Book Review: if he had been with me *SPOILERS*
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- If he had been with me by Laura Nowlin book review with spoilers. This book is a young adult novel that centers around a girl in high school navigating love and friendship. Some of the tropes are childhood best friends to lovers, slow-burn romance, forbidden love, and the death of a main character. Some themes include love, loss, grief, mental health, coming of age, and self-discovery.
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i absolutely agree on the fact that it wasnt well written
i had great expectations from this book but autumn's character really killed the vibe
The more I think about it the more I question if it was the writing or if I just didn’t like the style or type of character autumn was. I remember there was one scene where it was starting to get dark and autumn said it was the worst time of day which I’m realizing is a subtle hint into her depression and how dark, cold winters can effect your mood.
@@NicoleAndersonn yes that is true. Autumn's character was genuinely so confusing to me because I didn't know if it was possible to be so childish and at the same time be completely depressed the next second.
The concept of her wearing tiaras even till a much older age kind of pissed me off. Her mood and behavior changed so quickly that I couldn't process it and so I couldn't connect with Autumn at all. But I still do believe that I would prefer the writing style of emily henry.
Though the stories are completely different...it's the way Emily portrays the story that makes me connect to the characters so well no matter their opposing traits
@@NicoleAndersonn i think it wasn't just autumn. It was also bad written. I remember reading the book and the sentences were just all so simple? And that always makes me lose my focus. Not saying that a simple written book is bad but this one was because it was just too much of sentences that really said nothing.
@@mememememememememe exactly how I felt too!
Oh my gif same. Everyone loves it but I cannot stand it. I felt like it wasn’t well written. Or maybe it was just autumn
I’m really happy someone agrees. I haven’t seen any bad reviews about this book anywhere on the internet, I’m talking about, tiktok, UA-cam and Facebook! I’m like wow this must be amazing. Chapter 70 NOTHING HAPPENS. It’s so ring boring and there’s no drama and not enough trauma for me. It is NOT well written at all with all the “I said, he said” this book really disappointed me. The ending was hella confusing too. How do you know she’s pregnant and that he died from electric shock?? Ugh, so frustrating to me 😭 I can just talk so much shit about this book LOL
Oh yeah!! I totally forgot how vague the accident description was. Like he was laying in the street in a puddle and an electric line or something. That part was weird but I guess the pregnancy was heavily implied. They had unprotected sex and she hadn’t had a period since and she put her hands on her stomach and knew that she’d be okay and couldn’t hurt herself cuz finny wouldn’t approve if she was pregnant.
I agree there wasn’t enough trauma. lol it was so boring. I can’t believe there aren’t more mixed reviews.
@@NicoleAndersonn Forreal!!
But I thought they had only been together the day before
@@NicoleSandoval-wj2vp they were together the day before the accident but she mentioned not going away to college after that and the depression ended up leading to her attempt and hospitalization so I think it had been a month or two
@@NicoleAndersonn that’s what I’m saying
I can understand why people can see it as boring or cringe but there’s a reason for this. It’s supposed to represent high school. You can’t tell me that you weren’t cringe in high school or that your high school experience was full of excitement. It’s being true to how things are and I can understand why some people don’t like that bc after all, who likes high school very much? Still you can’t expect the world from a book depicting reality.
I BAWLED when finny died and for the next week every time I thought about it I feared up this book DESTROYED MEEE😭😭😭😭✊✊✊✊
literally me i still can’t think about it for too long without crying 😭
oh my gosh I have so many problems with this book. First of all Autumn's character was really pick me and I literally could not stand it. it seemed like every chapter she had to mention for like the 5th time that she was "quirky and weird" or whatever. pretty much her whole character was that she was weird pretty and that she wore tiaras to school. and then the aspects of her life were kinda interesting or sad at the beginning of the book but then it kept on being brought up so much and didn't build on them that they just became boring. for example, like her dad was always gone on business trips but like throughout the book it always said how he only came for Christmas or Thanksgiving and sometimes he missed it or something. idk it was just so repetitive for me and the fact that it didn't really build on it made it worse.
Another thing is that when something new happened, like when she has small talk with Finny or when she got a black eye from Jamie, it happened and then like one page later everything was fine and it wasn't a big deal. I guess I just wanted more to happen with the encounters but that passed by so quickly. basically the whole book was her everyday life and it was so boring to read. and when she talked to Finny, I feel like more should have happened than just: "I got locked out of my house" "ok you can come in. you wanna watch tv?" no I'm gonna read" "ok" like the conversations were so dry. Everybody shrugged like every 2 seconds and that made the dialogue so boring. I feel like the whole nothing happened until the very end. and also I hate the fact that Autumn literally pressured Finny to sleep with her even though he was still together with Sylvie. I also hate so much how she was so upset and depressed when Jamie slept with her best friend and then she literally slept with Finny when he was still with Sylvie.
I also didn't like how the author didn't explain a lot of important things especially at the end. I didn't really like how I had to guess how Finny died and guess if Autumn was pregnant or not.
ugh I just hate a lot of aspects of this book
Same here!!! She was so annoying, not relatable at all and there were moments in this book where I genuinely wasn't rooting for her and Finny because she was so obnoxious! Also, I never cared about her friend group at all, I can't even remember most of them now after it's been a while and the only thing I remember was that Jamie had blue eyes. I feel like the whole book lacked in actual plot, that would make us care for the characters and give them depth as well as make us root for Autumn and Finny more. I read the book until the end basically only for the trope that I like, which is childhood friends to lovers.
@@Nina-hz9vv Same I could never remember what each of her friends looked like or acted like! I totally agree that if there was a plot then it would add more to the characters but random things just kinda happened to them for no reason. Like I think Brooke cheated on Noah but it was barely a problem because everything went back to normal the next page. And then Angie had that one boyfriend, I think his name was Mike or something, but it was barely mentioned.
im sorry i still dont understand how finny's died, can you explain how he actually dies?
@@mantulfc7059there was a torn power line that fell into the puddle next to sylvie when she was on the road during the storm, he leant over and placed his hand next to her and got electrocuted
I can't seem to empathize with any of the characters in the story. While I feel I could have connected with Finny, there isn't much depth to his character until the latter part of the book, which I found most engaging. What troubles me is the sudden resolution of conflicts in the final chapters, feeling somewhat forced. Despite the slow buildup, the abrupt revelation and resolution seem unrealistic. I would have preferred a gradual exploration of their feelings maybe after Finn’s death regretting later not being able to say everything she wanted etc. That would make his death more impactful I think. Also I have noticed that you are mostly told what are the characters like but they never really show. And don’t let me start with the accident that was just ridiculous.
What I really can’t understand is why he died, he had a seatbelt, was there any underlying reason? Also did Sylvie lived or died? I wonder if it was there but my brain just stopped absorbing this book 😂
I just finished the book last night. From what I get is that Sylvie was lying next to a puddle of water and a power line went down which electrified the puddle and when Finny gets down to her he basically gets electrocuted.
@@lidiamagana2878thank you! Was is really in the first book? I still can’t believe that I missed it 🕳️
I don't read a lot of books myself, but this review was awesome! I haven't read the book, i just wanted to know what the hype was all about and now I know. Thank you, and keep up the good work! You are good at this, and it was easy to follow.
Awww thank you so much. That’s why I decided to post this because I do the same things with books that are hyped up ☺️🤍
I definitely agree. I bought this book at the airport because it seemed interesting and the love story that was sold in the blurb reminded me a tiny bit of the love story I've been working on in my own novel, but yes... this one read like a Wattpad story to me. A Wattpad story that didn't really have much of a plot, the pacing was definitely slow, too much "telling" and barely any "showing", 2D characters, the dialogue never fully felt real to me either.. etc. I'm super happy for Laura Nowlin though, clearly there are a ton of fans of this book, so there is an audience for it. I'm happy for her for her success!
I never saw a review about this book that resonates so much with my personal opinion!!
I feel like if I had read this book at 13-14 it would’ve been a lot better. I don’t think it’s a great book to read as an adult, that’s for sure!
im 14 and nope the book still sucks 😭 i was thinking "wtf is this" the entire time i was reading it and hated autumn nd her personality.. but finny deserved better love him
Honestly I thought the part where Autumn gets medicated right away was kind of unrealistic. I was in a similar situation and can assure you no therapist would medicate a child from talking to them once. Everything in this book was kind of unrealistic and exaggerated, like Autumn wearing Tiara's or her boyfriend's behavior in general, and her friend AND her getting pregnant after their first time? Maybe it's just me tho. I also heavily disliked how there was not enough romantic or romantically ambiguous moments between her and Finny throughout the book, like I understand they love each other but I would have liked to see that shown more. I feel like I rated this book a 3 at first becayse it follows a trope that I like and that trope was played well, but the plot on its own was questionable at best. Also, love your voice! ❤
They do medicate right away because its a drs do no harm if they think the child could hurt themselves without medical intervention. And ir pharmaceutical industry dont care
I was really disappointed, like I never thought its going to take 300 pages for the main characters to kiss! and it amazes me how almost everyone loved it 😐
I understand the not talking about stuff but I get it personally because I’m 13 and in the book he was 13 when he kissed her and I personally understand why they didn’t talk about it. It was awkward. What do you expect the 13-year-olds and that’s why I thinkit wasn’t a bad thing to put in. Maybe if they were older they weren’t.
You didn’t cry because you knew the end. It was unique so you read it although you knew what was going to happen. And it’s good for teenagers.
I'm sorry, I'm a teenager but I despite this book.
I really respect your pov's but how the hell will the author feel reading these comments 😢
ive only ever heard great things about this book. it has taken me FOREVER to read this book, i'm on chapter 65 and still nothing. I find it so boring. its just a book about a regular girl in high school, nothing really happens.
I enjoyed this book but I definitely understand your point of view.
I really don't understand the end of this book, i mean what actually happen? Pls someone has to tell me, i fell empty
Yes pls I'm actually lost as well.. Completed it like 10 mins ago😭
Thank you so much because the reviews of the book sound much more interesting than the book overall and I was about to actually buy it but from what you said and how the plot turns out I wouldn’t like the book anyways
i really wished we would have gotten more about Finny .. not sure if you know a book from his perspective is coming but im not sure if i can put myself through reading it again especially since i know the ending
i finished reading that book and was kinda disappointed because the chapters were so short and there should have been more chapters about finny and autumn. Now I am not sure if I should read the second book. Has anyone read the second book and would you recommend it?
22:17 .... not if it's well written
Hey ! i loved this review please do more and a book i would recommend is song of achilles , and also sworn to silence
I absolutely hated this book, it was horribly written and I wish I would have found this review sooner! I only finished it because I was on a 5 hour car ride and wanted to see what all the hype was about🥱🤦♀️
Whats up. Long time, no upload.
I know. I have so many video ideas but can never decide what direction to take this channel
@@NicoleAndersonn Same here.
Omg...your voice❤❤❤❤
Very repetitive i agree, it couldve left out 3 yrs of HS lol
No character development at all, very boring
I keep wondering if there was no character development or if the character being developed was supposed to be boring haha
@@NicoleAndersonn 😂
good point
I couldn't stand Autumn 😅
Unpopular opinion but to me this is THE WORST BOOK EVER. I hate Autumn, I hate Finny and I hate the whole plot😭 I am a teenager but I absolutely d e s p i t e this book...