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What If..

by Kelly Rae (Goodreads Author)

4.19 of 5 stars 4.19 · rating details · 27 ratings · 15 reviews

One fateful night during high school Katie Wright loses everything: her father, the first man she ever loved, dies in a car accident and Chris Staller, the first boy she’s ever loved, breaks her heart. Fast-forward ten years and Katie is a beautiful, successful woman who has spent the past decade doing her best to make her life all about work, keeping everyone at arms leng...more

Paperback, 230 pages

Published May 1st 2012 by Blossom Press

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Aug 10, 2012 Liz at Fictional Candy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: romance

The prologue to this book is vivid and heartbreaking. It was perfect in its simplicity, and right away I felt connected to the main character, Katie. A loser of a boyfriend and a wonderful father who didn’t make it. This really set the stage for how Katie thinks, you can easily tell this was the major event in her life that shaped her.

Chapter one brings us to ten years later. Katie has moved back to her hometown to be Assistant District Attorney – her dream job. She realizes she will run into so...more The prologue to this book is vivid and heartbreaking. It was perfect in its simplicity, and right away I felt connected to the main character, Katie. A loser of a boyfriend and a wonderful father who didn’t make it. This really set the stage for how Katie thinks, you can easily tell this was the major event in her life that shaped her.

Chapter one brings us to ten years later. Katie has moved back to her hometown to be Assistant District Attorney – her dream job. She realizes she will run into some people she knows, she did grow up there afterall. But there is definitely one person she doesn’t want to see – the jerk of an ex-boyfriend, Chris Staller.

“Why is it that in one moment years can disappear, and any sense of who you are slips away when you recognize a face or the sound of a voice? Even a song played on the radio can transport you back in time.”

Katie reunites with Sarah, her friend from highschool. Initially I don’t like Sarah. She seemed secretive and a bit manipulative. But I really must say that as the story went on, and I got to know Sarah a little bit more, she really grew on me. My opinion of her changes greatly, and by the end I think she is a wonderful best friend.

“You are a damn fool, Katie Wright, if you don’t chase that man down and make whatever it is better.”

Don’t we all need to hear the blunt truth sometimes? The man? Chris Staller, of course. Suddenly he’s popping up everywhere; the grocery store, a dinner at her bosses, at her best friend’s house. Chris doesn’t know why Katie is so hard on him. And frankly, I was totally on Katie’s side. I didn’t like Chris, I didn’t want him in her life and I didn’t want him disrupting her life again.

But then something changed. Chris grew on me. Before I knew it I was rooting for him. Katie’s stubbornness to even talk to him was making me mad. Couldn’t she see the man he turned into? Her attitude was a shared heartache with Chris and I.

This was definitely a terrific story. You really get to see Katie grow. Being around Sarah and her family really made her think… to be around people who have that wonderful, obnoxious, frustrating, perfect family chaos… well, it can get inside a person. It makes them realize what they’ve been missing is exactly what they want. What they need.

There is also a pleasant, albeit short, surprise of a person named Amanda. That is one classy lady, one we could all hope to know – or be. I am secretly hoping that Kelly Rae will write a sequel and feature Amanda, because there is definitely someone there worth exploring a bit more.

My final thoughts on this book … I really enjoyed it, and I had a hard time putting it down. There were a few times that were a little “explainey” when one person or another was trying to relay a history, but it wasn’t overdone. Chris definitely stole the spotlight and I fell in love with his character. Sometimes its nice when a good guy is just a good guy. Katie is intelligent and strong, and sometimes its more of a disadvantage than not, but I love a woman in charge who is not always perfect. She makes mistakes, she flies off the handle, but she is good people through and through. If you like romance that is a little hard to get, and you wonder if the pair will get their happily ever after, you will definitely enjoy this read!(less)

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Jun 26, 2012 Marissa rated it 4 of 5 stars

From the prologue, I was intrigued, and immediately, I was interested to see what happened to Katie, and her then boyfriend Chris. The Prologue basically gives us the incident on how and why Katie broke off things with Chris. Then the first chapter goes to about ten years later, and Katie, now in her late twenties, moves back to her hometown, the town she left ten years prior, but this is a career move. Who does she end up seeing though, her ex, Chris, who is a P.E. teacher/Coach at their old hi...more From the prologue, I was intrigued, and immediately, I was interested to see what happened to Katie, and her then boyfriend Chris. The Prologue basically gives us the incident on how and why Katie broke off things with Chris. Then the first chapter goes to about ten years later, and Katie, now in her late twenties, moves back to her hometown, the town she left ten years prior, but this is a career move. Who does she end up seeing though, her ex, Chris, who is a P.E. teacher/Coach at their old high school. Seeing each other brings memories, for Katie they are bittersweet, as for ten years she had avoided seeing Chris again. There was definitely conflict between Chris and Katie, as they have a lot of unresolved issues to work through, but Katie just seems not to be able forgive Chris. This story really gives a look on forgiveness, and if we could forgive those that have done wrong to us. It could be so hard, but what does it take to finally to forgive? This was a very good story all in all, really; there were raw scenes here, raw emotions that felt relatable, and I liked reading that, what can be relatable to the reader.

The characters were really well developed. There was a lot of background information, especially focusing on Katie and Chris. They were each other's first love in high school. He was actually pretty shy, but then comes confident and smart Katie and she brought him out of his shell, and encouraged him to be a better person, to excel in school and sports, and he did that with Katie by his side. I really liked knowing how they were in high school, and how Katie was having doubts on their relationship even before the incident that broke them up. Having this written in third person was very good; I liked reading what both were sorta thinking, especially Chris, as I well did not really like him in the beginning, but as the story goes on, we see what his thoughts are, and ok I had a more understanding side for him, and was then rooting for them to get together, but do they? Hmm well you're just going to have to read and find out. This was a well written story, and I can't wait to read more from Kelly Rae. I Recommend this Novel! :) (less)

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Jun 14, 2012 Mindy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: dream-reader-dreamer2229-blo

So have you ever wondered “what if…?” Like what if you had the courage to tell that boy you liked that you liked him, or what if you hadn’t broken up with that great girl? Songs are written about this, pithy sayings also, “you never forget your first love…” ect. Well in “What if” the leading man and leading lady find out what happens when they meet again years in the future.

Yes, it’s a ‘typical’ romance, with a twist. In this instance Katie’s dad died the night she saw Chris, her high school l...more

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Jun 14, 2012 Cocktails and Books rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-reading-challenges, blog-tour, contemporary-romance

Katie and Chris were high school sweethearts. She asked him out by mistake, but it ended up being the best mistake she ever made. But when his popularity started to rise at school, he started pushing Katie to the back burner for other girls. Their love story came to an abrupt end when Katie catches Chris kissing another girl at a party and calls her father to pick her up. Only her father never makes it to get her, as he's in an accident with a drunk driver.

Fast forward ten years and we find Kati...more

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Jun 16, 2012 Tana rated it 4 of 5 stars

What If by Kelly Rae

Kelly Rae writing is really good, I loved this book of course I read it all in one sitting as I always have to know how it’s going to end. Sometime a good romance novel is all I need to have a relaxing day and this book did not disappoint. This is Kelly’s debut novel, I enjoyed her writing style and loved the characters and the descriptions were well written. I would say excellent writing Kelly and thank you for letting me read and review your book.

So What If....what if you w...more

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Jun 21, 2012 Autumn Review rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: blog-tours, review

Occasionally a book will come along that completely surprises me. I mean, obviously I had interest in reading this book, but I was surprised by how much I connected to the story. I think I read this book in one day. It was a touching story from start to finish.

The story begins with Katie in high school on a night she and her boyfriend Chris are breaking up. As you see from the synopsis, her dad died that same night on his way to get her. Katie held a lot of guilt about the accident and also hel...more Occasionally a book will come along that completely surprises me. I mean, obviously I had interest in reading this book, but I was surprised by how much I connected to the story. I think I read this book in one day. It was a touching story from start to finish.

The story begins with Katie in high school on a night she and her boyfriend Chris are breaking up. As you see from the synopsis, her dad died that same night on his way to get her. Katie held a lot of guilt about the accident and also held Chris somewhat responsible for it. That opening, really was emotional. I can not imagine what that must be like. Chris was her first love, but Katie left and never looked back. Now years later she returns and is surprised to run into Chris. Her old emotions surface and she's forced to deal with it. What she didn't expect was to have to fight her attraction to Chris.

Katie is an easy character to relate to. There were a few times she drove me nuts, but I could really understand where she was coming from. My stomach was in knots when hers was. I felt like I was walking through the story with her. I kept imagining what I would feel like in that situation and I have to say that I think I would have felt the same way. When she was finally able to look at Chris without anger and pain, I felt that she was really ready to move forward.

Of course I didn't think too highly of Chris in the beginning of the book, because of his immature high school behavior. However, Chris realized the error of his ways after she left and never really got over Katie. I loved his determination to get her back and it made me fall in love with his character. He just simply wouldn't take no for an answer. They had some serious chemistry and there were some steamy moments, but Chris wouldn't move forward until he felt like she could truly forgive him. That's very honorable in my opinion. How could I not fall for this guy?

This book is a great love story. It's a real story. Love is complicated at times. I also felt like it was a story about healing, forgiveness, and moving on. Go check this book out, it's beautifully done. (less)

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Jul 05, 2012 Christi Snow rated it 4 of 5 stars

My Review:

From the moment I read the final line in the prologue and started crying, I knew that I was going to love this book! Her senior year in high school, Katie's father died in a car accident on his way to rescue her after she caught her boyfriend Chris in a compromising position. The heartache of their loss was too much for both Katie and her mother so they left town. In the ten years since, Katie has not been able to forgive herself or her boyfriend, whom she never saw again, for his deat...more My Review:

From the moment I read the final line in the prologue and started crying, I knew that I was going to love this book! Her senior year in high school, Katie's father died in a car accident on his way to rescue her after she caught her boyfriend Chris in a compromising position. The heartache of their loss was too much for both Katie and her mother so they left town. In the ten years since, Katie has not been able to forgive herself or her boyfriend, whom she never saw again, for his death. The fact was he wouldn't have been on the road that night if Chris hadn't broken her heart...and her father wouldn't have died.

It's ten years later and now Katie is a successful lawyer and has moved back to that small town to be the Asst. DA. She's moved past those awful events and put Chris firmly in her past, even though she does think about him occasionally. What she doesn't expect is for him to still be living in this small town. He too has come back and is now the high school basketball coach.

They both thought they'd moved past their feelings, but they were both wrong. Chris immediately knows that she's the one that got away and he wants her back. Over the years, he's forgotten what caused the issues that night to begin with. But for Katie, her feelings for Chris are so much more complex. She sees him and she's immediately overcome with grief, anger, and deep gut-wrenching longing. She never dealt with what happened that night...between them or what happened to her dad because of it. It makes for an incredible, emotional read, although I will admit that I hit a point where I simply wanted her to get past it, but that's because I was falling in love with Chris' character too.

The book is written almost entirely from Katie's POV, but the few glimpses you get inside Chris' head are so sweet and honest. He's a guy and he's human. He screws up especially when it comes to women, but his feelings for Katie are so true. You can't help but fall in love with him. On the other hand there's Katie. She trusted him with her whole heart once, but he abused that love. Yes, he was a teenager, but there are definite signs that he could be guilty of the same thing again. You can't blame her for being leery even when her heart is bursting out of her chest in love with him.

Like I said, this was just a great read. There was enough angst to really appeal to my reading loves. I will definitely be watching for more from Kelly Rae.
(less)

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Jul 02, 2012 Mlpmom (Book Reviewer) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc-book-read

I am always a sucker for a good romance story, I can't help it, it is the hopeless romantic in me. I love happily ever afters and I love when the hero gets the girl.

I knew from the moment I first read the synopsis on this book that I would want to read it. It just appealed to me.

I loved the prologue, it pretty much hooked me in and the first few chapters were great and then things started to change, just a little once I got to know the main character Katie a little better.

Let me explain a littl...more

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Oct 07, 2012 My Book Addiction and More MBA rated it 4 of 5 stars

WHAT IF… is Kelly Rae’s debut novel. For her first novel I was really impressed. The title caught my attention right off the hop and as soon as I started reading it, I was hooked. It was a story about second chances, one I am sure we all have wanted at some point in our lives. The plot and characters were very believable and the storyline was sweet. It was definitely a quick read and I would recommend it to readers who love romance.

Rating: 4

Reviewed by: KellyR

Received from the publisher for an h...more

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May 02, 2012 Jocelyn Bell rated it 5 of 5 stars

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of What If.. and am thrilled to share what I think is a great weekend, sunny day on the patio, read!
A fun, funny, and poignant journey from first love through finding life’s path, Kelly Rae’s debut is a sweet love story that serves as a reminder to the healing power of forgiveness. Learning to follow the heart is a lesson everyone must learn, and her unadorned prose underscores the emotional terrain of that passage with powerful simplicity. Full of extraordi...more

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Nov 10, 2012 Aimes Sera added it

I'm torn. Part of me feel like Chris doesn't deserve another chance for everything he did. He obviously loves Katie but he cheated on her so many times in the past that I completely understand why she's so reluctant to get back with him. I think I just want to see him suffer more since he obviously didn't. He has too many women around to "comfort" him during his heartbreak. He also didn't even know it was his fault Katie left cause for some messed up reason he thought it was okay to be with othe...more

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Jul 18, 2012 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-want-to-re-read, high-school-loves-reunited

I thought this was a really good book...although at times it did seem to drag alittle...it kept me interested throughout the whole book. This is a great love story. Also a great story about forgiveness.

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May 27, 2012 JoAnne rated it 4 of 5 stars

To read my review on Romconinc.com click on the link below

http://www.romconinc.com/index.php?op...

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Aug 15, 2012 Stacee Appiano sway rated it 5 of 5 stars

Love this book! I was very drawn into the characters right from the beginning to the end! It is a great read!!

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Jul 31, 2012 محمد البرقي rated it 4 of 5 stars

one great book

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Shelves: romance-2nd-chance

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