If you're debating whether to pick this up—yes, do it! The cover's cute, the summer camp vibe is fun, and the frenemies-to-lovers storyline is a blast. Sure, it's contrived (hello, summer camp!), with activities and cabin-sharing antics galore. But that's part of the charm, right? Dive in for a light, entertaining read that's perfect for escaping into a world where emotional drama and crushes run wild.

Characters 7/10
Atmosphere 7/10
Writing 8/10
Plot 7.5/10
Intrigue 8/10
Logic 7/10
Enjoyment 8/10

This book is a lovely little summer romance. I would absolutely describe it as fluffy yet a slow burn. There was a point in the story where I wondered if they were ever going to end up together. That said, I was invested in the characters overall. Wish You Weren't Here follows Juliette, a girl who finds herself constantly around her not so evil nemesis, Priya. Priya is everything that Juliette is not, so it seems like a twisted fate when the small town popular girl ends up at her home away from home, summer camp. Not only is she there, but Priya is Juliette's roommate. It's her last summer at Fogridge so Juliette is determined to make the most of it.

This rivals to lovers story is really sweet. The romance is very slow but it is nice watching them fall for each other and notice how they clearly haven't disliked each other as much as they thought. I appreciated the side characters in this. I just still don't get why Galahad to hated Juliette so much and I am upset about that lol. Overall, great story, cute romance, and I would recommend. Could be a lovely palate cleanser.

This was so cute!! The perfect queer YA romance set at summer camp. The friendships were so fun and wholesome. Such an easy fun read with really heartwarming moments. I also love that they addressed the camper/counselor dynamic and how to advocate for yourself and your friends with authority figures. Talked about burnout when your a teenager, asking for help, pressure to be perfect, and being told you’re “too much” or feeling like you have to change your personality around other groups of people.

Wish You Weren’t Here is a YA (16yr old protagonists) summer adventure featuring a summer camp, a friend group, and frienemies to lovers romance. Emotionally, this book felt younger than I expected, with a lot of teen angst and drama. The writing was fun and funny, which helped keep the mood light and enjoyable. Overall, this was a great young summer read with lovable characters and laugh out loud moments.

I ended up DNFing this book. After multiple times tryign to get into it and getting maybe 5-6 chaoters I couldnt do it.

I found it charming, relevant and with a relatably oblivious main character, this book makes me nostalgic for a highschool experience I didn't even have.
The book reads endearing and awkwardly funny in a way that kinda hurt my feelings... I couldn't put it down but deeply wish teenage me could have picked it up! Definitely a feel good summer read 💖

Wish you weren't here by Erin Baldwin is a ya contemporary with LGBTQ+ characters!! We follow our main character name Juliette who is in her senior year of high school so that means it's her last year at her local summer camp. I loved this book so much for a number of reasons and one of them is because I worked at a summer camp as well so all the feelings and things happening in this book was amazing. I had a lot of feelings while reading the ending cause although it's the end of Juliette story I feel like we could have a spin off of Juliette girlfriend.
The characters were amazing to read about because we don't get enough of diverse characters, a perfect summertime read for me because not only was it set durning the summer but a summercamp. The writing in it was easy to read so I physically read it!(:
Star rating: 4/5 stars!!

I tried to read this book but could not connect with the characters. Will potentially attempt it later, but right now it wasn't for me. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to get access - I appreciate it!

This book is an absolute adorable Sapphic romance, the perfect summer read. The book is definitely as cute as the cover. I recommend.

I loved this book, cottage-core lesbian vibes but for teens (so camp). Sometimes it felt a bit rushed but the epilogue made up for it, seeing how their relationship grew past their time at camp.

Wish You Weren’t Here was a funny, young adult book about how a summer camp life is different than regular life until both worlds collide and your nemesis from school joins you during your senior year of camp. It was a great enemies to lovers trope with forced proximity.

As a previous high school camper, I definitely understood Juliette’s love for camp and to be someone different than she is during the school year.

The little tidbits that Priya gave to Juliette to show her interest were cute but not too overly pushy to push Juliette before she was ready. Her best friends Lucy and Gia offered some great comedic relief and just the great friendships that can withstand years of camp.

I thought it was a great coming of age story and a cute read overall!

I thought this book was so cute. It was an easy listen and something new to gear into summer reading! I loved the summer camp setting and it’s normally not something I love but this one was different! I loved how much of the camp felt like a being and how important it was to the characters. You could feel the atmosphere of being somewhere special and how the characters shifted from being their home selves to their camp selves. I also really enjoyed the frenemies to lovers trope! It’s not something you see too often but this one was so cute and I ate it up! Overall it’s a great sapphic read and one i’ll continue to recommend for summer reading!

Thank you for the e-arc of Wish You Weren't Here by Erin Baldwin. Although a fun summer read, I felt that the main character held too many grudges and that made reading feel insufferable. I ended up dnf'ing it around forty percent because I just kept setting it back down and not reading anything.

Okay, first things first: if you're on the fence about this one—admiring that cute cover, thinking a summer camp novel sounds fun, that frenemies-to-lovers is obviously the best trope, but... just read it. It's 100% as cute as it looks. Is the set up contrived as all get out? Sure, but it's a summer camp novel. Every other scene is an activity. Literally contrived. By adults. For fun. Activities are fun! So is sharing a cabin with your sworn enemy / hot crush. Whose butt is just like right there. Not that you’re staring at it. (“‘Right … you were looking with it. Near it.’”) Also, said crush has so much more emotional intelligence than you that you think it's a fair fight but it's not. She has your number, babe. Anyway, read it. Great literature it is not (what was that? YA is for kids? wha?), but treat yourself.

I loved this fun enemies to lovers book, and the environment and atmosphere! I need to read more from Baldwin, I enjoyed these characters so much!

I wish I loved this.

I decided to request an advanced copy of Wish You Weren’t Here because enemies-to-lovers is a trope I want to read more of. That said, after reading this book, I am confident in saying that this should not be labeled as enemies-to-lovers.

The “enemies” element is one-sided. Juliette is bothered by Priya’s mere existence. In my opinion, Priya’s disinterest in playing this game with Juliette is what causes the tension. That’s not enemies. That’s just a teenager who found an outlet for her negative emotions in another person.

Now that I have gotten my main issue out of the way, these are the elements I enjoyed.

- The in-depth camp world-building - Wish You Weren’t Here truly captures an American summer camp experience. It's a very specific setting that worked well for me because of how detailed it is.

- The discourse about doing things simply because they are fun - Juliette mentions multiple times that teenagers should be able to do things simply for the sake of enjoyment and that really resonated with me. I appreciated that plot detail.

Bottom line: I didn't love Wish You Weren't Here, but I would still recommend it.

I solely requested this arc based on the books cover and not even reading what it was about. This book was cute, as someone who never went to summer camp as a kid it made me really wish that I did and it made me feel as if I was also experiencing camp for the first and last time. I think this book has some nice fun elements to it but it also has a bunch of underlying lessons to takeaway from that are perfect for a younger audience that might be trying to figure themselves and their life out. Although I don’t think this book is specifically for me, I can think of a few friends who I think would enjoy this!

Dnf 20% in

I found this book really hard to read, I don’t know if it’s because i though the characters were adults & the i found out that it was a ya, which honestly was mostly likely told & i just didn’t realize. I was really excited to read this book when i started it & when i found out it was ya i was a little disappointed but i continued on because i do love ya book especially sapphic ya book. At the beginning i found it was a little hard to read but i decided to just push through, i originally wanted to get 50% in before deciding to dnf since i don’t like dnfing my arcs but i just couldn’t do that with this book. I don’t know if it was the writing, my mood, or just my chaotic life making it hard to connect to the story but i just could not get myself to pick up the book. Honestly i think it’s also the cover, as pretty as it is, the characters look older than they are.

Wow. I loved this! I was never really a camp person but that didn’t take away from how much I enjoyed this book.

Priya and Juliette were so fun, I loved their journey from indifference to being in love. Lucy and Gia were amazing side characters and I would read more just about them!

The ending was adorable and a perfect way to wrap up the story.

Erin Baldwin has written a beautiful, funny love letter to the summer camp experience. The addition of a enemies to lovers romance really sealed the deal for me. Thoroughly entertained.

Thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group | Viking Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.