#SRC2016 @BookSparks Untethered by @JulieLTimmer #BestSummerEver

When Char Hawthorn'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 the 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. 

Julie Lawson Timmer grew up in Stratford, Ontario, and now lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband Dan, their four teenaged children and two badly-behaved rescued dogs. By turns, she is an author, mother, stepmom, lawyer and dreadful cook. FIVE DAYS LEFT (Putnam 2014) is her first novel. UNTETHERED (Putnam), her second novel, was released on June 7, 2016.

Timmer has grabbed my emotions from the first page of this book and held on the whole time.  After a tragic and unexpected loss one family is thrown into new territory trying to figure out their new reality while another family is facing making heartbreaking decision trying to keep their family together...both families not knowing which way to turn or how to negotiate through the struggles they are all facing,  Told with spot on truth, heartbreaking honesty and engaging storytelling Timmer has once again wrote a story that will be a hit and one you will certainly want to talk about.  5 HUGE stars.