Dating-Violence Books

I guess this book should be the one which has been adapted to the UK TV Movie "Blind Date" starred Zara Turner, Mark Letheren and Ben Miller. But nothing about "Frances Fyfield" was mentioned in the production, violated anything concerning copyright?

Just curious. Good TV movie and reading the book now.

There are mysteries within mysteries in Fyfield's latest. The characters are wonderful, fully realized, believable..with all the attributes that make us care what happens to them. And without that caring, no mystery can be a success. I recommend it!

I picked this book up in a discount book store somewhere in Philly after being snowed in on my way back to Europe. It looked like the best of the offerings they had, but I frankly wasn't expecting very much. I was pleasantly suprised, and found myself very quickly drawn into the book and its main character.

I liked Elizabeth Kennedy and I liked the way her character developed. The tension between her and her sister were a good way to open the situation and the way that it developed further was impressive. Small points off for some coincidences that strained credulity, but in general it was believable, and well worth the time that it took to read.

Well written with lots of interesting characters! I can't wait to read more Frances Fyfield books!

The main characters are well realized and the scenes with Elizabeth and Joe are quite good, memorable, and do keep the book afloat. However, the plot is entirely unbelievable; it's as if London contains about 20 people--the figures in this book, all crossing paths, all knowing each other, all related in less than interesting ways. There is a sub-plot, which I could have done without; namely, mother and the vulgar rich American, of course, which did nothing to move the more interesting story along; that of Elizabeth and her past, dealing with her present and unknowable future. Also, a nit-picky thing: the volume I read contained too many typos and a couple of grammatical howlers. The book was that riveting that I noticed. I wait for the next and hope for better.

this is very helpful in dealing with the rape of a close friend. I recommend it to others in my situation.

This was a good book talking about how boys and girls in relationships can hurt each other. The stories in here are very disturbing. The pain we can inflict on each other at times can be endless. I know I've inflicted pain on my late wife at times; not physical, but emotional, verbal, and sexual. I know in my own mind it was because I longed to experience coming and orgasm by getting real close to her, and getting her whipped up in a sexual frenzy hopefully every night. I also know I had a temper, and I could say the most God-Awful things. She had a temper too, and she could abuse just as bad verbally, emotionally, and sometimes slam things around, and throw things. I know there were times I would cry because I would see the way I was treating her, and it just fathomed me as to why she stayed with me. She was a beautiful woman, and I was lucky to have her as my wife for a short while. However, now that she's dead I know I have to rethink alot of things, and get some perspective. I look at the cover on this book, and see a guy wanting to get the girl's jeans off, and see what's going on underneath e.g. panties, and her body so forth and so forth. I feel that it should be mentioned that if the guy on that cover is having strong feelings of the sexual kind toward that girl that the writer include somethings to say to her before the situation is getting out of hand. Like " This isn't your fault I'm having some strong feelings toward you right now, but I'm scared, or don't know how to express them.", or in a case where the guy is looking for someone to fight, and mess up physically, and the only one is the girl he's with:" I'm sorry I'm not good company right now. I've just had a real bad stressful day, and I'm thinking it probably wasn't a good idea to go out tonight....nothing against you.". Then you have the verbal, or emotional scenario where the guy and girl are having a very nasty argument, and the guy is going to really slam her with some horrible insults: "I think we both need to cool off right now; I (depending on stage of relationship)love you/care alot about you, and don't want to say something that will cause hurt feelings." I see that girl on the cover, and she's so beautiful that I wish I was dating her, and while it's up to us guys to communicate our fears, feelings, and everything to the girl we're out with I can only pray that the girl on the cover of this book would be sensitive to us, and not dare I say "Judge Us", or make us feel stupid for having these feelings. Date Abuse is inexcusable because the scars that it creates will go far beyond the relationship we have in the present. They will go far beyond after the relationship maybe over especially left untreated. I feel that while this is a good book in the sense it gives equal time to both boys and girls who were abused by thier dates and/or people they were involved in a relationship it's pretty much a standard book that doesn't really educate an abuser, and give them the tools to help change their lives. Mind you the abuser still will need professional counselling, but this was written by a doctor, so to me she can offer some practical tips to get the abuser started on the road to recovery.

Excellent resource for all! From Educators to teens this book provides useful programs and enough information for parents to understand the dynamics of dating violence. After reading this book, you should have the know how to not become one of the sad yet revealing case studies.

This is a great little handbook for parents wishing to know more about how to protect their daughters from violent relationships.
All of the information is there: How to help, where to go for resources, plus lots of compassion for parents and teens alike who have been in the grip of a violent relationship. I have read a lot of books on the topic of domestic violence and teen dating relationships but this book is by far the very best, mainly because the author obviously is not wrapped up in theory. Her information is based on real-life cases that have a connective quality with the reader.

The author encourages parents to take a controlling and authoritarian approach to parenting. Advising young men to join the 'Promise Keepers' to learn about good relationships would have to go down in history as the silliest violence prevention strategy I have ever come across.
She has a chatty easy to read writing style, which parents will relate to, and I don't doubt her good intentions and commitment to eradicating violence, but I fear any parent who actually tries to implement her strategies is going to have a very difficult time.