3.5 stars.

Erin is almost 30 years old with only a broken engagement and a boring job in a cafe to her name. Desperate and longing for change, Erin gets a chance to see what alternate lives could look like when her beloved granny gifts her a special pendant passed down through generations. As Erin looks over all her 'If Only's', will she begin to change what she needs to her in her present day life and find a form of true, meaningful happiness?

This was a really strong, witty and fun book to read and perfect for this time of year and reading outside in the sun, I must say. I'm a big fan of Melanie, and I loved her non-fiction book so had great hopes for this one and I wasn't disappointed. Melanie was really able to bring out her Irish humour, give no shits attitude in her debut novel, and lend them to Erin's personality and the many, many 'Irishisms' in this book left me smiling (and did give me a giggle when I imagined people who don't spend a lot of time around Irish people reading the book and probably raising their eyebrows A LOT).

There's a lot to love about Erin from her general, everyday girl looks and personality to her confusion about life and what she's suppose to be doing (because honestly, who the hell knows what they're doing). There's definitely an belief that you're suppose to be on the golden road of success by the time you're 30, probably with a ring on your finger and all your future children's birth dates arranged etc, and it's terrifying when you're erring on the side of 30 (like me, eek) and well, your life isn't all rosy and glorious AND you're second-guessing yourself just as much, if not more, than when you were 21. I liked seeing a character who honestly was a bit of a mess with her life choices, and that she didn't have an easy fix in the novel or even have everything completely perfect by the end of it because well, that wouldn't be realistic!

I loved Erin's granny who was very typical Irish granny, and definitely gave me the urge to run home and give my beloved gran a squish. As someone who counts her gran as one of her favourite people in the world, Granny Beglan definitely stole my heart and plenty of my tears (while in public!). Erin's friend group (Destiny's Child) were also a bit of fun, and it was really nice to see a fun cast of friends with lots of different personalities in the mix (and sexualities).

There were a few times throughout the book that Erin would specifically mention the songs she was listening to or heard playing by name, and honestly I was not a fan of this. I tend not to mind pop culture references too much but I prefer when it's TV shows or movies, rather than the music. So the music in this one didn't work for me (though I guess it makes it easy to create a Spotify playlist for this book!).

And while overall I did appreciate Erin due to her reliability and realness, I did actually find it hard to like her and there were times I thought I'd find it hard to be her friend because she seemed like a lot of hard work. She was extremely judgemental, and while I liked that Erin did call herself out on this and was well aware of this particular flaw - it still got a bit annoying at times and a bit too much for me.

The magical element in this book of the family pendant was a really nice spin to the story and I really hope that when I turn 30, my gran hands me down something similar. How amazing would it be to find out all your 'If Only's'. I did very much enjoy this book and it makes me really excited to see what else Melanie can bring to the world of fiction because this was a very strong start!