Review: If He Had Been With Me - Laura Nowlin

Title: If He Had Been With Me
Author: Laura Nowlin
Published: April 1st, 2013
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Format: E-Book
Pages: 336

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Summary:
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...

Review: 
Wow! Just wow! This book has left me feeling so many emotions. It was absolutely heartbreaking. But in a good way. Does that make sense? What I mean is that "If He Had Been With Me" broke my heart into a million little pieces, but only because the author was able to write a story with the power to do so. As sad as this book was, it also left me with a good feeling afterward because it was such an incredible novel.

The thing with this book is that the ending is the beginning. You find out what the great tragedy is first and then you read about the years and days leading up to it. Despite knowing exactly how the story is going to end, you can't help but keep reading. To keep a reader's interest even after they know the ending is a remarkable feat that few writers can pull off, but the author did it splendidly.

The book switches between flashbacks and present day. Finny and Autumn's story is nearly as heartbreaking as the ending. It's about two former best friends still in each others lives by circumstance, but they're nowhere as close as they used to be. In fact, they're not even friends anymore. Choices made by both characters have led them away from each other and into two completely different groups of friends. A story told from Autumn's POV, she can't help but think about what might have been. I'm sure Finny's thinking about that too, as he goes through high school. Despite everything that's happened between the two of them, I can't help but wish that I had my own Finny. I wish I had someone who has been in my life since I was born.

Before writing every review, I make a pros and cons list. It helps me organize my thoughts on the book I'm reviewing. When doing a pros and cons list for this story, I was easily able to come up with a lot of pros. Cons, on the other hand, were more of a challenge. After struggling for a while trying to come up with things that I didn't like, I had a revelation: There weren't any. I had zero issues with this story. In fact, If He Had Been With Me is one of the best books I've ever read.

This was my first 5 star novel since I read The Fault In Our Stars several months ago. Both books had me feeling the same emotions. If you like well-written, heartbreaking books, I recommend you check this one out. While it's not as good as The Fault In Our Stars, it's pretty darn close.