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A review by kateslovedreads
What If It's You? by Jilly Gagnon
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Rating: 3.75 (rounded to a 4 bc I did enjoy this book in the end)
*Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC, my opinions below are my own*
This being my second book by Jilly Gagnon, I really do enjoy her writing. Some things may cause me to turn back and reference what’s going on,but overall what good book doesn’t make you stop and think a little more.
To avoid spoilers, I’m not going to recap the storyline. I think the plot was different and exciting, which made me request this book but also want to keep reading. It was very much one of those reads you feel the need to know how it all ends so you can’t stop turning the page. That all being said, my rating is a bit low due to the FMC. Ms. Laurel had me annotating each chapter, and not in a good way. I didn’t enjoy Laurel’s indecision and self-centeredness initially. Then, by the time she got to her self reflection, I couldn’t find it in me to have a change of heart. With all of this book being her POV, we got a lot of her thoughts towards her partner/crushes, her reaction to things, and why she acts like she does. Character aside, I also think the amount of time it went on was the biggest factor. The timing of this story felt like it was Laurel’s loop of indecision and thinking of how she wants more from life and her relationship, but not actually doing anything about it. So much of this story could’ve been resolved with communication or maybe even her physically trying more. Instead it was 3/4 of the book about her “lives” and what was wrong in each one. One annotation I made which sums it all up is, “ it’s like a ping pong, she gets this revelation of what choice she wants to make then gets back into thinking the worst about whatever life she’s in”. Minus Laurel, I really did enjoy the story, the other characters, and even the epilogue. It’s nice to think of forever applied to any space and time.
—Warming: we are moving into spoiler territory, some of the sentences are repeated bc I wanted the non spoilers above to have the reasoning for my rating——
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In chapter 3, I annotated “Laurel is a bad partner” and I felt like that theme stayed true for like 3/4 of the book. All her actions and thoughts were ruining her life over the “what ifs” of any situation. I understanding overthinking things but the purposeful sabotage, playing with your job by sneaking in, and constantly throwing out romantic gestures and thoughts to someone not your partner did not help my first introduction to this character. Laurel was overall just a constant contradicting character, and it drove me nuts. She’d say she feels guilty and then get comfortable with Drew, she’d say she wants to be with Ollie and knows she and Drew aren’t right then still go and find something wrong with Ollie. Character behavior aside, I think the amount of time it went on, was the biggest factor. Which brings me to my next reason for my rating, the flow and timing of this story felt like it was going on forever. I remember I wrote multiple times from ch.08- ch.14 that “ it’s like a ping pong, she gets this revelation of what choice she wants to make then gets back into thinking the worst about whatever life she’s in”. I under overthinking bc I do it myself, but I felt like there comes a time when the overthinking isn’t helping and Laurel spent so much more time overthinking than actually trying to get out of alternate life. There were definitely some moments I would’ve preferred to move on, than consider the same situation over and over again.