As a young girl, Jessica watched her father dote on her baby brother-while sending little attention her way. What could have become another case of a little girl who learns to live life in her brother's shadow, became an obsession to win her father's affection. A lifetime of chasing, and getting nowhere, ultimately led her into the arms of a boy named Trent. What started as a typical high school romance soon turned into relationship filled with unfathomable abuse. Trent, who was by turns both charming and psychopathic, stole Jessica away from family and friends, taking her on an odyssey of unspeakable brutality and emotional devastation. Escaping Trent would be her only hope for survival-and require more from her than she could have imagined. However, it put her on a most unexpected path, one filled with horror, crippling uncertainty, love, miracles and ultimately, extraordinary purpose.

I know the subject of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault from the inside out. I survived the horror of being abused by my husband for nine years, and later started a Domestic Violence ministry that has grown larger than anything I ever anticipated. From researching victims and therapists and spending countless hours counseling the women who have come through the ministry, I have learned this: Most therapists are underprepared to help in the way they most hope, and the way victims most need. This guide is my way of helping you help them.

Scars is a compelling story about making the right decision, consequences, forgiveness, and part of Reflections Publishing's "Kids Helping Kids Through Books" series. Scars is written and illustrated by a parent/child team and eloquently describes how decisions that we make in our childhood can sometimes haunt us the rest of our life. By connecting with children through a fiction story written and illustrated by kids just like them, it simply provides a start for the healing process. Because true healing requires a broad focus on emotional, educational, social, and even spiritual needs, this series also provides a non-fiction section for children (and parents) with the tools they need to navigate through these situations. Specifically, at the back of each book in this series, readers will find commentaries for dealing with difficult situations from experts in various fields (e.g., child psychologists, educators, therapists, and religious scholars). We believe this series will provide children with valuable tools to assist them in dealing with many real-life challenges. Description of Scars: Will is buddies with all the kids in the neighborhood. When he and his group of friends allow a thirteen-year-old to become their power-hungry leader, there is trouble. The leader mobilizes the boys to become a battle-ready group that will ambush the leader's arch enemy, Allen. For Will, this is terrible news. Allen showed Will great kindness when Will first moved into the neighborhood, even taking him on an fun-filled adventure. How will he get out of fighting and hurting Allen without incurring the wrath of all his friends and their leader? Reviews: "Everyone struggles with peer pressure to conform to the ideas, actions and speech of others. As a current middle school teacher, I look for books that tackle the issues my students are experiencing since very often peer pressure robs them of their ability to make their own decisions. The book Scars tells the story of a young boy who was influenced by his friends and later in his life comes face to face with the results of his choices. I highly recommend this book along with the additional resources in the book to engage students in the discussion of peer pressure." - Jan Menconi, Educator and school administrator "A unique series for children, by children." -Booklist "Scars is an easy to read book demonstrating the internal conflict experienced by a person feeling pressured to 'conform' by making a decision just to go along with the group even though he believed the decision was a bad one. There are some decisions we make where we don't get second chances and though we may be forgiven, we can never undo what's been done. Scars confronts these issues in a very genuine, well written story." -Dr. Lewis Ribner, Clinical Psychologist