I fear this book had a great concept but an underwhelming execution. I got it as an ARC from NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Dell, so thank you to them! This was a truly unique and interesting story, but I think it could have been improved significantly.

What If It’s You starts with Laurel finding a ring in her boyfriend Ollie’s sock drawer and panicking so badly about it that she enters an alternate reality where she went out with her coworker, Drew. The only problem is that she keeps waking up after switching between realities, and she needs to figure out a way to stay in one. She also has to choose which one to stay in, which is proving to be more of an issue than she thought. Worse still, if the machine that’s controlling her switching is shut off, she might disappear from both worlds completely.

Like I said, the concept was so creative! But I do think the entire premise, being based on having a crush on your work husband when you’re practically engaged, is a little gross. That was icky from the get-go, which tainted Laurel’s character immediately for me. I wouldn’t say she was unlikable, but I also didn’t connect with her. That might just be me, but she wasn’t very relatable, and not just because of the sci-fi plot happening around her. I did appreciate how active she was in her story. She was doing everything she could to understand what was happening to her and why, and trying hard to stop it.

Another important character is Dana, a researcher on quantum realities whom Laurel contacts to figure out what’s going on. Dana could’ve been used way better. The author was clearly using her for a bit of comic relief, but often fell short (the Rock? Really?), and it was EXTREMELY clear that she was just there to try and explain the science behind the switches, which is fine but there had to be a better way to get that exposition across.

Speaking of exposition, there was SO MUCH of it. Yes, the quantum physics of it all is important to the story. It’s the catalyst. But do we really need massive paragraphs of it practically every page? No. I love science, and even I started skimming them after a while.

This exposition should have been used to explain more about Laurel’s mom. She has this deep fear of becoming her, exposed in World D, but is also kind of making Ollie into her in World O, which she realizes is terrible. She mentions her mom briefly a few times, but never really expands on it, which means the mentions of her are confusing, especially when it comes to World D.

Going back to O and D, let’s talk about Ollie and Drew. Ollie was off-putting in the beginning, which made sense as we were seeing everything from Laurel’s perspective, but it made the ending a little…disappointing, almost? He seemed great towards the end, except for the fact that he’d been keeping this major secret from Laurel, yet got super upset with her when she did the same thing. (Spoiler here, sort of?) Drew in the “regular” world seemed like a much better option, and even tho he wasn’t in the “other” world, we know that people are pretty different from world to world so who’s really to say that getting with Drew in the regular world would’ve been worse than staying with Ollie? Idk that part just wasn’t super clear.

Moving away from characters where the writing could be iffy, the actual switches between worlds were written well, getting the sense of disorientation across and making them suspenseful while also staying in a “normal” setting like the train station. The science itself was smart, and the distinct feelings that both worlds had were great. The writing style there was well done, and while the book did drag slightly in the middle, it was engaging enough. Having the first switch over at 17% did feel like it took a little too long, though. I understand that the normalcy of the regular world had to be established, along with regular character dynamics and the proposal catalyst, but I do think it could’ve been quicker.

This was an interesting book, but there’s certainly unmet potential there that I think would’ve made the book fantastic if it had been met.

Lovely RomCom with alternate realities and loads of character development. Epilogue was my favorite part! I'm usually not a fan of love triangles, and this wasn't your typical love triange... just a hint at a different life and what if..? Very cool and unique story.

Give me alllllll the sci-fi, AI romance! I could live in this universe! I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we get more af AltR because I want more adventures!!

I can’t explain it, but I have a fascination with books that explore what if scenarios. What if another choice had been made? How would that life play out? I suppose it must scratch my overactive writer’s brain, because I love the way these novels make my mind whirl. What If It’s You is just one such novel, though the choice is limited to only two possible lives. I’m used to novels that offer more choice points, more possible scenarios, but I also appreciated that the limited choices Laurel presents herself with really give her a much more obvious opportunity that wonderfully plays out over the course of the novel, and, even if it tended to be a little too wordy, I really loved that focus.

Laurel has recently been promoted to VP of marketing at Pixel, a Boston-based tech company with a division called Lightning that’s exploring alternate reality. She’s also been in a five year relationship with musician Ollie, who intends on popping the question on their anniversary, and it’s giving her some serious anxiety because of the way her parents split up. But then Drew, her work crush who asked her out five years ago and who she turned down because she’d just started seeing Ollie, gives her the opportunity to try out alternate reality. So she picks an inflection point: what if she’d said yes to Drew five years ago? Unfortunately, the program seemingly stalls out, except she wakes up in the wrong bed with the wrong man the next morning. She spends days sliding back and forth between two realities, her original one where she picked Ollie and the alternate one where she picked Drew. It gives her the opportunity to explore both choices, to figure herself out and what her heart wants, but AltR seems to be bugging out and Pixel might pull the plug, endangering Laurel’s life.

There’s a surprising amount of physics in What If It’s You, and I won’t even pretend to understand it, kind of because even Laurel barely grasps it. It sounded plausible enough to me, and that was enough for me to enjoy this novel. Outside of all the science talk, this is really focused on Laurel and her figuring out who she is and what she wants. I loved the way this strange experiment gave her the opportunity to examine herself and her life from different angles, to really see herself in two different positions. I also really liked the way it touched on the way her parents’ marriage and split affected her, and, in its own way, what it said about her and her own choices. I do wish we could have seen her father, though, to see them discussing things, because this kind of ended up feeling like a “I don’t want to get married because my parents divorced” kind of story without any further complexity.

But I did like Laurel. Sometimes she tended to be a little too wordy in her internal world as she puzzled things out and came to realizations, with some of it becoming almost too repetitive, so it did get a little tiresome. But she’s just a regular woman who’s conflicted between two men and the opportunity to explore that what if is too strong to ignore. I did really like how the core of her stayed the same throughout the book and between lives. Instead, it’s more a shift in perspective that happens for her, and it was great to see that happen and play out. It was actually really easy as a reader to figure out which life was right for her, so sometimes it was a little agonizing when she ping ponged between them, but her anxiety about it and her desperate need for the guy her heart truly yearned for sweet.

I don’t want to comment too much on her life with either Ollie or Drew because there’s definitely a clear choice, and Laurel isn’t exactly subtle about it. Sometimes I felt a little sorry for the other guy, but was also clearly rooting for Laurel to get it right. It was interesting to see the parallels between her two lives, albeit with their roles switched. It was oddly satisfying to see Laurel in the same position she’d put one of the guys in without even realizing it, and her figuring that out was really well done. It also helped her shed some light on just how much like her parents she was, and I still wish to have seen her with her dad, because I think that might have given this story some added depth and complexity, if only to get out of Laurel’s head a little.

What If It’s You is a fun, yet serious read. I kind of like how these what if novels I love so much have become more high tech. But what I love the most about these kinds of books is still the same. I love how Laurel gets to experience two different lives, and it was fascinating to see how they intersected so much as both her lives take place in the Boston area. I didn’t really get a strong Boston feel, but it was great to see her out and about. This is really turned more towards her internal life as she works to sort out her heart, and live as a literal Schrodinger’s cat. I can’t say I ever understand her attempts to stop the program from running in order to escape the slide between lives, but I really felt her desperation towards the end. I really enjoyed the food for thought this one gave me as I sometimes saw myself a little too much in Laurel from time to time, but really have to applaud this novel for really putting the focus on Laurel really seeing herself in order to understand herself, not figuring out which guy she should be dating.

What If It’s You may rely a little too much on the idea that the child of divorced parents runs away from marriage, but it has a fun interplay of science and love. It feels like it might want to lean into a love triangle, but there’s a clear winner all the way through, so the romance is both tempered and sweet. Instead the focus is on Laurel, and I really enjoyed going on this journey of self-understanding with her. It was great to see physics woven into the story, even if I didn’t understand it, and I really loved the way things resolved themselves.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

This did not come off to me as a rom com, it's very sci fi. Seems like Laurel is just wanting AI and quantum physics to assure her of her choices and that it will work out with her partner. Sadly I didn't finish this book

There was a lot of quantum physics talk that made me feel dumb for not understanding. The romance was great, I love a good love triangle and I enjoyed this one very much.

3.25✨ 2.5🌶️

overall there were some things that i really enjoyed about this story, but there were other bits that took me out of it at times.

the premise itself was super interesting and i flew through the first 45% of this book. as an anxiety girl, i totally understood laurel’s “what if” worries. that being said, i found laurel as a character to be super frustrating at times. while i understood where she was coming from with these worries, the way she went about some things and acted in general turned me off. i think it was tough to understand why she was so worried about a future with ollie without having more of an understanding of their relationship from the start. you got some small glimpses, but her reactions (and his tbh) to things were confusing without more background on the history of their relationship.

the other thing that was tough to under was the whole tech component of the story, and im still not 100% sure how it all worked. but i did appreciate the idea of it and how it played into the story.

all this to say, while it wasn’t my personal favorite, i could see myself recommending this book to the right person.

thank you to Dell & Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!


a release day story is saved to my story highlight: arcs.
an additional post mentioning the book has also been posted: https://www.instagram.com/p/DEvMu11SpPS/?igsh=MTBjaDVmOGM1c3I2eg==

This novel had a very interesting setup. I really enjoyed the tech aspect of the storyline and how she went back and forth between realities. I did, however not enjoy how indecisive she was with her feelings. Both men didn't deserve her. Period. The FMC has valid complaints about both MMCs that she stresses throughout the book that would have me running for the hills. She would get to a point where she was thinking she was choosing one and then they would do something kind of shitty or not very considerate and she would be like "maybe I don't want this". And then they'd do something moderately redeeming and she'd switch realities.

I enjoyed the sci-fi elements of this book. The dialogue pulled me in as did the overall plot. There was romance, but not Romance, if you get what I mean. There could have been a little more, but overall a good read! Interested to see more from this author.

I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have received an advanced copy of What If It's You from NetGalley, and the author! 🫶

What If It's You has such great potential. I love the mix of romance and science fiction concepts fused together. However, this story wasn't my cup-of-tea. I loved and adored the science fiction concepts and the parallel worlds fascinated me. The romance on the other hand wasn't for me. I wasn't able to connect with the main character whatsoever. I do look forward to reading future works from this author and I do hope that this book finds its audience.

I love a little mind-bending in my fiction, and this book seemed really interesting.

In this inventive, high-tech take on the age-old question of “what if,” Laurel Everett gets the chance to explore an alternate version of her life, one where she said yes to a date with her old work crush, Drew, instead of committing to her current partner, Ollie. Thanks to a cutting-edge project at her job with Pixel, Laurel slips between timelines, living out two very different futures. But as the lines blur and the jumps become uncontrollable, she realizes this experiment in curiosity might cost her more than just clarity, it might erase her entirely.

I really enjoyed exploring the different lives our FMC could live and how she discovers what is actually the right future for her. The question of "what if" is prevalent throughout this book, and we get to see how people change depending on what happened in the past. The book was interesting and kept me engaged, and I recommend this contemporary romance with a little sci-fi thrown in there if that's your jam!

Review posted to Goodreads:
So I struggled initially to get into this because I found the main character to be kind of unlikable. But the story definitely grew on me and started to feel like a Black Mirror episode with a hint of Palm Springs. Once I realized it was definitely a love story, I was sold.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the copy!

Jilly Gagnon writes books that I like to read. This one was no different. Laurel Everett gets to use an alternate reality software to go back and see what her life would be like if she dated her work crush or stayed with her boyfriend. But now she is going back and forth between realities with no end in sight. No spoilers here...but this is definitely a great summer read.

This just wasn't the book for me. I started it well before the pub date but set it aside because I wasn't feeling the characters. I came back to it ready to read through to the end, and I did. I do think it was an interesting take on the alternative timeline trope, and an opportunity to talk about quantum physics a lot. It was more women's lit than romance, and of the three characters in the triangle I liked zero of them. I really needed to like the FMC but she was just really self-absorbed and not enough in a personal growth page. I usually feel pretty mid about a romance or women's lit book, but I really did find myself just determined to get to the end of this one. That said, if you are into physics and want to see that represented in some lighter fiction, this may be for you! Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions my own.

Laurel's lack of excitement about her boyfriend's upcoming proposal leads her to wonder what would've happened if she'd gone out with her work bff 5 years prior. She gets an opportunity to ask the question via AltR, her company's virtual reality project. The program works too well and Laurel wakes up in an alternate reality where she's with Drew, her work bff. As she navigates both worlds, she's forced to examine both lives and the choices she made to get there.

This book examines choices and consequences and love and quantum physics along with so many other compelling themes. Laurel is a very real and well-developed character. At first, she's the only one. As she switches between worlds, she starts to see and appreciate both Ollie and Drew and question her influence on them. She grows a lot through the story and the ending was incredibly satisfying. I also learned a little bit about quantum physics. Highly recommend!

Overall, I loved the general story line and the concept of intersecting parallel universes and scratching the itch of the proverbial question of "What if?". I found myself very invested in Laurel. I am not usually a fan of love triangles, but this kind of worked. The "D" world Laurel and Drew were irritating, finding myself wishing to see her going to a newer point in time after they were friends dor a little while where her and Drew's personalities were more similar to how they were in the "O" world-- because I feel like they would have worked. However, the loyalist in me is happy she ended up with Ollie in the end.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

"We were meant to walk into it together."


What If It's You? was an interesting time travel book with AI. It took me a while to get into because I just didn't really like the main character, Laurel. Eventually she started to grow on me, but it did take a while.

As for Ollie and Drew, well, Ollie is a golden retriever and has done no wrong in my eyes. It was clear that he was upset with her/life, and they needed to talk. As for Drew, honestly, I didn't see the romance between them in the other world. No one felt happy.

Other than that, it was just an okay book. Maybe if everyone talked, then things wouldn't have gotten out of control. Laurel wouldn't have used the machine and messed things up. But in the end, Laurel finally coming to terms with the fact that she needed to fix things for herself (and only herself) was nice.

Don't assume someone else's life would be better without you. Work on yourself, girlfriend.

In the end, I feel like we could have gone without the epilogue. Could just be me, though.

This was a cute book. I enjoy Gagnon’s writing but some of the more science-y elements failed to hold my interest making the book slow in parts. I’m not sure I’d consider this a romance but definitely would call it a second chance story for the FMC and her love interest. I enjoyed the element of personal growth in the story too.

This felt like a technological take on the Sliding Doors movie. The main character gets to see, via an alternate reality, what things would be like if she dated someone else. It’s an interesting idea, but at times was a little too filled with technical jargon. I liked the main character’s arc, and found the ending satisfying.

Thank you to Dell and NetGalley for this e-arc in exchange for this honest review.

I think that every single one of us has considered the road we didn't take - at least once. We've done the whole "what if" things that can drive a person crazy , so this book truly intrigued me as it was taking that topic on.

Laurel and Ollie are at that stage - where an engagement, marriage, house, etc should all be the next steps. Instead of Ollie freaking out, it's Laurel and she freaks out to a point where she gets into an alternate reality - one where she's in bed with her coworker, Drew, and well - is this the road not taken?

Then the story became just far too bogged down with quantum physics discussion - I got a degree in astrophysics, but being forced to read all of this science in a romance? Not for me. So I did DNF around 50% as I just couldn't stick it out - I didn't feel anything towards any character and just was really struggling.