If he had been with me by Laura Nowlin

 If he had been with me 

By Laura Nowlin

Published Year: 2013 

Page Count : 385 pages 

Medium used : Paperback 

Genre : Romance, Young Adult, Teenage Love, 2024-read. 

Rating : 4.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐🌠

This is a well written, cute, little love story. I felt very warm and fuzzy reading it .. until realization dawned on me on how it is going to end. It is definitely a sad ending but also holds some hope and promise for the future. The writing is utterly captivating. I congratulate the author on her amazing writing skills that brought this story to life! 

 For the most part, she tells the everyday happenings, the uneventful events in the life of a young teenage girl, Autumn in first person narrative. She has always been in love with her childhood friend,  Finny, and doesn’t realize it. She is dating another guy and feels a desperate pull towards Finny but doesn’t disclose it because he is also seeing someone else. Little does she know that he is also stuck up on her. So they both love each other and yet can’t say it out loud .. this sounds so cliche and trope .. like lifted right out of a conventional Bollywood movie(Indian) or an Indian TV show. But what makes it special is the authenticity I felt in the narrator’s tone. The effect the smooth, flowing writing had me finish this book in a matter of hours foregoing sleep.

I saw the end coming. The ending in embedded in several propensities Autumn has. There are many sure signs that point towards it. Autumn likes to write novels which have sad endings. She finds it beautiful when lovers separate or don’t get back in the end. I feel that the kind of love Laura designed between Finny and Autumn – absolute peace, complete merging of both their souls with no rough patches – is too idealistic to last or hold. They have been friends since their birth literally  – born only days apart and with their mothers living next door, best friends. They know everything about each other, done everything in the company of each other – they were inseparable. Then something happens in their middle school – around 13ish age – and Autumn starts pulling away. She finds other friends and Finny begins to adapt as well – only not too well. They do a full circle before coming back into the solace of each other’s company.

 Autumn finds beauty in sad endings and Finny cannot object to what makes her feel happy. For my part, I wish the ending changed a bit. I don’t want to see pure love tarnished. I wonder how they would have fared in a non idealistic, real world setting. I get very skeptical when someone boasts or brags of an unending, everlasting love in this real world. I dont think that is possible. People change,circumstances alter and unless they are tied to each other for some reason like children or a mutual beneficial venture, the effect will be obvious. Still, the end is too soon and easy in coming. Almost makes people hate and blame God when such things happen. But perhaps they are inevitable and makes memories sweeter like Autumn imagines! Overall, loved the prose and writing. Do read this one !! 

Have you read this book ? Tell me what u think? Do share your review link in comments if you have one! Bon Reading Experience, everyone !! 🙂