Reviews tagging 'Grief'

If He Had Been with Me by Laura Nowlin

58 reviews

speterson47's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

3.0

Autumn and Finn (or Finney), have been best friends forever, until they sort of weren't anymore, but their moms' are still best friends and they live next store to one another. We hear the story from Autumn's perspective and jump back in time often to when they were close. What was it like when they were close? How will their high school years go if they aren't best friends anymore? What would it be like if they were maybe more than best friends?

Would recommend to fans of romance and realistic fiction with a touch of mystery and drama. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

Moderate: Grief, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

reading_binosaur's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

A lovely coming of age story about being a girl in high school and what that all entails.
In my humble opinion, Autumn and Finny are soulmates, and it just took way too long to figure that out....

Spoiler

and now they'll never know what it's like to be together; at least Autumn has her baby to remind her of Finny.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Suicide attempt, Car accident, Grief, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

erica_reads_things's review against another edition

emotional funny sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

A pretty standard YA tragic love story, but it was entertaining enough! Captured the progression of high school and growing up well. I liked the characters. Nothing incredibly compelling but also not bad! I could see my younger self bawling at this one lol. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcohol, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Grief, Self harm, Death, Infidelity, and Pregnancy

Minor: Vomit, Fatphobia, and Eating disorder

vibingandy's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

cheesy in an almost endearing way. reminds me of the finale song from hadestown in the way they structured the story. could not put it down

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Grief, Eating disorder, Alcohol, Self harm, Pregnancy, Vomit, Rape, Death, and Medical content

luvbooks_13's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Death, and Panic attacks/disorders

lpannell's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

feels like a book that would’ve made me sob if i read it in high school. as an adult, didn’t totally see it as horrifically sad. absolutely a tragic ending for sure, but felt like very young writing.

Spoiler

i didn’t even realize how finny actually died until i watched a tik tok which feels like a copout </spoiler

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Mental illness, Self harm, and Grief

proudtobeabookaholic's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

Autumn and Finn have been best friends during their childhood and done everything together. But when they start high school they end up in different crowds and drift apart. Their families are neighbors and hang out, so they still see each other, but it's not like before. Autumn get together with Jamie, and Finn with Sylvie, but she can't help thinking, what if...

This is a really good YA that display a lot of relatable subjects: first love, when it's okay to have sex, being drunk for the first time, the relations to parents and friends etc. It also brings up mental health issues. I have to say that the youths in this book are unusually well-behaved, and it's really nice, because it gets rather emotional and sad later on (have your tissues ready if you easily cry when you read!).

The reason for not giving it five stars? It's a bit predictable at times and it felt too long. For a while it seemed like events were just stacked up for no reason and it became somewhat repetitive. I also would have liked to get both POV's, not just Autumn's. But over all it's a really good book and I certainly recommend it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Alcohol and Pregnancy

Minor: Infidelity

sunny_not's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

If the ending was not the stupidest ending that I have ever read this book could've been a 4 star read;however, although I really enjoyed the book till the 75% mark I really disliked how the author wrapped up the story. It felt like there were too many loose ends and

Spoiler

her getting pregnant does not tie the story in my opinion

So this book ended up being a meh. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Alcohol, Car accident, and Death

themelodicblue's review against another edition

emotional funny sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Spoiler

i should’ve ended the book when he asked her to be his girlfriend. i hate it i hate it i hate it. i’m so sad.

Spoiler

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Suicide, Grief, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

jana_mn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Death, Alcohol, Grief, Car accident, and Mental illness

Moderate: Self harm

Minor: Rape