REVIEW - Love and Relativity by Rachael Wade

Emma Pierce is a student trying to find her way after the death of her best friend and sister, and the loss of her long time boyfriend.  Jackson Taylor is a cocky ladies man who is dealing with issues of his own.  The two hang out and flirt every Friday night at Pete’s Bar, but it is nothing more than some innocent fun – or given their shared past,  is innocent and uninvolved even possible?

Love and Relativity by Rachael Wade was a freebie a few weeks back.  I thought it looked decent and it had some good reviews so I thought I’d give it a try. I liked it, the characters were real enough, the flirtation between Emma and Jackson was fun, the conflicts and personal growth were enough to keep this from being just your basic romance.  The romance was downright steamy, and the whole book was well written, with a good plot progression as the layers got peeled from our main characters.  It had everything it should have to make a great book, and everything I usually "need". Unfortunately, something just didn’t fit.

This book is full of incredible quotes on life and love. I don’t know if I have ever highlighted so many moving quotes in one piece of work!  Kudos to Rachael Wade on her amazing writing in this regard. Unfortunately, I think that is where I lost the feel for this book. Emma and Jackson had all these amazing insights into life that I just didn’t find believable.  For one, for people this young to have it all figured out in the way they did was unrealistic. Some of these things I didn’t even figure out myself until recently! (No, I am not disclosing my age. Suffice to say I am older than the main characters, okay? LOL)  My second hang up, was if Emma and Jackson had all this sage advice to give out, why couldn’t they follow it themselves?  Why didn’t they see just how stupid some of their decisions were?   It just seemed to be a contradiction.  To most people they might not even notice, or think this was a big deal. It just rubbed me the wrong way in this book and kept me from appreciating it as much as I could have.

Overall, I give Love and Relativity 3.5 stars.   It is a good book, and many would enjoy it because the flirtation and romance is good and steamy.  It just wasn’t the book for me.