ONLINEBOOKCLUB.org review: 4 out of 4 stars

In her novel, This Nearly Was Mine, Nancy Farkas writes about one woman’s journey of self-discovery through her relationships with three different men. This poignant, funny, and fictitious memoir, chronicles the loves of the main character, Annie, and how each relationship defined portions of her life. This book was a rollercoaster of emotions, with a bittersweet yet, poignant ending. 

In 1980, twenty-three-year-old Annie has just graduated from college and decides to take a trip to Spain. She has decided not to marry her college boyfriend, Bill, due to his philandering ways. While on vacation, Annie encounters the irresistible Francisco. They embark on a summer love affair that will later haunt Annie for years to come. Many years later, Annie’s daughter travels to Spain and finds a way to contact Francisco. Annie’s daughter gives the information to her mother which sparks an online relationship between Annie and Francisco. This online relationship sets off a chain of events that makes Annie question her past decisions and relationships. The author describes Annie’s relationships with three men in her life: Bill, Francisco, and Matthew. Throughout these relationships, Annie discovers love, loss, conflict, and the trials of commitment.

Nancy Farkas creates a very relatable main character. The author makes you want to laugh and cry with Annie. The reader is pulled into Annie’s emotional struggles as she grows from an insecure, young woman. I like how the author talks about the movie stars who would play the characters. The reader is sucked into the different relationships that Annie chronicles. We see how Annie tries to compartmentalize her feelings for Francisco throughout many decades. In her relationship with Bill, we see Annie evolve past her insecurities. Lastly, the author describes the struggles Annie endured in her marriage to Matthew. The author uses a very candid tone throughout the novel. She makes a pointed statement about how one shouldn’t expect so much out of relationships. Through her characters, she talks about how you cannot define yourself just by past relationships. 

The author hits on some hard subjects such as abortion, infidelity, marriage, and heartbreak. Nancy Farkas portrays her characters as fallible human beings. I loved the way that the author portrayed Matthew, Annie’s husband. He was not a likable character at all, but I think that was the whole point. Even the author points out that he is not made out to be the villain, just someone who was going through their own issues as well. The author portrays Annie’s marriage to Matthew in a way that is, I think, relatable to many people. Annie and Matthew are two people struggling to make their marriage work and be in a committed relationship.

The way the author described Spain makes me want to travel to that gorgeous country. She goes into specific detail about all the historical sights that Annie went to. I can understand why Annie fantasized about going back. Annie found a deep love for the country because of what she experienced there. The author goes back and forth between the past and present. She does this in a way that does not confuse the reader.

I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. I read this book in one sitting, I could not put it down. I wanted to know how Annie’s story would wrap up, but it didn’t. I think that’s the whole point of the book, and about life, in general. We see throughout the novel how there is no satisfactory ending sometimes, whether it is with relationships or stories. I felt that the author spent too much time on Annie's relationship with Bill yet, this did not compel me to lower my rating. I like how the author didn’t sugarcoat anything about Annie and who she was as a person. She is not a perfect character, and neither were her relationships. I did not notice any major grammatical errors. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes memoirs or books about relationships. The novel is so much more than a romance novel. It is a novel about loss, regret, and acceptance. I hope that the author writes a second book that details more about Annie’s relationship with her children. I highly recommend this book.
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