Stained by Cheryl Rainfield

Synopsis:
An intensely powerful account of a teen, bullied for her port-wine stain, who must summon her personal strength to survive abduction and horrific abuse at the hands of a deranged killer.

Sixteen-year-old Sarah Meadows longs for "normal." Born with a port wine stain covering half her face, all her life she's been plagued by stares, giggles, bullying, and disgust. But when she's abducted on the way home from school, Sarah is forced to uncover the courage she never knew she had, become a hero rather than a victim, and learn to look beyond her face to find the beauty and strength she has inside. It's that-or succumb to a killer.
(Synopsis from Goodreads). 

My Thoughts:
Close to ten years ago, I read Scars by Cheryl Rainfield. At the time, I really enjoyed it. It had a huge emotional impact on me. I've had the audiobook for another one of her books, Stained, for a while. I recently decided to start listening to it. I'm glad I did. It also had a huge emotional impact on me.

I enjoyed listening to Stained, if enjoyed is a word that can be used in this situation. The subject matter made it incredibly difficult to listen to at times. The author puts so much detail into what Sarah goes through. At times, it gave me a lot of anxiety, and I had to step back from the audiobook, take a break, and go listen to some cheerful music to get my head out of that mindset. That's not a bad thing though. That means that the author did a great job of writing a character and situation that the reader is able to connect to very well.

I think Stained is a book that everyone should read, as long as they can handle the subject matter. It brings awareness to a subject that most people don't think about. Sometimes as a society, we see missing girls on the news, and think "oh, that's tragic", and move on with our day. Maybe if more people read this book, they would be more willing to help with search efforts, or just go out of their way to show support for the family. In this book, the author details not only what Sarah goes through, but what the family goes through as well. I couldn't even imagine going through a hell like that. It will definitely make me think twice about what I can do to help the next time I see a case like Sarah's on the news. No amount of help is too small when something like this happens.

I found Stained to be an impactful book. Even after finishing it, I can't stop thinking about it. I have a feeling it will be one of those books that stays with me for years after I read it. My only complaint was that I thought the money situation that happened was wrapped up in a way that was too convenient and slightly took some believability out of the story, and that's a very minor complaint. Otherwise, I thought this book was incredible. I definitely recommend reading it if you can handle the harsh subject matter. Just do some research on the trigger warnings before going into it just in case, and, as Cheryl Rainfield taught me, remember you can always take a break if it gets to be too much. 

I give Stained: 4/5.

Want to know more about the author?
Website: http://www.cherylrainfield.com/
Blog:  http://cherylrainfield.com/blog/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cheryl.rainfield.fan.page
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CherylRainfield
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/BvourdtHwyK/
Pintrest: https://www.pinterest.com/cherylrainfield/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3305514.Cheryl_Rainfield