Honestly, I picked up this book solely because the premise sounded cute and the title was the same as a Taylor Swift lyric, but I ended up finding a novel that was so much more. Sure, this does have romance elements but it is such a vulnerable coming-of-age YA novel that shines through way more than just some sweet romance scenes. That is precisely why I dug it so much; it wasn't just trope-after-trope a way to get Natalia and Ethan to their HEA. It was the journey they took as individuals to be braver, be their authentic selves and follow their own hearts. That authenticity and vulnerability of the two main characters (and the author's compelling writing and language) is what won me over wholeheartedly. And I'm serious when I say Eva Des Lauriers has a compelling writing style because, dang, was I HOOKED on this book -- on every single page. Like, honestly I was so beyond curious to discover what would happen next. And for someone in a bit of a reading slump, this book BROKE it. Period.

CW: Panic Attacks/Anxiety, Children of Divorce

4.5 - This is a heartfelt, YA, best friends, second chance romance with just the right amount of tension and drama. Natalia and Ethan are both great characters and each going through their own issues as their senior year is about to start. The story is set over 24 hours which I think is so hard to get right - the author either errs on the side of way too little going on, or else jam packs so much stuff in that the day would need to have 48 hours with no sleep on the schedule to actually happen. This one is just right without being too slow. It’s sweet and endearing and you can’t help but root for the main characters, and their friends.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy and a chance to read this early. All opinions are my own.

This little story gave me all the feels. Ugh.

There's definitely the "To All the Boys..." element that's undeniable, but in general I just spent the whole (VERY FAST) read rooting for these two to figure it out and get their happily ever after. The dual POV storyline was a nice way to see the events play out--and to give some insight into how they got to that point. Many classic high school characters, the importance of tradition and senior year, and being an adult vs having adults around- it's all just very spot on for the high school experience, and this is a book that will draw in any reader. So so cute.

Overall: 5 stars (I LOVED it)

I'll tell my students about: language, LGBT+, sex (mentioned), alcohol,

**Thank you to NetGalley & Macmillan Children's Publishing Group | Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) for the free ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.**

Perfect YA romance. Set on the beach at “Senior Sunrise” this book had all you want from a YA book! We have friendship, drama, mean girls with a redemption arc, iconic traditions, a gorgeous setting and a lovely friends to lovers romance. Mostly clean, two very closed door moments. A quick fun read, I read it in one sitting.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.

Loved this book!! It has a bit of the same feel as Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, where everything takes place over a short span of time. I loved all the characters and seeing how their stories intertwined as they really discovered themselves and what they wanted in their life. A great read for anyone but especially teens!

This is a wonderful high school aged story touching on a lot of the issues that teens face today and is part of their everyday life. I liked that it dealt with different genders and social partnering (he/she/they; LGBTQ). The story is relayed via 2 POV and over the course of a day. The day before their senior year of high school begins and the senior class gets together with two faculty advisors for Senior Sunrise. It all boils down communication being key in so many ways in so many relationships. Working up the courage to bare your soul is a daunting task for anyone; but, when you are still in high school and at the mercy of the entire senior class, what then? At least all the soul baring and searching is anonymous and no one knows what gets written down in their private letters to themselves. That is until Natalia freaks out and tries to retrieve her letter and chaos ensues.
Natalia and Ethan are life-long best friends until the night of Junior Prom when everything changes. Now, after spending the summer apart and having "ghosted" each other; they are awkward in each others company and don't know how to find their way back to one another. Can they find a comfortable footing again? Hopefully with the help of Fate and some very good friends they can reconnect and find the special bond they shared once again.

I Wish You Would by Eva Des Lauriers is probably one of the best YA contemporary romance novel I’ve read here recently!
Natalia and Ethan were so relatable and such a fun and loving couple.
Eva Des Lauriers writes with such an unbelievably earnest voice that is impossible to not root for all of the characters. She brings relationships to life in a way that feels so carefully constructed and satisfying.
Overall, this was an incredible book, so easy to read that I flew through it in a few days, with great characters and plotlines. I highly, highly recommend!

Thank You NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

4.5

I read this at the end of last year to finish up my reading goal. It was a super quick read and disgustingly cute, which is always a bonus.

I thought that the plot line with the secrets was interesting and it definitely drew me into the book.

Thank you to Net Galley and Eva Des Lauriers for providing me with an ARC!

I Wish You Would is exactly as it's described, filled with drama and love.

The author did a nice job fitting everything into a twenty-four hour period. It felt very natural, since the characters already had a background and friendship that we're shown throughout their story. Their chemistry and all the little details they knew about each other was so well done.

The book is very much like a rollercoaster. The constant misunderstandings, assumptions, miscommunications reached the point where it became infuriating as a reader. Granted, the characters were dealing with their own insecurities and anxieties, so it's understandable to an extent...but it was just too much.

I'm so glad I stayed on the ride though, because the last few chapters were where the book especially shined (no pun intended). It was so satisfying when they finally had a real conversation. That was one of the best parts of the book. It was also fun to guess who wrote what letters and have them revealed in the end to see if I was right.

And Prashant! That boy has my heart.

Overall, it was a cute, pleasant read with a beautiful ending.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Pub date: May 21, 2024

Read if you like:
-YA fiction
-best friends to lovers
-beach towns
-camping
-prom nights
-Taylor Swift
-art
-senior year shenanigans
-short chapters
-dual POVs
-queer side characters

Rep:
-Latina FMC
-nonbinary
-queer
-anxiety
-addiction recovery

The cover of I Wish You Would is honestly what grabbed my attention. It’s absolutely beautiful. I went into this completely blind and I’m so glad that I did. Please be aware that this book goes hard on the miscommunication trope. However, please do not let it deter you. Eva wrote it so well and it makes sense in the end. Please give Ethan and Natalia a chance because their story is worth sticking it out for!

If you like the series To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, YOU. HAVE. TO. READ. THIS. It’s one of my all time favorite YA series! I also saw that it’s also for fans of You’ve Reached Sam, but I haven’t read that one. So, if you’ve read both of these then add this one to your TBR!

This one was adorable, hilarious, emotional, and sweet. I completely immersed myself in this book with these characters. It’s not super long and the writing is fantastic, so it’s easy to block out the rest of the world while reading. It kept my attention from the get go.

Ethan and Natalia will stick with me forever. I love how close they were even through everything they went through. Don’t get me wrong… It wasn’t easy in the slightest. Reading this book was nostalgic because I felt like I was back in high school with my friend group. Their story is so special and I’m happy that it ended the way that it did.

Trigger warnings: divorce, cheating, SA, manipulation, disrespect of someone’s pronouns—they/them, slut-shaming, bullying

Thank you to Eva Des Lauriers, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for a honest voluntary review!

#ButHowAreYouReally #NetGalley

The book takes place over the course of one short school trip, where tradition is for everyone to write a private letter to themselves answering the question “what would you do if you were braver?” For Natalia and Ethan, long-time best friends whose friendship is on the rocks after nearly hooking up in the name of a backup pact two months ago, the letter is the only place they’ve let themselves write down their true feelings.

When a burst of wind suddenly scatters several letters — which may or may not include Natalia and Ethan’s — the two are forced to work together to stop the secrets from getting out, while having to deal with their hearts in the process.

I had absolutely zero reason to worry about the short time frame of the story because from the very first page I was captivated. The book did such an amazing job setting up the backstory with what happened with Ethan and Natalia as well as their individual personalities and lives, showing how their relationship dynamic was and currently is, and then giving us a fantastic emotional ups and downs over the course of the school trip. Getting both Natalia and Ethan’s point of view meant I was truly able to empathize with both characters as they each dealt with their own issues. I feel like I absolutely know their dreams, their habits, their fears — and the side characters are personalized really well.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC of Eva Des Lauriers's I Wish You Would in exchange for my honest review of the book. This book blew me away. Let me begin by saying that I am in my upper 40s so I am not the target audience, however, I do have a child who is in high school who faced many of the challenges some of the children in this book face so I do feel the book is somewhat relatable.

This book follows two main characters, Ethan and Natalia, who come from different sides of the tracks, so to speak, and who both have secrets from each other. After one awkward situation after prom, both begin to avoid each other for the summer until "Senior Sunrise", where rising seniors spend 24 hours together at the beach bonding before the start of the new year. Enter all the high school drama and sit down for an enjoyable ride.

I found the jealousy of both Ethan and Natalia to be honest and relatable to what two people with feelings would feel. The guilt and worry each has for the other. They need to protect the other, no matter how estranged they may be. Once they learn of the other's secret they support each other despite the hurt they feel.

I found both characters grew within the book by receiving the strength they needed from the other to face the struggles dealing with. I read this one in about 36 hours. Highly recommend it.

Where to begin? This book has everything. It's SO swoony and has the big emotions that I think of when I remember being a teenager. Des Lauriers captures teen angst so well, all while having gorgeous writing and plenty of hilarious moments to keep you feeling the feels throughout the whole book.

Ethan is DREAMY-especially his obsession with facts and how much he knows Natalia deeply. Natalia is incredibly relatable with her struggle with toxic perfectionism and her desire to move beyond what's expected of her. An engaging and loveable group of secondary characters clinches this as a truly un-put-downable romance. I CANNOT state how much everyone will fall in love with Prashant and want a whole book about him after this!

Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful backlist...

This book was adorable!! I loved Natalia and Ethan, and especially their group of friends. The writing was clear and relatable, the characters were done to perfection, and the ending was muy perfecto! Great story and I had a great time reading it. Who needs sleep, right? Amazing story from a fantastic author!

Anyone who knows me knows that I had to read a book with a title inspired by Taylor Swift! This book reminded me of The Summer I Turned Pretty series, and it felt so summery and fun. It was exciting and enjoyable, and I appreciated how the insecurities of the main characters were explored with so much carefulness in the story.

Typically a book with this much of the miscommunication trope would drive me crazy, BUT I tend to forgive it more in a YA setting and honestly, I would have forgiven Natalia and Ethan literally anything. I absolutely loved both of them so much. I really related to Natalia’s people pleasing tendencies and her anxiety and I loved the way Ethan was trying to figure out who to be amid his new found popularity. Together, these two were absolutely electric, but I liked how well developed they were as separate people also. I also loved Rainn, Sienna and Mason. They were such great side characters. This book is pure YA, which I love, but if teenagers being teenagers isn’t your thing, you’ve been warned. I enjoyed the heck out of it though. It was sweet and vulnerable and made me kick my feet in the air several times.
CW: anxiety, panic attacks, infidelity, mentions of addiction, adult minor relationship, bullying, gender queer phobia, violence

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Co for an advanced digital reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ absolutely loved this. It’s so adorable and obviously I, as a swiftie, had to read it. I don’t normally go for YA, but honestly this might just get me into them. The story was so sweet.

This is supposed to be a mix of To All the Boys and You’ve Reached Sam. I agree with the comparison with To All the Boy. But it’s nothing like You’ve Reached Sam at all. It just two teens pining over each other when they’re basically right in front of each other. The miscommunication is strong in this story and made it hard for me to want the MCs to become a couple. All the side characters feel flat as if they’re only there to inject friction. I had a hard time believing that the MC’s friend group was real seeing as they didn’t confide in each other at all. The letters were the only point of interest for me as the romance never felt like anything more than lust. I had no clue why they liked each other. I wasn’t a huge fan of the book but clearly most people enjoyed it. I would urge everyone check out the book and see if it’s for you.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

Thank you to NetGalley, Henry Holt and Co., and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for this advanced copy! You can pick up I Wish You Would on May 21, 2024.

The easiest five stars I've given in a WHILE. This might be one of the best YA romances I've ever read, with fully fleshed-out characters I care about, a compelling plot, and incredible interpersonal relationships. I finished the first quarter of the book within an hour or two, staying up until 2 a.m. because I couldn't put it down. I felt like I KNEW these characters, and the way Eva tied all of the plotlines and character arcs together was truly masterful.

I'll be thinking about this book for a while, and I'm already looking forward to a reread closer to release. If you're a fan of friends-to-lovers, found family, and "The Summer I Turned Pretty" vibes, THIS IS YOUR BOOK.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this novel in advance!

I have to admit, I don't typically read YA contemporary romance, but the description and the cover grabbed me, and I hit request. It was beautifully written and is an ode to a time in many of our lives when we are trying to find ourselves and, for many, falling in love or being brave for the first time. The main characters took me back to being younger, and the author is so adept at grabbing the reader with emotion.

It helps that I love the friends to lovers trope!