What If

by Shirley Anne Edwards

“A startling unique spin on Peter Pan with mystery and romance, and staying true to yourself.” – # 1 NY Times Bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout Sixteen-year-old Wendy Wyman is bereft over the death of her best friend, Peter Preiss, whose body has been found at the bottom of the town lake. She blames herself because she allowed him to go back to his family’s lakeside boathouse late at night where they had just made love for the first time. She wonders what she could have done differently to stop Pete from being killed, and thinks back to the beginning of the school year when her whole life changed forever. Wendy will stop at nothing until she finds out the person responsible for killing Peter, who was bullied by most of the students in their junior class. She is in for even more of a shock when she finds out that not only did Pete keep dark secrets from her, but a few of her close friends are hiding ones as well. This also includes Dylan Mayone, the new popular boy at school, who wants her for his own, and may have had a hand in Pete’s death.

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 22, 2014

About the author

Shirley Anne Edwards is a Northeast girl who first found her love for books when she read Nancy Drew’s The Secret of the Old Clock Tower at thirteen. Shirley found her love for writing at a very young age, and since then has let her imagination run wild by creating quirky characters and vast worlds in her head.

Shirley lives in New Jersey and works in the entertainment industry in New York City.


In the immortal words of Mark Twain: “Life is short, Break the Rules. Forgive quickly, Kiss SLOWLY. Love truly. Laugh uncontrollably and never regret ANYTHING That makes you smile.”

Reviews

[DJ Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

From beginning to end I found myself invested. I love that there was very little filler with unnecessary descriptions of the texture of couches and clothes. I feel the details given prior to Pete’s death (which helped us get a sense of each character’s relationships to the MFC and MMC) made me connected to the plot and how it all played out.

It is a beautifully tragic story that gave us moments of bright spots. The tone overall helped to soften the tough points as you followed the story. Meaning, many of the events in the story, from severe bullying, assault, and murder were presented in a “palatable” manner- if that makes sense. I really loved this read from beginning to end.

[Ioanna M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book made me sob at the end

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I have to say I really enjoyed this book! I wasn't sure exactly what to expect since I've never read anything by this author before. I loved how this book was set up: we knew right away that Peter was killed, but we didn't know how, we didn't know why, and we certainly didn't know who did it. Wendy was a curious girl who often couldn't make up her mind. She wavered between wanting to be with Dylan, the hot, new kid in school, and Peter, her best friend for as long as she can remember. At first, I was a little annoyed that she couldn't make a decision, but then I realized that this is actually really true to a girl her age. Teenagers never know what they want; they tend to want a little bit of every choice they have, so Wendy is definitely acting like a normal teenager. I liked seeing Wendy and Peter in their daily lives, how they interacted with people and each other, and how they came to be more than best friends.

Edwards did a really great job with this book. I found myself drawn into the story and Wendy's life right away. I wanted to know what happened between Wendy and Peter, and what happened to Peter. he definitely wasn't the popular kid in high school, so why would he die? Such a sad story but I think it was very well written and Edwards should have a very good future as an author :)

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[Kristin Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh wow, this book made me cry my eyes out. It was so beautifully written, so emotional, true to the emotions and behaviors of the teens in this book. I cried at the prologue (of course, if you read the book). I cried during the heartbreak of all the teen drama. And I cried when the prologue caught up with the book. It was truly such an emotional, heartfelt story of love and lost and infidelity in a teenage world.

I loved Peter and Wendy. I loved Peter's dreams and even Wendy's confusion of teenage hormones and not knowing whether to cross the boy best friend boundaries or go to the new hot guy. The experiences between the characters were so real and raw.

The "case" that happens at the end of the book was a huge surprise to me. I didn't see it coming, having my own conclusions to the culprit. The scene that showed the truth even had me in tears.

Wendy, at the end, was so broken. I felt so much for her. All her fear, loss, confusion, doubt, fear, it was written so well. So very well.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. This book had a lot of flaws, but it had potential. It just needed a little more work, in my opinion.

1. I did not like Wendy, the narrator. She waffled back and forth between Pete and Dylan, and Dylan was an unlikeable jerk, so I really didn't see the draw.
2. Wendy, the main character, either acted WAY too immature, or too old. Basically, she never, ever acted like a 15-16 year-old would act. The scene where Pam and Wendy are talking and Pam asks about a guy's "you-know-what" annoyed the crap out of me. A 15 year-old wouldn't call a penis "you-know-what." They'd say "dick," or "cock," or something. They are not afraid of slang words for penis. There were a lot of little things like that in the book.
3. Totally guessed that Connor and Anthony were gay lovers, and that Connor was the killer.
4. I didn't feel very attached to any of the characters. They didn't really feel fleshed out or developed to me.

[Fee (Ebook Addicts) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good read, though I feel at some points it was a bit too YA for me. Sometimes Wendy seemed younger than her 16 years and at other times older - I would have to remind myself what age she actually was.

Wendy and Peter are best friends, though he obviously loves her more than just friends, she seems to be oblivious to to that fact. The new boy Dylan comes into the picture, and to be honest I thought he was a jerk from the get go just and didn't see the attraction between him and Wendy. However, she gets her first kiss from him and Peter then decides to tell her how he feels.

After the build up for arguments and teasing and her friend Pam avoiding her we see Wendy and Peter take their friendship to the next level only to then be dealt the blow of his death.

Talk about emotional!

I wasnt expecting the ending with regards to who killed Peter nor did I expect to be thrown so many emotions for such a YA read.

4 stars

[Peggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

~Received For Honest Review~



A journey that no one person wants to experience. Raw emotions. Well written and emotionally expressed. A plot so real, characters easy to escape into their lives. An absolute amazing read!