Title: What If
Author: Rebecca Donovan
Release Date: September 16, 2014
A new novel by REBECCA DONOVAN the USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Breathing Series . . .
What if you had a second chance to meet someone for the first time?
Cal Logan is shocked to see Nicole Bentley sitting across from him at a coffee shop thousands of miles from their hometown. After all, no one has seen or heard from her since they graduated over a year ago.
Except this girl isn't Nicole.
She looks exactly like Cal's shy childhood crush, but her name is Nyelle Preston and she has no idea who he is. This girl is impulsive and daring, her passion for life infectious. The complete opposite of Nicole. Cal finds himself utterly fascinated-and falling hard. But Nyelle is also extremely secretive. And the closer he comes to finding out what she's hiding, the less he wants to know.
When the secrets from the past and present collide, one thing becomes clear: Nothing is what it seems.
What if you had a second chance to meet someone for the first time?
Cal Logan is shocked to see Nicole Bentley sitting across from him at a coffee shop thousands of miles from their hometown. After all, no one has seen or heard from her since they graduated over a year ago.
Except this girl isn't Nicole.
She looks exactly like Cal's shy childhood crush, but her name is Nyelle Preston and she has no idea who he is. This girl is impulsive and daring, her passion for life infectious. The complete opposite of Nicole. Cal finds himself utterly fascinated-and falling hard. But Nyelle is also extremely secretive. And the closer he comes to finding out what she's hiding, the less he wants to know.
When the secrets from the past and present collide, one thing becomes clear: Nothing is what it seems.
WHAT IS A WHAT IF MOMENT?
Live the life you want, not the one you're given.
What's your "What If"? A moment of choice. A decision that changed the course of your life. What positive result came from that choice? Even if it happened years later. This isn't about regret. It's about embracing those moments that change everything. Every choice is a chance to start again!
Give Me Books are excited to reveal the first
"College Confessional" video montage for What If
We would like to invite you all to submit your own
'What If moment'.
Every fan who submits a What If Confessional VIDEO or PHOTO can submit the URL of their confessional on the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post for the chance to win a Kindle Fire HDX.
For more details go to: whatif.rebeccadonovan.com
There is also a chance to win a
What If Swag Bag including a t-shirt, sunglasses, drawstring bag, sports bottle, stickers, pen, e-book + more
PRE-ORDER NOW FOR SEPTEMBER 16
Rebecca Donovan has done it again. She has
created a story so emotionally captivating you can’t quite figure out what is going to unravel next. This story will keep
you intrigued till the very end. At some points you may feel the mystery drags
on, but push through, I promise you every stretch of a POV or scene has it’s purpose in order to help the puzzle
pieces fall into place for the secret to be exposed.
Starting from the prologue we immediately know
the narrator, Cal is taking us on the journey that is “What If”. We get a glimpse at the drift between himself and his best friend
Rae from the rest of their small town ex-classmates. And who is Cal searching
for, no other than the ice princess, the head mean-girl—Nicole Bentley. Yet, she is nowhere to be found, her click has moved
on as if they never revolved around her. Thus, begins our first question from
the first couple of pages, who is this Nicole?
Cal Logan, is a sophomore at Crenshaw University.
He has the whole boy-next-door, boy-take-home-to-parents charm going for him,
girls come to him asking for dates, yet he never fights for the girls to stay. He
lets them walk away or he breaks it off before it could get too serious. Until
he runs into Nyelle. A feisty, openly opinionated, free-spirited, whirlwind of
mystery. The only thing is, Cal is convinced this “Nyelle” is a girl from his past, a girl he regrets never taking a chance
with, a girl he has crushed on since the 4th grade—Nicole Bentley.
“I’m looking for the
girl I’ll regret if I let
her go.”
Nyelle ponders thoughtfully for a moment. “Your what
if girl. I like it.”
“My what?”
I ask with a bite of the sandwich in my mouth.
“Your what if girl. You serial
date so you don’t regret passing
these girls up, in case one of them is her.”
For a good portion of the beginning of the book
Cal is determined to prove this girl Nyelle is his Nicole. His best friend Rae
does not believe him nor does she care, for she still holds a grudge against
the friend (Nicole) who abandoned her and Cal all those years ago to hang out
with the snobs of their community. While Cal takes us through the present, past
memories are retold from both Nicole and Richelle’s POV. Reading multiple POVs can get confusing, however Rebecca
Donovan does a phenomenal job not overwhelming the reader. Rather, each recap
from the past adds to the intrigue as well as offering insight into the
friendship dynamics that are Cal + Rae, Cal + Richelle, Cal + Nicole, Nicole +
Rae, Nicole + Richelle, Nicole + Cal. Don’t worry it may seem like a lot but the bonds are easy to follow. The
bond that hooked my attention was between Richelle and Nicole. Two girls as opposite as friends can get, yet a friendship so deep, it will have you
reminiscing a childhood/life-long friendship you have maintained in your life.
Even though we do not receive a POV from Nyelle,
the descriptions we see through Cal’s
POV help the reader recognize and feel the emotion pouring out of Nyelle,
causing your heart to crack while your mind continues to fumble with “what happened to this girl?”
While I was invested in the relationship between
Cal + Nyelle, the friendship portrayed between Nicole + Richelle was a tie for
me. You will feel a sense of a love triangle as the past is revealed between
the 3—Cal+Nicole+Richelle.
Rebecca Donovan does an excellent job offering you a bread crumb and just when
you think you know the path the story is going to take another piece of
information or a scene takes place making you scratch your head once again. As
the past POVs progress from elementary to high school, it becomes easier for
the reader to comprehend the painful past Nicole Bentley endured as well as how
4 best friends fell apart.
The “Aha” moment
is as shattering as you would expect. Tears will spill down your cheeks without
you even noticing because you won’t be able to stop reading. Once all the secrets
are out in the open you will reflect on parts of the story and it will make
sense why certain things played out the way they did over the course of the
book. I would have liked a little more insight into the gap from the end of the
story to the epilogue though. Overall, this book exceeded my expectations. Rebecca
Donovan’s
writing is beautifully moving. She has a way of portraying the love between
characters in such a tasteful manner, emotions flow off the page.
~ Review by Tori
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