BookTok has allowed for many books to gain immense popularity over the year; one of these books is the very popular, “If He Had Been With Me” by Laura Nowlin. The book was published in April of 2013, and it started to gain more attention recently, especially with the recent release of the sequel, “If Only I Had Told Her.”
The first book follows the lives of a girl named Autumn and her childhood friend Phineas, who otherwise is referred to as Finny. They grew up living next door to each other, but as the two got older, they slowly drifted apart. The book opens with what readers can assume is a bad car accident that Finny was involved in. It then follows Autumn’s life with her friends, family, and even her lost connection to Finny before finishing with a depressing end. Many readers enjoyed the book due to its romantic telling of the two childhood friends that face a tragic conclusion, while others are skeptical due to some of the book’s other strange plot points.
Overall, the book is not very well written. It opens with a very dramatic hook, where it is presumed that one of the main characters, Finny, ended up in a car accident. Although the hook is interesting, the rest of the book ends up being pretty uneventful. Sasha Vinobaharan from The Classic Critic even describes the beginning as, “a false pretense to the otherwise bland plot of the book.”
Nothing very exciting or noteworthy happens throughout the majority of the book, especially with such a shocking introduction… that is until the dramatic end of the book, which leaves most readers bored up until that point. Even at the end of the book, many thought the most entertaining part was rushed and occurred within the last ten pages. Some reviews left on Goodreads stated that they were waiting for the book to get better, but it never did. This ended up being a let down for most, considering the high expectations BookTok and many other reviewers drummed up for the book.
One of the other things many people did not enjoy were the characters. The main character of the book, Autumn, consistently describes herself as a very weird and unique individual. Throughout the course of the book, it is something that is constantly brought up and repeated. After a few chapters of only hearing about Autumn’s overly mentioned weirdness, many readers grew tired of this stereotypical Wattpad “weird girl” of a main character. One of the main features of Autumn’s character is the fact that she dresses differently than most of the kids around her.
This is shown when Autumn entered a thrift store, decided to purchase a tiara and then proceeded to wear it to school everyday throughout all four years of high school, which ended up being a major turn off to most readers. Some reviews on Goodreads claim that, “The main character makes me mad. She’s so cringy,” while others went more in depth with their reviews saying, “[…] the main character is SO out of touch with reality. Last time I checked, people that wore tiaras unironically were NOT envied for any kind of beauty whatsoever.”
The very cringy persona that Autumn, as well as many of the other characters, have throughout the book is what a lot of people ended up not enjoying about it. Many found the characters insufferable, making the book overall unenjoyable and taking away the element of sadness and sympathy that some other readers enjoyed at the end of the book.
Besides the unenjoyable characters, the way the characters go about their feelings for each other is also a major turn off for readers. Both Autumn and Finny find themselves in relationships during the book, but both secretly like each other, which some readers described as “emotional cheating.” Cheating is already a book trope that is a major turn off for most readers. People also felt the characters’ stereotypes of Autumn being “weird” and “alternative” while Finny was a “popular jock” made the book predictable. Vinobaharan (The Classic Critic) describes Autumn’s narrative to be, “incredibly repetitive.”
The stereotypical tropes used throughout the book and with the characters, made the book predictable, unexciting and repetitive. The writing style of the book does not help elevate these tropes to let them live up to their full potential, leaving most of the story to fall flat.
On the other hand, there are those who loved the book. The first chapter made some readers excited to proceed and see what was to come. The introduction was a great way to rope in readers, and keep them wondering on what the possible final outcome of the book could be, which ended up being a great writing choice overall. Books that are able to hook the readers from the start allow for an overall deep interest in the rest of the story.
Although a lot of the book seemed bland, there were some key dramatic moments that also held people’s interest. The secret chemistry between Autumn and Finny made many excited to see how they would go about their relationship in a way that wouldn’t hurt the partners they already had. Finny and Autumn’s relationship put a tragic twist on the childhood friends to lovers story that many found fascinating and heartbreaking. Vinobaharan stated, “The book pulled at my heartstrings and left me grieving the characters as if I knew them personally.” Even though the events that unfolded at the end of the book felt rushed, it left the ending – according to Vinobaharan – “intriguing and shrouded in mystery.”
Overall there are many mixed opinions on the book and how it narrated Autumn and Finny’s story. There are those who loved the fresh take on the childhood friends to lovers story, and there are those that hated it. In the end, “If He Had Been With Me” is definitely not a re-readable book, making the book a one time read at best.
