If He Had Been with Me
FlumeAward – If He Had Been with Me If He Had Been with Me by Laura Nowlin
I’m going to have to say yes to this one. Think, The Fault in Our Stars. This book was so beautiful and left me completely emotionally crippled in the end. I would love to see this make the finals. -Britt HML
Autumn narrates the story, and tells us right from the beginning that Finny is dead, and then goes back and tells us the story of their life, and the years that lead up to that event. It was hard to read about things, knowing that they were wasting time that they didn’t have, and I got very sad watching Autumn date Jamie for so long, knowing that it was just a bad relationship. Although the writing style grated on me at the beginning, I soon grew accustomed to it, and read the book in one sitting, getting so involved that I woke up my husband at 3:30 in the morning with my crying, as I made my way through the last few pages.
I think this will appeal to both lovers of tragic stories and anyone else who just enjoys a good contemporary story. I’m not sure how appealing this would be to guys, but definitely good for middle or high school girls.
I’m a bit horrified by the casual sexuality, and teen pregnancy, but they felt natural to the story. -Kirsten, Sandown Public Library, 1/13/14
At this risk of being a killjoy, I will copy and paste what I wrote on Goodreads about this book after I read it last September. I remember thinking it was a complete carbon copy to Lurlene McDaniel and I am not a fan. It’s a bit surprising I rated it only 2 out 5 stars because I’m usually a sucker for teenage angst contemporary chick-lit.
The book started as 4, by the middle it was a 3, and then the whole thing falls apart in the last couple of pages with an abrupt weak ending. There were no surprises found in the ending, no profound moments, nothing, NADA. So it gets a 2 because I was interested enough to read it all, but don’t bother. ~Kathy Watson, Kimball Library (Atkinson)
I wanted to like this book as I tend to like "real-life" stories. There was nothing wrong with the way the book was narrated-I just don’t generally enjoy that type of narration and it was a bit slow for me. I read the first hundred pages, then skimmed the rest of the book for the conclusion as it wasn’t interesting enough to hold my attention. The one thing I liked about the book? The name Finny. –Aubrey, Goodwin Library
I totally agree with Kathy Watson and Aubrey. The book started OK, with lots of references to love and the different kinds of love – for family, for friends, for boyfriends and girlfriends… which was kind of nice to see. The narration style was a bit flat, but OK, honestly with flashes of surprise. However, the ending, although somewhat predictable, felt hurried and rash. ~ Sharon Flesher, Nashua South
I also copy and paste what I wrote on Goodreads, Couldn’t put it down, read it in one day, found the characters intriguing so what’s up with giving it a 3 star rating. As much as I liked this book, I felt the ending fell flat, almost as if the author had spent so much time in developing the characters that she ran out of energy and rushed the end. ~ Lois Powers, Kimball Library (Atkinson)