If Only is the first fiction novel by Melanie Murphy, but you don't notice that while reading - I knew because I follow her on her Youtube channel and have been hyped about this book since she announced she was writing something. So I was influenced by her to buy her book because I liked her as a person, but the book did not dissappoint! I am gonna start with the negative stuff, because I gave 4/5 stars, so why take one off? What annoyed me were the specific music titles throughout the book. I just don't enjoy that because when reading, I usually don't listen to music and I basically knew none of the songs she mentioned and couldn't imagine their vibe. There were some weird words (like "jaysis"), but that's maybe irish slang? I think they do make sense when spoken, but aren't appropriate for written context. I also think that Erin's behavior towards Rachel was a tad inconsistent and I sometimes didn't know why she changed so radically towards her. In general, Erin wasn't my favorite character in the book, but the protagonist doesn't have to be likeable in my opinion, just reasonable in their actions - which Erin is like 90% of the time. Okay, as you can see, the negative stuff isn't anything massive, just some thiny things you could tweak and improve on! What I liked was the incorporation of the irish culture, so nice to read about it! My favorite characters in the book are definitely Granny (because I love my grannies too!) and Rachel (she is literally perfect and I love that this book shows you don't have to be a Rachel!). The idea was also intriguing, because I am someone who always things about my choices and "if only"s. In conclusion, I think this was a good start for a debut novel, so probs to Melanie! And I will definitely check out her new novel, because I see a lot of potential in her work.