The “What If” Guy by Brooke Moss
Contemporary Romance
E book
August 5, 2011
Entangled Publishing, LLC

Reviewed by Tori

Favorite Quote: “This town isn’t perfect, but it’s home. The people here love you, and they helped raise you, no matter what you think.”

Everyone has a “what if” guy in their past. The one person whose soul spoke to yours but fate plays with your destiny and you both go your separate ways. In Brooke Moss’s romantic contemporary, our heroine is given a chance to reconnect with her “what if” guy and have a second chance at love if she is willing to forgive and move forward from her past.

Autumn Cole left her tiny hometown of Fairfield, Washington in a cloud of dust after high school-determined to become the next Picasso. Now 13 years later, she comes back to Fairfield broke with a 12 year old son and an ailing alcoholic father. It’s easy, too easy in fact, to slip back into her role of the town drunk’s daughter. As Autumn tries to acclimate herself to to all the emotions she feels coming home, she runs into the one person she never thought she would ever see again. Henry Tobler. Her one and only love. She had her life all planned out with Henry but broke it off when she discovered she was pregnant by an ex boyfriend. She hasn’t seen him since that fateful day and seeing him now beings back all of her feelings for him that never seemed to fade.

Henry is Fairfield’s most eligible soon to be bachelor (he’s in the middle of a divorce) and is just as shocked as Autumn to see her there. Autumn broke Henry’s heart when she left him and while he is justifiably unsure of her now, he too senses they have unfinished business. As Autumn and Henry dance around their still burning attraction to each other, Autumn begins to reconnect with her ailing father and tries to show the town that she is not her father’s daughter.

Brooke Moss has written a delightfully heartwarming and romantic contemporary in The “What If” Guy. Filled with plenty of humor, snarkiness, and eccentric characters, we get a ring side seat as we watch Autumn try to deal with coming home after adamantly and loudly vowing never to return. Extremely character driven, it’s very easy to submerge yourself into the town’s residents lives and develop affection for them. Autumn is a wonderful single parent who has admirably dealt with the hand life gave her with humor, intelligence, and a lot of patience. Autumn’s inner monologues and clumsiness will have you laughing out loud. I enjoyed watching her with her son and her best friend Holly. She knows she has made mistakes and doesn’t attempt to gloss over them or wave them off. She owns up to them and attempts to make amends.

Henry is very swoon worthy in that he has waited 13 years (in his heart) for his true love to return. He did get married during their ‘separation’ but admits to Autumn and us that his wife was only a substitute for her and is in the middle of a divorce. I liked that Henry doesn’t immediately stalk Autumn and declare his undying love. He has some issues that need addressing and plus, he’s not sure about her. He needs time to trust her and himself again. Their romance progresses slowly through out the story. It’s not an over emotional tear jerking journey and it felt more real for that reason. Everyday romance doesn’t normally have a tragedy occurring every 10 minutes. They do hit some bumps in the road and there are trust issues to resolve but all in all it’s a happy time for them both. The only part I didn’t like was Henry has a problem of disappearing and not being upfront with Autumn and Autumn has a problem of not listening and assuming to much. That caused the most problems for them. They both tended to run when things became overwhelming to them. There were times when I wanted to step into the book and yell, “Shut up, stand still, and LISTEN!”

The supporting characters are portrayed brilliantly as nosy, concerned busybodies who all have advice to give, whether you want it or not. Ms. Moss reveals through out the book the deep affection they feel for Autumn and her son. She may have left them-but they never left her. Autumn’s relationship with her father is quite poignant and Ms. Moss does a fabulous job of allowing Autumn and her father work towards forgiveness at their own pace.

The ending is heartbreaking (get the Kleenex ready) yet gratifying as everything and everyone finds their place and settles in beautifully. It isn’t an easy ending but it’s a well won ending for out characters. I love the tiny epilogue added that is told from Henry’s POV. Wraps it all up nicely and left me a a smile.

Overall Rating: B

Recent Reviews:
Ex Libris – 9/10
Badass Book Reviews – 3.5/5
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