“…And that proximity, even if we were still separated by towns or miles allowed literal magic to happen.”
Tether’d by Mrs. Dandridge Monroe
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
star read
Let me get this quick recap out of the way, so that I can ramble. Because this one was heavy and deep!
Tether’d is book 3 in Mrs. Monroe’s Of the Star series. Where the Main Characters are heavily melanated, and got cursed thanks to a trickster, jealousy and entitlement. Them being cursed, means they don’t remember who they are and are separated from their mates.
This one is about Bit, Aylintá‘s little sister, and Yusuff, her mate. However, in all the time the curse was in place (several millennia), Bit got married to someone else…
This story introduces some new characters, and also involves old characters, so if you haven’t read the first two books in this series, I would advise to start there.
Some things to take into consideration if you decide to read this one. There is mention of (however no graphic descriptions) abuse, buck breaking, murder, racism, sexism, and colorism. In this read you will also find non white-washed history, reclaiming of self, love, and this is an open door paranormal romance.
As you already know, I’m writing and posting about it, so YES, I recommend this one. However if what I mentioned triggers or impacts you negatively? Always choose your mental health.
Book 3, Tether’d, in the Of the Stars series can be found through the following link:
Tether’d by Mrs. Dandridge Monroe
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SheReadsaLot to Audience: You know what is about to happen! So this is the final warning, AND…
…Let me re-introduce the characters
Yussuf, has more than one soul living with him, can shift into a wolf, AND, has the ability to blend his two forms. Recently gained his memories back, with the death of the Trickster, now in search of his mate.
Yeabsira, Yussuf’s mate, however is married to Marcus, unlike the others her memories haven’t yet returned.
Marcus, married to Yeabsira. Many lifetimes ago was appointed as her handler, making sure that she and Yussuf wouldn’t reconnect, and that she wouldn’t have access to her powers or memories.
SheReadsaLot to Audience: Those are the main players besides Aylinta and Elhadji, let’s dive in shall we?
Audience to SheReadsaLot: Back up a second! Where is Bit?
SheReadsaLot to Audience: Bit is Yeabsira’s nickname, but let me tell you right now. I’ll be using Yeabsira throughout this story. There is power in a name, and eventhough these are fictional characters, I’m going to respect her name and use it!
Audience to SheReadsaLot: You’re gonna lecture us again… Ain’t you?
SheReadsaLot:
Diving straight in with Mediocrity, Entitlement, and Merit
This one hit me harder than Aylinta and Elhadji’s story, and most probably because so much was taken from Yeabsira. She not only lost her mate, she was stripped from her power, her self, and her name. And helping her lose it al was…
Marcus!
“…with you having a literal devil and decades of white privilege working in your favor. Got a multi- thousand year head start and you still a failure? Shit, talk about a waste of life.”
Tether’d by Mrs. Dandridge Monroe
SheReadsaLot to Audience: If you want to know the definition of trifling? Look up Marcus!
You know that, that… I don’t even know what to call him.
That trifling… Thing?! Was rewarded a mate by the stars, but he thought he deserved better… And better was Yeabsira.
Yeabsira…?!
Who was already mated to, and with Yussuf, and saw Marcus as her best friend…?!
I hope that you can surmise that Marcus was not one of the good guys, he was one of the helpers of the Trickster. He, together with others, decided to go through the mist in hopes to create opportunities on… merit…
Yes
I’m using that word as a dog whistle. Because the “merit” that the Trickster’s helpers got rewarded with was White skin… and that Thing got “awarded” Yeabsira…
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Now, how can you award a person… a human being! to someone?
SheReadsaLot: Please don’t get me started… Slavery… Human Trafficking… Bounty hunting… Dowries..
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Yeah, I get it…
And that… thing… had the audacity to not miss any opportunity to mistreat her…
SheReadsaLot to no one: Just thinking about that thing has me riled up.
SheReadsaLot to Audience: Remember that I told you that these characters are heavily melanated?
Audience to SheReadsaLot: We remember…
SheReadsaLot to Audience: So tell me why… WHY… was this… this… thing! talking down to Yeabsira because of the richness of her skin? And even when he got *punished* by the trickster with a bit of melanin to his skin, so that he could no longer be classified as White, that piece of $$$
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Now apologize to the audience for going so far off the rails!
SheReadsaLot to Audience: I have a strong dislike for racism, colorism and sexism… And Marcus held them all in his person…
Audience to SheReadsaLot: That isn’t an apology!
SheReadsaLot:
SheReadsaLot to thing: So besides the mistreatment of Yeabsira, you being entitled, a leech… You have the AUDACITY to be colorstruck as well? You thing?! You, got exactly what you deserved!
SheReadsaLot to Mrs. Monroe: If it’s something you do, it’s always giving me the satisfaction of the bad guys getting their just due!!
Loss of self and exploitation
Yeabsira not knowing who she was, made me feel for her. Experiencing Yussuf’s version of Yeabsira, and seeing what she was reduced to at the hands of thing, and her life experiences (eventhough she didn’t remember them all), was… Sobering… to say the least.
Here you have someone that is opiniated, strong, a live wire, and also self-possessed, unable to stand up for herself. Afraid of possible consequences. She was the one doing all the work, and gained none of the benefits.
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Isn’t that… another form of slavery?
SheReadsaLot: Now, you know that they will say that, that is just being a good dutiful wife.. or him being a good manager
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: You know how they love to rewrite or rebrand things to benefit them…
BUT… When Yaebsira found herself?!
Now That!? That was a sight to see..
Our sanitized history
And then we had Yussuf, struggling with reconciling this version of his mate with the one he knew her to be.
“Yusuff had always been my hero, but he’d become that to others as well in our time apart and yet his name had been lost to time.”
Tether’d by Mrs. Dandridge Monroe
In all the life times that he was in the care of his “handler”, he was the one that history likes to forget…
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: You know that, that is deliberate right? Right?
SheReadsaLot:
SheReadsaLot to Audience: And now my dear audience, let me give you an explanation as to why I felt compelled to review this read…
“It is anger. And a reminder. That standing for nothing means that bullshit is allowed to thrive. The appearance of rights instead of the insistence of freedoms is why we’re where we are now.”
Tether’d by Mrs. Dandridge Monroe
I’m a woman that was born in the Dutch Caribbean (and now living there as well), but I grew up and lived the better part of my live in the Netherlands. The history lessons given to me during my schooling were about the Holocaust, and how Hitler got defeated. I learned about the spice trade thanks to the Dutch West India Company (W.I.C) and the United East India Company (V.O.C), who were also responsible for the colonization of Indonesia (and other countries).
You know what was conveniently left out though? The Transatlantic slave trade. The colonization and enslavement of my birth island, our Black ancestors, and the direct and indirect consequences of this part of history that was glossed over and/or sanitized.
Through oral history from my great aunts I got to know about the history of my ancestors. I continued educating myself by doing my own research, and brought it all back in my thesis about body politics.
Long story short…
This read hit me in all the feels, because it tells the history of Black people that were enslaved (I’m not saying all, because there were some African countries that were not colonized), in such a way that it compels you to find out more.
Mrs. Monroe tells us about the Freedom fighters, those that knew that they were more than what their oppressors told them they were, those who were willing to stand for their freedom (I’m not saying rights), even if they found this in death.
SheReadsalot to SheReadsaLot: Don’t you hate it when you see them talking about… we are not our ancestors?
SheReadsaLot:
SheReadsaLot: But, they were deliberately ill informed about who our ancestors were!
SheReadsaLot to audience: If you got to this point, I highly recommend this read, because I love to receive more education while I get my entertainment… And that is what Mrs. Monroe brought me with this read. I’ll be leaving you with another quote from Mrs. Monroe
“…Freedom is a definite thing. It either is or it isn’t. There is no interpretation to that. It is the only absolute in this world. Like life. You either have it or you do not. There is no way to be halfway alive, just like there’s no way to be half way free. If there is an asterisk next to your freedom, then you aren’t free. You are beholden to the chance that someone could take you back to a place of bondage and it makes you fall in line with norms in order to prevent that from happening.”
Tether’d by Mrs. Dandridge Monroe
Book 3, Tether’d, in the Of the Stars series can be found through the following link:
👩🏾SheReadsaLot 
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