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    Untethered
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    Untethered
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    Untethered
    Audiobook9 hours

    Untethered

    Written by Julie Lawson Timmer

    Narrated by Emily Sutton-Smith

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    When Char Hawthorne's husband dies unexpectedly, she is left questioning everything she once knew to be true: from the cozy small town life they built together to her relationship with her stepdaughter, who is suddenly not bound to Char in any real way. Untethered explores what bonds truly form a family and how, sometimes, love knows no bounds.

    Char Hawthorn, college professor, wife and stepmother to a spirited fifteen-year-old daughter, loves her family and the joyful rhythms of work and parenting. But when her husband dies in a car accident, the "step" in Char's title suddenly matters a great deal. In the eyes of the law, all rights to daughter Allie belong to Lindy, Allie's self-absorbed biological mother, who wants to girl to move to her home in California.

    While Allie begins to struggle in school and tensions mount between her and Char, Allie's connection to young Morgan, a ten-year-old-girl she tutors, seems to keep her grounded. But then Morgan, who was adopted out of foster care, suddenly disappears, and Char is left to wonder about a possible future without Allie and what to do about Morgan, a child caught up in a terrible crack in the system.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateJun 7, 2016
    ISBN9781511372572
    Unavailable
    Untethered
    Author

    Julie Lawson Timmer

    Julie Lawson Timmer grew up in Stratford, Ontario, Canada, and graduated from McMaster University before earning a law degree from Southern Methodist University in Texas. By turns, she is a writer, lawyer, mom/stepmom, and fledgling yogi. Her first novel, Five Days Left, received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews and Library Journal; her second novel, Untethered, received a starred review from Library Journal and was praised by Kirkus Reviews as a “thoughtfully written and ultimately uplifting celebration of families that are not bound by blood or by law but by love.” Timmer lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with her husband, Dan, their children, and two dogs. Visit her online at www.julielawsontimmer.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/JulieLawsonTimmerAuthor, on Twitter @JulieLTimmer, and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/julielawsontimmer.

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    Reviews for Untethered

    4/5

    20 ratings4 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Oh, this book. If ever there were poster children for people who need grief counseling, Char and Allie would be them! The author did an amazing job conveying the tangled emotions of grief and how to deal with the relationship after a death between a step-mother and mother and the daughter.The first part of this book was an amazing example of grief, it opens at the funeral of Allie's dad. The second half of this book is a train ride of emotion in a whole new way. Allie goes on a quest to rescue her tutee and Char (the step-mother) chases her to try to get them both back safely. I was deeply appalled by Morgan's (the tutee) parents. I could never imagine doing that and the author did an excellent job of making me feel disgusted by them.Overall, an interesting read, I did however feel like the middle dragged a bit as I was waiting to see what would happen in the end!
    • 3/5
      There are too much going on in the book. The characters and plots are thoughtful and somewhat realistic. However, I did not feel like I was connected to any of the characters.

      I did like how Timmer included the stepmother has no right to claim Allie after Bradley decreed issue since remarriage has becoming more and more common now a day. Also, how Allie handled everything: the grieve and teenage-hood. I think Morgan's story is too big of a issue to add onto the same book.

      Overall, it is not a bad book. It fictionalize some of the big issues in today's families. It is a little more complex than the typical summer women fiction novels.

      3 out of 5 stars
      Received a free copy from BookSparks in exchange for an honest review.
    • 5/5
      For the first two-thirds of Julie Lawson Timmer’s most recent novel, “Untethered,” I thought I was reading an accomplished family psychological drama about grief, stepmothers of teenage daughters, narcissistic mothers who abandon their children, and parents who adopt emotionally-abused children. Then suddenly, around page 200, the book explodes into a heart-thumping children-at-risk suspense thriller. Wow! After that, the book took me on an emotional rollercoaster ride until the end. The author had set me up so well for this terrific emotional literary suspense ride! All I can say is: very well done, indeed, Julie Timmer!Before that, the pace had been rather slow, but still intellectually and emotionally engaging; I liked it quite a bit, but I didn’t love it. It was obvious that the author was intent on giving her readers fascinating insight into the complex emotional and psychological landscape of her characters. By the time the suspense kicked in, I’d come to care about each and every one of the book’s characters. I knew their problems, their heartaches, and their inner psychic pain. My empathy meter was high in the red zone. Then she pulled out the action and suspense and my empathy turned to white-knuckle tension and apprehension. I defy anyone to put this book down after crossing the page-200 threshold.Char Hawthorn, a college professor, is the stepmother of a lovely fifteen-year-old daughter. She married the child’s father, Bradley, also a college professor, when Allie was nine. The teen’s biological mother, Lindy, had abandoned her husband and child when Allie was eight. Lindy felt claustrophobic in their small Michigan town and eventually found a better match for her narcissistic needs in glitzy Hollywood. Allie is pulled between her mother and stepmother. The child still shows allegiance to her biological mother and travels to California a few times a year to visit. But Allie is also very fond of her stepmother, even though the two have their share of the usual mother-daughter mid-teen issues. Allie is a stellar student on the A-track toward a fine college. Partially to help her on future college applications, Allie has been academically tutoring an extremely sensitive and psychologically troubled 10-year-old child named Morgan. That child was also abandoned by her mother. Morgan’s mother was a drug addict—a woman who ultimately chose her addiction over her child. Morgan became a ward of the state and languished in more than 15 foster homes before being adopted at age eight by a local couple in their town. That adoption occurred eighteen months before the book opens. Allie’s been tutoring Morgan for most of that time and the two children have formed a very special emotional bond. The book opens at Bradley’s funeral. He’s died in an auto accident leaving Char, a widow, and Allie fatherless. Char quickly realizes she has not only lost a husband, but will soon lose her stepdaughter. After all, she has no legal right to Allie. In fact, as soon as Lindy makes a dramatic entrance at the funeral, she lets Char and her daughter know that she plans to move the child to Los Angeles. For the balance of the book, the issue is when that move will take place…and the answer is, naturally: whenever it is most convenient for the mother!In a nutshell, that’s the fascinating psychological landscape of this novel. The author takes her time introducing the reader to a lot of essential emotional detail in this heart-rending tale, and then sets the characters in motion with a fast, breathtaking, suspense-filled, and nail-biting conclusion. Timmer is a skilled literary craftsperson. By the end, I loved this book and feel confident that it should appeal to most readers who look for a combination of astute psychological literary drama and thrilling suspense.
    • 5/5
      At first glance, “Untethered” by Julie Lawson Timmer seemed like a straightforward, happily ever after story. While it can still be considered that, it was so much more. “Untethered” began with the death of Bradley Hawthorn and its effect on his wife Char and daughter Allie. Being Allie’s stepmother, Char no longer has any claim in Allie’s life. Their complicated bond is further tested by the disruption Lindy, Allie’s biological mom, consistently causes.This was a poignant and heartfelt book about the bond of family and the intricacies that come with a mixed family where not everyone is blood-related. Julie sheds light on the balance needed to build and maintain the complex relationships of step-relations. The tug of war Char experiences throughout the book of wanting to be a mom to Allie, but not wanting to overstep her bounds was moving in itself, but what really took the novel to the next level was Morgan’s character.Allie had met Morgan through a tutoring program and they had become quite attached. Morgan was a foster child with a difficult past, but a huge heart. The journey Allie and Char individually take when Morgan mysteriously disappears made this one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.The characters are well-developed and relatable. The only negative point I can make is that Char’s continuous analyzation of seemingly small details in her relationship with Allie gets exasperating at times, but I’ve never been part of a step-family and the minutiae were very realistic and well thought out.Overall, this was a heartrending story and as soon as I finished the book, I wanted to start it all over!