Reviews are in ! ★★★★★ Chained is a must read. Simply Amazing! This book did NOT disappoint. I could not put it down. The characters came alive through the author's words. I had to know if Lily would ever be free, I needed to see if Bryson was truly that evil...it was as if I was in the book. The twists and turns kept my heart racing, my mind searching for answers. ★ ★★★★ A truly captivating book. This book is full of raw emotion. Oh my God ! I just finished this book and I am shaking in emotion . What a roller coaster ride ! Ready for book 2. Let's do this.A must read. ★★★★★ This book had my attention from the first page on. It drew me in and made me feel things. It made me think about things. Things we try to ignore. Such powerful and profound subjects, such as domestic violence, drug addiction, and trauma bonding. The vivid details and use of poetic prose really painted a picture in my mind. I could actually see each scene, each character, not only could I see it but I could feel their pain.. Connections. Like weaving the stitches of a fabric. Are we nothing more than, the threads? Woven tightly together to form the image of who we are? How much control do we have over our own life? Choices that we make, people that we meet. Like the threads that binds us to the next. Each event intertwined. Keep following the trail where does it lead? Where did it start? The child? The experience? The Outcome? Chained is the story of life, of love, of betrayal. The story of pain, darkness and of light. It is raw emotion and hardened truth, cut open and spilled forth for all to see. It is the scarlet letter that each of us must bear. Chained is inspired by true events. Set in rural West Virginia, Chained follows the story of 4 childhood friends. Exposing how each life situation brought them to the next linking them all together in a tight web of experiences and destinations. It uncovers the truth of addiction, abuse, narcissism, and childhood trauma. It sheds light on the inner workings of small-town USA. Where secrets are best kept and buried. Come with me, as we dive into the soul of each individual unraveling their past, their pain and their truth. Lilly is Americas sweetheart, with her religious values and middle-class upbringing you will question how she came to find herself involved with the likes of Bryson Jordan who proves to be nothing more then, the devil in disguise. Bryson has little regard for the rules of society and from the very beginning lets it be known. As people begin to question why Lilly would be so tightly involved with such an individual, she holds to her own truth - In Bryson, Lilly sees her boys. Her childhood friends that she lost to addiction - in him she recognizes the lost child fighting to be seen in a world that seems to have cursed him from birth. Lilly's two boys, John and Tom have held her secrets, taking them to their grave. They have known her pain and so she refuses to see them for anything more then, her loves. As they mature into men, their life's path merge with Bryson and their names become well known, throughout the small town. The 3 charismatic men find themselves tied to mischief, murder and mayhem. Lilly fears for them all, with no walls to protect them. Life in a small town can have advantages as well as disadvantages. As she becomes so deeply tied to Bryson, she wonders what her boys would think, of their friend who now holds their Lilly under his manipulation. When they tried so desperately to keep her out of this darkness? Can they hear her cry from beyond the grave?