If He had been With Me by Laura Nowlin
If He Had Been With Me
by Laura Nowlin
Young Adult
397 Pages
Released April 2013
Rating: ★★★★
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Content Warnings
Despite being in a horrible reading slump, this book temporarily pulled me out of it. Beautiful, and yes, ultimately heartbreaking, this book delivered on the feels despite the slightly annoying main character.
This book follows Autumn and her relationship Finn - the son of her mother’s best friend (and also her next-door neighbor). It starts at the end - with a vague hinting of an accident with an uncertain outcome. As Autumn narrates the events leading up to that fateful night, we slowly begin to learn the complexities of her and Finn’s relationship as well as the potentially devastating outcome of her decisions.
I heard someone describe this book as a YA Collen Hoover and I think that really fits this book well. This book reads quick despite its nearly 400 pages and I found myself pulled into Autumn and Finn’s story despite the fact that I strongly disliked Autumn as a character. Her thought-process and decisions were downright infuriating, though coming from an adult reading a book meant for teenagers, I am clearly not the target audience.
Overall, I ended up really enjoying this book. Though the ending seemed pretty clear from the get-go, I still found myself hoping for a happier outcome. Do Finn and Autumn get their happy ending? Well, dear reader, you’ll just have to read the book and see.