This was such a cute read and honestly, it was well done. The high school drama felt so real, and I can look back at my high school years and think of a Natalia and Ethan from my class that everyone knew would end up together except themselves. And Ethan getting flustered trying to explain himself? Too cute. I really enjoyed reading this!

Thank you to NetGalley, author Eva Des Lauriers, and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

This was a special book to read because a friend of mine from college (shoutout Carina Licon!!!!) was the editor for I Wish You Would!! So cool to see lovely people doing wonderful things and accomplishing their dreams!! I enjoyed this read overall. Des Lauriers writing was great, and I felt SUCH a connection between Ethan and Natalia. I adored Rainn, Sienna, and assorted friends as well, and I think she did a great job of really exploring all the characters. The premise behind the book was intriguing, and I truly flew through the book as I was eager to see how events played out. I was pleasantly surprised that the book and characters had a lot more depth for something I thought would just be a YA romance going in; I was able to relate to Natalia's feelings of having to have everything under control a lot. I do think I was a bit old for this book overall in the sense that the missed communication was too much for me. I found myself getting a bit annoyed through cyclical conversations that were had throughout the book, and the "will they won't they" dragged on a bit too much for my taste. For this, I have to drop my rating a bit, but I do think that if I was 16-18 I would have enjoyed it more because it was well written and fun!

With a beautiful cover and concept, I Wish You Would have the potential to be a great YA. I did feel I was not the correct audience for this book, however, and should have paid more attention to the synopsis's emphasis on this being a drama-filled love story, Unfortunately, while I love a good emotional read, this story did not work for me as a reader. I do believe it can be a great read for the right audience though,

I Wish You Would by Eva Des Lauriers was instant love from page one. The emotion and characters had me in a chokehold from the beginning and had me saying "just one more page!"

There's really nothing better than the drama and angst of a YA novel. This book follows best friends Natalia and Ethan, who after almost crossing the line at junior prom and not speaking to each other all summer, have to confront their issues after confession letters go missing at a senior class overnight trip.

Both characters are struggling with family issues and with themselves. Ethan is suddenly popular after being bullied for most of his life. He is struggling with his relationship with his famous father. Natalia is striving hard to be perfect and be good enough for everyone else. She's struggling with her parent's marital issues and with wanting to do art instead of what her father wants her to do. They could be frustrating (between some miscommunication about prom night and them both keeping secrets), but they were likable.

This was an angsty, but sweet first love story.

If you like the miscommunication trope, I Wish You Would is the book for you! Taking place over 24 hours (with a few flashbacks), this dual-POV YA novel is perfect for a summer release; it's full of beachy vibes and back-to-school activities.

I really enjoyed the author's writing style -- both of the main characters felt relatable (strong neurodivergent vibes for both, actually). I remember what it's like to struggle with not fitting in and not feeling like you can be your true self around your classmates. I would have enjoyed more from the other background characters with more points-of-view or more flashbacks.

I was surprised by the more mature content, especially at the beginning of the book. Lots of language, as well -- use caution if that's not your thing.

Let me start by saying I am not a huge fan on 24 hour books. I think most are done terribly and leave a LOT for the reader to fill in on their own. If I had realized that this was going to primarily be a 24 hour book (with some minor flashbacks and an epilogue) I would have probably not request it.

The miscommunication trope was the central plot and it lasted WAAAAAYYYY too long. Also, everyone is a cheater apparently? The whiplash of the constant will they/wont they with their communication annoyed me to NO end. That being said, I kept reading. So for that alone I will give it 3 stars. I was angry and annoyed at it all and kept reading.

I think the book definitely gives off the vibes of Taylor's I Wish You Would. I dont know if that is a good or bad thing honestly. I think overall, I was not impressed and did not feel like we got anywhere by the end of the story.

I Wish You Would by Eva Des Lauriers, 288 pages. Henry Holt and Co. (Macmillan), 2024. $20.
Language: R (155 swears, 52 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Senior Sunrise is the last event of the summer, the first event for the upcoming senior class, and a day for Natalia to avoid her family drama. Unfortunately, there will not be any avoiding the drama with her best friend, Ethan, who ghosted her all summer. They haven’t seen each other since that awkward mess on prom night, and now their reunion will be in front of all their friends—and enemies—in their class.
I nearly quit reading in the first two chapters of the book because of the implied sex in chapter one and the promise of drama in chapter two. All of the conflict is a series of misunderstandings—though a few are purposeful misleadings—and poor choices, which is often annoying to read. I spent a significant portion of my reading time yelling at the characters to use their words. Despite my annoyance with the chosen style of conflict, I still got a feeling of satisfaction from the neatly tied conclusion.
Natalia is Latina, her mother is Latina, Ethan is described as “pale,” Leti is Latine, and Ms. Mercer is described as having “olive” skin. Leti, Sienna, and a couple other characters are part of the LGBTQ community. The mature content rating is for alcohol use including underage drinking, mentions of condoms and sexting, kissing, sexual harassment, partial nudity, and sex. The violence rating is for assault and joking about murder.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy!

This was a really great YA novel! We follow Ethan and Natalia, who are best friends but after something happens on prom night, their friendship gets strained. The book takes place through one night into the morning where all the incoming seniors are gathered for the “Senior Sunrise”. At this event, the seniors write down their dreams and hopes for senior year, to be placed in a bottle and then burned in the fire. However, when letters go missing, when Natalia mistakenly opens the jar, it’s up to her and Ethan to work together and get the letters back before anyone else finds out.
Although this book had a lot of the miscommunication trope, it worked because Ethan and Natalia felt like real teenagers and with teenagers they aren’t the most expressive or willing to communicate their feelings.
I enjoy the larger cast of characters and getting to their stories unfold as well with the letters.
This was a really solid YA book and I loved the Taylor Swift inspired title!

Thanks again to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy!!

The cover and "with all the feels of a Taylor Swift song" in the description lured me in. However, the rest had trouble keeping me. While this was a coming of age romance the reliance on the miscommunication trope was maddening. The pacing was good for having the whole plot take place over 24 during the Senior Sunrise trip. I think the biggest issues is if I was 12 plus years younger this book would have been a hit. But the miscommunication, bratty high school girls, prom and fears of parental divorce just isn't something I can resonate with anymore. That made it hard for me to deal with the miscommunication trope to push through the plot. I think there are readers aged 15-20 that would enjoy this book. A nice Summer, friends to lovers, high school romance.

I requested this because I liked the premise, and I still do. But I also realized that my ten year high school reunion is this year, and young adult books do not always hit the way they used to. Young adult fantasy is easier to get into.

I read parts of this, and am giving feedback for the premise and elements.

I love friends to lovers. It’s one of the best tropes. Best friends to lovers? It’s even better. But this begins as two juniors with a virginity pack, and I didn’t make it much further than that because I am closer to thirty than anything else.

The writing is very good. I think that readers will be sucked into this book without a problem and hope the author has a good release!

This story did character so well. The high schoolers were highly realistic teenagers with big flaws, pettiness, and insecurities—which led to a lot of drama. I especially enjoyed how the theme played out and how all the characters learned that opening up and living their truth felt so much better than keeping their secrets locked inside. The characters' growth and development was really satisfying and the romance was fun too.

This book was so cute!

Thank You Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review<3

I wish you would hooked me in because (duh) its title is a Taylor swift song title and the length made it a perfect palate cleanser ya book. It had so much more depth than I expected and the characters felt real if we can ignore their rich people's behaviour. It takes place over a day and I feel like it provided enough (maybe too much) information to set the scene and move on.

Overall, a great short-ish, palate cleanser, summer, ya romance book that will make you giggle and smile at your preferred reading format.

Recommend to people that are in a slump or in search for easy to understand writing with some plot.

It's also friends-to- lovers so EXTRA cute<3

Sigh...I'm struggling with what to say about I Wish You Would. I got sucked in quickly, which was nice since I've picked up and put down about 4 or 5 books lately because they didn't snag my attention quickly. I read this book quickly, but I had two major complaints. Let's get into the story.

Natalia and Ethan have been best friends for years. They made a pact in freshman year that if they were still virgins by senior year, they would use each other to change that. First of all, I think that's completely idiotic, and if this information had been in the description, I probably would have skipped this book. Why would "just friends" even consider making a pact like that? It makes no sense. And the reasons that Natalia shared were bogus as all get out. Anyway, after junior prom, they had a moment where they considered calling in the pact. But Natalia made a comment that spooked Ethan, and he backed out knowing that he couldn't cross that line with her without changing their relationship. Natalia takes his backing out as rejection. These two could have rendered this book pointless if they'd just had a simple conversation. Honestly, I don't love it when books are centered around one or two big misunderstandings.

Natalia is the student council president, and it's her job to organize these events for the school, like Senior Sunrise. Like the pact that Natalia and Ethan made, I found the entire idea about Senior Sunrise and writing these bravery letters to themselves bogus. I mean this is one of those things that sounds good, but the execution would never work. If this is an event the school holds every year (not the camping part, but the letter-writing part), there's no way that people's personal secrets being shared or exposed has never happened or come up before if they keep them in some jar for a big burning ceremony. It only makes sense to burn those suckers immediately if you're going to have some big event like this. But also, why does a group need to come together for individuals to write a letter like this to themselves? Why isn't this an exercise that each kid could do on their own time in the privacy of their own home and dispose of in whatever way they want to? If you were going to have some bogus tradition like this in the first place, that is.

I could continue describing the events of the book, but honestly, I don't feel the need to do so. Even though I've complained already, one of my biggest two complaints was that there was so much drama. Do you guys know how video content creators have learned to cut clips to different camera angles and to hype the drama so that people's brains are engaged and never bored? Well, I felt like the writing in this book was the equivalent of watching some of those YouTubers who play video games and hype their videos so much that it feels ultra-intense the entire time. One minute Natalia's running away, and Ethan's chasing her. Only for them to have the briefest of conversations that didn't actually move them any closer to a real discussion of their emotions or the secrets they're hiding from each other, only for Ethan to run away from Natalia, and then her to chase him right back. The back and forth was like watching a yo-yo go up and down. That's not even to include the actual events the characters experienced or were struggling with.

The book featured essentially 10 characters (not including the adults). Of those 10, four were LGBTQIA, two adults were sexual predators of some sort, and one of the LGBTQIA identified as a they/them. Guys...this makes no sense whatsoever. The character "identifies" as an individual but uses plural pronouns. I don't understand how we've gotten to this place. One character was a bully. Bullying used to be pushed in every young adult book for a period, but now apparently, the criteria for mainstream publications is to have at least one they/them character. We also had 2 characters that were "persons of color". Unnecessary information if you ask me, except the characters have to experience adversity because of their races. I only mention this because it felt like we were checking all the boxes in a leftist agenda. This felt like the exact narrative that certain individuals want to portray as a typical American experience, but I just don't see this where I live. Maybe it's because the book takes place in California. Again, had I known this was the cast of characters this book would feature, I would have skipped this book.

All of that said, I find it hard to rate this book. On the one hand, I read it quickly. I was interested in finding out what happened to Natalia and Ethan. I wanted to see them resolve their issues. But I also had so many logistical issues with this story...the plot, the characters, the writing method, the drama. All of it was just too much for me to truly enjoy this book. Overall, I guess the best rating I can come up with for I Wish You Would is 3 Stars. Have you read I Wish You Would? What did you think? Let me know!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book before release day. I really enjoyed this YA debut novel. It held true to Rachel Lynn Solomon and Chloe Liese vibes.

Such a touching, REAL teen story with all the elevated emotion of first love, misunderstandings and all. Great supporting cast, both other teens and adults.

I love a good young adult book when the emotions are real and not over dramatized. The characters need to be relatable and their angst understandable and heartfelt. The frustrations of their miscommunication would normally work my nerves but with teens it’s perfectly acceptable because you know they just don’t get it but their emotions are high. You get all of that in this book. I really loved it!

First off, I love the cover and title of this book. I was excited to read it! I usually love YA romances, but this book relied way too much on the miscommunication trope. It really took away from my enjoyment of the budding romantic relationship between Ethan and Natalia. The story also felt too slow, even though most of the events take place on a particular day.

Sadly, this book just wasn’t for me, but I’m glad to see so many others are enjoying it! I’m just not a big fan of the constant miscommunication.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Oh my god, this book was so cute!! I wasn't even thinking about it as a potential favorite but it completely took me by surprise. I was so invested in this so quick I could not stop reading. I can't begin to describe how much I appreciate wholesome romances that aren't all fluff.

Natalia and Ethan were absolutely everything — together as well as individually. The mood of this story was very reminiscent of To All The Boys I've Loved Before, one of my all-time favorite YAs, so I was already in with the vibes of this. But it was the writing of the protagonists' bond that really sealed the deal for me. Since that first car scene, I thought their avoidance of each other, and the underlying friendship and love was juggled so well. The intricacy of their feelings was so well-written that I was truly invested in their history.

I really loved the plot too! Something about an academic girlie romance that will always speak to me. I thought it was so cute how Ethan was loyal to Natalia without suffocating her, and she knew he was there for her whenever she needed him to be. Natalia's people-pleasing personality was honestly so relatable and I felt for her throughout this book. Watching her navigate trying to avoid conflict while in the depths of it, and handle a situation that was out of her control was such a compelling read; her relationship with her friends and classmates really made the book. I mean, the whole thing is set in one location over the span of like, a day, but at no point do you feel that. That's such a hard thing to do and the author does it so well.

I can't talk enough about how much I appreciate a good YA romance, and reading about two teenagers who don't know what to do with what they're feeling is just so wholesome. You know, when they do figure it out!!

I loved everything about Ethan, Natalia, and this book. It was just what I needed when I picked it up, and a solid four star read (on the upper spectrum!).

I would say this book is a 4.5 leaning towards a 5, which is great for a debut author. The cover is so good and it has a great concept. It is also a friends-to-lovers romance, which is one of my favorite tropes. I read this one in about a day because I couldn't put it down and it sucked me in right from the beginning. I think it did feel a little long towards the middle-end of the book and I wish it had been a tad less angsty, but overall it was very solid and I look forward to reading more from this author!