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.

I may not have been the target audience for this one. I didn’t feel much for the characters, except the FMC and for her I only felt like childish unnecessary drama towards the “perfects”. I didn’t laugh, I didn’t cry, I wasn’t shocked or surprised it was all just kind of blah. The narrator was a bit stilted but she did a good job.

Rachel Magee's It's All Relative is a charming family drama with relatable characters and a heartwarming storyline. The audiobook is well-narrated and the pacing is enjoyable. While the plot may not be groundbreaking, it offers a comforting and enjoyable listening experience. If you're looking for a feel-good story with a touch of humor, this audiobook might be for you.

Audio read. This was such a fun book! It’s a perfect palate cleanser after a heavy serious read and it is needed! The character development was just right. This will be a book I definitely recommend!

A perfect story about the imperfections of families and the way the interactions between all the members finally makes them a really cool place to be. Helena’s mother is marrying Steve, father of two daughters, Amelia being the oldest and perfect, and and a son. Helena’s and Amelia can’t be more different but are they really? During the week leading to the wedding they will realise they have in common that they think and that this is their chance at a great new family. A great story about second chances, family, friendship and so much more. The audiobook with Tanya Ebu and Thomas Nelson makes a great story an even better one.

I always liked a Midsummer nights dream, so I was really excited for this book! It's a light-hearted rom-com set around a wedding, told from multiple POVs, and I enjoyed it. Some of the characters fell a little flat (Gage, and the groom whose name I can't even remember), and some situations were a little ridiculous (the Tik Tok dishwashing fiasco, the rehearsal dinner dress fiasco, the lost pet cockatoo, etc), but this is a fun summertime book, perfect for reading poolside. The audiobook was well read, and I do love a happy ending.

This was a mild, but cute little rom-com where there are second chances, blended families, and happily ever afters. It was just a little too saccharine and bland for my taste.

3.5 rounded up to 4 stars- not something I think I would typically enjoy character wise, but was definitely a cozy summer read that got me in that summer feel!!

Super G-rated retelling of midsummer nights dream set in an idyllic beach town.

When listening to audiobooks, I like to have some light options that I can listen to with my daughter in the room and that break up all the heavy fantasy books I read. This was exactly that. I enjoyed the story overall, but unfortunately found the interactions between characters to be lacking. I just wanted so much more from them.

Do I think this was bad? No. Do I absolutely love it? Also no. I think if you want an easy listen to break things up, this could be good!

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins, and the author for an advanced copy of the audiobook!

Thank you NetGalley for the audio ARC of this for my honest review.

First sign I am not going to enjoy a book is when it takes me over a month to listen to and by the halfway point I was listening on 3x speed. This book felt way too long for a whole lot of nothing to occur.

I also did not let the characters, except Landon (kind of) and Peter. Otherwise Helena was so unbelievably immature to the point where she acted more like the 12 yr old sister than the 12 yr old sister. Even right at the start, she was really disrespectful about her soon to be new family members, giving them all childish nicknames and making fun of them. Also Amelia's POV was insanely difficult for me to listen to.

I feelclike the first half of the book there was a lot crammed in but it was all the same thing over and over.

I really wanted to like this but it unfortunately fell very flat for me.

This story is a modern retelling of Shakespeares “a midnight summer dream.” The story has a lot of potential but the characters are very similar. I listened to the audio version and it was very hard to differentiate the characters sometimes. I also thought the audio narrator’s voice was a poor choice for this book. I might have liked it so much more if it wasn’t so monotone. I thought the ending was the best part but I really struggled to finish this book and almost didn’t several times.

This modern re-telling of A Midsummer Night's Dream is predictable but still enjoyable. It is a perfect beach read for summer, with cute moments and connections. Some of the characters are a bit one dimensional but for a romcom it is almost to be expected!

I liked this book because I loved how different Helena and Amelia are. One has their life completely planned and the other one is a "Let's see what happens" mentality. There is humor in this book and a lot of family and friend drama that just made me smile. I don't remember Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night Dream, but this book was enjoyable without that fun aspect for me!

Modern re-telling of Shakespeare. A family wedding weekend full of complexities. Fun story, but at times I got bored and pushed up play speed.