Awesome, Inspirational, Enlightening! Poetry, prose and essays from the heart of a woman.

K. J. Sharpe takes you on a journey through Love, Lust and in Between, discussing relationships and intermingling the serious and spiritual with the sensual and erotic.

"On love and lust and in between, kingdoms fall and empires rise. Stories were told, truths, lies, and alibis on love and lust and in between our thighs."

In Can I Get A Witness K. J. Sharpe unveils the taboo subject of domestic violence in communities of faith.

"Kinu smiled. She always smiled. It was expected of her. She washed the dishes. Cooked meals. Ironed clothes. Smiled. She plaited the children's hair...cleaned the rooms. Smiled. She walked to church holding her little girls' hands... .....smiled. That was Kinu...No one looked past the smile into her vacant eyes...She was beautiful and she smiled. That's all they required...........she found a knife and thrust it through her vocal chords to let the scream out. And through her stomach to release the balled up knots of anger and fear that she couldn't unloose. And through her heart to make the pain stop. .....Still, it was the smile.... they chose to remember. Kinu's tortured expression was too raw, bare-naked. Too honest and truthful and real. Too much for them to bear....... It was easier, more convenient for them to turn their backs, look the other way, shut their eyes, cover their ears, than to pay attention to the screams. The screams before Kinu died."

With sharp honesty and directness, she talks about the exploitation of congregations by church leadership, spiritual assassination, and a woman's right to "Cry Out Loud".

"If you believe, as a Christian woman, that you don't deserve to build and rebuild, to change and to grow...If you believe that it is a selfish thing for you to want, with all your heart, to fulfill your God-given destiny...If you believe that God intends for you to bear all your suffering with a smile and that he, in his omnipotent power, ordained you to be subject to another human being all your days...then you are in bondage and your jailer is religion."

K. J. Sharpe develops her own version of "Mother Goose" in her chapter On The Way To Wholeness. She encourages and inspires women to move ahead in "The Hour of our Awakening", and offers advice on self love and letting go.

"It takes courage to let go...but if we are ever to pursue and recover all, we must let go of what is. Open the hand that has been fisted tight to receive something new... Clear our lives of the clutter that is our lives and live, and love abundantly as was promised. Only in letting go, can the final healing begin.."

This book is about life and living, obtaining and maintaining personal joy and peace, and learning that "Damsels Ain't Really Distressed".

"There are no knights in shining armor. We make our own great escapes or choose to let our dragons nail us to the wall..."

An inspirational collection that stirs the soul to action, this book is a must read for women of all ages, colors, and creeds.