If He Had Been With Me

 Book 6 of my 2023 Reading Challenge

read from 1/11 - 1/16

If He Had Been With Me

by Laura Nowlin

Summary (via the book jacket)

Autumn and Finn used to be inseparable. But then something changed. Or they changed. Now, they do their best to ignore each other.

Autumn has her boyfriend, Jamie, and her close-knit group of friends. Finn has become that boy at school, the one everyone wants to be around.

That still doesn't stop the way Autumn feels every time she and Finn cross paths, and the growing, nagging thought that maybe things could have been different. Maybe they should be together.

And as time passes, Autumn realizes she might not get another chance to make things right before it's too late.

My Opinion

4 stars

I would've read this book faster but I had to put it away for a little bit because it was coincidentally too close to another book I was reading at the same time and I was getting them confused.

It was a switch to have characters be embarrassed they used to be popular or explaining why they know the "cool" kids.  It was also unusual to have so much time pass by, especially since there were hardly any changes in romantic pairings or friendship groups.  The book itself felt long because of the time covered but the pages passed quickly because of short chapters.

Once graduation hit I couldn't put it down.  My heart hurts but I'm also happy things progressed the way they did.