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NetGalley Review of Relative Fiction

Posted on March 16, 2023March 15, 2023 by caritagardiner
cover of Relative Fiction

title: Relative Fiction

author: Alaina Rose

publisher: self-published

publication date: April 12, 2023

pages: 255

peppers: 3 (on this scale)

warnings: lots, she gives a long list at the beginning of the book including vomit, a nasal cannula, lots of drinking, and a dying parent

summary: Julia recently got an anonymous email informing her that her longtime boyfriend/fiancé had been cheating on her the whole time. As she drinks too much and returns shower gifts, she gets a text from her high school bestie, Thomas, to say that he's back in town. He has returned to spend time with his dying father and help at the family's restaurant. The two pined for each other in high school, but both assumed the other wasn't interested.

tropes:

  • friends to lovers
  • returning home
  • big promotion on the line
  • failed engagement recovery
  • the one that got away
  • back from the big city to small town
  • people in their thirties living with parents

what I liked:

  • both main characters are writers

what I didn’t like:

  • The main characters are supposed to be in their early thirties, but they mostly talk like unconvincing teens. They haven't grown on changed since high school.
  • The author doesn't successfully maintain her chapters' points of view. In each characters' chapters, there are thoughts that don't make sense coming from them.
  • The main character drinks way too much

overall rating: 2 (of 5 stars)

I would not have finished this book had I not needed to write a NetGalley review. I'm glad I finished it, as it definitely grew on me.

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WHAT I DO

I teach English to high schoolers at a boarding school in Connecticut. I read AP English Literature and Composition exams and serve as a teacher mentor for the University of Pennsylvania Teaching Fellows program. I’ve earned a Bachelor of Arts (Amherst College), an Education Master in Learning and Teaching (Harvard University Graduate School of Education), a Master of Arts in English (Bread Loaf School of English), and most recently a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing with a certificate in the online teaching of writing (Southern New Hampshire University).

As a writer, I hope to capture the complexity and joy of life in the New England boarding school world. On this site, I share what I know about trying to write fiction while teaching English, coaching, and doing the other tasks associated with helping to raise over six hundred other people’s children.

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Read my recent “Why” Wednesday Blog Posts

  • NetGalley Review of In the Case of Heartbreak
  • 222. Why Enter
  • Book Review of While We Were Dating
  • NetGalley Review of The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen
  • NetGalley Review of The Matchmaker
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