[Review] What if by Shirley Anne Edwards

What If by Shirley Anne Edwards
Publisher: Shirley Anne Edwards
Publishing Date: Sept. 22, 2014
Format: ebook, ARC
213 Pages
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

Synopsis 

Sixteen-year-old Wendy Wyman is bereft over the death of her best friend, Peter Preiss, whose body has been found at the bottom of the town lake. She blames herself because she allowed him to go back to his family’s lakeside boathouse late at night where they had just made love for the first time. She wonders what she could have done differently to stop Pete from being killed, and thinks back to the beginning of the school year when her whole life changed forever.

Wendy will stop at nothing until she finds out the person responsible for killing Peter, who was bullied by most of the students in their junior class. She is in for even more of a shock when she finds out that not only did Pete keep dark secrets from her, but a few of her close friends are hiding ones as well. This also includes Dylan Mayone, the new popular boy at school, who wants her for his own, and may have had a hand in Pete’s death.

My Review

I received a free copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review. 

I have to say I really enjoyed this book! I wasn't sure exactly what to expect since I've never read anything by this author before. I loved how this book was set up: we knew right away that Peter was killed, but we didn't know how, we didn't know why, and we certainly didn't know who did it. Wendy was a curious girl who often couldn't make up her mind. She wavered between wanting to be with Dylan, the hot, new kid in school, and Peter, her best friend for as long as she can remember. At first, I was a little annoyed that she couldn't make a decision, but then I realized that this is actually really true to a girl her age. Teenagers never know what they want; they tend to want a little bit of every choice they have, so Wendy is definitely acting like a normal teenager. I liked seeing Wendy and Peter in their daily lives, how they interacted with people and each other, and how they came to be more than best friends. 

Edwards did a really great job with this book. I found myself drawn into the story and Wendy's life right away. I wanted to know what happened between Wendy and Peter, and what happened to Peter. he definitely wasn't the popular kid in high school, so why would he die? Such a sad story but I think it was very well written and Edwards should have a very good future as an author :)