So many books come out each week that it makes it hard to decide what to read. We want to make that a little bit easier on you by sharing our favorite releases from the week and telling you our top 3 reasons why we think you’ll love them too!
This week our selection is Relative Strangers by, Paula Garner. Are you ready to hear more about this book and its author? Here we go…
Relative Strangers by Paula Garner Published by Candlewick Press on April 10th, 2018
Genres: Contemporary
Pages: 368
Goodreads Buy the Book
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.
3 Reasons You Should Read…
Relative Strangers by Paula Garner
- Have you been looking for a YA contemporary novel that will leave you feeling all the feels? Relative Stranger with pages filled with family issues, character growth, and plenty of beautiful emotions- is probably exactly what you’ve been needing!
- If you’re looking for a realistic look at how complex characters and their relationships with both family and friends can be, looks no further. Jules is the kind of character you’re going to want to know more about. She doesn’t have the best family life, but she makes the best of it with a great group of friends (framily!) You’ll find yourself cheering for her from page one.
- Gritty and real. Sadness and healing. An emotional roller-coaster. All that and more is what you’ll find when you get yourself a copy of this one. Trust us when we say you don’t want to miss out.
***Meet Paula Garner***
Paula Garner spends most of her time writing, reading, or making good things to eat. Her debut YA novel, Phantom Limbs, was published in 2016 by Candlewick Press and is a 2017 Illinois Reads selection for grades 9-12. Paula lives in the Chicago area with her family and a very bad cat.
