Book reviews Archives | Page 13 of 17 | Lovefraud | Escape sociopaths

Review of ‘Love Fraud’ on the Psychopathy Awareness blog

February 24, 2011 // by Donna Andersen// 577 Comments

Like us, Claudia Moscovici had her run-in with a psychopath, one that almost destroyed her marriage. Since then, like many of us, she has thoroughly researched this destructive personality disorder. She started a blog called "Psychopathy Awareness," and wrote two books: a novel called The Seducer, and an upcoming nonfiction book called Dangerous Liaisons. In her review of my book, Love Fraud—How marriage to a sociopath fulfilled my spiritual plan, Claudia writes, "I didn't think I could learn much more about the subject, but Donna's book proved me wrong." Read the entire review on Psychopathy Awareness. Love Fraud is available in the Lovefraud Store. …

Review of ‘Love Fraud’ on the Psychopathy Awareness blogRead More

BOOK REVIEW: A Mind of Its Own

February 4, 2011 // by Lovefraud Reader// 21 Comments

By Ox Drover I recently read A Mind of Its Own—How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives, by Cordelia Fine, Ph.D. Dr. Fine was awarded a degree in experimental psychology from Oxford University, an M.Phil. in criminology from Cambridge University, and a Ph.D. in psychology from University College in London. She is currently a research associate at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne in Australia. This book is very entertaining and as the book jacket says, In recent years, we've heard a lot about the extraordinary workings of our hundred-billion-celled brain: its amazing capacities to regulate sensation, perception, thinking, and feeling, its a …

BOOK REVIEW: A Mind of Its OwnRead More

The tangents and the point

January 27, 2011 // by Donna Andersen// Leave a Comment

Editor's note: The following article refers to spiritual concepts. Please read Lovefraud's statement on Spiritual Recovery. Love Fraud: How marriage to a sociopath fulfilled my spiritual plan, is a long, expansive story, and there's a reason for its complexity. The reason is in the book's subtitle. Love Fraud tells the story of my marriage to a sociopathic con artist. It's a juicy, outrageous tale, full jaw-dropping lies and manipulation. The book focuses a harsh light on the despicable behavior of my ex-husband, James Montgomery. My goal is to give people an up close and personal look at what it's really like to be targeted by a sociopath. But that isn't my only goal. I believe the …

The tangents and the pointRead More

LOVEFRAUD TO THE NEXT LEVEL: If you have read my book, please post a review

January 11, 2011 // by Donna Andersen// 10 Comments

A sociopath ripped through my life, taking my money, cheating on me, shaking my soul to its core. It was a terrible, painful, humiliating experience. But it has also given me a new mission in life—spreading the word about these human predators, helping others to heal, or better yet, avoid them. That's why I launched Lovefraud.com. And that's why I wrote my book, Love Fraud — How marriage to a sociopath fulfilled my spiritual plan. My husband, Terry Kelly, believes in this mission. Together, we formed a publishing company, called Anderly Publishing, to get the message out. Love Fraud is our first book, and based on what I hear from all of you, I have a list of about 20 more titles that n …

LOVEFRAUD TO THE NEXT LEVEL: If you have read my book, please post a reviewRead More

Sex in the Love Fraud book

January 3, 2011 // by Donna Andersen// 3 Comments

Yes, I will admit, my book, Love Fraud, does include some sex scenes. A few readers have expressed surprise that I am willing to share that aspect of my story. But the book is about my search for love and marriage, and sex is a natural part of love and marriage. The scenes are handled tastefully. They're not as racy as erotica—heck, they're not even as racy as romance novels, with those silly little euphemisms, always preceded by three long, hot, trembling adjectives. But sex did happen, and I did include it, for two important reasons. Unhealthy sex The first reason is to illustrate unhealthy sex—the kind of sex engaged in by sociopaths. I was clueless about sociopaths when I first met my …

Sex in the Love Fraud bookRead More

BOOK REVIEW: The Gaslight Effect Redux

January 3, 2011 // by Donna Andersen// 364 Comments

It's amazing how people can have differing opinions of the same book. Last May, the Lovefraud Reader Ox Drover wrote a review of The Gaslight Effect, by Dr. Robin Stern. I am always on the lookout for books that will help readers understand, and recover from, a traumatic entanglement with a sociopath. Because Oxy was so complimentary about The Gaslight Effect, I was anxious to read it, and possibly recommend it to others. Well, I read the book, but I'm not sure I can recommend it. Oxy did point out that Dr. Stern never mentions the word, “sociopath,” referring to the perpetrator as the “gaslighter,” and the victim as the “gaslightee.” Although Oxy was willing to look past this omission, …

BOOK REVIEW: The Gaslight Effect ReduxRead More

BOOK REVIEW: The 48 Laws of Power

December 29, 2010 // by Lovefraud Reader// 215 Comments

By Ox Drover Many times on Lovefraud, bloggers have joked with me that a particular phrase or behavior “came out of the ”˜Psychopath's play book,'“ the kind of book in which a football team would write all their usual plays. I recently bought a book entitled, The 48 Laws of Power, by Robert Greene, because it sounded like an interesting book. But the more I got into it, I realized that the heretofore-thought-mythical “Psychopathic Play book” does exist, and this is it! Robert Greene, by the way, also wrote The Art of Seduction. Here's what the jacket blurb on the back of The 48 Laws of Power says about its content: The best-selling book for those who want POWER, watch P …

BOOK REVIEW: The 48 Laws of PowerRead More

The pets of Love Fraud

December 6, 2010 // by Donna Andersen// Leave a Comment

My book, Love Fraud, has quite a cast of characters. Besides me and my con artist ex-husband, there are seven other women who he victimized, assorted friends, family and business associates, my new husband, three psychics, a channeler, an energy healer, and seven pets. Why did I include the pets? To illustrate the point that all of life is connected. We are all part of the same universal consciousness. The pets came into my life for a reason—to accompany me through my struggles. In fact, it was with my dog, Beau, that I first ventured into the feeling realm of love. My dog offered me what is so often difficult to find among the humans in our lives—unconditional love. His love was safe to e …

The pets of Love FraudRead More

“Love Fraud” book earns 5 stars in first independent review

November 13, 2010 // by Donna Andersen// 10 Comments

In the book publishing business, reviews by respected sources are critical. As soon as we had printed copies of Love Fraud — How marriage to a sociopath fulfilled my spiritual plan, we sent it to about a dozen reviewers like Publisher's Weekly, the New York Times Book Review and the Library Journal. The first review is in, from the Midwest Book Review. Founded in 1976, the Midwest Book Review publishes monthly book publications specifically for community and academic librarians, booksellers, and the general reading public. Of the 169 books reviewed in the Small Press Bookwatch for November, 2010, Love Fraud is one of two books listed as a “Reviewer's Choice.” Here's what they wrote …

“Love Fraud” book earns 5 stars in first independent reviewRead More

Donna Andersen’s victory is our victory too

October 16, 2010 // by Lovefraud Reader// 4 Comments

By Thomas Donna Andersen's ”˜Love Fraud, How Marriage to a Sociopath Fulfilled My Spiritual Plan' is the third book in the last year I have read on sociopaths. Compared to the previous two it is not written by an academic, but rather by a victim of a sociopath. The book is very well written for a first book, and the fictional style of writing, coupled with the matter-of-fact narrative makes it highly readable. Many of the people who would of have bought this book in the immediate aftermath of publication would have been refugees from Planet Sociopath themselves and much of the antics and personality traits of James Montgomery will strike a powerful resonance within them in regards to their …

Donna Andersen’s victory is our victory tooRead More

Donna Andersen on More evidence that psychopaths do not ‘burn out’: “Hi Samson75 – My paper was peer-reviewed and published in the International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology. There’s…”
Joanie Bentz, B.S., M.ED, LBS, CCBP on More evidence that psychopaths do not ‘burn out’: “HI Samson, from what I read of Donna’s article, she had more than 2,000 Lovferaud readers as a valid sample.…”
samson75 on More evidence that psychopaths do not ‘burn out’: “love fraud subscribers are not really a valid sample as they represent people who either have had trouble dealing with…”
Donna Andersen on The relationship between sociopathy/psychopathy and bipolar disorder: “Thank you for your thoughtful comment.”
samson75 on The relationship between sociopathy/psychopathy and bipolar disorder: “The majority of studies show that bipolar and psychopathy can be comorbid, though it is rare. What people likely see…”