Book Review: If He Had Been with Me by Laura Nowlin
With friendships lost and found, and a doomed romance, I knew I had to review If He Had Been with Me for you guys. Not only because it’s super popular and has been recommended on every social media platform I’m on, but because it’s genuinely a good book. There’s a reason it ended up on my Top Ten Best Reads of 2022 blog post.
Book Information
Autumn knows she’s not like everyone else. Sure, she’s “pretty” by other people’s standards, but she’s also weird, too. Her only best friend for most of her life was Finny, her mother’s best friend’s son. They’re basically like family and Finny and Autumn have been inseparable since birth. Until, they weren’t.
Now, as Autumn and Finny navigate high school, they find out where they fit within society’s standards even if that means they’re not allowed to hang out together. But as they get older, it seems like neither can forget the bond that they share, and it might be something more than just friendship.
Review | Heidi Dischler
Alright. I’m going to start with the writing, the characters, and the plot before getting into specifics about what I liked about the story and disliked.
With the writing specifically, I thought it was beautifully written and very in tune to its main character. However, some of the writing to me felt so monotone and just… flat. I don’t know if that’s because Laura Nowlin was trying to make it sound more like the main character, Autumn, but to me, it just felt forced with writing. For one thing, inner thoughts, writings, and anything that wasn’t dialogue had no contractions. Instead of saying “can’t,” it would be cannot. Instead of “it’s,” it became it is. It honestly drove me a little mad and I cannot even begin to explain the reason why. It just peeved me.
Character-wise? This book landed right on the mark. The characters felt unique, well thought out, and completely individualistic when it came to quirks, emotions, and driving forces. Autumn was well-written even if she was a bit annoying at times. Finn, of course, was my favorite. Because, of course, the nice, shy, cutesy guy is my favorite. I love a dude who blushes.
Now, plot? There are a couple of things I would’ve personally done differently. I didn’t like the fact that Nowlin started the book talking about the tragedy that drives the book forward. It would’ve been much more entertaining to me to not know about this thing that literally destroys Autumn and just find out when she finds out in the book. It felt like a prologue and I don’t like prologues. Also, why did Laura Nowlin have to do that to me…. It hurt. Like, bad bad.
Spoilers ahead.
Is it just me, or is it always the nice person, the kind and caring and considerate person, who dies a tragic and early death?? Literally my least favorite trope of all time. Why does the nice person have to die. It makes no sense to me. Maybe because I feel like the nice person in my own story, so I’m just sitting here thinking, “Oh, yeah, my tragically young death is right around the corner.” It just sucks. Kind people never get their happily ever afters. Finny deserved it more than anyone so it really pisses me off that he was the one who had to die.
Also, I totally guessed that she was gonna get pregnant with his baby. Not surprising in the least and felt more like a letdown than anything.
Overall, despite my rantings, this book definitely deserves 4.5 stars (rounded to 5 for Goodreads). I think it’s definitely worth the hype, but don’t read it if you’re prone to crying and depressing things make you rethink your life choices. This book is 100% depressing and will make you wonder why you’ve made the decisions you’ve made. To be honest, though, if you’re a glutton for depressing books like I am, you’ll love it 🙂
Source: Personal Copy
