Broken Branch Falls Review @TaraTylerTalks #MiddleGrade #Fantasy

To describe Broken Branch Falls by Tara Tyler in one word: delightful.

To describe it in a lot of words...

Gabe the Goblin's life isn't really all that different from that of the average teen---grappling with the cliques at school, feeling like he doesn't quite belong where everyone expects him to be, and crushing on the unattainable girl. I adored the little touches added to the Broken Branch world, like Looky Links and MeStar, that make it like our world but with a silly twist.Tara balances Gabe's teen angst with wry humor that made me like him immediately, and I kept that connection with him the whole way through the story, even when his circumstances became very different from anything human teens have to deal with. 

What starts out as fun, teen hijinks takes a surprising turn when Gabe finds out that his peaceful little town is a lie...sort of. And if he doesn't do something, it's going to disappear. Here's where the story takes off on a great adventure. A sort of "fellowship of the Falls" assembles along the way with each new member being an imaginitive creature with a distinct and entertaining personality.

I thought the pacing of the story was perfect. It was packed with action but it never becomes overdone. We're given a chance to catch our breath before the next thing happens, I was grinning like a fool pretty much the whole way through at the clever and often hilarious scenarios. And then, when the secret they'd been searching for is revealed, it was totally gasp-worthy. It's a revelation that will get you thinking---far deeper than I ever expected from a Middle Grade novel.  

Broken Branch Falls is all around a wonderfully crafted story that I recommend to adults as well as middle-graders.

Broken Branch Falls is available at

Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Add it to your to-read list at Goodreads.