This month, I read If He Had Been With Me by Laura Nowlin. It is from the perspective of a girl named Autumn. Autumn and Finn were best friends growing up, but they grew apart. But, the crash never would have happened if Finn had been with Autumn that night. Instead though, he was with his girlfriend who he got in a fight with on that drive. Finn was unharmed, but Sylvie wasn’t so lucky. No one ever talks about what they were arguing about, they think it’s not important. But, what they were arguing about explains everything.
I really enjoyed reading this book. The writing was very descriptive so I could picture the story very well. But, the book was very sad. I really liked the characters because they had good personality’s and seemed like real people who could really exist. I liked how this book was realistic because something like this could actually happen to someone. I would really recommend this book if you want a good, sad romance/realistic fiction novel.
My favorite character was the main character, Autumn. Autumn was very kind and didn’t care what others thought of her. A character trait she has is hopeful. A quote to prove this would be “…I know, I know, I know. If he had been with me, everything would have been different.” This quote shows how Autumn thinks that Finn wouldn’t have been in that crash if they were together. She can hope forever that it would’ve been different, but she never would’ve known for sure what would have happened.
My favorite quote from this book is, “I could close my eyes and believe that we have never been apart. I could invent a new past to remember.” I really like this quote because it shows how Autumn has always wanted to be with Finn. She has wanted to be with him her whole life and regrets wasting time being afraid.
