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A review by thecontrarybookworm
If He Had Been with Me by Laura Nowlin
3.0
This is one of those situations where the book either clicks with you and it is your favorite until the end of time, or it doesn't, and you're left angry and unsatisfied. I think it sort of half-clicked for me.
There were some parts that seemed real to me and I "got," such as the complicated social dynamics in school and pining after someone you can't have. At the same time, however, If He Had Been with Me was sending mixed messages as to what it was actually about.
The ending was a hot mess. If the last twenty pages had been bulked up more and woven in better, I might have let it slide, but I felt let down.
I wasn't thrilled walking into a romance either - maybe I should have actually checked the book tags before I read it. There was a lot of sexual content, but guess I get now that just because I am uninterested in and disgusted by sex doesn't mean that everyone else has to be.
There were some parts that seemed real to me and I "got," such as the complicated social dynamics in school and pining after someone you can't have. At the same time, however, If He Had Been with Me was sending mixed messages as to what it was actually about.
The ending was a hot mess.
Spoiler
Finny dying and Autumn attempting suicide and finding herself pregnant did not contribute anything to the overarching theme of the story.I wasn't thrilled walking into a romance either - maybe I should have actually checked the book tags before I read it. There was a lot of sexual content, but guess I get now that just because I am uninterested in and disgusted by sex doesn't mean that everyone else has to be.