Exodai

The author reached out to me on Instagram asking if I would be interested in reading and reviewing her memoir. I admit when I saw memoir my immediate thought was this isn't going to be for me. I don't tend to read a whole lot of non fiction but I'm coming to realize that if a non fiction book reads like a fiction story I can enjoy them. I read the synopsis for this one and was immediately intrigued so I agreed to read it and I am so glad I did. First I have to say that this book is full of trigger warnings so be aware of that and do your research before going in. As it says in the subtitle for this book it is a shockingly honest memoir. The author is brutally honest in the telling of her story and I would also say brave in how transparent she is. Obviously for privacy reasons there are things she has to change but overall this is her story and how she grew to love and accept herself. I know little to nothing about the world of S&M/BDSM aside from stories I have read all of which were fictional. This is an eye opening read. It's definitely not for the faint hearted and won't be for every body. We are first introduced to Elizabeth in this book when she is still a child. We fly through her childhood years within the first 4 chapters. After that is when things start happening. Elizabeth has pretty much always known she was a lesbian but she is a Christian as well and because of that she always had trouble accepting that she was a lesbian. This book goes through everything that Elizabeth goes through throughout her life to try to find the love and acceptance she so desperately wants. With this being a memoir of the authors life I am hesitant to list any complaints because this is an account of her real life and everyone's experiences are different. I felt like the author just flew through everything. Like it felt like there was a lack of emotion which I can actually understand. This was a hard time in her life and I can imagine that recalling everything was hard. Also it ended abruptly. Like there was this big build up to it and then it just kind rushed through the end. Again I can understand why the author did it this way but I guess with the build up I was just expecting a bit more. Overall I really enjoyed reading this book which seems wrong to say about a book focused on trauma. I would love to have a follow up on this memoir detailing after. How did she dig herself out of the whole she was in? Was she able to find the love she deserved after being able to love and accept herself?