YOU GUYS KNOW THAT I LOVE TO READ… I'M READING LIKE 2 OR 3 BOOKS RIGHT NOW... (YEAH I KNOW CRAZY) "A DEEP DARK SECRET" BY KIMBERLA LAWSON ROBY; DISCUSSES A VERY TABOO TOPIC AMONG MANY COMMUNITIES.... I DON'T KNOW WHY MOST PEOPLE SWEEP THIS TOPIC UNDER THE RUG... SEXUAL MOLESTATION... WHY IS IT SUCH A SECRET?

• 1 in 4 girls is sexually abused before age 18
• 1 in 6 boys is sexually abused before age 18
• More than 20 percent of children are sexually abused before the age 8
• Only 10 percent are abused by strangers (meaning the other 90 percent are abused by a close family member right in their own home or by some other family member or person they know and trust)
• Most perpetrators don't molest only one child if they are not reported and stopped
• 3o percent of victims never disclose the experience to anyone
• An estimated 39 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse exist in America today

Sexually abused for five years, studious 12-year-old Jillian Maxwell lives in terror of her pedophile stepfather, Byron James, in Roby's (The Best of Everything) powerful short novel. The nightmare begins with her stepfather's inappropriate fondling shortly after the birth of her half-sister, Layla, and gradually escalates. Byron warns her that Roxanne, Jillian's mom, won't believe her if she tells and later says he'll start abusing Layla if Jillian doesn't cooperate. When revelations about Byron's abuse of another underage girl surfaces, Roxanne kicks him out, but then takes him back. Meanwhile, Nikki, Jillian's BFF, is obsessed with promiscuous Marcus, who sees nothing wrong in running a train (gangbanging) on Nikki with two of his pals during a school dance. Nikki becomes a laughingstock and almost kills herself, which is the turning point for Jillian, who learns that Nikki is an abuse survivor. A heart-wrenching confrontation leads to a resolution with hopeful repercussions