Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
A story not just of love & family but the context of what makes a family. Not biology but the true sense of compassion & protection you can feel for another soul. Julie manages to convey that sense without error.
Started out ok but got bogged down by the very melodramatic subplot which ended up taking over. Very! Dramatic! Dialogue! Dopey resolution to the plot, and you are meant to hate Lindy but she ends up basically the only reasonable person in this book.
It was a good, cute book! Nothing amazing or award-winning, but I enjoyed it. It had a predictable, happy ending.
Tedious and slow moving. Over 100 pages in, and there’s a whole lot of conversation, and no action. Yawn. Onto the next book on my stack.
This book expands the definition of the modern family- blended families, step parents, adopted families, foster families. Difficult issues are addressed in these families, with so much heart, and by the ending, I felt uplifted. I won a copy of this book in a giveaway, and this was my unsolicited and honest review.
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
A special thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Julie Lawson Timmer returns following her heart-wrenching debut, Five Days Left, landing on my Top 30 Books of 2014, with UNTETHERED -- an emotional domestic suspense of blended families and the powerful ties that bind.
Char Hawthorn, had a great life. A freelance editor, happily married to a college professor, Bradley and stepmother to his Allie, a fifteen-year-old in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.
However, when her perfectionist husband dies suddenly in a car accident, she is left to pick up the pieces and contend with Allie’s biological mother, Lindy. The threat she may be separated from her step-daughter with a pending move to California. Her step-mom is not mother quality.
In the meantime, there is another storyline creating tensions. Allie’s connection to Morgan, a ten-year-old-girl she has been tutoring—a troubled girl caught up in foster care, now adopted, who self-harms. Char attempts to hold it all together throughout the drama.
There are cracks and fissures, with non-traditional family units; grief, struggles, emotions, relationships, balancing, defining roles, failings, trials, and those caught in the middle and crossfires.
From emotionally abused children, special needs, motherhood, step-parenting, frustrations and resentments-- a suspenseful exploration of the human psyche, its complexities, and the resilience of family, with a domestic psychological literary twist.
Timmer once again explores what makes a family means, and the outcome when bonds are tested. Having raised two sons and three stepsons, a realistic account of the trials and joys of today's modern blended families.
JDCMustReadBooks
Julie Lawson Timmer returns following her heart-wrenching debut, Five Days Left, landing on my Top 30 Books of 2014, with UNTETHERED -- an emotional domestic suspense of blended families and the powerful ties that bind.
Char Hawthorn, had a great life. A freelance editor, happily married to a college professor, Bradley and stepmother to his Allie, a fifteen-year-old in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.
However, when her perfectionist husband dies suddenly in a car accident, she is left to pick up the pieces and contend with Allie’s biological mother, Lindy. The threat she may be separated from her step-daughter with a pending move to California. Her step-mom is not mother quality.
In the meantime, there is another storyline creating tensions. Allie’s connection to Morgan, a ten-year-old-girl she has been tutoring—a troubled girl caught up in foster care, now adopted, who self-harms. Char attempts to hold it all together throughout the drama.
There are cracks and fissures, with non-traditional family units; grief, struggles, emotions, relationships, balancing, defining roles, failings, trials, and those caught in the middle and crossfires.
From emotionally abused children, special needs, motherhood, step-parenting, frustrations and resentments-- a suspenseful exploration of the human psyche, its complexities, and the resilience of family, with a domestic psychological literary twist.
Timmer once again explores what makes a family means, and the outcome when bonds are tested. Having raised two sons and three stepsons, a realistic account of the trials and joys of today's modern blended families.
JDCMustReadBooks
If Goodreads had half stars, I'd probably rate this 2.5, but we'll go with 3 for now. That being said, this was an intense, drama-filled, drippy/frustrating/sad/etc.-emotion-filled book. Not that that's the worst thing, but I do wish I'd been a bit more prepared for themes such as self-harm and extremely sad foster care situations before embarking. It felt a bit first-novel-ish, with the need to get every emotion packed into one story with bursting intensity, but the writing is good and the author clearly has talent tucked away. It will be interesting to see how this author grows.