What If… by Kelly Rae
What If… is the debut novel by Kelly Rae, and as noted on her website… What If.. is a contemporary romance about losing love, finding it again and a little forgiveness along the way! Excellent description.
Blurb from Kelly’s Website:
On one fateful night during high school Katie Wright loses everything: her father, the first man she ever loved, dies in a car accident and Chris Staller, the first boy she’s ever loved, breaks her heart. Fast-forward ten years and Katie is a beautiful, successful woman who has spent the past decade doing her best to make her life all about work and to keep everyone at arms length—friends and lovers alike. But she’s lonely and beginning to awaken to the fact that she is only pretending to be happy and content. Working through her emotional challenges while maintaining a stellar career reputation is tricky, but she’s a fighter and always determined to come out on top.
When Katie pays a visit to her old high school, however, she runs into Chris, now a dedicated PE teacher who pines for the one he let get away. An upstanding member of the community and a much better man than he was a boy, Chris is determined to win Katie back at all cost. But Katie is less than receptive to the idea, and when he lays down a challenge, she is determined to come out on top again.
Review:
What If… is a love story that starts when our protagonists..Katie and Chris were still in high school…young love. But tragedy changes everything, and years go by before the two young lovers come face to face again.
Katie returns home, now a grown woman, and a successful attorney to take a job as an assistant DA, in this small town. Katie has no intention of meeting up again with Chris, as she has never forgotten what tore them apart, and still blames him partially, as well as herself for her father’s death all those years ago. Katie is only interested in working at her new job, and on occasion will meet with an old friend and her family. Only friend’s sometimes try to push things they think would help, bringing Katie & Chris together in situations that were uncomfortable for both.
Chris immediately wants Katie back, and has never really understood why she hates him. Katie refuses to face the truth… that she still has feelings for Chris. She has to learn to deal with forgiving herself first, then learning to move forward and forgiving Chris, who is no longer the young boy she knew years ago.
I enjoyed both Katie and Chris, and rooted for them to finally put the past aside and move forward. I thought that Katie was far too stubborn and despite all the signs, friends advice, her own feelings…she just couldn’t get past her fear to love. She truly needed to forgive, and see the light, before she could move forward.
The background story within the romance arc, was the trial Katie was working on to help prosecute a child rapist. Chris, who is a high school coach, was able to bring one of the boys to Katie and the DA to tell the truth about the rapist, and then others came forth. It was a good side story, and the closing arguments were good. I enjoyed some of the other characters that added to the town…Paul (DA), Sarah (her best & conniving friend), Sarah’s children, and other townsfolk.
I did like this book, but though I really liked Chris and Katie, I thought that some of their encounters were a bit repetitious, as I had noted about Katie’s annoying stubbornness. But I enjoyed the humor that Rae added to the story,and the aggressiveness of their friends trying to push them together. It did work out beautifully, and this turned out to be an excellent first novel by Kelly Rae.
Reviewed by Barb
