Reviews

If He Had Been with Me by Laura Nowlin

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madelinederoo's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing sad medium-paced

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

3.75

I don’t know what to think about this book: there were so many parts were I was cringing how Autumn handled thing like a child (technically she’s was most part the book). And I hated Jamie so much and her relationship with him. Finny is just a better guy for Autumn! But the reason why they fell apart in middle school and the miscommunication about it was so childish and unnecessary.

But then the end made my heart squeeze a bit.

I would have definitely liked it more if I read this when I was still in high school.

So it’s a good 3 stars for me. And I’m definitely curious about the sequel.

annereads222's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

eri_sfb's review against another edition

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1.5

I don't even know where to start. Right from the beginning, I had a feeling that something big was going to happen by the end. But boy, I didn't expect it to be crammed into the last few pages like that. It felt rushed, almost as if Nowlin was on a strict page limit and tried to wrap it all up too quickly.

Another issue I had was with the writing style itself. Personally, it just didn't click with me. I found it to be quite choppy, lacking smooth transitions between different events or the passage of time. Nowlin heavily relied on the use of "***" to indicate a shift in segments or to recount past events, which didn't sit well with me. And also, I understand that casually, teens will say/type out "I dunno" but after the 18637382th time, it got so irritating.

Overall, while the story had potential, the abrupt ending and the writing style were disappointing for my taste.

divreads's review against another edition

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I dnf'ed the book because it was so boring and i didnt really like any of the characters and the mc's relationship. It was not really getting sad too and i did not want to wait till the end.

cassidyrh's review against another edition

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still indecisive on whether i liked this book or not

thexreadingxbunny's review against another edition

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5.0

I AM SOBBING WRITING THIS good lord i wasn’t sure what to expect but the story of autumn and finn literally broke me

please please please read this book