A review by eri_sfb
If He Had Been with Me by Laura Nowlin
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.
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.