What if everyone you loved, cheated on you? What if everyone who loved you, left you? What if every one of them came back to you, years later, begging for you to give them another chance, to love them with all you heart the way you loved them back then? What if you didn't do what you did in the first place and you just loved me the right way, the first time? What if you treated me then, like you say you will now? What if you would have realized what you had, while you had me? I guess that's why I call myself, The "What if" Girl.
This books is a memoir and reads like fiction. She is an incredibly strong, intelligent woman who continues to live her life the way she wants to.
As a young woman, her family was uprooted and moved to a town much different than the one she grew up in. She never did get over moving, but that didn't stop her from moving forward with her life.
After college, she moved crosss country with a friend for new opportunities. Her friend went on to be a famous country singer who just happened to be big when I was young. From here, they went their own separate ways and had their own adventures.
From snazzy private eyes who needed an extra set of eyes on the job to famous baseball pitchers and other sports stars, she has met quite a few people. This was not stopped by her fibromyalgia diagnosis or their lack of a cure. She has lived her life to the fullest and continues to do so.
I enjoyed reading about life through her eyes. It was a very difficult perspective and I am glad she chose to share her life with all who have time to read her story.
I received a free copy in return for an honest review.
I was lucky enough to receive a free copy to read and honestly review.
I thought the book was really well written. Despite it being a memoir, the book feels like it could be fiction because it is so engaging. It felt really honest, which helped me connect with it more. There were moments of joy and others of sadness, but you were swept along with the journey.
Despite all the challenges Lisa has been faced with, the book feels quite inspirational that if you stay true to yourself you can get through it. Finding a partner to be with is really tricky, and this book highlights some of those problems but in a positive way.
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I really recommend it
Love all of the references to Canadian cities and towns.
Found myself rooting for the main character Lilly.
Being based on a true story but fictionalized, the events read like they were being written by the person who experienced them. A good place to write from. And I always love a genuine look into the mind of another human being.
While I am not sure it was the one the author intended, it provoke a response in me and stirred my emotions. A requirement in any good book.
What I did not like:
The main character did not seem to grow. She just kept repeating the same behavior over and over expecting different results. She would pause from time to time to recover from her traumatic events, but it was only a matter of time before she just repeated the pattern again. At one point I found myself wondering with the way she spent money and her relationships if she suffered from borderline personality disorder, and that was going to be the big reveal at the end.
There were only two types of men in the book. Men that wanted to sleep with her and were jerks, or nice guys - who just wanted to sleep with her. Maybe this really is the type of men she interacted with, but as a male reader, I assure you there are good men out there. Good men do not take you to the club on the first date or start a relationship by hitting on you while you are working. For the what if girl: What if you tried something different? What if you tried volunteering somewhere? What if you found a passion that you loved and found others that shared it?
The conclusion added to both of those points when in a debate with strangers over what marriage is like, in the end, she adamantly defends the same philosophy that had failed her throughout the story. Personally, I believe in attraction or chemistry at first sight, but true love is something that grows and is built upon a trust that requires time to develop. The difference between desert and diner. On is sweet and exciting, but too much is not good for you and will leave you empty and malnourished. Diner with vegetables might sometimes seem boring, but is the substance of life.
In the end, an interesting read and I congratulate the author on her first novel. An immense amount of work and dedication to get to this point and a promising start for a new Canadian author.
I received a free PDF copy of this book in return for an honest review, and honest I will be. It was not my cup of tea. Just over a third of they way in I had to stop. Whilst being well written, the story itself just didn’t grab me. It felt like one bad choice after another by a girl who had so to give but couldn’t give to herself. I rated it three stars because whilst this book was not for me, I feel other readers might be able to relate to Lily’s story and enjoy reading it. For the right person, it is a good book, sadly it was just not for me.