Reviews with content warning for Child death - If He Had Been with Me

I will fully say that this novel wasn't for me. I wanted to like it because I saw the books in my local bookstore and wanted to know more about them, so I thought I'd give the audiobook a listen before committing to the physical copy.

I am so glad I did this because the writing style felt so stilted, even though I had the audiobook. It was simple. Autumn would wake up. Eat breakfast. Go to school. See her friends. Come home. Eat. Sleep. And that was it for the entire book.

I understand that Autumn is a teenager, and she can be juvenile, but her entire personality made me want to groan. She's beautiful and has been told that her entire life to the point she doesn't believe it BUT then still says that she knows she's prettier than her best friend? I lowkey celebrated

when her creepy boyfriend Jaime ended up sleeping with her best friend instead

. Autumn even acknowledges that she was fighting for Jaime's attention before they got together and was so smug that she was dating him.

The serious topics could've been fleshed out a little more?

I feel that one of Autumn's friends falling pregnant isn't something that we can just...gloss over? Her depression and her mom being suicidal feel like they exist but then they're gone.

And Autumn was of course, heartbroken over this happening and thinks she's the better person

only to go around and do the EXACT same thing with Finney while he's still dating Sylvie?

And then she has the audacity to say how she 'understands' how it all happened with Jaime and her friend because they couldn't stop? She was just infuriating as a character.

I knew Finney was going to die based off how the book started but it still somewhat shocked me when I read it. I knew it all lead up to that and it's probably that moment that makes so many people relate because losing a loved one is hard. Autumn tries taking her life but realizes she's pregnant and it feels like she's stuck in this cycle of depression and grief because her life revolved around Finney for so long.

This book was just not for me, but I am happy I got the opportunity to read it.

Content Warnings

kromeroparamo's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

laurenlolson's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Content Warnings

brooke_w's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Ending fell short.

Content Warnings

emmalineferrars's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

kellyodell's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

A YA book in the style of narration and about 95% of the book. A small part dealing with sex, teen pregnancy, death, depression, etc. Check trigger warnings!!

Autumn is so very matter of fact in her narration. A lot of contemplating how she feels and stating what is happening as simple facts. The audiobook narrator has quite a soothing voice, so in listening Autumn always seemed so calm and contemplative. All in all, a very sad story. Ending felt a bit abrupt. Poor, poor Finny 😢

I didn’t like how multiple couples have sex once and the girl gets pregnant. Once it happens, more discussion on this topic would have been great; addressing the topic of teen pregnancy, but we just keep moving on through the story.

Content Warnings

_b0ok_l0v3r's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I WISH THERE WERENT TIARAS

Content Warnings

moonylovesstars's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Im not okay. I will never recover.

Content Warnings

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