By: Chloe Rocha

This article is a book review on the book ‘if he had been with me’ By Laura Nowlin. This book is a New York Times bestseller. This story is about autumn and it’s told from her perspective. You get to know everything about her life. Most of the story focuses on her time in high school and how she is dealing with the different things happening in her life, and how she’s managing her future goals with her boyfriend Jamie, their groups of friends, and trying to handle her complicated relationship with her former best friend and neighbor, Finny.

This book is full of ups and downs and it made me feel very different emotions. There were times in this book where I didn’t understand why we were told so much about the characters’ past and other details that didn’t seem important at the time. But after you complete the book and take some time to reflect on your emotions, you realize that all of that “unnecessary“information actually made the story much more tragic. You really understood Autumn as a very complex and well-rounded character because you got to witness and experience all that she went through. From the times when she was feeling the most happy to the times when she was feeling the most sad. You felt the same emotions she did because you were very attached to her at the time.

Autumn was my most liked character. It’s impossible not to love her after all the experiences we had together. Personally, I didn’t particularly like Jamie. He was very manipulative and controlling and someone who I wouldn’t want to have in my personal life.

At the beginning of the book something is revealed to you that in the moment has you wondering why the author decided to tell you about it. But at the end, it becomes clear on why the author did what she did. They told the story to make you assume something based on the information you had at the time, but by the end of the book the plot twist explains it all and leaves you with a sense of sadness. This sadness comes from the fact that you knew what was going to happen at the end of the book but you didn’t know the people that were all involved in the event.

I just discovered that another book is coming out in October. It will be told from Kenny’s perspective. I am very excited to have that book and I just hope it’s as good as everyone is saying it is. I didn’t read many good books this year, but this book is definitely one of the better ones. I definitely think everyone should read this book if they want a very emotional story. This book is not for the likes of everybody but a select few enjoy it based on their interests.

I would give it a 3.5/5 (it is a bit slow in the beginning).