Relativity

What if life was a choose your own adventure story?  For Ruby Wright, a wormhole found in an Ohio cornfield (of all places), gives her access to variations of her life, but is the grass really greener on the other side?  Relativity by Cristin Bishara explores the possibility of accessing parallel realities in a fun and engaging way that will keep you on your toes until the very end!

Summary courtesy of Goodreads:

If Ruby Wright could have her way, her dad would never have met and married her stepmother Willow, her best friend George would be more than a friend, and her mom would still be alive. Ruby knows wishes can't come true; some things just can't be undone. Then she discovers a tree in the middle of an Ohio cornfield with a wormhole to nine alternative realities.

Suddenly, Ruby can access completely different realities, each containing variations of her life—if things had gone differently at key moments. The windshield wiper missing her mother’s throat…her big brother surviving his ill-fated birth…her father never having met Willow. Her ideal world—one with everything and everyone she wants most—could be within reach. But is there such a thing as a perfect world? What is Ruby willing to give up to find out?

This is one of those endearing stories that really touches the core of all of us.  What if my mom was still alive?  What if my friendship with that boy went beyond just friendship?  What if…  Ruby definitely goes through her fair share of life’s twists and turns and feels slighted by life until she finds the potential to experience different realities but those alternate realities come with costs that not only affect her, but those around her.

This is a fresh spin and one of the few “parallel” type stories that I actually felt had a sense of realism behind it.  I say that because a lot of the novels today talk about time travel and parallel universes in a way that seems far-fetched but Bishara really develops and examines the math and science behind this possibility, which I personally really appreciated.

Relativity loosely reminded me of The Butterfly Affect, only in the way that we experienced alternate realities but none of them seemed absolutely perfect.  Just like life, there is, and always will be, something that we’d like to change…life isn’t perfect and you really have to examine what is important and appreciate what you have in the present.  Relativity is a fun, fast-paced, mind-bending look at life and appreciating those that surround you and the reality you live in.