Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - If He Had Been with Me

Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

If He Had Been with Me by Laura Nowlin

165 reviews

summersquash01's review against another edition

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sad slow-paced

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

5.0

So I adored the book. I loved it so much, i started crying in the end.

WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE FINNY 😭

Laura nowlin has a very basic style of writing, however i loved it. Just a small criticism: the plot was way too slow. In my opinion,

the breakup with Jamie should’ve been way earlier than in the last 150 pages or smth

to actually let the relationship between autumn and finny flourish.
The beginning was interesting, but the middle was quite boring, the end took me by surprise tho.
Overall, i loved the book, and i read the second one (if only i had told her) in a day or so. Absolutely adored it. Thank you for blessing me with this masterpiece.

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finiteworlds's review

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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

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katie_23's review against another edition

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hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

this book is one of my FAVS, it’s so sad yet kept me on the edge of my seat. i would definitely get both the books because you’ll want to read the sequel. literally love the characters and the book!!

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deerling's review

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emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.5

I don't get the hype of this book. It was easy to read and I wanted to continue reading it, but at some point it was more of wanting to get the book done rather than wanting to know what happened next. After the halfway there was some boring parts. The language was mediocre, and once one character's eye color suddenly changed. The writing was also confusing and I actually had to google how exactly one part of the book went because I couldn't comprehend from the text itself.

At first I thought that the narrator Autumn was okay, but the further I got in the book, the more I started to dislike her. Honestly none of the characters really spoke to me. I also didn't like how Autumn dated another guy for four years even though she was clearly loving someone else more than her boyfriend the whole time. I think this book gives some false information about what relationships are like and what to expect about them.

Even though the ending was hinted at the beginning, it still came as a shock to me because I had already forgot about the first few pages. I admit that I cried a bit in the end, so points for that I guess. Still, the ending left a bad taste in my mouth, and I don't like how things were handled.

I probably won't read the sequel that tells the story from Finn's point of view. Though I am a bit curious to know if it is any better.

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craigem26's review against another edition

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sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

Even though it foreshadowed what will happen in chapter one, it is still very heartbreaking when it happens. It wasn’t as sad as I was expecting it to be. However, I think since the character was well written I did feel some grief towards the character. I am looking forward to the second book.

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heyitsseph's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

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

4.5

It’s a best friends to lovers teen romance book. The main characters are Phineas Smith and Autumn . There mothers being best friends from girlhood and they both got pregnant together. Autumn refers phineas smith’s mother as Aunt Angelina . They live like next door to each other . Autumn nickname for Phineas as Finny. They have been best friends since the day they born. They were rarely apart they everything together. In high school is when things start to change for them hanging with different groups of people. They just grew apart. They started to date other people Autumn was dating Jamie . Finny was dating a girl named Sylvie.. when she sees Finny has these doubts iconic to the title of the books. There’s such a huge cliffhanger at the end . What just happened??

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vikart's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

This book is about a girl, to put it simply, going through her teenage years and discovering how she feels about different things.

I did enjoy the fact that I was put in a position where I could clearly understand why the main character felt in such ways at different parts of the story. Though, I think that it was a little bit predictable. The only thing I did not expect was the last twist since I was led to believe that the last 30 pages will be a simple epilogue. Unfortunately, I picked this up because I was expecting something to make me cry, but instead I just thought it was all complicated and the ending annoyed me rather than offering me a teary moment.

Despite all my words, I do think this is a good book. There are a lot of upsetting topics that can really grab in your feelings (even in my case where it was annoyance rather than sadness), just beware of the topics in this book as they may or may not touch you personally.

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neliasbookshelf's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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beckyyreadss's review

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dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

I wanted to read this book as I had seen it all over the book community and I love books that make me want to cry. This book was emotional but didn’t make me cry, I just spent half of my time rolling my eyes due to teenage pining and the biggest issue is that they were still a virgin and loved their boyfriend.

This book is based on Autumn. Her best friend was Finn and they used to be inseparable. But then something changed. Or they changed. Now, they do their best to ignore each other. Autumn has her boyfriend Jamie, and her close-knit group of friends. And Finn has become that boy at school, the one everyone wants to be around. That still doesn’t stop the way Autumn feels every time she and Finn cross paths, and the growing nagging thought that maybe things could have been different. Maybe they should be together. But come August, things will change forever. And as time passes, Autumn will be forced to confront how else life might have been different if they had never parted ways. This book is a contemporary young adult book.

Even though I rated it four stars, it was the final ten chapters that made me rate the book four stars. Yes, the ending was sad, and it was all heartbreaking and melancholy, and it was the ending no one wanted but we knew it was coming from the first page. Autumn ended up growing on me and by the end I really felt for her, and I wanted to give her a hug. But I wanted to hug their mums more. I would have loved this to be multiple POV with Finn and their mums. Their mums went through a whole lot of shit and yes it affected Autumn and Finn, but I just felt for them especially with the ending.

However, even though I was sad about the ending and the events of this book, it took a mountain to get to that point. All of the middle bit was a bit forgettable, to the point where I'm probably not going to remember it in a week. I was rolling my eyes through all the petty high school drama that wasn’t needed and yes Autumn took a while to grow on me, but she annoyed the crap out of me at the beginning with the whole tiara thing and the way the writing was about the seasonal depression just sort of rubbed me the wrong way. I usually love the deception of mental health in books, but this was just needed a bit of work.

Overall, even though it was a mission to finish, I enjoyed it. I’ve seen that there is a second book in the series, and I don’t know how it’s going to go, but we will find out.

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knotreally's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

HELP
THE END
OMG
HOW COULD YOU LEAVE US LIKE THAT!?!?!?!?!?!
My heart ACHES for Autumn and Finn
This book is the embodiment of seven by taylor swift
but sadder
the flashbacks were heart wrenching
oh, autumn
the end did not break me but my heart aches for what could've been, would've been, what should've been you

i found the friend group so annoying. i despise jamie with all my heart and soul. autumn was so stupid and shoulda taken initiative. i am proud of her for establishing boundaries with jamie though. autumn and finn are too cute, but my heart aches for them.

i devoured this book, i found myself reading for *fun* which i haven't done in years. the writing was easy to read, the story sucked me in and had me having some big feelings. good job laura nowlin

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