Cynically Sweet (Booklikes)

This book by Chrystine Alyx is a story that questions "What If" Dana, a main character, had taken an opportunity with someone else rather than marrying her husband. She asks Mattie, a co-worker, to research what happened with Jamie- the "other".

The plot is quite alright. It has an interesting premise and I like that there's a mystery behind it. I felt that the mystery aspects could have been better plotted, however. I've been reading and watching mysteries for years. This one seemed reminiscent of many ones that I've experienced before. As I read on, I don't feel that "What If" is an appropriate title. Yes, Dana wonders "what if I had gone with Jamie rather than getting married?" But the book doesn't really focus on Dana; it focuses more on Mattie, the person who is actually tracking Jamie down. Mattie doesn't really imagine "what if" in the way the title means; she wasn't the one involved in the scenario and didn't even know Jamie personally.

There were far too many characters for my liking. I didn't keep up with them all, I'll admit; I lost track because there were just so many. Many of them didn't get a proper introduction. I was mystified as to who Janet and Jamie were for a substantial amount of the book, despite both of them being quite important to the plot. I also didn't feel that Dana really did like Jamie's company; the flashbacks didn't seem reminiscent of some inspiring relationship. It just seemed like an ordinary seen. My thought is that she was just romanticising the moments they spent together.

I think that, primarily, the author just needs to tighten up her writing style. The majority of the book is very convoluted. It has a lot of characters and scenes which I feel were unnecessary. For example, the entire plot line with Mattie's sister's pregnancy turned out to be kind of meaningless to me. The same with the entire character of Dana. Despite her "What If" question being the premise of the entire book, I think that she was kind of useless and only served as a person to shame and blame for things. If she was so interested in finding this Jamie, than why couldn't she track the girl down herself? Sure, Mattie has experience in doing it, but if Dana was so interested, than she could have done it herself. This supposed interest just baffles me because she didn't really seem to care that much about finding Jamie, despite the way the author makes it seem...

Overall, I felt it turned out okay. It was an interesting mystery, but I felt that a lot of characters could have been dropped and the mystery improved.

I won a copy of this book via a First Reads giveaway and these are just my honest thoughts on it.