The Year of What If: A Novel by Phaedra Patrick

On the brink of her second marriage, Carla Carter feels she's found her perfect match in Tom, whom she met through Logical Love, her own pragmatic dating agency. Despite her confidence, a family curse haunting Carter women with bad luck in love lingers in Carla's mind. Seeking reassurance, she reluctantly visits a fortune teller, expecting affirmation for her upcoming nuptials. Instead, the tarot cards unveil a startling revelation: the true love of Carla's life is not Tom, but one of several men she briefly dated during her transformative European gap year twenty-one years ago.

With her wedding looming, Carla embarks on a quest across Europe to reconnect with those exes from her past. From the vibrant streets of Spain to the romantic landscapes of Italy, she retraces her steps, hoping to disprove the fortune teller's prediction. Along the way, Carla navigates memories both cherished and forgotten, encountering old flames who evoke a range of emotions—from nostalgia to uncertainty.

As Carla delves deeper into her journey, she confronts questions about fate, destiny, and whether the past can be reshaped to alter the future. Each encounter with her former loves forces her to reconsider her beliefs about love, luck, and the possibility of rewriting her family's romantic legacy. With the clock ticking toward her wedding day, Carla wrestles with decisions that could redefine not only her own happiness but also the entire narrative of her family's history.

In a story that blends romance, self-discovery, and the tantalizing possibility of changing one's fate, Carla's quest across Europe becomes a journey of introspection and transformation, where the search for true love intertwines with the search for personal truth. ❤️📚❤️