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Hope in Patience

by Beth Fehlbaum (Goodreads Author)

4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 · rating details · 101 ratings · 36 reviews

Fifteen-year-old Ashley Asher has spent half of her life living in fear. Her stepfather sexually abused her for years, but her mother didn't believe her. After Child Protective Services finally removes Ashley from their home, she goes to live with the father she barely remembers. Her new life in Patience, Texas, is much better. She's in therapy to deal with Post Traumatic...more

Hardcover, 312 pages

Published October 1st 2010 by Westside Books

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Nov 30, 2010 Natalie (Mindful Musings) rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Heather, Hallie

In a Sentence: Hope in Patience is a poignant, heartbreaking story of a teenage girl on the long road to recovery after years of abuse.

My Thoughts

Thanks to the author for providing a review copy!

Hope in Patience is up there with Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson and Willow by Julia Hoban as some of the most moving YA books that deal with abusive situations. This is one of those books that, when you finish reading it, you wish you could give a copy to every girl who's ever been abused.

I thought t...more

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Mar 29, 2013 Deborah Takahashi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen-fiction

Ashley Asher grew up feeling empty, alone, unloved, and worthless. In fact, she even wished to die because the agony her stepfather put her through. What readers learn is that Ashely has been molested for years and her own mother didn't do anything to stop it. However, when Ashley speaks up, Child Protective Services is notified and she in her biological father's custody. Although Ashely doesn't know her father, she slowly re-builds her life by seeking help from a therapist, making friends, and...more

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Jan 09, 2011 Kyleigh rated it 4 of 5 stars

I love and hate these kinds of books. They are always such wonderful stories with so much meaning, but they always make me horribly sad. Hope In Patience was no exception. I really liked this book, even though at times it was difficult to keep reading because I became so frustrated with where the story went. I always appreciate authors who take a stance and write about difficult times in life. Not many people are comfortable talking about such ugly issues, much less writing about them. I don’t k...more I love and hate these kinds of books. They are always such wonderful stories with so much meaning, but they always make me horribly sad. Hope In Patience was no exception. I really liked this book, even though at times it was difficult to keep reading because I became so frustrated with where the story went. I always appreciate authors who take a stance and write about difficult times in life. Not many people are comfortable talking about such ugly issues, much less writing about them. I don’t know whether or not this story stemmed from real life experience in some way, but even if it is completely fictitious, it still speaks for countless victims of sexual abuse.

I have to say though, at the beginning of this novel I was sooooo confused as to what was going on. The synopsis makes it seem like it’s a continuative narrative of what happened to her. Not at all. It all jumps back and forth so much that I was having a hard time keeping up. All the talk of the trial, is not the trial I thought it was at all. I was expecting Ashley’s SOB of a stepfather getting his comeuppance for sexually abusing her. Wrongo. The injustice of it all drove me insane! I despise our judicial system now. Beyond frustrating what some people get away with all on technicality. Ashley’s stepfather broke her arm trying to forcibly remove her from her biological father’s care, and yet it gets written off as a misunderstanding. Plus the fact that Ashley couldn’t fully explain why she was so terrified of her stepfather, because she couldn’t bring up events prior to the day her arm was broken. What type of BS is that?! I mean come on! I could probably rant and bitch all day about the unfairness of it all, but the truth is life’s not fair, no matter how much we’d all like to think that justice is served in cases like this. It’s just horrible to face the fact that our justice system rarely delivers justice to those who deserve it.
Rant aside, continuing with me being confused. The synopsis describes her making friends during summer school and all these others things, but in reality it’s all already happened. The narrative jumps back and forth a lot from Ashley as a child, to before Child Services relocated her, to summer school, etc. It just really jumps around a lot at the beginning. I didn’t really mind it, but it was a tad bit difficult to make 100% sense of it. I got used to it when it mattered though. In the end it added to the story, and I’m glad the author wrote it the way she did.
Before I write this next part of my review, I want to clarify that I am by no means being flippant about anything that happened in this story in regards to real life. Okay, now that I am perfectly clear on the matter… I’ve read a few sexual abuse/rape stories before and some things are always essentially the same about the story. Where the MC has to come to terms with what happened to him/her and it’s usually all about them not blaming themselves. I’ve always hated the victim mentality of “I must have brought this upon myself.” I was so relieved that Ashley didn’t think this. She knew it wasn’t her fault. What Ashley struggles with is the fact that her mother didn’t protect her. Even though Ashley told her mother what was happening, her mother let it continue to happen anyway. She didn’t do anything to stop it. She didn’t protect her; and it is because of her mother’s rejection that Ashley is unable to heal. I cannot speak for rape victims, and I mean no disrespect, I was just glad that Ashley’s story did not take on the stereotypical version.
There were many ways that I really enjoyed reading about Ashley’s recovery. Her sessions with her psychologist were some of the best and most meaningful parts of the whole book. Her psychologist pushes her and doesn’t beat around the bush. It was really refreshing and it’s nice to know that there are people out there who are willing to stick their necks out to help others. Ashley grows by leaps and bounds, and she begins to reach out again. One thing I really admired about her character was the fact that she didn’t shut other people out. She may not have told anyone besides her best friend what had happened to her, but she doesn’t close herself off to friends. She’s not afraid of being hurt by her new friends and family, and I thought that unbelievably admirable. If I was in her shoes, I don’t know how I would react, but her capacity for love was incredible. I really admire her strength and perseverance and her willingness to move beyond what happened. She was an amazing character and I loved reading about her struggle.
Hope In Patience was a heart wrenching and powerful story. You are literally with Ashley every step of her recovery, and feel her success every bit of the way. It was a wonderful read, through and through. (less)

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Nov 04, 2010 Brandi Kosiner rated it 5 of 5 stars

Hope in Patience is a very powerful and emotional story of surviving molestation and abuse. I devoured it and even though it was not an easy read (meaning it deals with sensitive issues) it is one that I would recommend.
The main character Ashley is portrayed in a very believable light. I appreciate how Beth (the author) did not make her problems magically disappear, but really showed her process to accepting what happened to her, learning how to deal with it and the resulting emotions, and ho...more

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Oct 25, 2010 Lawral rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a harsh story, and my heart broke for Ashley over and over again while I was reading it. It is not a book that will be immediately accessible to a wide audience. It is a book that shows how one young woman is able to overcome years of sexual and emotional abuse with the help of some solid family and friends, and as such, it it has the power to provide exactly what the title suggests, hope, if it gets into the right hands.

Ashley's abuse at the hands of her step-father is definitely a foca...more This is a harsh story, and my heart broke for Ashley over and over again while I was reading it. It is not a book that will be immediately accessible to a wide audience. It is a book that shows how one young woman is able to overcome years of sexual and emotional abuse with the help of some solid family and friends, and as such, it it has the power to provide exactly what the title suggests, hope, if it gets into the right hands.

Ashley's abuse at the hands of her step-father is definitely a focal point of Hope in Patience, even though it is all in the past at the opening of the book (though it does still manage to be graphic in places). Her mother's emotional abuse, however, manages to still reach Ashley in Patience and still tear Ashley to bits. It is that, more than facing her step-father at trial that puts up roadblocks on Ashley's road to normalcy. It is also what makes it so hard for Ashley to trust that her father and step-mother really love her, want her around, and have her best interest at heart.

Ashley's father, David, wasn't around when she was a kid. He had been an alcoholic, prompting her mother to leave him and take Ashley with her. Rather than wallow in the realization that he could have saved Ashley from years of abuse had he just looked her up and been a part of her life, he steps up and welcomes Ashley to his house and home with open arms. He becomes the best supportive dad a girl could ask for, and though Ashley's trust issues (and his prior absence) make her unable to call him "Dad," it is clear that he quickly becomes one of the foundation pieces in her growing support system in in her new life.

Bev, David's wife, is also instrumental to Ashley's increasingly happy life in Patience. She steps right into the role of the mother Ashley never had, without pause and without question. Bev becomes Ashley's confidant and friend (and English teacher), and when the time comes when Ashley needs someone to tell her to just get over it already, Bev's the one to do it. For clarification, No one ever implies that Ashley should just get over years of abuse. Ever. She has an amazingly patient and supportive family and therapist who all understand that these things take (a lot of) time. But! Whenever anything bad happens, anything at all, Ashley has a tendency to close in on herself and shut out the world. This is what Bev tells her to get over, in a completely not-angry, non-judgemental way.

But the real star is, of course, Ashley. She's scared, kind, bold, shy, and overly aware of herself in the way that folks in therapy often are. And she's funny. And not broken. Fehlbaum, in Ashley, has managed to show that a person can go through hell and back, be totally and in some ways irrevocably scarred, and still not lose what make them them. Ashley displays fierce loyalties to her friends, K.C. and Z.Z. especially, even when she's struggling to hold herself together. And they do the same for her when she needs it the most. And there's Joshua. He's cute, he's also on the track team, and he like Ashley, which in a lot of ways terrifies her. Learning to trust him with all of her issues is the Big Thing in this book. It's the Big Problem and also the Big Indication of Growth. It's also really sweet.

Hope in Patience is ultimately about how Ashley grows out of the shell that years of abuse put her in. It is the powerful story of how she stops being Ashley-who-was-abused and becomes just Ashley.

Book source: ARC provided by the publisher.
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Nov 09, 2010 Ashley rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: want-to-own, blog

Originally reviewed on my blog, Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing.

Hope in Patience by Beth Fehlbaum was not an easy book to read, but it was definitely powerful. It's about Ashley, who spent the years from 9-15 suffering sexual abuse from her stepfather and neglect from her mother. After a particularly horrific night, she moves to Patience, Texas to life with the father she's never known and his family.

One of the things I most appreciated about this book is that Ashley isn't magically fixed b...more Originally reviewed on my blog, Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing.

Hope in Patience by Beth Fehlbaum was not an easy book to read, but it was definitely powerful. It's about Ashley, who spent the years from 9-15 suffering sexual abuse from her stepfather and neglect from her mother. After a particularly horrific night, she moves to Patience, Texas to life with the father she's never known and his family.

One of the things I most appreciated about this book is that Ashley isn't magically fixed because she's now in a loving environment with people who care about her, and has an understanding therapist who is helping her move on. Ashley is still a bit of an emotional wreck. She has good days, better moments and really bad times. There are still times when she crawls into her wardrobe to sleep, she sleeps much better with her door locked at night, she has trouble talking about what happened, and anything related to family, and she doesn't like to be touched.

I get really annoyed by books where problems are solved too easily, and there is no real conflict. Anyone who went through what Ashley did is going to experience side effects, some of which will likely never go away. Ashley is not one of those characters. Her pain is very real, still fresh and it's always close to the surface. With the help of her dad and her step-mom, both of whom are incredibly loving and supportive, she is starting to heal. Her rather unconventional therapist, Dr. "Matt" is also helpful. His moments surprised me. I've never heard of any of the techniques he used in therapy (drop kicking teddy bears) but it seems like he understands what is needed to connect to Ashley, and he uses that to reach her. And it helps. He helps break the 'spinning' where her mind rushes and rushes, immobilizing and terrifying her, he helps her learn to acknowledge her emotions instead of carving them out onto her skin, and he helps her begin to accept her past so that she can embrace her future.

The only complaint I have with this novel, is that I feel too many big 'issues' were tackled at once, and many of the characters used to illustrate that issue were just a little too one-dimensional. We saw people dealing with homosexuality and homophobia, religious zealots, racial prejudice, many small minds, chauvinists, and etc. I understand the point of these characters. It's more on the theme that you are not alone, and not the only with suffering. But, I felt that most of these characters had little, if any depth and it was almost too much. There were a few characters that I didn't think helped the story along, but most of the characters (even some of the 'flat' ones) helped Ashley in some way or another. So, overall even that's still positive.

I'm interested to see where else Ashley's story will take us. I didn't realize this until after I had finished the book, but this is actually the second book in Fehlbaum's Patience Trilogy. The first, Courage in Patience is, I believe, out of print and the third (still tentatively titled Living in Patience) will not be released until next year at the earlies. When I started Hope, I didn't feel like I had entered into the middle of the story, and the author gives us enough background that we aren't lost. As I said, I didn't even realize this was the second in a trilogy until I was searching the book on Goodreads. Whether you start at the beginning first, or just pick up this one, it's definitely a book I think is worth reading. I plan to look for the first in the series soon, and I'll be anxiously awaiting Ashley's conclusion.

I also feel like I need to mention that I think Ms. Fehlbaum is incredibly brave to have put this type of emotion and personal experience on paper, and let strangers read it. Congratulations. This is an amazing story. The pain is very real, but so is the hope. This is a story to say that you are not alone, that there is always hope.(less)

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Dec 10, 2010 Ms. Mulhern Gross rated it 3 of 5 stars

Hope in Patience is the sequel to her gut-wrenching Courage in Patience (click to read my review). The Patience Books are the story of fifteen-year-old Ashley Nicole Asher, who is sexually, emotionally, and physically abused by her stepfather. Ashley’s story in Hope in Patience follows Ashley as she continues her rocky road to recovery. Like many 15-year olds, she wonders what it would be like to have a boyfriend, to live a normal life, and run better during cross-country season. She also faces...more Hope in Patience is the sequel to her gut-wrenching Courage in Patience (click to read my review). The Patience Books are the story of fifteen-year-old Ashley Nicole Asher, who is sexually, emotionally, and physically abused by her stepfather. Ashley’s story in Hope in Patience follows Ashley as she continues her rocky road to recovery. Like many 15-year olds, she wonders what it would be like to have a boyfriend, to live a normal life, and run better during cross-country season. She also faces the worst betrayal imaginable. Ashley’s story is about courage. About bravery. And about the power of hope, no matter how scared you think you are.

Ashley is an inspirational character. She is strong, stronger than she even realizes. I was thrilled when Beth contacted me to say that she had written another Patience book. While Courage in Patience didn’t beg for a sequel, I think that young readers need to know what happened to Ashley after the events in the book. A happy ending doesn’t just happen- it requires hard work. Ashley doesn’t have it easy. She scratches at her skin and tears her hair out at times because she can’t handle what is going on. Moving forward feels impossible. But the reader is on a journey with Ashley and you want to pick her up every time she falls back.

Like its predecessor, Hope in Patience is a heart-wrenching read. There were times I had to put the book down because the events were too difficult to continue reading. And I really appreciate how Fehlbaum continues to protray a realistic picture of sexual abuse by following Ashley through therapy and her long road to recovery. Her story continues to be tragic and horrific, and her road to recovery is bumpy and imperfect. There is no “normal” life for Ashley. But there is a life for her. And a family that loves her, even if it isn’t the traditional nuclear family.

Highly recommended, especially for fans of Beth Fehlbaum and gritty realistic fiction. And for anyone who wants to SpeakLoudly for teens.
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Oct 13, 2011 Newport Librarians rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ms-becky, ya-fiction

WOW! I learned quite a bit about persons dealing with abuse: the ways the turn it in on themselves, things they let go; including some we should all practice letting go, they way they compartmentalize. I think the last surprised me the most. After years of abuse by a stepfather, she was still able to trust and love her father even letting him hug and console her and she was interested in attempting a relationship with a boy her own age. She was open with peers about her situation too and though...more

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Jun 25, 2011 Scarlett Snow rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: real-life-issues, young-adult, read-in-2011, real-life-issues-abuse, five-stars

This book absolutely blew my mind. read this book from beginning to end in a matter of hours, and just could not put it down. This book will remain etched in my mind, forever.

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Jan 17, 2011 Ricki rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the kind of book you have to read twenty pages at a time because it is so intense. Ashley goes to live with her father (who she's never known) and step-mother at age fifteen because her step-father has been sexually molesting her. She has to go through intense therapy and is very lost because her mother and grandparents profess that she is lying. This book is very well-written, but, at times, it felt like a teacher was writing it (which is in fact, true), because there were many explicit...more

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Apr 12, 2013 Karen DelleCava rated it 5 of 5 stars

Hope in Patience is a riveting novel of Ashley Asher who rises from the ashes of her tormented existence; sexual abuse at the hand of her stepfather. I immediately became immersed in Ashley’s fragile state of mind. I sympathized with heart wrenching journey as she learned to trust again (not an easy task when her own mother accuses her of having an affair with the stepfather). And I cried when she truly experiences love for the first time in her life. With the help of her brilliant therapist, lo...more

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Dec 13, 2011 Cat rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: library264

Title: Hope in Patience
Author: Beth, Fehlbaum
Year: 2010
Publisher: WestSide Books
ISBN: 978-1-934813-41-6
Reader’s Annotation
Ashley Nicole Asher a 15 years old girl has experienced repeated sexual abuse by her step-father.
Plot Summary
Ashley Nicole Asher is 15 years old, was abused since age nine by her step-father. Due to the disclosure of this abuse she is moved to her father’s home who she has never seen other than when she was a baby. Now she is safe or is she? Even though she has all of th...more Title: Hope in Patience
Author: Beth, Fehlbaum
Year: 2010
Publisher: WestSide Books
ISBN: 978-1-934813-41-6
Reader’s Annotation
Ashley Nicole Asher a 15 years old girl has experienced repeated sexual abuse by her step-father.
Plot Summary
Ashley Nicole Asher is 15 years old, was abused since age nine by her step-father. Due to the disclosure of this abuse she is moved to her father’s home who she has never seen other than when she was a baby. Now she is safe or is she? Even though she has all of the normal feelings a girl her age should have; such as liking a boy, being with friends at her school, not liking some teacher. Except, Ashley is constantly hunted by the feelings and thoughts that were left from being abused; all those memories coming back leading her to hurt herself. Ashley must begin a long recovery, with only her father and step mother’s support. Charlie never admits that he did anything wrong. Which Ashley’s mother is in denial and supports Charlie of never doing anything wrong, even grandfather and grandmother side with Charlie. What would be Ashley’s best tool to her recovery, perhaps letting go of her mother.
Critical Evaluation
The book is written from the point of view of Ashley Nicole Asher, a 15 year old high school freshman who has been sexually abused by her step-father since the age of nine. Readers automatically get pull in into continuing reading the story. The story leads the readers into several points in is Ashley’s feelings towards her mother for not seeing, and protect her from Charlie, but blaming her and calling her a liar instead. It also leads the reader into the process one takes to recover from sexual abuse. This is a good book for younger or older teens because most would be in the biggining or end face of recovery or beginning the process of grief and recovery. Also it is a great book for those teens that have friends who were abuse to understanding what one goes through when they have been sexually abused this story provides a few protagonist were Ashleys friend gets upset but then realizes that is not easy. I would highly recommend for public library and school library collections. (Cat Torres - student) because here we are going ot be able to target those that are in pain or that want to recover.

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Nov 12, 2010 The BookWhisperer rated it 5 of 5 stars

Hope in Patience is a brutally honest story about one young girl survival from a life of abuse. This story was truely an eye opening experience for me. While my career has allowed me knowledge about tragic crimes. I was not aware of the struggle to survive after such a crime. Ashley Asher is the main character that has experience a life of sexual abuse at the hand of her step father Charlie. Ashley is a very strong child, but it is amazing to see the loyalty that this child holds for her mother...more Hope in Patience is a brutally honest story about one young girl survival from a life of abuse. This story was truely an eye opening experience for me. While my career has allowed me knowledge about tragic crimes. I was not aware of the struggle to survive after such a crime. Ashley Asher is the main character that has experience a life of sexual abuse at the hand of her step father Charlie. Ashley is a very strong child, but it is amazing to see the loyalty that this child holds for her mother after a life of rejection. It is astounding to me that parents like this exist. It is a dispicable act for a parent to ignore the cries of their own children to keep a man or a woman. Furthermore, it is sickening that children are living in situations like this everyday. One thing I must note was I found a portion of this story a bit confusing. After Ashley is removed from the situation the story jumps to the trial for Charlie in the breaking of Ashley's arm; at no point in the story does it tell the reader why it is that Charlie got off on the original charges. This young girl was raped and sexual abused for years how in the hell does that not spell out GUILTY. I wish that the story filled the reader in on why this perpetrator was released from that charge in the first place. Even though I found this to be confusing it did not change the outcome of this story or really vary my feeling toward this book. I wish I had a little bit more information, but I love the story regardless. I am grateful for parents like David and Bev. Ashley's post trauma character is very unstable and confused; parents such as these are hard to come by, but the truth is their are people this wonderful. I feel that they are the saviors of this story, and without them Ashley would have had not progressed as quickly or as drastically by the end of this boo. Especially Bev being a bit of an outsider, not being Ashley blood relative, she seemed to recieve the majority of negativity from Ashley. Throughout, it all not once did she give up or lash out. She was a constant supporter of Ashley, and I feel her life saver. All in all this is a story of a SURVIVOR. It is empowering and an eye opening experience that I truely enjoyed. [return](less)

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Oct 30, 2010 Kristin (Kritters Ramblings) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: kritter-reviewed-2010

What a great read. I absolutely loved this emotional and realistic depiction of a young woman who is battling with the life after abuse. I love to see her battle with being strong, but still feeling intense moments of weakness. And what a true story of how females are deeply affected by actions that ocurr in their younger years.

Knowing that the author had personal experience with abuse, I knew going in that this would feel like a real life story of a girl dealing with abuse. But I was amazed at...more

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Dec 09, 2010 Proud Book Nerd rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, do-not-have, favorites

A well-written account of a sensitive topic, Hope in Patience kept my attention from the very first page on through to the end. If I didn't have children to care for and other things competing for my attention, I would have read this in one sitting. It was that gripping, that good. Amazingly, this book cracked me up in a couple of spots. It is so refreshing to find a bit of humor in such a serious, potentially disturbing book.

Full review on proudbooknerd.com.

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Jul 17, 2011 Martha rated it 3 of 5 stars

Ashley's abuse is revealed in pieces throughout the text so it's not too hard to take. The desire to cling to her mother resonates with me as I think it will with many teen girls. She finds love and support with her father and step-mother, a nice contradiction to the culture in which we live. The story is broken into different scenes because she separates the past and present. This might pose some difficulty for reluctant readers.

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Mar 15, 2011 Christina Rogne rated it 4 of 5 stars

It all started as a recommendation from my teacher and it turned into much more for me. I really enjoyed this book and just minutes ago I checked out the other book in this two part series. I'm hoping this book will be just as great and I hope I'll love it just as much as "Hope In Patience." The ending of the book was by far my favorite part. Everything fit together and it was so amazing. I recommend this book to people who are intersested in reading these types of books.

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Dec 21, 2010 Lisa Gibson rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was fortunate enough to win a copy of this book. It's ranks right up there with Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. I will say that Ms. Fehlbaum's book is more about Ashley's survival than her coming to terms with the fact that she has been sexually abused by her stepfather.

Ashley is trying to move forward in life and realize that she is worthy of the love that her father and stepmother are giving her. She has to overcome the fact that her mother will never be the person she wants her to be. Ashl...more

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Jan 26, 2011 Olivia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya

I received this book free from Everbind at TCTELA this weekend. Stayed up late at the hotel reading it. Great survivor story for all students, not just girls. I don't like to spoil book endings. It has an allusion to Chris Crutcher's "Ironman" which I loved. Energizing and tough. It truly offered Hope.

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May 03, 2013 Kcatty rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: e-f, reviewed

So. I re-read this book.
The writing drove me crazy till about halfway through. It's definitely stylistic, but stylistic writing gets on my nerves like crazy. It makes it that much harder to read - either because it's purposefully simple or purposefully wacky.
The characters I liked, although some of them were...over the top. Well, rural Texas - whadaya know.
I like how the author did abuse and recovery. I won't go into it, because that's a talk for another day, but...it was good. It was more accur...more

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Mar 04, 2011 Joan 2 rated it 3 of 5 stars

I read this because the title so intrigued me. Young Hope moves to Patience, Texas. It is the story of how Hope is struggling to heal after being sexually abused by her step-father and abandoned by her mother. A tough subject, not my usual fare.

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Feb 16, 2011 Sarita rated it 4 of 5 stars

Whoops, read the second one first. But that didn't lessen the message, or the exquisite craftsmanship of this book, testament to the author's skill. And now that I have discovered there is a first one, I am considering reading it as well.

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Dec 07, 2010 Nance rated it 2 of 5 stars

The family dynamics are interesting. Ashley is learning to become comfortable with herself and adjusting. Rather than simply a story of abuse; a story of moving on. The voice is good.

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Nov 18, 2011 Jenna Chanley rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is so sad! I liked this book because it shows how hard some people's lives can be. The girl in this book had a very rough live, and she is trying to overcome her fears from the past. It gives people a realistic outlook on abuse. It makes me grateful that I have the family that I am living with.

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Sep 22, 2011 Lori rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-favorites

On some many levels this is an amazing book, one of strength, hope, and overcoming sexual abuse - from the very real voice of a teenager. Every parent should read this!

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Jul 06, 2012 Annetta rated it 4 of 5 stars

It was a little slow in the beginning, but quickly picked up speed. Engrossing and hard story to read, but well done. Courage in Patience is next.

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Feb 12, 2011 BCPL Youth Services Librarian added it

Shelves: family-drama, realistic-fiction

Click to see book in BCPL's online catalog

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Dec 26, 2012 Kim Piddington rated it 5 of 5 stars

This tale of overcoming abuse will tug at your heart strings.

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Jun 14, 2011 Fatima rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: princess

may be it would be nice book...!

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Jun 03, 2011 Jamie Davis rated it 5 of 5 stars

Excellent YA book.

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About Beth Fehlbaum

The Patience Books, Courage in Patience and Hope in Patience, are the story of fifteen-year-old Ashley Nicole Asher, who is sexually, emotionally, and physically abused by her stepfather, from the age of nine. Courage in Patience begins Ashley's story. When she at last tells a trusted teacher what has been happening to her, Child Protective Services steps in, and Ashley is removed from her mother...more The Patience Books, Courage in Patience and Hope in Patience, are the story of fifteen-year-old Ashley Nicole Asher, who is sexually, emotionally, and physically abused by her stepfather, from the age of nine. Courage in Patience begins Ashley's story. When she at last tells a trusted teacher what has been happening to her, Child Protective Services steps in, and Ashley is removed from her mother's home. She is then reunited with her biological father, who has not been a part of Ashley's life since infancy. Through the summer school English class taught by her stepmother, Ashley learns to face her greatest fears and, along with other teens, discovers just how strong she is. Ashley's story continues with Hope in Patience, as Ashley continues her rocky road to recovery, wonders what it would be like to have a boyfriend, and faces the ultimate betrayal.

Ashley's story is about courage and the power of hope to overcome fear.

This is not 'an abuse story'-- it is a survival story, as evidenced by the bravery shown by all the teenagers in Courage in Patience, who face life-changing events head-on. A huge part of Ashley's ability to begin to heal comes about by witnessing acts of profound courage, all around her. Hope in Patience is anyone's story-- anyone who has ever overcome what they thought they never could; anyone who has ever known what it is to want to be loved and accepted as-is.
I was inspired to write this story by my own recovery from childhood sexual abuse. In the process of working through my own grief, disbelief, and anger, I was writing poems and short stories, and sharing them with my (long-suffering) therapist. One day, he suggested that I try writing a novel.

It took me about four months of starting and stopping, always ending up in the same place: stuck inside myself-- until one day I became so sick of the scenery that I decided to try to imagine what it would have been like if I had been able to get out of the abusive situation I was in at age 15-- instead of remaining in it much longer. What if a young girl in that situation had a father who had allowed his own shame at being a lousy dad to keep him away for her entire life, as Ashley's father, David does? AND- what if he was able to come through for her in a way he never thought he could, when she needed him the most?

In the process of knocking down the walls I had built around myself, I found Ashley Nicole Asher, age 15, and Patience, Texas, a tiny East Texas town populated with people who can be found anywhere, dealing with the same problems that all people must face, whether they want to admit it or not. (less)

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Courage in Patience: A Story of Hope for Those Who Have Endured Abuse

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