What Might Have Been – Book Review

Author: Holly Miller

Genre: Women’s Fiction

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Publication Date: January 18, 2022

Book Description: The Two Lives of Lydia Bird meets This Time Next Year in a sliding-doors style romance and coming-to-self story about fate, chance, and the choices we make.

What if “meant to be” happened twice?

Lucy is at a crossroads. The same night she quits her thankless job she meets Caleb, a local photographer in her seaside town, and has a run-in with Max—the once love of her life. As Lucy decides the right path forward—finally pursue her dream of becoming a writer, or move to London and revive her career—her choice will change her life in unimaginable ways.

Stay. After a decade of trying to run from her dream, Lucy is finally facing her fears and putting pen to page. With her budding romance with handsome, artistic Caleb, she has more inspiration now than ever. But can Lucy and Caleb open themselves up after their past heartbreaks? And will their different paths take them to the same place?

Go. Lucy can’t believe her luck when a room in her best friend’s London house share opens up and she lands a job at the prestigious Supernova. It gives her the courage to face Max, who’s serendipitous encounter still has her reeling, and ask what really happened almost a decade ago? But does she really want to know, when being together feels like fate?

In concurrent storylines that track what would have happened if Lucy chose to Stay or Go, What Might Have Been is a sweeping story that poses the questions: is it destiny or chance that decides who we are meant to be, and who we are meant to love? And is there such a thing as a soul mate?

Rating: 2.5 Stars

Review: When this book opens Lucy quits a job she hates and she meets Caleb a photographer at a local bar. While they are hitting off, she runs into Max who was her University boyfriend and always thought that he was her soul mate. Lucy is left to make a decision to stay in the small town and write the book she dreamed of writing or leave for London to an opportunity that she has been approached about. That is when this story turns into a Sliding Doors type of story.

Each chapter encompasses a section of “Stay” and “Go”. In the stay part of the story, she begins to write her book takes a part-time job at a local stationery store and dates Caleb. In the go sections, she is London navigating a new job and the possibility of getting back together with Max.

This book was quite confusing to me. There were so many timelines and stories within stories to keep up with. While it ultimately comes together somewhat, I kept thinking this is just not working. I personally wanted these stories somehow to merge, and while there were some evidence of that occurring, it did not give me the closure I was looking for.

My other issue was that Lucy was infuriating to me. She was the nicest person ever, but appeared to have no backbone when it came to her relationships with men, family and friends. It became a put-off that I almost walked away a few times from this book.

This review is not all negative, there was some excellent story telling and it had me thinking which life do I want for Lucy. The ending although not what I wanted was satisfying in many ways. The writing is good, I think I just wanted this story to take a different direction.

Thank you NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.