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Relative Strangers
Unavailable
Relative Strangers
Unavailable
Relative Strangers
Audiobook10 hours

Relative Strangers

Written by Paula Garner

Narrated by Lauren Ezzo

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

()

Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

Why is there a gap in Jules's baby album? A wry and poignant coming-of-age novel about finding the truth in lies, salvaging hope in heartbreak, and making peace with missing pieces.

Eighteen-year-old Jules has always wished for a close-knit family. She never knew her father, and her ex-addict mother has always seemed more interested in artistic endeavors than in bonding with her only daughter. Jules's life and future look as flat and unchanging as her small Illinois town. Then a simple quest to find a baby picture for the senior yearbook leads to an earth-shattering discovery: for most of the first two years of her life, Jules lived in foster care. Reeling from feelings of betrayal and with only the flimsiest of clues, Jules sets out to learn the truth about her past. What she finds is a wonderful family who loved her as their own and hoped to adopt her—including a now-adult foster brother who is overjoyed to see his sister again. But as her feelings for him spiral into a devastating, catastrophic crush—and the divide between Jules and her mother widens—Jules finds herself on the brink of losing everything.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateApr 10, 2018
ISBN9781543687651
Unavailable
Relative Strangers
Author

Paula Garner

Paula Garner spends most of her time making narratives out of words and food, despite being surrounded by an alarming TBR pile and a very bad cat. She is somewhat evangelical on the subjects of absinthe, bitter cocktails, and oysters. Paula lives in the Chicago area with her family. Phantom Limbs is her first novel.

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Reviews for Relative Strangers

Rating: 3.666666642857143 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

21 ratings8 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I found this book quite an unusual and at times uncomfortable read. Jules finds out shocking truths about her past that will put her strained relationship with her mom into perspective. She tries to handle this new information as best as she could, unfortunately, her emotions gets the better of her. Jules ends up crossing a line that will alter her relationship with a boy from her past.For the most part I liked Jules, she's a very caring and nurturing character. However, I found her instant attraction to Luke strange. She also comes off as envious and lacking self esteem. Other than that I like her character development in the story, especially the transformation of her relationship with her mother as well as her friends. I also like the fact that the author handled the story realistically, ending the story on a positive note and not romanticizing it.Relative Strangers is about people who are flawed yet trying to be better individuals. It's about how broken relationships can be mended and how crossing the line could make ideal relationships fall apart. It's about growing up, falling in love and learning to let go. Thank you to LibraryThing and Candlewick Press for the review copy.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I'm definitely in the minority here, but I really struggled with this book. A major issue for me was that I found the main character, Jules, so young sounding. I kept imagining her as a freshmen or sophomore in high school as oppose to a senior. I also had a hard time believing that having a gap in pictures would cause such a shock and crises. There are plenty of age gaps in my family photos and I've never once thought anything of it. However, plenty of other reviewers are completely in love with Relative Strangers so I'm chalking this up to a case of "it's not you, it's me."
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book totally took me by surprise. To be honest, I had tried to read it a few weeks before but I just couldn't get into it. After checking out some other reviews, I figured it was just me and shelved it for a short bit-promising myself I would try again later. A couple weeks later, I picked the book back up and gave it another go. I loved it.Relative Strangers is one of those books that allows you to so easily fall in love with the characters and become completely immersed in an interesting story. Jules, her friends, her family(s)... every character is interesting in their own right and has their own special quirks. Even though the situation Jules finds herself in is beyond complex, you can't help but want her to find that sense of belonging and love. And while Jules' mother is rather disappointing in so many moments but my heart truly felt for her because she felt so authentic. As for Luke, I get Jules' feelings - one moment I adored him and in the next... well, no spoilers. I really loved this book and could not put it down. I breezed through this fun, often-times emotional, exciting read in just a day. Loved it.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I will be honest, other than my love for Eli, this book didn't capture me until more than halfway through. It did not hold my attention at all and then after the halfway point, it finally grabbed me. I was then reading it as I moved around the house, made food, etc. I am now going to look up ramen recipes. Give this one a read. YA**Early Reviewers
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This story begins with an 18-year old girl named Jules looking for a baby picture for inclusion in her high school yearbook. What she finds in a box in her mother's closet is paperwork about her stay in foster care as a baby when she was put into care due to her single mother's addiction. This begins her quest for the family that fostered her and the surprises that await her when she does locate them. She and her mother have been reunited for many years, and their relationship is strained. During the year that this novel covers, Jules finds new meaning in relationships after a better understanding of herself and others in her life.This is a YA novel that should appeal to that age group. My thanks to LibraryThing and the publisher for providing it for review.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The story follow Jules, an eighteen year old finishing up her senior year of high school. Along the way, you’ll meet her coffee-house working friend Eli, her two best friends Gab and Leila, her ex-addict mother, and the brother-that-could-have been, Luke. Each character is richly imagined, with their own problems and achievements. Paula Gardner manages to weave a story about a teenager that even adults who don’t make it a habit of reading YA will enjoy. The protagonist is likable (she has a quaint obsession with vintage china, and an obsession with food… especially with “ramen”) and also experiences vulnerabilities and insecurities that many of us can relate to. I’m not sure how much of a “taboo” subject she was trying to broach with the topics she brought up (hey, they’re mentioned on the back, so not much in the way of spoilters), but I think the writing of it was handled well. The only thing I found unrelatable was her obsession and unrequited love, but that’s just because the way I handled such things in my youth was entirely different. I’ve never had an obsessive personality, but I also wasn’t too heavily invested in social media, and smart phones with unlimited data plans weren’t such a thing when I was a kid. This is the kind of book I’d consider a good, easy read if you’re looking to experience a touch of youthful nostalgia, without getting too heavily into the saccharine writing of many of today’s YA books about female heroines.I would honestly be interested in reading more about this character. What happens to her during college? How does she navigate the waters of maintaining old friendships and making new friends, while dealing with grades and school? How does her mother handle her continuing sobriety and potential love interests? If a series comes of this, I’d probably find my way around to reading them all despite by long ever-growing stack of Books to Read.4 stars because it's a solid, enjoyable read that I would venture to read again. Not sure if it's the kind of book I'd typically purchase for myself, but I'd rent it from my library.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Relative Strangers is a great story. Jules grows up without a father, has a mom who replaced alcohol addiction with art, so she’s there but unavailable, and finds out during her senior year that she was in foster care for the first two years of her life. It is a great story, but I didn’t enjoy the book. I disliked most everything about Jules, especially the foster brother situation. I didn’t really like the mom or the best friends. I think Eli was probably the only character that I did like, and that’s not enough for me to like a book. I received an Early Reviewers copy of Relative Strangers from LibraryThing.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I actually did enjoy reading this book quite a bit, but I enjoyed the family aspect much more than the romance part, which felt a little weird to me. I know it's supposed to be a main part of the book, but I felt like it was a little rushed - as in she went from being nostalgic to being completely "in love" with him the next.I did really like the development of the relationship between Jules and her mother, and I liked the friendship subplot as well, though honestly, I didn't like Leila at all. She kept saying she wasn't judging by oh my god. SHE WAS, and it annoyed the crap out of me.

    1 person found this helpful