[Review] Me Myself & Him - Chris Tebbetts

Summary: When Chris Schweitzer takes a hit of whippets and passes out face first on the cement, his nose isn't the only thing that changes forever. Instead of staying home with his friends for the last summer after high school, he's shipped off to live with his famous physicist but royal jerk of a father to prove he can "play by the rules" before Dad will pay for college.

Or . . . not.

In an alternate time line, Chris's parents remain blissfully ignorant about the accident, and life at home goes back to normal--until it doesn't. A new spark between his two best (straight) friends quickly turns Chris into a (gay) third wheel, and even worse, the truth about the whippets incident starts to unravel. As his summer explodes into a million messy pieces, Chris wonders how else things might have gone. Is it possible to be jealous of another version of yourself in an alternate reality that doesn't even exist? (Pub Date: Jul 09, 2019)

I confess I was disappointed. This isn't supernatural or science fiction, it's just a story of how life can be different depending on a single fact.

Chris trips on the floor, almost breaking his nose. This is, if his mother finds out he's been tripping on whippets his last summer before college may be completely different. Narrated in alternate chapters we find out how both of his lives were, as he tries to overcome his issues with his estranged father and with his best friends, which may be a love triangle.

I think it's an interesting exercise. Somewhere in the book they do start discussing about the possibility of existing other selves, with different lives. But I'm sorry that it never goes anywhere really, and that's why I don't call this a sci-fi. It'd be the same as calling a book a drama because a character cried, or a romance because someone got married. So don't be me—start the book knowing this is more like one of these visual novel games when you have to make a choice to know what happens in each timeline.

Which is still interesting, to be honest. It wasn't what I wanted and it didn't blow my world, but the situations Chris needs to deal with, the relationships he needs to understand and fix, they're very relatable. This was a great way to get to know Chris himself. All the themes explored were equally food for thought, the author has a way to bring up important topics without sounding preachy.

As for the ending, I confess I'll need a second read to make sure I understood. It sure didn't go boom, so I'll call it lukewarm. Not bad but not really the best. To the last page I expected there to be a reason I had to read two different stories about Chris's summer, and there was none.

To be honest, I prefer playing visual novels; not a book format I fell in love with. 

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

Rating: 3 out of 5.