If You Walked in My Shoes

by Gwynne Forster

Book Overview

At age seventeen, Coreen Holmes was an honour student and the recipient of a full college scholarship when she became victim of a vicious date rape. She is sent away to give birth secretly and she gives up the baby for adoption. Thirty years later, as an adult, Coreen is married and the mother of two stepsons; now head of a social welfare social agency and an expert on the welfare of women and girls, she is to appear as a friendly witness before a...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0758206526
• ISBN13: 9780758206527
• Release Date: December 2004
• Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Gwynne Foster does not disappoint...

Coreen Homes Treadwill is a woman in distress. Despite a successful career and a family that loves her, demons from her past are threatening her future. At 17, Coreen was the victim of a date-rape that resulted in an unwanted pregnancy, and immediately put the child up for adoption in an attempt to forget the heart-wrenching incident. Years later, to Coreen's dismay, the child she gave up has grown into a woman hell-bent on revenge. 30-year old Frieda Davis is a determined woman on a mission, stopping at nothing to find her biological mother. Instead of a heart-felt reunion, Frieda is out for revenge, and blames the woman who abandoned her at birth for years of sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her adoptive father. Meanwhile, Coreen's career takes off, placing her on a public platform, and she fears this recognition could lead to unwanted attention from the child she doesn't know. It doesn't take long for trouble to start in the Treadwill home, and Coreen's rising professional status soon leaves her husband Bates feeling like a failure. Those are the least of Coreen's concerns, as she's constantly haunted by the idea that the child she gave up will soon find her. Her fears are not unfounded, as Frieda is hot on her trail. Frieda moves forward with a well-orchestrated plan to ruin her birth mother's life and destroy all that Coreen holds dear, beginning with one of her beloved stepsons, Glen. Before Frieda can follow through with her plan, though, she falls in love but quickly reverts to plan B. Unwilling to release the pain and bitterness she's carried for years, Frieda quickly learns that revenge isn't always sweet. If You Walked in My Shoes forces us to think twice about keeping secrets from those we love. While some sentences seemed weighed down by excessive wording and phrases that remind you these characters are seasoned, the story flows through its few slow spots and is overall, a good read. Each page keeps you wondering how Coreen will handle her situation, and whether her family and career will remain intact once she faces those demons. By the end, mother and daughter leave us wondering if they'll ever find peace, and their place in life. Foster leaves us cheering for both women in different ways. Reviewed by Pat Tucker (...)

Vengence is not Yours!!! Watch your attack.

Freida Davis is on a mission to find the one responsible for her being in an abusive situation and all the warnings that she received, she ignored and even though she knows that it is wrong to seek revenge, she forces full speed and with all the planning and plotting she never expected to find her ultimate love and where she thought she would be gratified, she stumbles and finds that it is nothing like she anticipated. Glen Treadwell is a self absorbed, over confident, take what he wants with no regard to anyone else, until he slam dunks with Frieda and oops the player gets played in the worse kind of way. Corrine is self sufficient and self proclaimed, through her struggles she succeeds and the skeletons in her closet will come out in the worse possible way, but in actuality when the story unfolds, the worse for Corrine is all in her secret, if she had came clean with Bates and explained what she could not control, she would have spared herself so much grief and anguish, but then Bates is no Saint, he is self proclaimed, above all and unfortunately, he should have told Corrine why he is so judgemental and they would have not had to endure so much anguish. When Frieda and Corrine come head to head and toe to toe, Corrine brings Frieda down a few notches and through this story I really felt for Corrine, 'cause she suffered the most. The characters in ths story all had a story of their own and it all intertwined, but it tells the story that you think you know someone and you believe you have all the answers, but if you "walked in their shoes," you would know better. I think that Gwynne Forster could do a part two to this story, because truthfully Frieda and Glenn have unfinished business, and Corrine and Frieda also. Corrine never heard that her Aunt died wanting to apologize to her... and Star and Eric have a wedding still... The drama is real and the story is spellbounding, cause you don't know what is going to happen and now that Porgy and Lizzette have sealed the deal, they have a story too... Keep writing Ms. Forrester.

Secrets and Repercussions

The prologue for IF YOU WALKED IN MY SHOES alerted me that there would be a day of reckoning. Coreen Holmes was raped by one of her classmates when she was seventeen years old, and her die was cast. Thirteen year old Frieda Davis was sexually abused by her adoptive father, a fate which continued for four years; until Frieda fled into the night. A much older Coreen Holmes Treadwell is on the brink of fulfilling her dream as the president of the International Society of Social and Welfare Agency. For the past 29 years she has dedicated her time to social and welfare issues. And for that same period she has lived behind a façade, with the fear that her darkest secret would be unveiled. But how long does a secret remain a secret? Coreen's fear is manifested when her past walks into her present. Frieda needs closure to her past; her adoptive parents are deceased and she needs to know her roots. Also embedded in her heart is the drive to fulfill a vendetta against her biological mother. But will her vindictive intent produce an outcome more devastating than her past? IF YOU WALKED IN MY SHOES is a dramatic story about two women emotionallydamaged by violent acts, and the aftermath that reverberated throughout their lives. The destiny of these women was propelled by outside forces at a time when neither was mature enough to accept the outcome. And while each chose a different way to deal with their past, somehow that difference had an element of sameness. Premature in their judgment about one another, things become clearer when they share the opportunity to walk in each other's shoes. Ms. Forster methodically highlights the emotional anguish of the characters and the havoc the repercussions caused in Coreen and Frieda's lives, yet it is the very havoc that served to strengthened them. (RAWSISTAZ Rating: 4.5) Reviewed by aNN of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers

excellent contemporary poignant drama

In Charlotte, North Carolina, Leon Farrell finally persuades seventeen years old classmate Coreen Holmes to allow him to walk her home from school after several weeks of pleading. However, in an isolated locale, Leon rapes Coreen. She gives up the child for adoption. When Frieda Davis turned twelve she had her first period and everything changed in her adoptive home. Instead of tucking her in her bed, papa rapes her. He continues to molest her until at seventeen Frieda ran away from home vowing to one day confront her biological mother. Almost thirteen years later Frieda has made something of herself, but now stalks Coreen from afar learning that her mother led a wonderful life married to Bates Treadwell and having raised two stepsons Glen and Eric with him. As Coreen continues to do good deeds to improve society, Frieda sets in motion a plan to destroy her. This reviewer cannot think of anyone who can write a better contemporary poignant drama than Gwynne Forster consistently does. Her latest tale borrows its title from a famous Native American saying "try walking in my moccasins" as the two lead females will learn what it is like to be the other. The story line is character driven but never dips into soap opera territory as the cast seems genuine and the ending realistic. Ms. Forster once again provides one of the most astute yet entertaining tales of the year, which is why I am a fan. Harriet Klausner