Laura Nowlin Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Laura Nowlin
Laura Nowlin holds a BA in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing from Missouri State University.

Along with being an ambitious writer Laura is also an avid reader that believes books allow her to live many lives in just a single lifetime.

When she’s not at home agonizing over her own novels she works at the public library where the patrons give her more than enough inspiration for her writing.

Laura is mildly dyslexic. She was a reluctant and slow reader until she was nine years old. That year, her family moved from a tiny town in Arkansas to St. Louis, Missouri. Laura made a few friends in her neighborhood, just none in her class, and halfway through the school year, the other girls decided she was to be ostracized and mocked. She found that if she focused on reading, she wouldn’t hear them mocking her, and her lack of reaction took all the fun out of teasing her. Nobody would be her friend, however nobody would make fun of her anymore, because she’d just pull out her book.

They ended up redrawing district lines, and she moved to another school where she had a lot of friends from her neighborhood in her class. She had caught the reading bug by then, and it never left her.

She wrote “If He Had Been with Me” after her first novel had been rejected over and over, and she had begun giving up hope that she’d ever be an author. She was incredibly depressed, so much so that she was hospitalized for a short time.

During her recovery, while she was still an outpatient, she dreamed about being a girl whose friend had died. She knew that if the boy had just been with her, he’d still be alive. She woke up shaken and depressed still, but inspired too. She got up, write the book’s first chapter and went back to bed.

Laura knew somebody close to her that died young while she was in high school, so the issue of being true to your emotions/heart before it’s too late has always been important to her.

The next morning, she reviewed what she’d written, and realized that it was the best thing she had ever written. Writing that novel gave her purpose again.

If you took her life, and all of the people in, and threw it in a blender, the mixed result would be “If He Had Been with Me” and “This Song is (Not) For You”. There is no one to one correlation to any one person in her life, however much of the events and feelings have these bits and pieces from reality.

Laura finds that writer’s block sucks. Nothing else in the whole world can make her feel as worthless as staring at her computer, thinking that she’s got nothing. When that happens, she’ll immerse herself in art. She watches respected art films, read odd books by authors that she hasn’t read before, reread some poetry, and so on. If you do these things and you are determined, something will come to you just as long as you don’t give up.

“If He Had Been with Me” is the first stand alone novel and was released in 2013. An achingly authentic and raw portrait of regret, love, and the life altering impact of the relationships that we hold closest to us. If he had been with Autumn, everything would’ve been different.

Finn and Autumn were once inseparable. However something changed. Or they did. Now, they just do their best to ignore one another. Autumn has her boyfriend Jamie, and her close-knit group of friends. And Finn has become that boy at school, that one that everybody wants to be around.

That still does not stop the way she feels every time that she and Finn cross paths, and the nagging, growing thought that maybe things could’ve been different. Maybe they should be together. However come August, things will change forever. And as time goes by, she’ll be forced to confront the other ways that life may have been different if they’d never parted ways.

“This Song is (Not) For You” is the second stand alone novel and was released in 2016. Ramona fell for Sam the moment that she met him. It was like she’d known him forever. He is one of the very few constants in her life, and their friendship is much too important to risk for just a kiss. Even though she really would like to kiss the guy.

Sam loves Ramona, however he would never expect her to feel the same way. She is too cool and quirky for somebody like him. But they complement one another perfectly, both as a band and as best friends.

And then they meet Tom. He makes music too, and he is the missing piece the band needs. The three soon become inseparable. Except Ramona’s now falling in love with Tom. However she never fell out of love with Sam either. How can she be true to her own feelings without breaking the band up?

“If Only I Had Told Her” is the third stand alone novel and was released in 2023. A gripping and intensely emotional companion novel to “If He Had Been with Me” about the love which heals and breaks us.

If only Finn had told Autumn he loved her years back, then he’d not be here right now.

Finn has always loved Autumn. She is not only the girl next door or Finn’s mom’s best friend’s daughter. She’s his everything. However she is not his girlfriend. That is Sylvie, and Finn would never hurt her, so there is no way that Autumn could ever know how he really feels.

Jack, who is Finn’s best friend, is not all that sure. He has seen Autumn and Finn together. How could she not know? And how is he supposed to protect and support Finn when heartache seems to be inevitable?

Autumn surrounds herself with books and wants to write a destiny for herself, however one does not always get a new chapter and fate can be pretty cruel to those that are in love.

Told through three different perspectives, this novel is a love story brimming with tragedy, truth, and the unexpected bonds which heal us.

One Response to “Laura Nowlin”

1. Sandra McHugh: 2 months ago

   Just finished If He Had Been With Me and If Only I Had Told Her. Loved them, couldn’t put them down, very good books.

   Reply