Dinner For Vampires

 

Dinner For Vampires

By: Bethany Joy Lenz

Genre: Memoir

Summary:

Once bitten by the acting bug, Bethany Joy Lenz chased her dream from New York to California. What she didn't plan on was falling into a Christian cult. Not to mention being the last one to realize she had. Within these pages, she tells how it all unfolded. She peels back the layers she didn't always know existed to show you what her life looked like before, during and getting out of the controlling hands of people she once trusted. 

From a young age, Bethany discovered her love for the arts. Whether it be acting or singing, these creative endeavors were her passion and escape. At 18, she formed a band while in New York. At 19, she moved to LA to pursue her love of acting. The two locations turned out to be more different than she anticipated. Life in New York seemed effortless and like home. Whereas, life in LA was isolating and made her feel as if she didn't belong. Friends were plentiful in one, but scarce in the other. 

Cue a group of people meeting at a house for a Bible Study. What started out innocently morphed into something everyone around her questioned. This group that studied the Bible together became a close knit group who supported one another. As time moved on, this tight group became to feel more like a family. The leaders taking on a more hands-on and controlling nature. While real family members of the group noticed a dark intention, the group themselves felt loved. However, that love grew more and more controlling, manipulative and sinister. As years rolled by, Bethany's feelings exchanged comfort for distrust. By the time the light finally shown on her situation, Bethany had a daughter. How was she going to get them out of this group's control? How was she going to protect her daughter from people Bethany now wanted nothing to do with?

There were numerus parts of this book that were hard for me to read. Seeing how subtle the leaders of this group gained control of it's members was disturbing. Seeing how manipulative they became of their members in order to continue their control was infuriating. What began as gentle emotional support grew into mind control. The leaders were able to so seamlessly gain autonomy over every aspect of the members. The leaders control their thoughts, decisions and jobs. All while the members never even thinking twice. Reading all of this was scary enough. Seeing it play out in Bethany's life was gut wrenching.

In Dinner For Vampires, Bethany tells you how they talked her out of making her Broadway dreams come true. How this group was instrumental in her job on One Tree Hill. She'll tell you how they would manipulate themselves back into front and center of her life whenever she began to drift away. How they preyed on her every vulnerability- even in the romance department. She would eventually marry the son of a leader and quickly realize the mistake it was. Bethany will tell you how huge that very mistake would go on to be. 

As you read her story, you will journey all over the emotional map. I felt anger at everyone for allowing this to happen. My heart broke when she would lose out on a dream they talked her out of. I was in shock when she discovered how much money they had taken from her. I was cheering her father on when he showed up locked and loaded with years of intel he had been doing into the main leader. By the time I read the last word, I was emotionally exhausted and I hadn't been the one to live it out. 

I applaud Bethany Joy Lenz for being willing to share her story. For being willing to share how she allowed people into her life who would eventually take it over. I would like to thank her for being so raw with this nightmare- I know there are other people out there walking a similar path. It wasn't an easy read so I know it wasn't easy to write. I'm glad she was able to claw her way out. I'm glad there were people ready and waiting to help her in any way they could- some were former members.