Genre: Young Adult / Contemporary Romance
Rating: ⭐⭐½ (2.5/5 Stars)
This is why you do not judge a book by its cover. Lesson officially learned.
I picked up If He Had Been With Me by Laura Nowlin entirely based on the cover. It reminded me of the cover of Baby Teeth and I assumed without looking anything up that it was a thriller. It was not. Not even close. But I finished it and I have thoughts.
How I Ended Up Here
The cover pulled me in and I went in completely blind. No genre check. No back cover read. Just vibes and a cover that gave thriller energy. When I realized within the first few chapters that this was a young adult contemporary romance I had a choice — put it down or commit. I committed. And while I do not regret finishing it I will say this might be the last time I skip the genre check before buying a book.
That said it was actually a nice change of pace from the thrillers that have been dominating my reading life and it might inspire me to add one non-thriller read per month going forward. So there is a silver lining.
The Premise
If He Had Been With Me follows Autumn and Finn. Two kids who grew up together, who clearly love each other, but neither of whom believes the other feels the same way. So they spend the entire book watching each other live. Dating other people. Pining. Missing moments. Circling each other without ever closing the gap.
And then near the end of the book a major event happens that changes everything. You can actually figure out what that event is just from reading the back cover so it does not feel like a reveal so much as an inevitability you spend the whole book waiting for.
My Honest Take
The biggest issue I had with this book is the repetitive pattern that runs through the majority of it. Autumn loves Finn. Finn loves Autumn. Neither says anything. Repeat. The emotional tension that should build from that dynamic just never fully escalates the way it needed to in order to justify the length of the story.
The chapters are easy to read and the subject matter is not difficult or heavy. But for what is actually written across those pages the book is longer than it needs to be. If the story had spent more time after the major event near the end rather than building to it for so long the emotional payoff would have landed much harder.
The ending also felt deliberately constructed to set up a second book rather than to provide a satisfying conclusion on its own. And there is a second book. If Only I Had Told Her comes from Finn’s perspective and explores what might have happened if he had spoken up sooner. I will not be reading it.
Who This Book Is For
If you are a reader who loves slow burn romance, coming of age stories, and emotional character studies this book will likely resonate with you more than it did with me. My reading taste leans heavily toward psychological thrillers with tight pacing and plot driven tension and this book is neither of those things. That is not the book’s fault. It is just an honest mismatch between the genre and what I usually reach for.
If you are a thriller reader looking to mix in something lighter this one is a low stakes way to do it. Just know what you are getting into before you start.
Final Verdict
If He Had Been With Me is a gentle, easy reading young adult romance that is held back by repetitive pacing and a length that does not quite match the weight of the story being told. The ending felt like a setup for a sequel rather than a standalone resolution and for me that was the final note that kept this at 2.5 stars.
Not a bad book. Just not the right book for me. And it reminded me to always check the genre before I buy. 😂
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars ⭐⭐½
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Have you read If He Had Been With Me? Drop your rating in the comments and tell me if you think the second book is worth reading because I am on the fence! 📚👇
