What Might Have Been by Matt Dunn | Rating: ★★☆☆☆

From 2014. This book was won via Goodreads First Read Program. This in no way effects my review or alters my opinions on the novel at hand.

Where to begin, where to begin...

What Might Have Been seemed interesting to me, based upon the plot summary and I had high hopes for it. It wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be and just drove me a little bit mad at times. Our main romance was the highest case of Instalove I've seen and in turn, one that I just couldn't look past. Romance novels aren't always believable and in this stories case, it was too unbelievable for me. I hate that I didn't like it because it's not even that it's a terrible idea filled with terrible writing it just wasn't enough and captivating for me.

I set it down dozens of times and almost didn't finish it. I couldn't do it, it just wasn't my cup of tea. Frankly, it was filled with many face-meet-palm moments that I had to look away countless times because why? WHY, WHY, WHY. I'm not even kidding you guys, this novel frustrated me a great deal and left me feeling like maybe I'm the frustrating one. Maybe I'm over-thinking it and not giving myself the chance to enjoy it. But I'm not going to apologize, I'm not going to insult and I'm not going to say I hated it because hate is such a strong word and my annoyance with this novel wasn't quite at that level.


I'm not going to lie to you and say I recommend it, though, either. I cannot stress it enough that I want my readers to go out there and test the waters themselves and see if it's something you may like. So, I wouldn't take my review to heart -- not everything is bound to be my taste but it could very well be yours. There are a lot of moments in the novel that, although it doesn't outweigh the bad for me, could have led us down a potentially great read.

You may absolutely see something in it that I did not. You may appreciate it more than I did. It was just another case of repetitive writing, weak romance and wasted potential for me. It's nothing new, nothing groundbreaking and nothing that stands out in the genre. Overall, I just didn't enjoy it.