Relative Strangers

by Garner Paula

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.

• ISBN10: 076369469X
• ISBN13: 9780763694692
• Publish Date: 10 April 2018
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Candlewick Press,U.S.
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 368
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780763694692

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

I absolutely adored Phantom Limbs, and just had to read this book. I was so intrigued by this premise of Jules discovering this whole missing part of her life, and was quite moved by her journey.

•Pro: I was glued to the this book for the first half. Fully rapt by Jules and her story, I could not put the book down.

•Con: BUT the story took a few turns in the middle there that I was not too pleased about.

•Pro: HOWEVER the ending was really strong.

•Pro: This was a pretty thought provoking look at how complex relationships can be, between both family and friends.

•Pro: Jules was a really interesting character. She loved old things and making ramen based meals in under 15 minutes (girl after my own heart). She didn't get the emotional support at home that she needed, but she was able to find a surrogate family through her friends. It contributed greatly to who she was and how she turned out the way she did.

•Con: The alcohol and drug use would not have bothered me so much, if Jules did not directly question her predisposition to addiction given that she was the product of an addict. Garner's treatment of that issue was a little too cavalier for me, and all the drug use seemed wholly unnecessary for the story.

•Pro: Garner didn't hide Jules' mom's flaws, however, she did help me understand why she was the way she was, and sort of let her redeem herself in her own way. I feel like she grew along with Jules over the course of the story, and I was really pleased with the ending Garner gave to each of them.

•Pro: That cameo!!!! I think I squealed there towards the end when an old friend made an appearance. Well done, Ms. Garner.

•Pro: At its heart, this is a story of family and what makes a family. I really enjoyed the exploration of all the different "familial" relationships Jules had, and how they all contributed to the woman she became.

Overall: A beautiful and emotional story that examines intricacies of families and friendships and how they mold and shape us.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight

After loving the author's debut, Phantom Limbs, I knew I had to get my hands on this book. And yay, it did not disappoint! Let us talk about why!

• Paula Garner does an amazing job of getting the feels into her books. This is the second time that I have felt more empathy and love for characters than I ever assumed I would, and I love it. I cried and frankly, tears are the mark of a good book to me.



• I found Jules so, so relatable. Our life situations had zero things in common, but I could relate to her on such a human level. On the level of someone who just wanted to be loved and accepted, as we all do. She had amazing friendships, and an often difficult relationship with her mom, but she genuinely cared about the people in her life. She made plenty of mistakes, and she often took the hits hard, and I guess she just seemed so well fleshed-out, so very human.



• The plot was quite family-focused. Of course, you may have gathered this from the synopsis, but it made for quite a powerful story. Hence the tears and such. I loved that Jules was reconnected with loving people from her past, and that it forced some honest, real talk with her mother.

Now, the matter of Jules's crush is... hard to talk about without being spoilery. I will say, it was written (and as we are reading from Jules's POV, it could be just projection, but I don't think so) as though her thinking that Luke's feelings for her were more than a quasi-foster brother's would be. I will also say that Luke wasn't my fave. If you've read the book... fuck that guy. I mean- she straight up never met him, she was a baby for goodness sake! Him acting like she was some sort of incestuous freak for having feelings for him? What even, asshole? That didn't make me not like the book but it did leave me with some questions.

Bottom Line: Lovely and full of feels, this book was one of my most anticipated of the year, and I am quite glad that it lived up to my own self-hype!