What If — Shari Low
Come the Thirtieth birthday and Carly Cooper, still single and in a job that she hates, wonders if she accidentally has run away from her Mr. Right. So, she quits her job, packs her credit cards, and sets out in search of all her ex-boyfriends.
Overview
Carly Cooper celebrates her thirtieth birthday in 1999. And like almost everybody else, she ponders over how she dreamt her thirtieth birthday with a loving husband, couple of kids, and a settled life. Instead, here she is stuck in a job she despises, with no stable relationship, and as far from a settled life as one can get. So, she decides that before the millennium ends, she needs to take things in her hands and sets out on a journey to find Mr. Right. She makes the list of all her six boyfriends who adored her and were keen to tie the knot but she shied away every time. She decides to find each of her boyfriends in chronological order and see if they are the soulmates-missed by her.
However, none of the ex-boyfriends fill up the shoes for the Happily Ever After. One turns out to be gay, one is married, one wants revenge, and so on. The story ends with of course the Mr. Right coming along the way and rescuing the Damsel in Distress.
I liked
Carly, in her way of handling Night Clubs even the scrappy ones, was what I liked. She successfully turned many nightmarish nighclubs into money-making hubs. Although a bit more details on how she worked would have been welcome.
This is perhaps very few of the chick-lit books that I didn’t get gripped. I had to make efforts to complete this book even though I am in quarantine for COVID-19 and don’t have much to do. I can’t say that I liked anything in particular. The funny and casual style of writing was amusing for a while but soon became monotonous and desperate.
I didn’t like
A successful Night Club Manager with wonderful Boyfriends all ready to marry her and still she ends up single (which is absolutely fine), but in a shitty job that she despises and still she is successful at that job, is too fictional even for fiction.
I just found the entire plot to be either too cheesy or too sweet or just bland. Nothing that I especially didn’t like but nothing that I liked either.
Bottomline
A story of various What Ifs that revolve around a thirty year old woman in the year 1999 who wanted be married with kids by then and tries to turn her life around by the time the milennium ends.
I am not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship. — Loisa May Alcottz
