Reviews tagging 'Grief'

If He Had Been with Me by Laura Nowlin

101 reviews

lilliaunajane's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Grief, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Death

strangeweather98's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Death

Moderate: Abandonment, Self harm, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual content

Minor: Toxic relationship, Rape, Grief, Eating disorder, Toxic friendship, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail

cloha's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.0

“Finny?” “Oh Autumn.”

Ending was abrupt but not entirely unexpected. I think it portrayed childhood friends and young love well. The book read to me like it was trying to be a modern day Romeo and Juliet story. Right as everything fell into place, all was lost. It was upsetting and taught the importance of being honest. Any book that has the power to do this, is a decent book to me. The character types were kind of cringe but I guess there's a level of realism with that, since coming-of-age is generally thought to be a cringey part of our lives. It was realistic to how we are before we transition into adulthood. My issue is that I don't really know what age range to place this book. Seemed like it was a pretty light read until the end. The whiplash felt unpleasant more than it surprising me or challenging me or giving me something to chew on. It felt a little sloppy even? Like the plot was too clunky or the foreshadowing was too obvious or the characters were too predictable? Unsure. But some positives were that I enjoyed reading about Autumn's friend group. I thought the titling of things like the "Steps to Nowhere" and "The Mothers" was a creative touch. I was pretty invested in the characters by the end of book, so when Sasha and Jamie become a thing, I was so appalled. That's usually a good sign of being committed to the characters.

a few fav scenes:
pg 107 when both Finn and Jamie stood up
pg 88 the lunch table war
pg 132 protectiveness
pg 169 boys being boys meeting boy
pg 205 "Ales spends the night at Jamie's. Jamie tells Alex that he doesn't like Trina. That nobody likes Trina. That everybody likes Sasha. That Sasha misses him." - foreshadowing / power they had over each other
pg 314 "'Well,' Finny says, 'to be fair, you do need a ride.' 'No, I don't,' I say. 'I have you.' Finny smiles."

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Mental illness, Self harm, Chronic illness, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Suicide attempt, Death, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Grief

sophia_2309's review

challenging emotional mysterious reflective 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

sarahshock's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

This is one of the best books I've ever read. 10/10 recommended!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Toxic friendship, Blood, Self harm, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, Grief, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Drug use, Alcohol, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship

summersquash01's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Blood, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Child death, Death, Alcohol, Car accident, Grief, and Pregnancy

Minor: Car accident, Child death, Gore, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Alcohol, Blood, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Death, and Grief

llychu's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

1.5

would i recommend this? HELL NO 😭😭😭 i know im in the minority and this book can be suchhhh a hit or miss, but fromy my standpoint, this book was almost insufferable

so disappointing i cannot emphasize this enough 😭 and a second book for what??? oh, right. JS FOR MONEY CS I HEARD THAT WAS EVEN MORE DISAPPOINTING 💀 like is that even possible??
ok anyway for the actual review:
incredibly incredibly slow from the second chapter alllllll the way till like 4 chapters before the end maybe

definitely more of a coming of age than romance; romance only picks up at the very end but its hinted throughout, + finny might as well not even be the main love interest cs jaime??? his name is on like every page from start to end

ending was incredibly rushed and i cant even feel sad for her cs girl what rhe hell

LIKE WHAT RHE HELL DID I JUST READ ONG

like yes i knew this was coming but WHAT. WHAT as in a plot twist way but the plot twist was js for shock factor and it was js slapped in there like bro 💀 worst plot “twist” ever—if you would even consider this to have a plot cs its js that bad

im being merciful with my .5
i mean hell even with my ONE .5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Self harm, and Car accident

Minor: Toxic relationship, Car accident, Abortion, and Toxic friendship

p.s. the abortion thing can be inferred but its not explicitly stated in the book

rubbercip's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.75

you know how the book is going to end from the beginning, and yet it still made me upset. i liked that it felt realistic, but it was a bit repetitive at points. i also Hate that she calls him finny like it bothers me to my core. otherwise yeah it was sad the entire time and exactly what i expected

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide attempt, Grief, and Alcohol

craigem26's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Death

neliasbookshelf's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Car accident, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Self harm, Death, and Grief