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What If It’s You?
Author: Jilly Gagnon

This book felt like a Black Mirror episode turned into a romance novel. I’ll admit, at first I was nervous it was heading in a direction I wouldn’t enjoy, but I was completely wrong. Everything, right down to the epilogue, was perfection. Jilly, you really had me stressed for a second. Laurel is a successful tech exec who has been with her boyfriend Ollie for five years. When she finds an engagement ring, she panics. Still haunted by a past connection with her coworker Drew, she agrees to test secret quantum tech that sends her into an alternate life where she is with him instead. As she shifts between the two timelines, Laurel starts to question which version of her life feels most real. This was such a smart, emotional, and unique rom-com. I loved the tech and science elements. Thank you Random House Publishing for my copy!

I thought What If It's You was pretty good. I enjoyed the technological plot lines as well as the artistry of the human essence. I fell in love with Ollie right away.

A romance utilizing quantum physics and AI. In the beginning, the scientific detail was too much, providing for less than light-hearted reading. As you continue through the book and the story unfolds and Laurel is thrashed about by the quantum ai universe, it does get a bit more interesting leading to a somewhat anticlimactic ending. I give the author an “A” for effort on this one. Thank you NetGalley for providing the ARC.

What If It’s You by Jilly Gagnon was such a fun and thought-provoking read! It’s technically a contemporary romance, but the romance part felt more like the setting than the main event, which I really liked. The story follows Laurel Everett, who totally panics when she realizes her boyfriend of five years is about to propose. She ends up sabotaging the evening and, in a totally unexpected twist, finds herself bouncing between alternate realities: one where she’s with her long-time boyfriend Ollie, and another with her coworker Drew, who she’s always secretly wondered about. Now, I’ll be honest, there’s a good chunk of quantum physics talk in this book that flew right over my head. Like, truly no idea what any of it meant. But I just rolled with it, didn’t stress, and still enjoyed the ride completely. (If you’ve ever watched something like Interstellar and just accepted the time-space stuff as part of the ride, you’ll be fine here too.) Despite the science-y angle, this isn’t a science book. It’s a smart rom-com with a cool concept and a lot of heart. For anyone who’s ever found themselves wondering “what if?”, this book digs into that question in a really clever and entertaining way. It’s like a multiverse sliding-doors situation, with a sprinkle of romance, some laugh-out-loud moments, and lots to think about. I definitely recommend it!

Very cute! A Sliding Doors-esque romance with some fun questioning about alternate worlds and timelines and what is fixed about our fundamental selves.

Jilly Gagnon delivers AGAIN! Oh my gosh, I love her writing, and usually I'm thrown off by alternate timeline stories, but she nailed it. We all wonder 'what if', and after a reality tech project works, Laurel Everett gets the chance to find out. The story focuses on her growth (+ romance of course), and I think it was brilliantly done how she began to see how her relationships shaped her, and who she had become over the years. Sometimes, it's not who we thought.
Gagnon made Laurel feel relatable, especially when faced with big life decisions, and how that can cause anxieties about identity and fulfillment. What is happiness after all? And isn't the grass greener on the other side?
Read it to find out :)

I love the concept of this story. The alternating realities and the dilemma of which man to choose. Honestly, I had a hard time getting into this book even though I was intrigued. I didn’t feel connections with the characters. All the science jargon bored me, and I often found myself skimming. I wanted to like it and this author has written some other stories that I enjoyed more. I think this one just fell a little short for me.

There’s something magical about falling in love, so it’s no surprise that authors who write about love often use magic in their tales—specifically, a type of magic that allows their protagonist to go back or forward in time to experience their life in a different way. In What If It’s You?, author Jilly Gagnon decides to use science to explore this trope, and this choice helps take the book to a different level.

Laurel Everett, an executive at the tech company Pixel, isn’t exactly overjoyed when she finds an engagement ring in her boyfriend Ollie’s sock drawer. Instead, she wonders what her life would have been like had she said yes to dating Drew, a co-worker who asked her out shortly after she met Ollie. Thanks to Drew’s new alternate reality program, Laurel can get an answer to that question due to the quantum physics that powers the program.

When she wakes up next to Drew, she’s shocked but not surprised. In this timeline, Drew is the high-powered Pixel executive, and Laurel has quit her job to write a novel. As the computer glitches and Laurel is shunted back and forth between two timelines, she has to figure out a way to stay in place—and which timeline she wants.

What If It’s You? has some physics in it, but like most romcoms, the story relies on chemistry. And Laurel has chemistry with both her leading men, but as the story progresses, she realizes that her choice is about more than which man she wants to end up with. What is the life she wants to lead? And, more importantly, what if being with her is the wrong timeline for Drew or Ollie?

Laurel is definitely a heroine to root for. She’s smart and funny, but what elevates her above other protagonists in the genre is her concern for her love interests. Not only does she ask, “what if it’s you,” but also “what if it’s not me?” What if being with Laurel means a lesser life for Ollie? What if Drew didn’t want to be with her to begin with?

What If It’s You? is a highly enjoyable, quick read. But I still don’t understand quantum physics. Maybe in another universe, there’s a version of me that does.

I love a good alternate life story. I did think this one was well written and made sense, no confusion. The only downside for me was that I didn't love Laurel. She was very frustrating and annoying for me.

I really loved the premise of the story, but I did not enjoy the ending of the book. Additionally, the explanations of physics and quantum mechanics that led to the switch in the first place were not very accessible, which made it hard for me to understand and theorize about the book.

What If It's You? is similar to the Seven Year Slip if Clementine made the wrong choice.

Thank you to the publisher for the e-copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3.5/5 stars

The premise of this book really spoke to me as a girlie who over analyzes all of her life choices. But it really lost me with the AI and quantum physics jargon. In the beginning Lo was really likeable but towards the end I lost a bit of that. The resolution to the plot felt a little flat and rushed to me. Overall, I did enjoy the book.

I really enjoyed this book! I’m kind of mystified that it hasn’t been better reviewed? I found it to be a quick, compelling read with light sci-fi elements that were well incorporated and a sympathetic main character. I think other readers might get frustrated with her anxiety, but honestly, I found it quite relatable. Laurel’s self-doubt and constant questioning of whether a life with Ollie is really what she wants is understandable in the context we are given of her past, but admittedly it does get a little frustrating. You’ll think she’s made up her mind and then she gets back with Ollie and freaks out again. But though it’s a bit frustrating to read, I did find it realistic to the mind of someone with this level of anxiety, and I enjoyed the character growth she experienced over the course of the novel. I think some readers might also not like the idea of a romance novel where the characters are already in an established relationship, but that didn’t bother me one bit. All in all I’m baffled that other people aren’t liking this novel as much as I did, because I liked it a whole lot, so much that I’m going to check out other books by the author. 4.5 stars, rounded up.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
3.5/5

This one left me a bit conflicted—part swoony romance, part sci-fi mind-bender, and entirely unexpected.

What If It’s You? explores the question we’ve all asked at some point: What if he’s the one? But throw in a multiverse twist, and suddenly that question has infinite answers. While I appreciated the originality and clever premise, I found myself tangled in the back-and-forth of alternate realities. The writing was solid, and the concept intriguing, but the execution left me wanting a bit more emotional depth and stronger connection to the characters.

Still, it’s a fun, thought-provoking read for fans of unconventional love stories with a twist of the speculative.

💫 📚 Many thanks to #NetGalley, #WhatIfItsYou and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for the ARC! All thoughts are my own and freely expressed.

#BookReview #WhatIfItsYou #MultiverseReads #YARomance #SciFiRomance #NetGalley #AlternateReality #SummerReads #BookishThoughts #Bookstagram #BookstagramReview #CCsBookCorner #BookLoversUnite #ReadingLife #BookRec #ARCReview #RomanceWithATwist #TimeTravelBooks #WhatIfMoments

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group, Jilly Gagnon, and NetGalley for the arc copy of this book. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Laurel Everett, a marketing VIP at Pixel, intentionally sabotages her own engagement to longtime boyfriend Ollie because she's spent her entire five year relationship wondering if her coworker Drew would be a better fit for her. Luckily for her, Drew is a tech genius that has created an alternative reality AI program. With Drew's encouragement, Laurel creates a profile and runs a scenario in which she does date Drew. However, the AltR program becomes a little too real and Laurel finds herself jumping between both universes.

This is a very interesting book concept, something I haven't seen in other books before. It is heavy on the quantum physics, but it seemed fairly simplified for readers. Ollie is the best character in this book and I was glad Laurel came to realize her mistakes and had good character development. Good writing, quick read.

Great concept but the story itself didn’t work for me here. I just ended up not caring about Laurel/Lo and her bad choices. It would have worked better for me if she spent more time worrying about her own growth in both timelines vs what each boyfriend was doing.

A clever, emotional “what if” story that bends reality and the heart in equal measure. The plot has a speculative twist and is thought provoking. Laurel’s journey is messy, relatable, and often funny, as she stares at the fork in the road.
Many thanks to Random House and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm really not sure how I felt about this book. My main thought is that I couldn't stand Laurel. For someone who has been with a guy for five years she should have realized way before that moment that engagement was close by and that she's a commitment-phobe. Throughout the entire book Ollie seems like an amazing guy and deserves better than her.

I found the two timelines interesting and her trying to figure everything out kept me interested. But there was a lot of science talk that went over my head. I am also happy that she realizes that she needs to change.

3.5 Stars
This was my second book by this author, I had previously read Love You, Mean It, and both were quite enjoyable to me! What If It’s You? was a really interesting take on the trope that I’m not sure even has an official name?

If this was a Friends episode it would be called— The one where the main character questions their life/decisions and then gets to glimpse what life would be like in alternate realities. So maybe it’s called the what if trope? I digress, but this is what happens to our main character Laurel Everett.

What’s interesting is there’s a reason for why this happens to Laurel and it has to do with some alternate universe software the company she works for is developing. I would say, if you can suspend reality (literally) in a book and just go with the weird then I think you might like this!

I liked the main love story and loved it even more after reading the authors note at the end. Jilly Gagnon wrote that she was interested in writing the love story after the Happily Ever After, which I just loved. If you’ve been in a long-term relationship or hope to have one eventually I think you’ll be able to relate or find hope.

I think the only reason I didn’t rate What If It’s You? higher was because despite the captivating story, Laurel really drove me crazy at times. I didn’t find her to be super likable and also didn’t think we got to know her as a person outside of the predicament going on. Sometimes she seemed very eager to point a finger & self-absorbed when it came to her different romantic partners.

I listened to this via audiobook because I’ve been moving to a different state & picking up my kindle has been impossible! The audio wasn’t my favorite but also wasn’t bad. It is pretty spicy if that influences your decision to read or listen.

Thank you so much to NetGalley & Random House Publishing Group Ballantine for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What If It's You? is part rom-com and part speculative fiction. Laurel's journey through alternate realities is sometimes funny, sometimes frustrating, and surprisingly deep, especially as she grapples with questions bigger than just "which guy should I choose?" The questions about identity, regret, and self-discovery kept me turning pages.

That said, the quantum physics explanations, while clearly intended to be reader-friendly, sometimes pulled me out of the story. I appreciated the effort, but personally struggled with the science of it all, even though it’s crucial to the plot. Overall though, the heart of the novel is in its characters, and Laurel’s messy, sincere, very human struggle to figure out her life makes this book worth the read.

What If It’s You is not your typical love triangle story. It involves alternate realities and a lot of technology.

Our main character uses alternate reality software from her job to go back in time to see if she should have accepted a date from her work crush and what that relationship would look like or if she should accept her current boyfriend’s proposal.

This is a quick beach read.