This is a short story (anthology, really) compiled of eighteen small snippets of alternate lives... for the author. Like snapshots within his life that he took and rewrote, exploring what if and could be moments. He purported within the preface that they all essentially hold a modicum, however wide or narrow, of truth, but one in particular, that was not finished, contained a whole truth.

They kind of remind me of essays or musings, since reading from one story to another, there is no cohesiveness, no coherence... purely randomness. You have to take each as a standalone, however short or long they may be, and with a grain of salt.

I really liked the concept, the idea of being able to rework a piece of your life... make a different choice, be a different person or gender, exact revenge, change certain elements or perspectives, or have events unfurl in a completely different manner. A couple of these stories left me confused, and I had to reread them and still felt lost. Others had a bit of mystery, suspense, thriller, a small bit of love, a good handful of paranormal, dash of whimsy, child's POV, and a mix-in of dystopian. A couple were on the umm-ok-then, head-scratch side. But, the one that gave me goosepumps was my fave. So little bits of everything.

And it was fun trying to guess which story was one that was true.

3.25🌟

Okay, so this book had such a fun and exciting concept, but the execution? Makes it hard to understand. I totally got the individual stories, but every time a chapter changed, I was just lost. Like… when is this happening? Where are we now? The timeline jumped around in a way that made it hard to follow, and I kept having to stop and reorient myself.

That said, I did enjoy the stories themselves! Once I got past the confusion, they were engaging and interesting. I just wish the structure was a bit clearer because I feel like I spent too much time figuring out what was going on instead of fully enjoying the book. If you don’t mind a bit of timeline chaos, you might love this—but for me, it was a bit of a struggle.

Thanks Netgalley and the author for the ARC🤩🐇💬

A rich set of stories based on all the what ifs. Some really enriching stories. All varied. A few I liked more than others but all worth a good read as a whole. I love the concept of this. I don't think I'm brave enough to do this on my own life. But sometimes I think "oh what if I'd had the perfect line " or didn't say no to something etc.. there is one story of course in this book, which was true. I didn't know absolutely which it was. I certainly knew which I didn't want it to be though!