First published 2009
Leslie Morgan Steiner appears to have everything at 22. She holds a Harvard degree and works at Seventeen magazine in her Manhattan apartment. She dates Conor, a charming boyfriend who seems perfect for her. Their wedding feels like a fairy tale come true. Then the violence begins. Conor pushes Leslie down stairs in their shared home. He dumps coffee grounds in her hair before a crucial work meeting. He chokes her during fights and threatens her with a gun. Each attack strips away more of her identity. Conor claims childhood abuse shaped him, mixing love with rage in dangerous ways. Leslie stays because she believes she loves him. The attacks escalate until Conor nearly kills her multiple times. Leslie must decide whether her feelings represent true love or psychological manipulation. Her story reveals how smart, successful women can become trapped in cycles of domestic violence.
Genres: domestic-fiction, abuse, contemporary, memoir
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: abusive-relationship, cycle-of-abuse, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Manhattan
Period: 22
336 pages · Hardcover · St. Martin's Press
Content warnings: abuse, domestic-violence, physical-abuse