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_askthebookbug 's review for:
If He Had Been with Me
by Laura Nowlin
I read quite a lot of romance novels last month and to my complete surprise, I loved them all. But amongst all of them, this book still haunts me. If He Had Been With Me is about two teenagers who love each other and yet can’t be together. To most, this book may sound childish, to read about the kind of love that is generally associated with young adults but the beauty of this story lies in its writing. This was my first time reading Laura and I was simply mesmerised. The story begins with a tragedy and then it moves backwards, unravelling the events that eventually led to this incident.
Autumn and Finn have known each other all their lives. Their mothers have been best friends for the longest time so it was an unsaid thing that the kids too would grow up to be close friends. The two could not have been more different from each other but many summers pass with them having sleepovers and celebrating holidays together. But somewhere while growing up, they let go of their hands and even though they rotate in the same orbit, there’s an unending distance between them. They now have different friends and date different people but somehow at the loneliest hours of the day, they find their way back to each other.
The story shifts from past to present, with the author giving us little insight to their childhood memories. And suddenly at one point, we see them realising that they have always been in love. The curtains are lifted and Autumn sees it clearly now. It has always been Finn. As the story comes to an end, we see the ominous chapter that Laura warned us about.
Laura writes beautifully about everything under the sky. She makes love seem wonderful and pain, too melancholic. She makes us read about friendships that are unbreakable and of distance that is heartbreaking. But what she does best is write about longing, like a piece of chocolate that’s lying just near the tips of your fingers but somehow is still unreachable. Reading about Autumn and Finn has been a roller coaster ride and even though I’m not usually so deeply involved in teenage romance, this one somehow worked for me. I highly recommend it.
Autumn and Finn have known each other all their lives. Their mothers have been best friends for the longest time so it was an unsaid thing that the kids too would grow up to be close friends. The two could not have been more different from each other but many summers pass with them having sleepovers and celebrating holidays together. But somewhere while growing up, they let go of their hands and even though they rotate in the same orbit, there’s an unending distance between them. They now have different friends and date different people but somehow at the loneliest hours of the day, they find their way back to each other.
The story shifts from past to present, with the author giving us little insight to their childhood memories. And suddenly at one point, we see them realising that they have always been in love. The curtains are lifted and Autumn sees it clearly now. It has always been Finn. As the story comes to an end, we see the ominous chapter that Laura warned us about.
Laura writes beautifully about everything under the sky. She makes love seem wonderful and pain, too melancholic. She makes us read about friendships that are unbreakable and of distance that is heartbreaking. But what she does best is write about longing, like a piece of chocolate that’s lying just near the tips of your fingers but somehow is still unreachable. Reading about Autumn and Finn has been a roller coaster ride and even though I’m not usually so deeply involved in teenage romance, this one somehow worked for me. I highly recommend it.