** I received an ARC from NetGalley and publisher Candlewick Press in exchange for my honest review**

Relative Strangers was a sweet story about learning of loss and family, and finding your true self. Overall, I liked the idea of where the story stemmed from, Jules' finding her family of the lost 15 months that she had no memory or pictures of. But, it could have been much stronger than it turned out to be.
I quite enjoyed each character, Jules, Luke, Mima, Buddy, Leila, Gab, Eli, but they mainly just stayed stagnant throughout the story, to where I wasn't really excited when anything happened.
The main downfall for me after reading this was that the romance aspect was heavily lacking. Romance for me, especially in a novel like this, is very important. It could have made the story a bit more astounding because in my opinion Jules' needed somebody of that figure to help her get through everything she recently found out.
There was so much potential in this plot line and that's why I'm giving it 3 stars. I didn't hate the story, I actually enjoyed the beginning much more then the end because nothing really was new or shocking. I loved the family aspect of it, and how much Mima and Buddy cared for Jules' after all of those years. But, it wasn't something that kept me on my toes and that's why I knocked down the two stars.

This book you guys, this book.  I was sort of expecting a romance book, but at the same time that felt like the wrong thing to expect from this kind of story.

Okay let me start by saying I loved this story. I truly did and there are not very many books that I like where romance is not the final sort of destination to the story.

What I mean is, for me to really love a story (as weird as it is) romance has to be a huge part of the plot, and even though this one does have a romantic subplot, it is not important to the development of the story until it is and for the wrong reasons.

Okay, I don't think I'm explaining myself as good as I want, but maybe that's okay. Maybe that will spark some interest in you and you will decide to pick up this awesome story when it comes out just to know what the hell I'm talking about.

And that would be awesome.

So let me tell you about Relative Strangers, when I first requested this book, I have to be honest I wasn't totally into the description. I mean it did spark my interest, but I wasn't totally looking forward to getting the book. But once I did and actually started reading it, I was extremely thankful that I actually got to read it.

Relative Strangers follows Jules in her journey of discovering who she is and how some events that happened early in her life have shaped the way her life is now.

What I wasn't expecting of this story is is just how real and honest if felt to me. Not in the sense of how things developed, but in how good Garner was at describing the feelings the character was experiencing.

Man was I impressed. There are not very many books that hit me in the feels, but this book managed to do just that. I just felt the pain and the doubt and pretty much everything Jules was feeling. Maybe I was just in a sad mood or something and that is why I just FELT her pain the way I did.

Thought I would like to believe that is the writing that did such thing to me.

Obviously everything wasn't totally perfect in the story and I do have to point out what I wasn't totally on board with.

The thing that bothered me the most I will say is Jules' foster brother, Luke.

He wasn't bad per say, he was actually an amazing character and super nice to Jules, is just that he had all these memories and all these, brother like feelings for Jules and sometimes he expressed them a little too much and expected Jules to just go with the siblings feelings. But to me  he was a little immature and should have been more understanding of the fact that even though he had amazing memories of Jules being his "sister" she had none of that.

Also it was kind of weird for the story to like go THERE, you know, making Jules have feelings for this guy, though I understand why it was done at the same time.

Here is this guy who acts as if you are the center of his universe because he didn't think he'd see you ever again, any young girl (I mean even to an older girl too) would develope feelings that weren't at all acceptable.

So even though that was problematic, it was realistic as hell.

And that is why this story is awesome!

There is all the family drama you would expect, hearts are broken, too many emotions and a conclusion that leaves you with hope and that is just what we all need in life. Hope.

Hope that things will get better, that no matter what there is always a tomorrow.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

When I received this book I didn't have any idea what this is going to be about, and secretly I was hoping it to be a good YA, I was literally craving for a good YA and Yes it was, It is the sweetest YA I've read.

Jules, while searching for  her childhood photo for her yearbook found it she had a foster family for 19th months when she was two her mom got her book, she was shocked as well as curious to get to know about her foster family, She and her mother got a complicated relationship so she couldn't ask her. She found her foster brother on social media and contacted him and meet her foster family which turned out to be a lovely family but Jules is struggling, she doesn't know how to behave around her foster brother who turns out really cute and loved her as his real sister and due to her stupidity she made all the situation a big mess for luke.

The story was really different from other YA, It was really sweet and family oriented and really emotional. All the characters were well focused and different having own nature and stories, I liked all of them everyone got their own history and how Jules naivety changed their lives.

Jules, who is obsessed with food is not no doubt a really good friend, her life rotate around her friends, she is never been centre of anyone's attention so it was overwhelming for her when she found a whole family who loved her too much, she is struggling to figure out her emotions for her newly found family.

Luke(Duke), He is more than happy when he found his long-lost foster sister, he loved her so much since their childhood.

Jules real mother got a complicated history and after half of the book, I started to feel for her.

Mima and Buddy are the sweetest creatures.

Leila and Gab are friendship goals, they are always there for each other whatever the situation is despite their differences.

If you are a family-oriented story's fan then this book is obviously for you.

I can't believe it I am really giving 5 stars to a YA/Contemporary

This was good, but I did have a few problems with it overall.

First of all, I think it started out REALLY strong. I was laughing in the very first few pages and I got an amazing sense of who our main character was. I liked her. I liked her love of food and her complicated home life and her diverse best friends. The premise was very unique as well. I have never encountered a book with a similar relationship dynamic before.

The writing was very introspective, focusing heavily on our main characters many, MANY feelings. I do feel like the author went a bit overboard on the emotions in this book. At times, it could be cloyingly sweet and repetitive. Near the end, it felt like the author was having a hard time letting the story go and finally wrapping it up. It felt overextended and just too much for how small the story really was in scope.

I can't say that I liked Luke. He was too "perfect" for my tastes. I was also kind of disappointed in the author's idea of what "poor" is. Jules was not poor. I'm poor. I don't have a car. She did. She may eat Ramen throughout the book, but she adds in a ton of semi expensive ingredients. She goes out to eat. She has a roof over her head, a cell phone, etc. She's not "poor". She just isn't rich, like her friends and former foster family.

Those things aside, this was still a good book and definitely worth reading. Just can't say it will be a book that will stay with me now that I'm done.

What begins as a high school senior’s search for pictures from her early childhood leads to uncovering facts that her mother never divulged, Jules learns that she spent nineteen months of her first year living with a foster family. Her mother has been emotionally unable to discuss the time and situations that led to Jules’ foster care and Jules embarks on a mission to find the family and to reconnect with them. At a tender time in her life when she is close to graduating and embarking on four years of college, the edges of Jules’ life begin to fray and unravel when she develops feelings for her foster brother-not anything he wants or desires. To him, she will always be his sister. But to Jules, so far removed from living with his family, her connection to him is not on a family/related level.
The reader sees the development of Jules as a teen, struggling with emotions, hurt and heartache as she grows into less a teen and more a young woman.

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<font face="Georgia"> <h3>Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!</h3>

<p><i><b>Synopsis</b></i>: Jules, a senior, lives with her librarian mother, who is, by Jules' lights, not much of one of mother. She dislikes her job at the library, cares indifferently for Jules, but she lives and breathes painting. And she's got talent, too - but her humanity as a mother and her humanity as an artist seem to be two wildly different things, in Jules' opinion. Sometimes she vanishes into her art and doesn't surface for days. Jules is grateful for the roof over her head, but longs for the kind of mother who asks about her, is interested in her day to day, and who is more like her friends Leila and Gab's mothers - women who show their love by cooking and providing a beautiful home, where nothing is taped together, or cracked. Unlike her mother, who is thrifty and tidy to the point of throwing away even memorabilia, Jules loves antiques, is fascinated by how the world was in days gone by -- but with no grandparents, no antecedents, and no connections, she feels cast adrift in a world full of odds and ends - nothing with real value, nothing anyone would keep, or put in a museum.</p>

<p>Jules - on yearbook staff - has been asking for a baby picture for yearbook for weeks, and now that the deadline has passed, she finally goes into her mother's room to find one... but discovers that there's a nineteen month gap from her newborn photograph to when she's almost two years old. Why aren't there any good, real baby pictures? And, why's there an envelope of paperwork from the Department of Children and Families? What happened in her and her mother's lives? When Jules discovers the answer, her world tilts off its axis. She's always wanted more of what she had - more family, more connection, more life, more love -- and now she realizes that somewhere, she might have had it. Pursuing the connection she finds on the other end the love she feels she's been denied. But, is it really all for her? Does she have the right to it? And, if she tries to grab all of <i>that</i> love with both hands... what happens to everything else? Wanting more can lead to having more, true - and some of the chances Jules takes have panned out into a past and a history she could never have dreamed existed. But, Jules is unable to let go of the temptation to have it all... with predictable results. After Jules is left with her hands empty, she has to learn to accept that you can't have it all in life -- but appreciating what you have is the key to everything.</p>

<blockquote><i>"It didn't escape me, despite all my angst about family, about finding family and having family and missing out on family that this was a very real thing I had: friends I would drop anything for. Friends I'd take a bullet for. Friends I'd handle dead rats for.<br><br>

There is more than one kind of family."</i><br><br> - RELATIVE STRANGERS, unfinished copy</blockquote>

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hBjxF8H_C_g/Wp8afjnjtoI/AAAAAAAAI4g/2Lasl_rj_NMhw6015MczWX0T9aI8azXigCLcBGAs/s1600/35793022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hBjxF8H_C_g/Wp8afjnjtoI/AAAAAAAAI4g/2Lasl_rj_NMhw6015MczWX0T9aI8azXigCLcBGAs/s400/35793022.jpg" width="264" height="400" data-original-width="314" data-original-height="475" /></a></div><p><i><b>Observations</b></i>: This book will resonate with anyone who has had an unsatisfying relationship with their family, who ever dreamed of having been adopted, or who always wished they could be part of a huge, amazing family, or closer friends with the people with whom they hang out... which means that this book will resonate almost every teen at some time or another. There is such a huge well of <i>wanting</i> in Jules that her desires slip into the heart like a little hook. Is there anything so wrong with wanting more love? More family? More people to pay attention and SEE you? The desires seem innocent - and they are - but the narrative shows how easily pandering to the desire for more than what you have an ultimately overwhelm you.</p>

<p>I don't think I've ever read a book quite like this before. The voice is confident and assured - and there are other YA novels with that confident, wry, snarky voice - but most of us aren't able to articulate the dangers of ...unexamined neediness, maybe let's call it. Jules grieves for what she doesn't have in such a realistic way - and the grief, longing, sadness and hope blends together to make a truly beautiful, emotional read. (I wept through the entire last half, surprising myself.) This was an unusual book topically, and I can't imagine how many fewer mistakes I might have made as a teen and nascent adult had I had this book then.</p>

<p>While there isn't a lot of ethnic diversity necessarily, this book has titanium strong male <i>and</i> female friendships and a realistic depiction of the judgment and confusion surrounding understanding friends and a burgeoning sexuality.</p>

<p><i><b>Conclusion</b></i>: A quiet, thoughtful book with humor and insight, and a HUGE miscalculation, which may catch some readers off guard, but to others may be perfectly understandable, if still cringeworthy. A very real book about fumbling our way to a very real understanding and acceptance of who we are, and what we truly need.</p>
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<hr width=55%><p>I received my copy of this book courtesy of the publisher. After April 10th, you can find <a href="http://www.indiebound.org/aff/readersrant7?product=9780763694692"><i>RELATIVE STRANGERS</i></a> by Paula Garner at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!</p>

*This review will run 3/27
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I enjoyed this book and look forward to purchasing it for my library. There are enough twists and turns to keep young adults interested while tackling important issues.

I was very surprised by this (cleverly-titled) book.
Having read the synopsis and the first few chapters, I was sure I knew the direction the story would take. I was wrong.

Relative Strangers is a story about family (and all the forms they can take), grief, friendship, and growing up. And it's a damn good one.

I cried about 5 times, but some of them were happy tears. Because in the midst of the drama, Relative Strangers offers you some truly magical moments that make the story so well-balanced.

Jules is the best kind of main character: she makes the wrong choices for the right reasons (well, she's a teenager whose life has been turned upside down, can you blame her?)

This book was an absolute beautiful and emotional story about friendships and family, I loved Jules as the main character, I felt like I really connected with her, from her insecurities to her love of food, it was a great story to read.

I only really had one problem with this story, which was the romance, I was a little disappointed to say the least, I just felt like the idea of the growing relationship and romance with Jules and Luke was a little crushing and unexpected in my case at the end. Majority of the story was so focussed on Jules crush on Luke and the ending for them wasn't what I was expecting at all.

When I was accepted to review this book on Netgalley I honestly was not sure what to expect exactly. I knew it was about a girl who finds out that she had a foster family for a little while when she was younger, but that was it. Honestly, though this book ended up being so much more than that. I got to see into these character's world and develop emotion based on their lives. I wanted to know more about all of the characters and what would happen to them. I was so sad to see that the book ended so quickly (even though it was a few hundred pages long) because I really did enjoy my experience reading this book. 

Jules is a high school senior who discovers something strange about her lack of baby pictures or at least the time jump between the photos she can find. After confronting her mother about this Julie learns that when she was very little she lived with a foster family for a while until her mother was deemed fit to be able to take care of Jules again. As Jules tries to find her former foster family she may learn and gain more out of it than she originally expected. 

First off I need to talk about the characters. I love that these characters were all very unique and had personalities and backstories that made them three dimensional. I really loved the character development we got from not only Jules, but her mother, her friends, and other people in her life. 

Another thing I enjoyed about the book was the unique storyline. I have read books about children who were adopted or in foster care, but nothing like this. I really appreciated that the author, Paula Garner, decided to go this route. I think the concept opened up for a lot of possibilities that she took advantage of. 

The last thing I really loved about the book is what happens at the end. Without giving too much away in a average contemporary YA novel you would think this storyline would end up going a certain way, but I am happy to say that it was not like that. I really enjoyed that sort of twist or step away from the trope that I expected. I think Gardner made a very good choice in that. 

So I don't actually have much of an explanation for why I gave this book 4 stars. It may have been because while I liked the book I did not love it or think it would be insanely memorable to me. This isn't to say that this is not a good book, just that it is a book that I read and enjoyed though I probably will not remember it much or feel it is a book that will ever be in my top favorite. 

Overall, I enjoyed this book on a lot of levels including the characters and separation from a typical trope. I believe a lot of readers will enjoy this book and that if you are even thinking about taking the time to read it I would at least give it a chance. I am happy to say I did.

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of RELATIVE STRANGERS in exchange for my honest review.***

Paula Garner is one of those writers whose realistic young adult fiction is guaranteed to be unique, brave and worthy of multiple reads, so I was excited to score an ARC of RELATIVE STRANGERS.

Jules’ honest, heart-felt narration had me following her quest for answers from page one. Always on the outs, she partially resented her single mom for not giving her the life like her best friends’. Jules’ mom was short on details, so when Jules discovered she spent two years in foster care, she wants more. Her quest for answers gives her more than she ever expected. Her doting older brother Luke never got over losing the sister he hoped his family would adopt. Then Jules’ feelings become more complicated and soon she questions all her relationships.

Without giving away spoilers, I was certain RELATIVE STRANGERS would be a five star read, but the plot lost some of its steam after a Big Event and fizzled some as the pace slowed. The themes of family, friendship and coming of age resounded strongly throughout the pages. I can’t wait to see what Garner writes next.

Finally a book that is so simple and beautiful. It's wasn't cliche or teenage angst.