What Might Have Been by Holly Miller is a contemporary romance novel. The story in the novel is one that is told by showing two different paths from one choice alternating between those different views.

Lucy is at a crossroad in her life after just quitting her job. Lucy has a choice between either staying in her home town and following her dream of becoming a writer or moving to London with her best friend and taking another high pressure job in an agency.

Just as Lucy is about to make her decision setting her path for her future she walks into a pub where she meets Caleb. At the same time that Lucy is chatting with Caleb she sees her ex, Max, out on the street and stops to say hi to him. Caleb and Max will both be a part of Lucy’s future with the path she chooses determining how that future will play out.

Some may think a book like What Might Have Been by Holly Miller may be repetitive or confusing but reading this one I found it to be easy to follow and both directions Lucy’s life took were very different and entertaining. The story is thought provoking in the fact we all make choices daily and of course big choices in life could point one in a different way so it was intriguing to read just how different life could be for the main character. After finishing this one I will keep an eye out for more from this author in the future.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

✨ 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 ✨

And 𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗬 𝗣𝗨𝗕 𝗗𝗔𝗬 to @byhollymiller ! 🥳

✨𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄✨
📚 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗠𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝗲𝗻
📝 𝗛𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
320 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀

𝗠𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗦:
Oof 😮‍💨 Lordy, Lordy, Lordy I absolutely adore this book! I have never read such a uniquely written book and it took me by complete surprise. The emotions from one page to the next gave me such a readers high. I couldn’t wait to pick it up next and see what the next 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆 or 𝗴𝗼 brought me! It was a brilliant love story of the two lives the MC, Lucy, could have had if she choose to 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆 or 𝗴𝗼. The writing was beautiful and the story flowed so nicely together. I especially liked the telling of time being the same but different. That might not make much sense but just know you should pick this book up. Read it and fall in love like I did. Feel all the emotions. This will easily be a favorite of mine for this year and possibly forever. I will continuously recommend this beautiful story!

𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗 𝗜𝗙 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘:

📖 long chapters
💞 dual life choices
👩‍❤️‍👨 soulmates
🎭 tragedy
👩🏻‍💼 empowered woman

⚠️ trigger warning: mental health issues, sexual assault

Thank you so much to @putnambooks for the gifted copy of my new fave book!

𝗤𝗢𝗧𝗗: Do you ever think about the 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗳𝘀 in your life?

What Might Have Been by Holly Miller / When you are faced with two choices to make, with two possible outcomes, what will you choose? Easy and favorable or tough and outside of your comfort zone?

What might have been is very similar to Sliding Doors storyline, where the main character has two outcomes in life based on the choice they make. I enjoy such stories, that keep you intrigued to see which choice will lead to the desirable outcome!!

Our protagonist Lucy, after quitting her thankless job, has two choices to make from. One ‘to stay’ and write her own novel or second ‘to move’ to London and get a new job. Both the stories have a charming hero and the plot and character development is portrayed marvelously. The ending of the book is amazingly well done!

Thank you G.P.Putnam and NetGalley for my advance galley. I enjoyed reading this book a lot and would highly recommend to everyone as it’s available for grabs starting Jan 18, 2022

What Might Have Been
by: Holly Miller
PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G. P. Putnam's Sons

Holly Miller pours her best heartfelt, emotionally compelling style into her new book, What Might Have Been. Once again, she delivers originality and uniqueness in a love story that stirs my soul and awakens my senses. This is a contemporary romance, written in a style of two storylines based on different decisions of the main character.

Lucy faces choices on both her career path and her romantic possibilities. I find it easy to connect with Miller's characters, and she makes me think about love in a way that I never have before. Finding the love of our lives is a well paved road for some, yet a more complex and difficult journey for others. Miller fully captures the essence of navigating these varying pathways to love.

I discovered Holly Miller's writing in the difficult days of 2020, when I read her debut novel The Sight of You. That book left a moving and touching imprint in my heart through her splendid story. I have eagerly awaited her next book, and it is just as insightful, powerful, and poignant. It, too, will linger in my memory for quite a while!
Thank you to Net Galley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G. P. Putnam's Sons for the advance reader's copy and opportunity to provide my unbiased review.

#WhatMightHaveBeen #NetGalley

Happy pub day to What Might Have Been by @byhollymiller

Is there one big decision you would go back and change if you could? Then see where your life would have taken you?

Let me start by saying I really enjoyed this book! However, I made the mistake of reading this at the same time as Maybe in Another Life, not knowing they were both “what if” style books. It messed with my head and I repeatedly had to remind myself what was happening in each book.

I adored Lucy and Caleb, and adored Lucy and Max! If I were to have to pick, I’d want her with Caleb, but Max felt like a good fit as well. Despite his past choices. These style of books always make me play the what if game in my head and it’s insane the infinite amount of possibilities that exist when you think about every decision you’ve ever made that led you to where you are in this moment.

This book made me cry. Granted it’s not that hard to do, but I just fell in love with the characters and wanted their happiness fulfilled. I loved seeing how certain aspects of Lucy’s life was the same in both paths. Some things you just can’t change. So is that fate? At the end of the day, do some things happen no matter what choices we make? It’ll make your head spin if you sit and think about it for too long!

Thank you so much to @netgalley and @putnambooks for the arc in exchange for my honest review ❤️

Oh, I adore this book. Lucy is at a crossroads. She quit her job. She goes to a pub where she reads her fortune that tells her she’ll bump into her soulmate that day. But is it the good-looking stranger that she meets? Or her Ex that she sees walking outside? Does she move to London to chase after a writing a job? Or stay in her hometown to write the novel she’s always wanted to write?

This book goes back and forth between her two choices - does she stay or does she go? It’s extremely creative and makes you think about fate, destiny and how the choices we make lead us down different paths. It’s brilliant. It’s beautiful. It’s emotional. The characters were complex and well-developed. I’m on a roll with sad, impactful and emotional books and and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Give me all the romances that make me ponder life.

I really liked the premise of this book. I was sucked in at the beginning and thought the story concluded well but felt that the middle sort of lags. The story centers around the MC, Lucy, and whether she decides to stay or go for a job opportunity. We see each timeline and how situations differ or remain the same. The idea behind it was intriguing and it kept me wanting to find out how things turned out. Since a great deal of time was devoted to the timelines we don't really get a deep look at Lucy. We find out more about her through conversations of those around her, often to the point that it feels awkward. (Like the number of ppl that ask her about her writing seemed really strange) While it was sweet story I didn't really see why she paired off with each love interest. The ending was a little surprising but a good way to close the story. This was a decent read that I would suggest others check out. 3.5 Stars

CW: assault, death, cheating

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC.

What Might Have Been was a beautiful love story that kept me reading for hours. When I read the synopsis, I knew I had to read it and it sounded awesome but peculiar at the same time, and it truly was.
I thought that the different “parts” would be confusing and at first, they were a little but it was easy to get used to and after a couple of chapters, you are fully into the story. The characters were very interesting and I liked that things were not black or white in that matter, they felt very real and it was easy to like them.
There were parts that were heartbreaking and there were others that were just beautiful. The pace was good and the writing was descriptive enough.
Overall, I really liked reading it and deeply enjoyed the story and especially the whole idea behind the two different parts of the story. Definitely worth a try.

I just love this book! Early reviews mentioned a "Sliding Doors" aspect but that didn't really make me rush to read it. What I loved was that you care about these characters and I felt compelled to return to the story of Lucy, Max, Caleb and their extended networks. and see how life changes based on the choices they made. I loved the subtleties and that neither path was clearly the "right path" , instead each offered joy and pain--just like real life. The author shows great skill weaving in the backstory and revelations that add depth to the story. This was just a really great read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the advanced copy for review. All opinions are my own.

Wow. I am utterly speechless. What Might Have Been left me in a puddle on the floor. I wasn't expecting to be so moved by this book.

What Might Have Been follows Lucy who has just quit her job. She's feeling rather dejected and is trying to figure out what she should do now. She's unsure if she should stay with her sister and pursue writing or move in with her friend in London to write for a marketing agency. She's mulling over these two options when she bumps into Caleb at the bar and she also runs into her old college flame Max. From there the book begins alternating life paths of whether she should stay in her hometown and see what could be with Caleb or go to London to live with her friend and see what could become of her and Max again.

This book was a roller coaster of emotions for me. Lucy believes in soulmates because of her parents so you're not sure which one is her soulmate. I found myself rooting for both Caleb and Max. I wasn't sure where the story would end up.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves romance and trying to figure out what might have been.

I absolutely adored What Might Have Been. What really decides who we choose to be with. The story, told in alternating POV of should Lucy stay in her hometown or GO after up and quitting her day job.

Should she chase her past love or potentially seek out a new one?

Holly Miller did a wonderful job yet again with character development and a flawless plot line.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I wanted to love this story so much. I loved the idea of which route should I take, competing for story lines. It ended up falling flat and I really struggled to get into it.

Lucy has just quit her job and has a choice to make. She can either stay in her hometown, working at a hobby shop, and try write a novel like she has always wanted, or she can move to London, and take a job with another agency. Her ex-boyfriend Max lives in London, and she has always seen him as the one who got away. If she stays though, she might find love with photographer, Caleb.

This book is told in a 'sliding door' sort of format, where we follow each of her options to see where her decisions would lead her. In all honesty, I've never really been a fan of this kind of dual lives storytelling, but I think that this book does a great job of it. My personal issue with the format is that neither ever seems like the absolute correct answer, and I always find myself wishing for a third option as a compromise of the two.

I did end up really enjoying the book. It was emotional and thought provoking, and I thought the two storylines were well woven. The ending satisfied me, and I keep going back and thinking about it, which is always high praise for a book from me.

Thank you to Penguin Group for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book is fine. I really liked the idea of what might have been. I enjoyed seeing the small things that were in each timeline and how they changed based on the decisions made. However, I really didn't like the main character. She made some decisions that seemed ridiculous but was also very insecure and let it run her whole life. ⭐⭐⭐ I just wanted a bit more.

Holly Miller has done it again!!

I loved Holly’s last book, and What Might Have Been was just as good! I loved the dual storyline with this book, it was hard for me to choose which life of Lucy’s I liked better. It was interesting reading the what if’s and what might have beens from both sides. Life has a weird way of evolving and I was happy with the ending, I was a little worried how it might end, but I felt closure from both sides.

It really was a lovely book. I love the English setting, and enjoy books set in the London area. The writing was wonderful and the storyline was interesting and captivating. I highly recommend it!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC copy!

Thank you so much for this ARC! I loved Holly Miller's last novel, The Sight of You, and this one was equally as beautiful.

Although the sliding doors storyline isn't not groundbreaking, What Might Have Been did an excellent job at separating the two lives. If you are like me and are a sucker for a romance based in London, you'll devour this book.

Usually I find myself rooting more for one life, and I slightly did here as well, but as a reader I enjoyed both storylines. I found purpose in both her life with Max and her life with Caleb.

After both of these hits, Holly Miller will be an automatic purchase for me.

Thanks again!

Is it destiny or chance that decides who we are meant to be, and who we are meant to love? Is there such a thing as a sol mate?

I am a sucker for "what might have been" romances and the premise of this story is intriguing. Told in a Sliding Doors type format - we get the same story told from two different timelines based on a choice or circumstances. We have Lucy who has just quit her job. She has a choice to make: STAY in her hometown, write the novel that she has been longing to write, and get to know Caleb, a photographer who she finds interesting and attractive. Or GO to London, take a job with another agency and see if she might rekindle her relationship with Max, the "one who got away".

I appreciated the exploration of how our pasts can shape our present, and it was interesting experiencing how many of the events and personal relationships seemed like "destiny" because they happened in both sides of the story - in the end are you truly living the life you were meant for regardless of how you get there?

This story does pack an emotional punch. Holly Miller has a way of drawing you in and connecting you with her beloved characters. I would definitely recommend!

What Might Have Been is a Lucy's two tales of the classic dilemma - should she stay or should she go. Lucy has a tough decision to make move to London for a new advertising job or stay in her hometown and work on her novel. Told in alternating timelines you see what would have happened if she stays and if she goes. In one timeline Lucy is reunited with the one that got away, Max, and in the other timeline she meets a new guy, Caleb.

This has a lot of things I love in a story including dual timelines of what might have been depending on a decision by the main character. However this one fell a little short for me just because the middle felt like it dragged on. I also was a little bit confused by the set up of the chapters as the chapters didn't split up the timelines so you could get both stories in one chapter.

I enjoyed the lessons the Lucy learned like do you end up with who you're supposed to end up with no matter what. I liked one of the love interests more than the other (Team Caleb aka team stay).

There was an infidelity storyline that just felt kind of icky to ,e as well as a backstory of Lucy's that in a way didn't feel like it totally fit in. Overall this was a fun story though and if you enjoyed Maybe in Another Life or The Two Lives of Lydia Bird give this one a try too.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love stories that have the what if aspect and Ms. Miller makes the 2 paths easy to distinguish by calling them Stay or Go. One night after Lucy quits her job she goes to a local pub and meets Caleb but then she also sees the one that got away, Max. This is when it is split into Go - Max or Stay - Caleb.

What happens throughout the book is learning about their relationships and how each path has a different effect on other friendships and relationships in Lucy’s life.

I really loved this book but the most important question is #teamMax or #teamCaleb.

What Might Have Been by Holly Miller

Well I have to admit this story took me completely by surprise. I was not expecting to become so emotionally invested in the outcomes of Lucy’s timelines the way that I did. I love this idea of there being multiple paths a person can choose to take in life, but they’ll still end up exactly where they’re supposed to be. Who hasn’t wondered where they would be in their life if they had done something differently?

The story begins with Lucy at a crossroads in her life. She has just spontaneously quit her job and she doesn’t have a plan. She stops at a pub on the way home where she meets Caleb, a handsome stranger who she strikes up a conversation with. At that exact same moment she sees her ex walking past the pub’s window. Her horoscope told her that she would meet her soulmate that day…but which man is it referring to? From there the story splits into two timelines: In one, Lucy moves to London to pursue her career and hook up with Max, the love of her life who broke her heart years ago. In the other, she stays in her hometown and decides to see what happens with Caleb, the cute photographer she met at the bar. The timelines move parallel to each other, with some events overlapping and some that are drastically different.

This book was heartbreaking, thought provoking and uplifting. I was super emotional, especially towards the end. I loved Miller’s writing style, which really drew me in and made me feel connected to Lucy’s character. Lucy is driven and strong and she knew her heart even when she was simultaneously falling in love with two very different men. Miller managed to delve deep into some big questions about life and love. Do we have a soulmate or is love a choice we make? It was hard to choose which timeline I preferred. Both were filled with uplifting love and heartbreak in one form or another. This was a beautiful, emotional story that I will be thinking about for a long time. Perfect for fans of The Two Lives of Lydia Bird or anyone who has ever asked themselves “What if…?”

A heartfelt thank you to NetGalley, Holly Miller and Penguin Group Putnam for bringing this book into my life to read and review.