Brandi Leigh Hall's Tethered Gripped Me Tight!

I knew it. Knew it!!!

But I won't tell you a thing.

Why?

Because that would be Spoilers! And all of you know how much I hate those...

What am I babbling about now? Well, you'll just have to read this latest ebook to find out!

Tethered is the first installment of the urban fantasy BirthRight series, written by Brandi Leigh Hall.

So what's it about?

For the last six years, Chloe has been living with her aunt, and far from the majority of her family. After the sudden death of her parents, she needed to get away from everything - especially the mystical talent that caused her to see them as they died in a car crash when she was only thirteen years old. She's worked hard at putting her past behind her, attempting to keep her ability as a seer from coming to the surface.

But now her beloved grandfather is in the hospital, about to undergo a risky procedure. Chloe and her aunt race back to lend their support, and Chloe is forced to deal with the past, as well as the guilt she feels for abandoning her remaining family. As if that isn't enough, while in the hospital she meets what appears to be the perfect man, her powers as a seer grow even stronger, and it's revealed that she and the rest of her family are at the center of a prophecy.

Chloe can no longer hide from her unusual life, and that terrifies her.

While not a "thinking book," this was definitely a good one.

This is one of those ebooks that give the reader an easy escape from reality. Hall takes the reader by the hand, leading them from scene to scene with ease. The story is remarkably fluid, making it simple for a reader to jump into Chloe's world. Tethered is definitely light reading.

The characters are extraordinarily likeable. 

Each has his or her own unique personality, causing the reader to pick favorites. Of course, these favorites changed from one scene to another, in my case, but that only added to their believability. People do and say things we like and dislike, after all, and our feelings toward them often tend to be colored by those statements. They're changeable... and Hall did a great job of bringing this out in Tethered.

Dialogue wasn't perfect, of course. I did roll my eyes a few times when some of the snarky comments fell a little flat. But then... I do that in real life, as well, so this is hardly something to shake my head over. 

And then there was the idea of predestination.

I'm not big on fate, believing that being predestiny removes free will from the equation. If you're destined for something, after all, your personal choice is meaningless. Predestiny is a running theme throughout this ebook, which naturally makes me a bit edgy.

But Hall pulls it off.

There were times that I got annoyed, of course, with statements like, "It's destined, after all" causing me to gnash my teeth. It felt like a cop-out.

But!

If you were at the center of a prophecy, and if something foreseen occurred - whether you like it or not - might you not react in this manner, as well? Sure, it feels like simply succumbing to the inevitable, even giving up on the idea of your own free choice... but it's realistic. And really... I think I prefer this to the idea of fighting destiny and having it play out, anyway. I mean, we do see that quite a bit.

Instead, Chloe recognizes that the prophecy will occur. Rather than fighting it, she concentrates on making it work out in her favor. I kinda like that.

And!

Free will isn't removed from the equation, as I may have led you to believe with all of my ranting. Chloe's visions of the future, after all, are malleable: If you see the future, you can act to change it. Sure, the prophecy has been predestined, but the individual events leading to it? Those can be changed.

So my overly critical brain was soothed.

I even found my eyes tearing up at one point. Hall scored some major points with that one! Really, this ebook was fabulous. Unfortunately, I think the author needs to go through another round of proofreading. There were many flaws centered around the letter s, and many of those dealt with apostrophes, as well. There were also a few too many italicized words, which caused otherwise perfect dialogue to feel stilted.

(You see what I did there?)

Overall, though, with just a bit of cleanup, this work would be exceptional. Reading the author's comments, however, tells me that she already knows this could use a few minor changes. It also makes me think that she could very possibly roll out an update in the future that would fix every one of the technical issues mentioned.

So while the technical aspects aren't ideal, this ebook is definitely worth looking into. If you want some light reading with a strong romantic quality to it, pick up Tethered. It's definitely worth the read!

Tethered can be found on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords.