REVIEW OF What Could Have Been by Luke Melia

This review is a part of Outset Books Review Program.

Speculating about how certain events will unfold can result into having a huge impact in altering the consequences significantly, this is the reason why reflecting upon the same is known to be a natural part of human curiosity and imagination. 

The Blurb is as follows:

What Could Have Been tells a story of trauma, expectation, obsession, and loss, explored through five distinct parts spanning over three decades. Two strangers, Dale and Heather, meet by chance while on holiday in Greece. As their hands touch for a fraction of a second, they experience a day in an alternate future where they are married and have a family. When the day ends, they are pulled back to reality, weighed down with the memories of a lost lifetime. This vision causes their lives to intensely intertwine, impacting their decisions, relationships and identities. The two must navigate the complexities of what they mean to one another, as they struggle to rationalise an event nobody else could possibly understand and mourn a life that never existed.

My Review: 

It is always imperative to strike a balance between curiosity and acceptance of the reality. While exploring about mayhaps can be thought-provoking, it's also important to accept and appreciate the choices and experiences that have shaped our life and led us to where we are today.

In the book, ‘What Could Have Been’ by Luke Melia, we see how the author has tried to portray a beautiful journey, through the story of Dale and Heather, wherein one vision was all it took for their lives to upend, leaving behind a cacophony of chaos behind in its wake.

During a vacation in Greece with his girlfriend, Dale meets Heather for the very first time, who is also there with Lyndon. As their skin touches,

everything goes dark, pitch black in an instant, like a light bulb suddenly blowing out and they are transported into an alternate reality from where they would have to navigate further.

Both Heather and Dale have no idea what had happened, or how it had happened, but one thing was sure and that was they wouldn’t want to go back not knowing each other. The book then progresses into giving the readers a glimpse years after the vision and the resultant effects that it has.

In hindsight, the book gives us a beautiful message about how often there are times when we engross ourselves into reaching for things that are out of our reach, but in doing so, we forget about what we had right alongside us, thereby chasing some impossibility but forgetting about the possibilities. Hence, I am going to give this FIVE STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐