Untethered

A Novel

De: Angela Jackson-Brown

Narrado por: Karen Murray

Sometimes family is found in the most unlikely of places . . .

In the small college town of Troy, Alabama, amidst the backdrop of 1967, Katia Daniels lives a life steeped in responsibility. At the Pike County Group Home for Negro Boys, she pours her heart into nurturing the young lives under her care, harboring a longing for children of her own. Katia's romantic entanglement with an older man brings comfort but also stirs questions about the path she's chosen.

The weight of her family's history bears down on her; a twin brother is missing in action in the heart of the Vietnam War. Having lost her father to cancer, Katia took up the mantle of caretaker, ensuring her mother and brothers were looked after. Her sense of duty extends to the boys at the group home, creating a web of obligations that stretches her emotional bandwidth thin.

Amidst a power struggle at work with the board, Katia finds solace in the pages of romance novels and the soothing melodies of Nina Simone. When Seth Taylor, a familiar face from her high school days, reenters Katia's life, he brings with him a breeze of nostalgia and a reminder of a time when her dreams felt less tethered. As their friendship rekindles, Katia grapples with the idea of making choices for herself, even as the realization that she can no longer have children weighs heavily on her.

This novel is a poignant tale of a woman torn between the demands of her heart and the responsibilities she's shouldered for so long. Set against the backdrop of a changing South, this novel delves into the complexities of love, family, and self-discovery in a time of transformation and upheaval.

©2024 Angela Jackson-Brown (P)2024 Harper Muse

Family

Great story! You will laugh, cry and cheer on the heroine in this heart gripping tale of a foster home for boys and the women who loves them.

Inspirational Story of Love and Lost and Happiness

𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ♾️/ 5.0 (I HIGHLY recommend)
𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: ♾️/ 5.0 (I HIGHLY recommend)

“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒘 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒗𝒖𝒍𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒌. 𝑰𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏.”

“…𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖…𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒔, 𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅.”

🄱🄾🄾🄺 🅁🄴🅅🄸🄴🅆

Wow! I do not even know where to start! I enjoyed this book so much and it was so much more than I ever expected! This is my second read by Angela Jackson-Brown, and I AM A FAN!!

I just love her writing style, the way she builds her characters, the realism in her stories. I loved it all.

𝑼𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 is a heavy and emotional read but it is also a story of love, lost, and found family. In 𝑼𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅, we meet Katia Daniels who is the Executive Director at a group home for at risk boys. As of late, work has been overwhelming for her. At the beginning of the story, we find her at her wits end with this job. Will she have to quit work or will it even matter if she gets fired? In addition to her issues at work, Katia is lonely. Though she has her mom, her brothers are off at war and her “gentlemen caller,” who she really has no interest in, is not really fulfilling all of her needs. Katia wants more. She deserves more. But will she ever find true happiness?

This story took me on an emotional roller coaster ride. I laughed, I cried, I got angry, I felt encouraged, and my heart filled with joy by the time it was all over. Angela Jackson-Brown knows how to draw the reader in and she builds a world that allows her readers to be fully immersed in the narrative. The setting of the story is the 1960s during the Vietnam War and the author did such an amazing job with the story that I was able to see and feel like I was there. I loved the musical references (i.e. Nina Simone) and I loved the feel of the small town and all of the other settings in the book.

In addition to her excelled world-building, Angela Jackson-Brown did a stellar job with her characters. Katia Daniels is my shero. Though life gave her rotten lemons, boy was she able to make some sweet lemonade. Katia was selfless, supporting, loving, strong, and a true inspiration to me. I just loved the way she stood up for her boys at the group home. She understood the racial dynamics and how, even though they were technically “kids,” society would see and treat them like men (seeing them as a threat). One of my favorite scenes in the book was when she defended Chad Montgomery (a young boy at the group home) against one of the counselors who was working at the group home. Katia was not afraid to stand up for him by letter the counselor know “I will not allow you or anyone else to disrupt their routine or their peach of mind…Neither your needs or the needs of the foster care system will ever supersede the needs of my boys.” Man, at this time, I was her biggest cheerleader, cheering “yes girl, you go girl, you better let her know not to mess with you and those boys!”

I wont spoil it too much but I have to say that I just LOVED the way Katia’s relationship with Seth Taylor was written. Again, I do not want to spoil it but it was a slow burn that was worth the payout! That man loved him some Katia and his patience, and understanding was so beautiful to watch. He gave her what she needed at the right time. He was her friend when she needed a friend, her strength when she had none and her protector when it was necessary. I just loved it all! There were so many times in the story that I wanted her to get out of her own way so she could find true happiness and I must say, I was over the moon happy with the ending we were given.

Overall, I HIGHLY recommend this book! It is an inspirational, beautiful, love story (romantic & familial (found family as well) but it is also a story of self-love and self-worth.

🄰🅄🄳🄸🄾🄱🄾🄾🄺 🅁🄴🅅🄸🄴🅆: I had the opportunity to listen to the audio version of this story and I must say that the narrator Karen Murray did a phenomenal job bringing not only Katia but all of the characters to life. I especially loved her portrayal of Pee Wee.

🆆🅷🅰🆃 🆃🅾 🅴🆇🅿🅴🅲🆃
🌹Historical Fiction (Vietnam War)
🌹Found Family
🌹Black Love
🌹Second Chance at Love
🌹Mature Main Characters
🌹Mental Health Rep
🌹Plus Size Rep
🌹Infertility Rep
🌹Foster Care System Rep

🆀🆄🅾🆃🅴🆂 🆃🅷🅰🆃 🆁🅴🆂🅾🅽🅰🆃🅴🅳 🆆🅸🆃🅷 🅼🅴
❤️ “Dear Creator, today I need mercy.”
❤️ “You deserve happiness, Katia. Large helpings of Happiness.”
❤️ “Integration didn’t equal fair treatment. “
❤️ “I am not my circumstances. Even when it feels like all hope is lost, I am still a winner.”
❤️ “Time will be the best healer.”
❤️ “Good things don’t just happen. We make things good by being intentional.”
❤️ “ He needs to tell his story to you and his sister. That is how we heal. Silence is what kills us slowly.”
❤️“I never should have accepted crumbs when I deserved the entire cake.”
❤️ “Life is too short, and death is too long for people to not be with the one they love.”
❤️ “Sometimes one broker person just needs to hear from another brother person.”
❤️ “We’re all looking for love and acceptance. Nobody is better than anybody else.”
❤️ “The last few months had forced me to acknowledge that I also needed to be vulnerable and taken care of sometimes, and needing those things didn’t make me weak. It merely made me human.”
❤️ “It’s okay for you to not be strong sometimes.”
❤️ “It means nothing to talk about God if we aren’t living godly lives.”
❤️ “I h-h-have more gr-gr-grannies…Gran is th-th-the main one but m-maybe it’s okay if I-I-I have more?”….”You deserve all the grannies and all the aunties there are…”
❤️ “Let yourself be happy, Katia, and don’t settle for less than what God has for you. Be brave. Just like He said.”
❤️ “I need you to pray like you have never prayed before.”
❤️ “I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.”
❤️ “You don’t have to be okay with me…You can be as vulnerable as you need to be. I know this is a lot. You shouldn’t have had to go through this alone….Kat—I care about you.”
❤️ “My goal was always to encourage them to feel their feelings but also to figure how to harness those emotions into something that ultimately serve them in a positive way.”
❤️ “I did this because you need to be reminded of the legacy you’ve created.”
❤️ “…I have been working very hard not to fall in love with you…but in spite of my efforts, I fell hard.”
❤️ “You are kind and generous and unselfish and beautiful and sexy and thoughtful…”
❤️ “The blessings just kept pouring on me like summer rain.”

A plus

Great author. No boring moments. I listened to the book in Audible. The reader was great! Highly recommend

Great Book!

Loved this story and characters! Once I started this book, I could not stop! I totally recommend this book!

Untethered

My first time reading a book by this author. I’m pleased that I did. Enjoyed!

Predictable

The story okay. It was too easy to predict the ending of each tragedy and the end of the book. It's a simple feel good read, a good book book to read on a rainy day.