

Genre: Young Adult Fiction (Contemporary)
Date Published: April 1, 2013
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

If he had been with me everything would have been different...
I wasn't with Finn on that August night. But I should've been. It was raining, of course. And he and Sylvie were arguing as he drove down the slick road. No one ever says what they were arguing about. Other people think it's not important. They do not know there is another story. The story that lurks between the facts. What they do not know—the cause of the argument—is crucial.
So let me tell you...

If He Had Been with Me by Laura Nowlin was a book I knew would be heartbreaking after reading the blurb, and I usually wouldn't even pick up a book like this, but I liked the name and the cover... I was lured in by it! I had a really hard time staying focused on this book. There was a lot of Autumn's day to day life as she went through high school. Most of us are living it or have lived through high school. We know how it goes, and some of that detail is necessary to make a story. I get that, but this was a LOT. With that being said, Autumn is a very believable character. You can feel her growing pains as she navigates life. For me, she lost some of her realism in the end. She goes to two emotional extremes so fast. It didn't make sense, and after taking soooo long to get to this point in the book, the actual ending was very rushed. I really enjoyed the author's writing style though... and how she builds her characters in a way that makes you feel like you know them.

To learn more about Laura Nowlin and her books, visit her website. You can also find her on Goodreads, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, BookBub, YouTube, Pinterest, and Twitter.
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