A modern Shakespeare retelling? SIGN ME UP! Having just finished "If We Were Villains" before picking up this book it was interesting to see how Shakespeare inspired another author.

As the book is inspired by Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" you probably will guess how the romance in this book will go on and that our four main characters are basically in love with the wrong person.

The book is told by our four main characters (Amelia, Helena, Landon and Gage) POVs, so it is interesting to see how various characters think and experience life around them. I did have a problem with one of the characters, namely I didn't like Helena too much. She felt a bit childish to me, but I guess that was how she was supposed to be. And by the end, I did think that Landon and Peter would've been a better match than the person that Landon ends up with. Oh well!

All in all, this book was an okay and quick summery romance read, with not much of depth. I'd give it 2.5 stars out of 5. So if you're into that, I would suggest you picking it up.

In short what to expect? Second chance romance, no spice (at all), friends to lovers, multiple POVs, modern retelling, light summery romance.

If you want an easy, quick, character-driven read then I think you'll enjoy this.
I really liked what it was about and seeing the thoughts of Helena and Amelia going into this change in their lives and as much as I wanted to not like Amelia's way of dealing with stuff I have so much empathy for her, I teared up a couple of times. I liked that it had multiple POVs cause it shows how each character can be panicking and all over the place but appear in another POV calm and collected. I liked all of these things and I really wanted it to be a 5 star read but there were a couple of things that affected that like the repetitiveness, how most of the characters lacked depth and the multiple POVs being written in third person. I still enjoyed it and think it's nice tho.
I switched between the e-book and the audiobook, the audiobook was clear and the narrator did a good job but I had some difficulty telling the POVs apart sometimes.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and listen to the advanced audio recording of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Love this book and the modern twist on a Shakespeare classic. I loved this audiobook and hearing the book in the dual pov voices help me visualize the scenes which was an added value to my experience.

It's all relative by Rachel Magee
Narrated by Tanya Eby

Tanya Eby's narration was good, it kept me engaged till the end but I would have loved some different type of narration for every character. That was the only issue I had with audiobook.

This is a rom-com that felt like watching a movie on the screen. There are good things and bad things, and oh I like a cosy rom com for sure, sometimes cheesy but this was too sweet, truth be told. It's a modern retelling of a Shakespearean drama midsummer night's dream.

Helena and Amelia are daughters of the bride and groom and the thing that first put me off was Helena had a crush on Amelia's fiancee. Whatever anyone had to say, I dislike it very much. It's not boyfriend ffs, it's fiancee. Also it was weird that Landon had never asked Helena anything at all about the family her mom was getting married into. That was too unrealistic given that they worked together and in this era with tech we are surrounded with. As story continued, it was getting clearer who was going to end up with whom but I couldn't just digest it. You can't be okay with a long relationship ending in a day. The awkwardness will be too much in reality. It was too far fetched.

The female characters were okay but make characters were almost non existent non influential, expendable, just to show support to the female characters. They had no rage, only love for the respective female characters. That not how real men are.

So as I said it was too sugered up to be real. Apart from that, if you keep all that aside this story was good. A fluffy story to begin with till the end. Good for one time read, also if they ever make movie based on it, I'm definitely gonna watch it because they are my comfort ones.

Thank you Netgalley and Thomas Nelson fiction, Harper Collins Christian publishing for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

Book rating : 3.5 stars
Audiobook rating : 4 stars

This family dramedy started off strong for me. A teacher excited for her summer break brings her teacher pal along to her mother's destination wedding where her ex will be in attendance. Sadly I ended up DNFing at about 20% because while I liked the narrator, the story itself felt a bit overly dramatic for my tastes and the plot was a tad predictable. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest opinions. Recommended for fans of movies like The family stone.

This one was a really fun twist on the second chance romance trope! I thought it was really fun and witty. And I actually teared up at the end during the wedding scene, mostly cause I have a good relationship with my mom too so that part got me. I love that it was told from all 4 POVs of the little love (square?) lol Tanya Eby did a good job voicing the different characters on her own. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction for gifting me the audio of this book.

I loved this narrator and I loved the retelling of this Shakespearen classic. Great story of Second Chances, Blending families- Perfect Beach Read. Definitely recommend!

Two soon-to-be sisters couldn't be more different. Helena is a flighty forgetful teacher and Amelia is a put together type A architect. Their parents are about to get married when Helena's bff, Landon, comes along for moral support. Things get a little more complicated when Amelia turns out to be Landon's long lost love, Mia.

A quick and easy read. You might like this if you are looking for something light hearted and not very stressful. You might not love it if you prefer complex characters with a lot of plot twists. Of course with a retelling, you know you're going to be able to predict the plot, but this one felt too predictable. There were not many surprises or twists, the climax felt slow and the resolution was simple. I said to my partner "I know how it's going to end but I am not sure how she will get there." In the end, it wasn't super climactic or exciting. So if you like a quick and simple HEA, you might enjoy it. I didn't dislike it, but I wasn't bowled over either.

ARC received through NetGalley and HarperCollins Christian Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

A charming and cozy family story. I felt most drawn to the storyline regarding Helena and Amelia. The way they misunderstood each other but came to understand and respect each other felt genuine. It was sweet to see the family grow and change together. It's a cute retelling, but I didn't pay much attention to that aspect, the characters are what drew me in.

A little Shakespeare, a little Jane Austen, who doesn’t love a good romantic switch-a-roo??

Helena is on her way to her mother’s wedding - dreading having to spend time with her future siblings in law. “The Perfects”. So her game plan is to bring along her incredibly attractive best friend (Landon) and simply enjoy the mini vacation as best as she can.

Except Helena has failed to mention that she’s crushing on her future stepsister’s fiance, all the while discovering that Landon and Mia (stepsister) share a past.

Emotions and past regrets get dug up, relationships challenged, but as any good Shakespearean comedy, this rom com has a lovely alls well that ends well ending.

Overall it was a lovely summer read, light hearted and the characters were both relatable and witty. Gotta love a book with good banter.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Helena's mom is about to marry into a family with 3 children. She has always wanted siblings but merging two families seems a daughnting task, and Helena spends a lot of time being jealous of her new soon to be siblings. When her plus one for the wedding turns out to be the ex-boyfriend of her new sister things get interesting. Who will wind up with who? Great narration and fun story.

I loved the cover of this book so much that I requested it in ebook and audio book on NetGalley 🤷🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️. I guess it just makes me happy to look at it. The story is about two families (with grown children) coming together with the marriage of their parents. Although they are pleasant with each other, being with family (even your own) at times can get to be a bit much.

The two grown daughters, while both having redeeming qualities were a bit whiny for me. So much could be avoided if they just would act their age. Although the frame at times makes for a good story, I found myself shaking my head at them, questioning how they had made it this far in life. Especially Helena. Even with all of that I did still enjoy the book and would recommend it for a light easy read.

Amelia is stressed to the max.... Her fathers wedding is coming and being the perfectionist she is.... She plans for everything, except she didn't plan for her soon to step sister to show up with her ex as her plus one.

Her own fiance Gage is great but he doesn't come close to the love she felt for Landon and all 4 of them are stuck on the island until the wedding... in 7 days.

The audio was fab!!!

I always ignore christian romance books and I have been sorely missing out! This book was like a warm hug for your ears... (you know what I mean).

I loved the characters and the plot was so wholesome and fun!

4 stars

I adored this book! It is the story of family and friendship and loss and life. There is so much to love in this book! The relationships between the characters and how they changed was fun to watch. They had me feeling all of the emotions as the two families became one at the wedding. An added thing that made the book even more special is my daughter's married name is the same as the wedding family. The narrators did a good job giving the characters a voice.

In It's All Relative, Rachel Magee has crafted a tangled saga of blending families delivered with the levity of a fun romantic comedy.

Helena's mother is getting married, which means an extended stay at the Maddox family beach house with her soon-to-be family. She is happy about the wedding, she wants all the best for her mom, but Helena doesn't fit in with the groom's family, who she's secretly dubbed 'the perfects' - and to top it off, she has a huge crush on her future sister-in-law's fiancé, Gage. In a panic, she drags her closest friend Landon to the week-long getaway, but since she never used the family's real names, they never realized the sister-in-law is actually Landon's one-that-got-away in college. Amelia is her name, and she has packed the itinerary within an inch of its life with thoughtful activities and plenty of time for contingencies if anything goes wrong. She would do anything for her family. A week all together on an island should go smoothly, right?

The book starts off with a bang - so much conflict in so little time! It was very compelling to wonder how in the world this double romance was going to get pulled off, but she did it! I felt like everything was resolved satisfactorily by the end, with plenty of hijinks along the way.

There are a lot of underlying conflicts worked through in this book. Helena is struggling with the feeling of not belonging within her new expanded family, feeling like she's 'too much'. She is also grieving, on some level, the life she and her mother shared solo all those years before. Amelia is caught between duty and passion. She works for the family business and is marrying the 'right' guy, both of which are fine. Just, fine. Nothing in her life lights her up anymore. Being confronted with her past in Landon is a reminder of the girl she used to be, before she shouldered so much responsibility.

If you're a no spice girly, rejoice! There is nothing untoward in these pages. Personally I like to follow the relationships a little bit longer so you do get into those moments of intense intimacy, but this was handled the way it was meant to. I think it would be maybe a little icky if anything went too fast, considering how things were set up at the beginning.

This is apparently a retelling of A Midsummer Night's Dream, which I have not read. I'm going to need to - I think it'd be so interesting to find out more about the inspiration material.

If you're looking for a charming book to fall into to recharge or cleanse your palette between heavier books, this one is a great choice!

This books was okay in my opinion, but probably not one I will recommend to a lot of people. I listened to the audio version and I feel like it was really difficult to follow the changes in the points of view. If I had the physical book that would be different because I could look back, but on audio it was difficult to keep it all straight.

I do think the author did a nice job of including quite a bit of reality or things that could happen in a family situation like this. I did read it was a modern retelling of Shakespeare, but I’m not really familiar with that so I didn’t draw parallels in that way.

The book was pretty slow moving so hard to keep going for me.

It’s All Relative by Rachel Magee
Helena is a high school teacher who considers it a good day if she arrives at school early enough to review her lesson plans for the day. Her best friend Landon is a history teacher and soccer coach at the same school. She wrangles him into tagging along as her plus-one on a wedding week celebration for her mom and her new step father. The ground work is laid for lots of comedy and some surprises.
The narrator makes this story zing! I really enjoyed listening to it. The plot twists, although not unexpected were fun. I loved how the characters developed over the course of the story. The epilogue answered many of my questions and gave the story closure.
Even though this was published by Thomas Nelson, the content was not explicitly Christian, but was very clean and enjoyable, even for teen readers. It was the kind of story that I was comfortable reading without having to filter any content.
I am grateful to Thomas Nelson for this very enjoyable audio book in return for this, my honest review.

This was a really cute story. The title is perfect. There are four main characters and we get to hear from each of their point of view. The narrator was fantastic. I thought she did a great job. It can't be easy to differentiate your voice to accommodate four people, two of which are male, by the way. I will say I enjoyed the second half of the book more than the first. And I loved the ending.
*I was given a copy of this book by Thomas Nelson Publishers, and this is my honest opinion.

This modern retelling of Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream follows step-sisters Helena and Amelia as their parents plan to get married at Amelia's family's beach vacation home. While Helena is supportive and excited for the love her mom as found, she is less than fond of her future-sister Amelia. Oh, and she's also in love with Amelia's fiancé, Gage. To make the weekend less painful, Amelia brings her best friend Landon along, not knowing that Amelia is also Mia, Landon's ex he never fully got over. All to say, it turns out to be a bit of a complicated weekend.

Despite my limited knowledge of Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream (most of it comes from the Suite Life of Zack and Cody episode), I still thoroughly enjoyed this retelling and was hooked from the very beginning. This was a very character-driven story, featuring the POVs of four characters - Amelia, Gage, Landon and Helena - as they interacted and various relationships came together and apart. The novel explored relationships, family, and blended families. Ultimately, I would describe it as chaotic, but in the best way.

At times, especially for the first quarter of the book, it was difficult to keep track of all the characters. For example, I completely forgot who Peter was when his name came up again. While I enjoyed the narrator, I think I would have gotten less confused if I was reading the novel, instead of listening in an audio format.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Shakespeare retellings, family dynamics, dual-POVs, and character-driven storylines.

A modern retelling of A Midsummer Night's Dream, this novel is a cute and sweet summer read. Overall, it's a feel-good story with a bit of humor here and there. Unfortunately, I didn't find it to have much depth, the characters irked me quite a bit and I can't imagine it will be memorable within a couple of weeks. The audiobook narrator sounded very flat, which didn't help. Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins, and the author for an advanced copy of the audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.