A wonderful summer camp romance. I buzzed through this sweet book in 1 day! I never went to summer camp but this book made me wish I had. This book brought back a lot of nostalgia from my youth.

Juliette and Priya were awesome characters to get to know and their summer camp friends are hilarious group. I love the found family aspect of this book. This book was fun and heartwarming.



Thank you netgalley and Penguin Viking for the ARC!

When two polar opposite girls end up at the same camp together, it's going to be a long summer as they are forced to finally confront their feelings for each other and try and win the camp games. Juliette and Priya are polar opposites and have a truce, Priya is the hot popular girl with the seemingly perfect life and the handsome jock boyfriend while Juliette has her summer camp where she can escape from Priya and just be herself. Yet when she arrives at camp and Priya is there... things are not going to be as she expected, especially when she is confronted with the fact that she might be falling for her childhood rival. This was a cute summer camp sapphic romance read, it's a fun one for ya readers and I definitely think it would be an easy one for them. While it didn't really catch my attention it wasn't bad but it wasn't exactly great either. I really wanted to like it but the pacing of the romance just wasn't there for me. While it didn't work out for me I think that other YA readers will have fun with this easy summer camp read.

Release Date: June 4,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group | Viking Books for Young Readers for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

ahh this was so cute & made my heart so full! we follow juliette and priya, classmates who can best be described as frenemies, as they get stuck as roommates at the summer camp juliette considers her home away from home. juliette expects the worst from priya, but when priya turns out to be different than she thought, they begin to form a real bond.

i really enjoyed the setting of this book. the camp was a character in itself, and it felt vibrant, with descriptions of the sense of community that the campers form. you really get to understand juliette's feeling of belonging when she's at fogridge, and because that is so well developed, it ups the stakes for everything to go right during her last year as a camper there. i also liked the way that juliette's feelings about camp pushed
her to extend olive branches to priya, and how that progressed their relationship throughout the story. also, the pop culture references felt like they were written for me (hey fellow survivor fans & theatre kids!), so that made it even more fun to read.

this is a perfect summer read for any YA romance reader!

thank you penguin teen & netgalley for the eARC, and PRH audio for the ALC!

This was a quick and enjoyable read set at a summer camp. The characters weee likeable, but I felt myself wanting more depth to Pryia.

This ya summer camp frenemies to lovers romance is so cute. I really enjoyed this book. I liked how they often seem to be at each other's throats but it's because they are jealous of each other. I definitely want more by this author

WISH YOU WEREN'T HERE is an absolutely delightful sapphic YA romance set at a summer camp and the perfect summer read!! when her quasi-nemesis, priya pendley, shows up at the summer camp juliette has been attending for years, juliette feels like the world is conspiring against her. as if it weren't enough that her friends like priya, she's also assigned to juliette's cabin, so juliette can't escape her. but as the days pass by and juliette spends more time with priya, she can't seem to stop thinking about her...

read if you like:
- summer camp vibes
- rivals(ish) to lovers
- and they were roommates
- oh my god they were roommates

thanks to netgalley and penguin teen for the advanced copy. WISH YOU WEREN'T HERE comes out june 4th!

This was such a fun read, I started it on a whim and really got hooked. It has a great summer feel and it made me so nostalgic over my camp days with color wars, bunkmates, evil counselors, drama performances, and so much more! I loved both Priya and Juliette, they were both well-rounded characters with a cute slow-burn romance.
Juliette is great and the author does an amazing job portraiting a teenager and all those worries that they go through that seem like the end of the world at that age.
The story feels rushed and we are flying through the summer, I would have loved to have more time with the characters to understand them better and actually care about them, other than the two MCs, nobody was developed that deeply.

Thank you to Penguin Teen for an advanced readers copy!

I couldn’t put this book down, I read it in one day! I laughed, I cried, and smiled through most of the book. I love a good sapphic romance and Wish You Weren’t Here didn’t disappoint. If you’re looking for a sapphic, funny, frenemies to lovers summer read, this is the perfect book!

This book is PERFECT to read for the summer! Juliette Barrera-Wright has never liked Priya Pendly, but that's never stopped the two of them being intertwined in each other's lives. This (one-sided) rivals to lovers romance features a six week sleepaway camp, newfound friendships, and a summer Juliette is never going to forget.

I loved reading this book, although it's cheesy and predictable, but I am always a fan of cheesy and predictable romance books.

I LOVED THIS BOOK! Thank you penguin teen for the advanced readers copy, I DEVOURED it! This was THE PERFECT summer YA romance. I loved every bit of it. Fri-enemies to lovers, forced proximity, slow burn, sapphic perfection! I related with Juliette so much. Her flaws are my flaws. I also just LOVE a good summer camp book and this delivered that as well! Such a fun read!

I found this disappointing overall. Juliette and Priya's pre-camp relationship was a bit confusing, and in general I felt most characters didn't have fully developed reasoning for their choices (the counselor that hates Juliette really stood out as an example of this). Because it felt arbitrary that Juliette didn't like Priya, their relationship development at camp also didn't seem appropriately paced. This book also includes one of my least favorite things in a YA book - the time jump epilogue that wraps up the story when the characters are out of high school and therefore adults.

This was such a touching romcom with a childhood nemesis in the driver's seat. I loved watching Juliette struggle with how she's viewing both the camp itself, but also Priya!

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the arc of this book. all opinions are my own.

This was fantastic. I really enjoyed it! I'd recommend it. Nothing gets me like a sapphic romance and Baldwin definitely got me with this one. It was everything I wanted to kick off the fun summer romance reads and I can't recommend it enough!

This book reignited the feeling of yearning I have to had been a summer camp kid that kicks in any time it hits 80 degrees. It was also just insanely fun. I love a YA book where it feels like genuine teenagers, not teens written by a capital A adult. Make those teens lesbians and I feel taken right back to high school. The chemistry build between Juliette and Priya felt natural and genuine and it was genuinely satisfying when they got together. I do wish the characters felt a bit more fleshed out, like Juliette describing herself as very opinionated, but we don't really see that. Overall, I did really love this one!

Frenemies turn cabin mates turn lovers… What more could anyone ask for?

The first time I ever had a crush on another girl was at summer camp so this book got me like no other.

I loooove the dynamic of quiet small town girl and popular has-it-all girl. This whole book was vibes and I’m living for it. I can’t wait for the release so I can have a physical copy on my shelf!

A YA love letter to summer camps with a fun nemesis-to-lovers story, this book was a fantastic story that had me wanting to escape to summer camp myself!

While Priya rules the world, Juliette rules summer camp as it's the only place she truly feels herself at. Until Priya shows up at summer camp and Juliette thinks that what is likely her last summer camp before college is ruined. A little forced proximity has these teens finally talking to each other and they realize how little that they actually know about each other despite growing up and going to school together. While they are very different, opposites attract and they work together well once they (namely Juliette) can get past the stubbornness.

It's an adorable and fun story with a diverse cast of characters that has you wishing you were at summer camp too. I never could quite understand what Juliette kept talking about in regards to her being "too much" and would've liked more elaboration there, but overall I really enjoyed this book!

Wish You Weren’t Here is as sweet as the cover makes it look. And if you ever went to summer camp and enjoyed it, you will probably add an extra star to your rating. Juliette is one of seven kids in a high achieving family (both parents are doctors). Summer camp has been the one thing that she does that is hers. She has her own achievements, friendships and time to be a kid here. And she is intense about it. Okay she is a bit off put-tingly intense about a lot of things.

Priya is her life long frenemy. They attend the same school and parties. They are both smart, waiting for their acceptances to Yale but Priya is an influencer. Always styled and perfect. They aren’t really enemies, no one sabotages the other, they've been competitive and not friends. So when Priya shows up at camp and is her cabin mate it is all a bit much for Juliette. Especially for how easily her friends like the actually really nice Priya.

This is a summer camp novel. The scenes are usually about camp activities. S'mores around the campfire, activities to let kids be kids. Priya wants to study set building and design and decides to work on the camp musical. Juliette, sidelined by an injury, helps her. This is all fun and sweet. Throw in some confessions of insecurities and finally a night of shared kissing and this book will leave you feeling happy. The epilogue is lovely too. Easy YA novel to recommend for middle school and up.

Priya and Juliette at best, tolerate each other. At worse, can't stand each other. Or at least, that's what Juliette thinks. Juliette is the school loner, and only feels like herself at her summer camp. But, in what is supposed to be her last and best year, she gets an unwelcome surprise in the former of a new roommate: Priya. Over the course of the summer, she has to learn to get along with her, while enjoying her last summer, and dealing with an awful counselor, and injury, and more.

I really, really, enjoyed watching Juliette grow. Reading this one sided rivals-to-lovers was a great time, and Juliette learning to communicate, learning more about Priya, and she learning about Juliette, and find her way when her original plans fail. She comes to realize maybe Priya isn't as shallow as she thinks, and that maybe they could be friends. Or, maybe she's falling in love.

I think my only complaint is I still don't understand why the counselor had a weird vendetta against her? I wish there had been some kind of clarification on that, though I was satisfied with the resolution. Also, maybe I missed it, but I didn't catch why Priya was so insistent about wearing white.

And the ending was great, I literally stayed up until almost 1 am because I had to know how it resolved. And it resolved in a great manner, I was not disappointed.

I don't generally enjoy frenemies stories, but this one had me hooked from the start. The book is full of characters, both main and side, who are loveable and relatable. The setting has me wishing I could spend the summer at camp with all the fun and fires. These two aspects were enough for me to make this a choice summer read.

🦇 Wish You Weren't Here Book Review 🦇

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

❓ #QOTD Have you ever been to summer camp OR what's your favorite summer activity❓

🦇 Priya Freaking Pendley seems to have everything a girl could ask for: social media stardom, the handsome track captain boyfriend, and millions of adoring fans. Juliette might have to live with that during the school year, but at Fogridge Sleepaway Camp, Juliette reigns. It's the one place where she can be herself instead of too "intense." Their last summer before college, Juliette is ready to make the most of her summer, until she finds Priya as her lone bunkmate. Can she tolerate her childhood rival while making the most of her summer, or will Priya ruin it all?

💜 The premise of two high school seniors dealing with their animosity while they're forced to bunk together at sleepaway summer camp? Sign me up! This was a soft, heart-warming, great first step for a debut author. I'm curious to see what Baldwin will write next. I adored Baldwin's ability to capture the magic and nostalgia of sleepaway summer camps. You'll fall into the atmosphere as you read this one, with crickets chirping, twigs cracking, and the scent of burning firewood in the air. The queerness is authentic and natural; not overly discussed, but instead one beautiful aspect among many for a number of characters. Juliette's story is one of self-realization and acceptance; perfect for a young adult about to make their way into the world.

💙 From the story's premise, I expected so much more tension from the start; animosity with reason. Instead, these two girls just...dislike each other. That's it. It's blown out of proportion, overdramatic in the prettiest sense. Juliette has no other reason for disliking Priya beyond the fact that everyone else adores her. Yes, that can get annoying, and I understand that high school girls develop "friendemies" (I honestly don't think that's the right term for what's going on here, but "enemies" AND "rivals" are too strong) growing up, but you don't FEEL anything that Juliette feels toward Priya in this story. Once Priya arrives at camp, you start to see who she is beyond the glossy veneer, which I love, but Juliette's slow abandonment of her hostility toward Priya doesn't feel earned because it doesn't START with any real strength. It just seems like...she's so used to disliking Priya, that she can't recall why she really does. The first chapter, at the party, really should have enforced their disdain for each other. Instead it's just...there. Kind of. There aren't any real sparks of chemistry, either; just an entirely too slow burn that eventually leads toward an anti-climatic queer awakening. There was so much room for forgiveness and character development and instead every moment just felt flat and underproduced.

✨ The Vibes ✨
⛺️ Debut Book
⛺️ Contemporary YA
⛺️ Rivals to Lovers
⛺️ Summer Vibes
⛺️ Sapphic Romance
⛺️ Found Family
⛺️ Love to Hate/Hate to Love
⛺️ Opposites Attract
⛺️ Slow Burn

🦇 Major thanks to the author and publisher for providing an ARC of this book via Netgalley. 🥰 This does not affect my opinion regarding the book. #WishYouWerentHere