I am not what I have done. I am what I have overcome!

Hi everyone.

I don't really know where to start so I'll just start=)

I'm a survivor of Domestic Violence, grew up seeing my mother being abused by her second husband and I promised myself NEVER to put up with anything like that, with someone treating me bad. At 15 years old I went in to a relationship myself where he started to abuse me after being together for only 2 months and I stayed in it for almost 15 years. It was bad! I thought he was the devil himself and my confidence went down to 0 in no time. It was verbal, physically, sexually and mental abuse, but I didn't know what to do.
Something happened the summer of 1999 that forced me to open my pretty blue eyes and I realized I would never make it alive for much longer, so I decided to leave him. He would never let me leave alive so I would have to escape. I knew I couldn't stay in my country (Sweden) so I did what I had to do, left everything behind to save my life!

October 2011 I published my autobiography \"Damned if I Do, Dead if I Don't\" opened up completely telling my story.
I wrote this autobiography for a few different reasons and with hope that my story will inspire those who have escaped, to empower those who are still suffering and to help prevent this from happening to anyone else. DV kills more women than breast cancer in the US every year, 1 in 5 teenager are in abusive relationships, 80% stays in it (which many ends up in the 'murder statistics'), but only 30% talks about it. Also with hopes for others who's not in abusive relationships to recognize signs of someone close to you; your daughter, family member, co worker or other women around
you, might be in a 'controlling'/abusive situation. The book will explain maybe not completely but at least some, what it is that make victims of violence to stay. Telling my story has also been a part of the healing process giving me one more method to put my old life, my past and my former self behind me. The respond I've got from people who have read the book is incredable positive and confirm that I made a great choice to share my story. Reviews says \"A MUST read for every woman\", \"A must in every high schools\" and \"Nearly as startlig as a Stieg Larsson novel\" etc. People have opened up and shared their (or people they know) stories with me. One of the most important things to do when you're in a abusive situation/relationship is to start to talk about it, but only a small procentage do it. When they read my story,
they may open up to me or to someone else and that is always a begining.

Please feel free to read more on my website & facebook page
www.habonde.com
www.facebook.com/pages/Damned-if-I-Do-Dead-if-I-Dont/

The book is available at Authorhouse, Amazon.com, B&N.com or in any book store
ISBN (sc) 978-1-4670-3730-3
ISBN (hc) 978-1-4670-3729-7
or you can order in on my website. If any questions, comments or anything, please feel free to contact me at any time at info@habonde.com