What If...Everyone Knew Your Name by Liz Ruckdeschel and Sara James

Overall Rating: 3 out of 10
What If...Everyone Knew Your Name by Liz Ruckdeschel and Sara James is a novel where the reader controls the character's decisions and ultimately decides her fate. Haley Miller, high school sophomore, just moved to New Jersey, and there are plenty of paths for her to take. She could try to join Coco de Clerq's posse of the most popular girls in school, or she could befriend wannabee Annie Armstrong. And then there's Irene Chen, artist slash outcast. Besides her choice of friends, Haley's also got a healthy picking  of the local boys: Reese Highland, adorable next door neighbor; Spencer Eton, boarding school bad boy; Devon, slightly older photographer; or Sebastian Bodega, spanish exchange student. It's up to you to choose what Haley does, where she goes, and who she chooses.
     Although it was fun deciding Haley's fate, there were many downsides to this book. For example, it took a very short amount of time to finish one story, because after each chapter, there are options for you to choose from, and with each option comes the page number that goes along with it. For example, at the end of one chapter, it said, "To have Haley hang out with Annie and see more of Sebastian's bodacious bod, turn to page 137. To put a little distance between Haley and her oddball study group, turn to page 119" (103). The reader skips twenty to thirty pages after each chapter, which makes the story a very short read. Additionally, if you lead Haley to social death, the end of the chapter reads, "Hang your head and go back to page 1". So, one just read two hundred pages only to find that they had to start over. It was very frustrating.
    In spite of the creative format for this novel, the overall story was boring and poorly written. For example, the idea of the girl moving to new state is hardly original, and the major event in the story was a house party. Also, several ideas were brought up in the beginning of the novel, such as a Spanish project or Haley trying out for the soccer team, but they disappeared in the midst of the story, and were just forgotten. In addition, the dialogue was unrealistic. For one thing, it was very cliche. Also, Haley's thoughts or emotions were rarely revealed. The reader had to decipher what she was thinking through her words and sometimes actions. I enjoy, when the story is in third person, for the character's thoughts to be revealed, such as in italics, or another clever way the author has conjured. However, it was impossible to tell what Haley was thinking and the reader cannot form a connection with her.

     Readers who enjoyed other novels in What If... series will certainly like this book.
Other books in the series: What If...You Broke All the Rules, What If...Everyone was Doing It, What If...All The Rumors were True, What If...Your Past Came Back to Haunt You, What If...All The Boys Wanted You, What If...All Your Dreams Came True, What If...All Your Friends Turned On You