Title: Sensual Relativity
Author: Carol L. Monfredo
Publisher: AMZ Book Publishing Services
ISBN: 978-1836630180
Pages: 239
Genre: Coming-of-Age / Family Drama / Erotica
Reviewer: Gabriella Harrison

Read Book Review

Author Carol L. Monfredo begins her ambitious novel Sensual Relativity through framing, as an older, gray-haired woman stands outside a bookstore, watching her reflection in the window during a spring storm. As she steps in, she sees a yellowed magazine with her younger self on the cover, establishing that subsequent events are retrospective. With the magazine serving as the trigger for the dive into her memories.

Gabriella “Gabby” Amato is the youngest child and only daughter in a wealthy Italian-American family, which in turn influences her to become a tomboy. That is, until she discovers that there are different genders and she doesn’t have to pretend to be a boy to fit in with her brothers. After her mother appears to have run away from the family, which leads her dad into alcoholism, while her brothers go off to school, she graduates from high school as the valedictorian, but no one shows up for her, and no one remembers her eighteenth birthday, leading to feelings of resentment and abandonment. So, when an agent, Joe, who’s equally attracted to her, promises to make her a top model, she doesn’t hesitate to grab the opportunity, fleeing from her dysfunctional family, even when the truth about her mother’s disappearance is revealed. Thus begins her rise to stardom.

As Gabby endures sexual innuendos and the vile boldness of those who go beyond words to commit abuse, Monfredo vividly captures this constant struggle for respect and boundaries, especially in a profession that frequently objectifies women. Needing to heal and rediscover herself after a traumatic event halts her modelling career, she is forced to withdraw from the life she knows, eventually choosing a different path. However, this new path also has its own life-altering challenges.

Emotional moments are captured effectively, and visual detail is rendered with specificity, particularly in describing spaces and clothing: “All of the fabrics in the room were layers and layers of diaphanous clouds of white that fluttered as Gabby flopped onto the bed with Tink.” “She was exquisite in a black velvet stretch form fitting long sleeved gown with strategic cutouts displaying her decolletage and her long athletic legs.”

The book shifts from thriller to erotica to reflective literary fiction, creating a bit of genre-hopping and pacing inconsistencies that cause whiplash. Chapter ten, for instance, ends with a proposal of sorts while chapter eleven opens with a detailed discussion of a character’s harvested organs. Some subplots are also resolved too neatly, straining plausibility.

Opening and closing with the older Gabby in the antique shop, framing, smoothly provides structural cohesion, and her journey to recovery as she flinches at Joe’s once-welcome touch and abstains from revealing clothes, breaking down while dressing for dinner, is handled with sensitivity, adding psychological depth to the story.

Author Carol L. Monfredo’s “Sensual Relativity” follows a woman who survives trauma and loss to find love again.  Carol L. Monfredo delivers a thought-provoking story that blurs the line between emotional truth and physical desire.