Great series! Will have you on an emotional rollercoaster and on the edge of anticipation.

I was given the opportunity to read an electronic copy of Tangle of Strings via NetGalley. This is my honest opinion of the book.

Tangle of Strings is the fourth book in the series surrounding the Sweeney sisters: their life choices, trials, and tribulations that seem to make them stronger as a family in the end. After losing her father to illness, 16 year old Annie has finally found happiness living with Faith, Mike, and Bitsy. Her mom, Heidi, had abandoned Annie to search for stardom and left the little girl with her father, who was ill equipped to deal with the responsibilities. Although Heidi has returned to make amends and become part of the teenager's life, she succeeds in only pushing Annie further away. When Annie is involved in a traffic accident, her uncle asks questions at the hospital that give her reason to be worried. Between her injuries and her tenuous relationship with both Heidi and her ex-boyfriend Cooper, Annie's life decisions weigh heavily on her. Will Annie be able to choose what she feels is best for all concerned or will she be pressured by outside forces?

Tangle of Strings goes a little too far into the Christian fiction realm for my taste. The subject of teen pregnancy can be navigated without bringing religion into it, but the author chose to tackle the issue using all sides. The story seemed unrealistic because the adults were so forceful in their convictions and did not listen to the couple in question. The dialogue seemed more like a way to discuss an agenda instead of important life decisions. The choice, and the ultimate decision, were almost an afterthought. With forced discussions and choppy sentence structure, Tangle of Strings was not as successful as the previous books. Readers who are new to the series may be lost, as there is too much history that is not passed forward from the earlier books. Tangle of Strings was a miss for me and is not a book that I would heartily recommend.

This was a cover pick for me. I like converse shoes and own a few pairs in different of colors. There is history and symbolism associated with these shoes but that is a story for another day and no, this is not a book about converse shoes. Anyway, Tangle of Strings by Ashley Farley is an issue-based Young Adult fiction.

The story begins with an accident taking place. Annie is involved in the accident and it is through this incident that her family is introduced to readers. Although I haven’t read the other books in the series, I was able to quickly catch up on the relationship dynamics.

The book deals with quite heavy themes. One that really stood out is the issue of teenage pregnancy. Through the characters, readers get to see how this issue affects different people. The teens involved are overwhelmed with the decisions ahead of them. However, even more overwhelming is the response by adults around them. Everyone has their own opinion based on their beliefs and this provides a very tough environment for the already scared teens. It was informative to see how different characters handled the situation. I think the author provided a very realistic outlook of this issue. It’s a story that most readers are familiar with. This book made me think about the teen moms that I know and what they may have gone through.

I found myself judging the characters based on how they reacted to different situations. Annie and Cooper was such a cute, strong couple and I loved how mature they were in handling their situation. I can’t say much about the other characters without revealing too many details but I’ll just say that the characterization is one of the things that I liked most about this book.

The book had a few surprises along the way. There were a number of conflicts that I possibly couldn’t have predicted. I am still not sure exactly how I feel about this though. Usually I like twists but for this story, an action-filled twist was a bit out there. That is the only niggle that I have about this book although it is not a major one.

I recommend Tangle of Strings by Ashley Farley to all fans of issue-based YAs.

I'm sorry to say that this book was just not for me. I read a few reviews that said it worked as a standalone, so I went in confident. Nope. I was lost about the characters and how they're all connected to each other. I also feel like if I started from the first book, I wouldn't have made it to the fourth. It's just not my kind of book.

The adult characters are immature and hypocritical. They're discussing a very serious situation and it's their way or the highway... no one is willing to compromise. They're all trying to make a decision for a teenager about an unplanned pregnancy. When the teenager leans toward their decision, it's her decision and no one should try to sway her. When she doesn't, she's too young and upset to know what she's doing and needs guidance. The idea of termination is looked at as the wrong choice and something she would definitely regret in the future. The person in favor of it is written as selfish, uncaring, and unstable. The villains of the story are cartoon villains with no redeeming qualities. Maybe one is simply a psychopath, but both? It was unrealistic in a lot of ways.

I was given an ARC of this book from Net Galley and CrushStar Multimedia LLC. My review is honest and unbiased.

This is book 4 of the Sweeney Sisters series. This is such a convulated family that you really need to read this series in order to lessen the confusion. Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This is another wonderful book about the Sweeney sisters but this time it's the story of 16 year old Annie. Her mother abandoned her as a baby and has just come back into her life and wants to develop a relationship with her. Since Annie is under the guardianship of the family, this creates turmoil for them. As the book begins, Annie (driving too fast on main street) is in a bad accident and ends up in the hospital. The ER doctor, also part of the Sweeney family, has to ask her if there is any chance she is pregnant. The answer incites a huge family uproar as they try to make a decision about what Annie and Cooper (her estranged boyfriend) should do. They don't stop to realize that the decision really belong to Annie and Cooper. Along with the family drama, there is a sub-plot that is very intense.

I loved this book and these characters. I hope that there are future books to this series because I enjoyed reading about the lives of the Sweeney family members. There is so much love and drama in this family that the author should be able to add more books to the series.

This is book 4 of the Sweeney Sisters series. This is such a convulated family that you really need to read this series in order to lessen the confusion. Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I love the Sweeney Sisters. In Tangle of Strings, Ashley Farley once again tears at the heartstrings. It is great how the Sweeney family comes together in good times and bad. I really like how Annie and Cooper's storyline came together. All the characters in the series are nicely portrayed by Ms Farley. I look forward to her next book.

A Tangle of Strings was recommended via a 5 star review from a GR friend.      I liked the sound of the book and am glad I decided to give it a try.    This is exactly the sort of book I've always enjoyed in the past and I'm glad to report this was no exception.     Although this was book 4 of the Sweeney Sisters series and I hadn't read any of the earlier books this one made a perfectly good stand alone story.      Whilst I might have been a little more enraptured with the characters had I been with the Sweeney family from the beginning of the series I quickly fell into their stories and found myself full of empathy for teenaged Annie and Cooper and the real life issues they faced.      I was disappointed this is where this series ends but on a positive note I was interested to read that Ashley Farley was inspired to write Saving Ben in honour of her much loved brother who died of an accidental overdose.  Having enjoyed her writing I may just give that one a try.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Most of the story is about Annie and the pregnancy. We hear each character's opinion on what they think she should, and we also see what motivates each characters' opinion. For instance, Faith has never been able to conceive so she wants Annie to keep the child. Cooper's mother, Jackie, wants Annie to have an abortion because she doesn't want Cooper's future to be ruined. The list goes on and on. While the story definitely explores all of the different viewpoints at length, many parts of this novel didn't work for me.

Since I read this book out of order from the rest of the series, I was extremely confused by all of the family ties. Jackie is Faith's sister, and there's someone named Eli who is connected in some other way, and then ... oh, it was just a lot to keep straight in my head! Maybe it is better explained in the previous novels, but I was getting lost a lot on these details and that took away my focus from the story itself. I also found that there were way too many subplots and motivations going on, and it made the story more convoluted instead of complex. There really wasn't much of a focus throughout the story, and it made everything so muddled. Because of all of this, I felt like the seriousness of the issue being discussed in this novel wasn't handled well; the way the characters were dealing with it and talking about the consequences was really childish and tactless. Even the way in which the characters spoke was unbelievable and immature. In the end, this novel let me down because it didn't handle the gravity of the situation well and came off as being very immature.

Considering they come from a small town in South Carolina, the Sweeney sisters have no shortage of drama in their lives. Finally taking the focus off of Sam, this new book allows the readers to get some insight into the minds of Annie, Cooper, Sam's new husband, Eli, and Heidi, Annie's mother who abandoned her. This actually proved to work out well, because it allowed the story to expand in regards to the type of attachments the reader can make with the characters.

Annie is the primary focus of this book and I found myself surprisingly connecting with the young girl and sympathized with the predicament she finds herself in. The three Sweeney sisters don't make life easier as Annie faces a life changing decision and honestly, the predicament furthered my dislike of Jackie as a whole. If I had to save a Sweeney sister from a drowning boat, let's just say Jackie wouldn't make the top two list.

The thing I did find to be interesting about this whole ordeal was the development of Heidi. I am by no means a fan of this character and I completely agreed with Annie's anger towards the woman. But I found it to be interesting that as a reader, I was allowed so much insight to Heidi's personality and past. Most authors would have stayed with just Annie's point of view and I think it helps to smooth out my initial irk toward the character.

As for Eli's parts of the story, I'll be honest, I could have liked this book with or without his chapters. I suppose this is more of a personal choice, as I've been increasingly annoyed with characters in law enforcement after years of the same ole same. But none of this is the fault of the writing, it's just a personal choice. I didn't feel his storyline was really needed and the drama it brings to the book, doesn't help to make this book good. The book was strong without it, in my opinion. But on the other hand, it helped to introduce new characters from their small town and hopefully, they'll continue to play a role in the future books.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. Perhaps my like for the story comes from my own personal experiences, but I felt a real connection with many aspects of Annie's story. It's those kinds of connections that can really leave a reader wanting more and I can honestly say I can't wait to see what kind of trouble they all find themselves in next.