Which YA Novels Feel Most Like If He Had Been With Me?

A car accident changes the lives of a pair of identical twins.Jean Michaels should have gone abroad to study. However, she was forced by her mother to swap places with her older sister and marry the influential and wealthy Tyler Larson. This farce of a marriage should end when her sister wakes up and they switch back. However, Tyler had long ago found out the truth of their swap."Why did you think I left you by my side?" Tyler asks. "Your sister was never able to have children. So, before you give me a healthy child, don't even think about escaping."

After her father walks out on their family for his secretary, seventeen-year-old Miley’s world crumbles overnight. With her mother barely holding it together, they move to a quiet suburb hoping for a fresh start. But peace is the last thing Miley finds. Because the boy next door? He’s a walking headache with a six-pack and a smirk. Shirtless. Arrogant. And totally infuriating. Their first interaction? He flips her off. Their second? He calls her “darling” like it’s his full-time job to get under her skin. She wants to hate him. She should hate him. But Jordan isn’t just Liv’s older brother—he’s a tangled mix of charm, mystery, and a past he won’t talk about. And worse, he’s seeing straight through her walls. As secrets unravel and sparks fly, Miley is forced to confront everything she’s running from: heartbreak, trust, and the terrifying possibility that sometimes the person you hate the most… is the only one who truly sees you.

Amara Bennett has a rule: Never let anyone close enough to break your heart twice. After a humiliating breakup that turned her into the laughingstock of her school, she’s done with romance, done with hope, and definitely done with boys who make promises they can’t keep. Then Julian Reyes transfers into her class. Charming without trying. Annoyingly kind. The type of boy who remembers little things—like how she hates strawberries on cake and how she always pretends she’s okay when she isn’t. At first, Amara can’t stand him. Mostly because Julian somehow sees through every wall she built around herself. But when a misunderstanding makes the entire school believe they’re dating, Julian offers her a deal: fake a relationship until the rumors die down. Simple. Except nothing about Julian feels fake. Not the way he waits outside her classroom just to walk her home. Not the way his hand finds hers during crowded hallways. And definitely not the way he looks at her like she’s the best thing he’s ever found. For the first time in a long time, Amara begins to believe love might not be something meant to hurt her. But just when she finally lets herself fall, she discovers the truth Julian has been hiding since the day they met—a truth that could destroy everything between them. Because Julian didn’t transfer to her school by coincidence. He came for her.

I thought surviving high school would be the hardest part of my life. I was wrong. The day my mother died, I lost everything—my family, my home, and the truth. Years later, I'm forced to move into the one place I swore I'd never return... Brinkley Estate. And the one person waiting for me there is Callum Brinkley. The boy who has hated me for as long as I can remember. Cold. Cruel. Untouchable. Living under the same roof with him is torture. But the more I try to stay away, the more impossible it becomes to ignore the secrets hidden behind his walls—and behind his eyes. Someone is watching us. Anonymous messages begin appearing. Locked rooms are suddenly unlocked. Old journals reveal impossible truths. And every clue points to a conspiracy buried for more than twenty years. The deeper we dig, the more dangerous the truth becomes. Because my mother's death wasn't an accident. She was murdered to protect a secret powerful enough to destroy generations. Now someone wants me to finish what she started... Even if it means I won't survive. In a house built on lies, where everyone has something to hide and no one can be trusted, the last person I should fall for is the boy who hates me. But what if hatred was never the whole story? What if the greatest secret inside Brinkley Estate... is the reason we were destined to meet? Some families inherit wealth. Others inherit monsters.

“Do you want me to show you?” he asked. I nodded, unable to find my voice. He stepped closer, his presence overwhelming, and before I could react, I was lifted off my feet and placed onto the bed. His gaze lingered on me—dark, unreadable, dangerous in a way I didn’t fully understand. I should have stopped this. I should have walked away. But I didn’t. He leaned in slowly, his voice low near my ear. “You sure about this?” My breath caught. Then, just as quickly as the tension built, he pulled back. “Think carefully,” he said coldly. “Before you decide what you want.” And then he left me there—breathless, confused, and completely undone. From an unnoticed calculus nerd to the sudden focus of the school’s most dangerous distraction—the principal’s son—everything in her life begins to change. He’s the kind of boy everyone warns you about. And now, he’s the only one paying attention to her.

Layla Reyes wasn’t looking to be noticed. New to Maple Hill High, she only wanted to keep her head down, finish senior year, and forget the mess she left behind in Chicago. But then she meets Jayden Carter—a quiet artist with soulful eyes and a sketchpad full of secrets. What starts as a simple school project soon becomes something deeper, richer, and more complicated than either of them expected. Just as they begin to open up, Layla’s past crashes into her present, threatening to undo everything she and Jayden were building. Can two people still healing learn to trust each other with more than just paint and poetry? Or will they stay stuck in the space between what almost was… and what could be?