' father's legal colleagues.  But who?  Charles isn't talking.  His sister, Vivian, a musical prodigy retreats into her music and Charles is left to try to sort out what has taken place.
His life takes a drastic down turn.  His contentious parents separate; he has to endure a painful physical examination and contend with a questionable psychiatrist with an agenda of her own.  The high point of his trauma takes place in court.  The questions that crop up there are not really resolved.  Did Charles identify who really injured him?  Who did it?
The story closes ten years later.  Charles, then in college picks up the ruins of his boyhood.  He has moved out of state and keeps his contacts with his parents and older sister to a minimum.  He tries to avoid people he knew as a boy.  It is just a question of time before he has to confront his inner demons and unmask the REAL culprit.