I’m a sucker for best-friends-to-lovers. It’s probably my favorite romance trope. (I blame Kevin Arnold and Winnie Cooper.) I Wish You Would is a really sweet, well executed best-friends-to-lovers story with just the right amount of angst that makes their inevitable HEA still feel like it has high stakes.

One thing that really stood out to me was the way that the author used side characters. I felt like I knew all of their stories too, even though the book wasn’t focused on them. I also really loved the way that overachievers anxiety was portrayed, and how a lifetime bond between friends was used as a solution.

I also really loved reading the missing confessions and piecing together which ones belonged to which side character. It added a fun mystery element to the story, and while each one didn’t have a confirmation of whose it was, because we knew them well enough, we could still figure it out.

I’d say the only part that left me a bit uncomfortable was “the” interaction between the FMC and the MMC’s father. The undertones didn’t quite match the outcome, and I think they could have been left out and the outcome would have remained intact. I can look beyond that because everything else is really well-done.

Overall, if you’re looking for a sweet, quick, and teenage-angsty read, this one is great!

I thought the premise of this book sounded interesting, so I was hopeful going into it. However, I realized early on it wasn’t going to be for me. I ended up skimming & spot reading the majority of the book. I’m not a fan of the miscommunication trope, and I Wish You Would hits that trope hard and that’s where it lost me. It did have a a nicely wrapped up ending the felt satisfying to the story though and that cover is stunning!!

Oh my god! The book immediately captivated me from the first few chapters. With its dual point of view, the palpable tension, the jealousy, the angst, and the longing, it all felt so genuine, frustrating, and incredibly entertaining. However, as much as I adored Ethan and Natalia, their inability to communicate effectively was a major obstacle. While it may have been realistic for teenagers, it was still exasperating to read. If only they had taken just ten minutes to sit down and talk, this book could have been condensed to a mere twenty pages. Nevertheless, I found myself deeply connecting with these characters. Once their reasons for the lack of communication were revealed, it became much easier to comprehend their actions.

This young adult romance was undeniably adorable and the perfect read for the summer season. Before delving further, I must acknowledge that this book heavily relies on the miscommunication trope. I understand that many readers, myself included, tend to dislike this trope. However, this particular book managed to surprise me. Yes, I was frustrated for more than half of the story, but simultaneously, I was completely invested and unable to put it down. The pacing was swift, the romance was incredibly sweet, and the fact that it shares a title with a Taylor Swift song only adds to its charm. Therefore, I highly recommend giving it a read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

If you're someone who's always yelling at the characters to just talk about their problems, you're really going to hate this book. If, however, you're like me and you kinda thrive on the chaos and tension of miscommunication or no communication, this is your book.

This book happens over the span of a day and is told in dual POV. I loved both characters so much. They both had a lot of family problems they were working through and, because of a misunderstanding at the end of the previous school year, they weren't able to lean on each other during their summer apart.

Going back to the miscommunication thing. I think they could have worked things out a little sooner and then had other forces keeping them apart, but I didn't hate things how they were. And there were some really cute moments of dialogue and internal thoughts that kept me going too.

Some of the secrets that the students wrote down on this trip were juicy so it was fun that we had some of the letters with the secrets interspersed throughout the book. It kept things interesting and well-paced.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. Most chapters ended on a cliffhanger so I was always anxious to start reading the next one which meant I flew through this book. Even though I enjoyed this one, I think it's going to be a love-it-or-hate-it kind of book.

I Wish You Would, by Eva Des Lauriers, is a cute, YA romance full of high school drama and teen situations. This was a quick easy read and even though I am well past my YA years, I enjoyed the time I spent reading it.
Thanks, NetGalley and the publisher, for providing me with the ARC ebook I read and reviewed. All opinions are my own.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Even though this story had a nice concept the execution fell flat for me and this wound up feeling messy. Everything about this book just felt like a collection of all my personal pet peeves. The plot relies entirely on miscommunication to keep it moving, and it was beyond frustrating to read about to characters who couldn’t have a conversation and continuously assumed the worst of each other in every situation. On top of that, and this probably won’t bother many people, the characters frequently used current slang like “sus” and “hella” that were just cringe for me to read.

Another downside of the miscommunication being so heavy was that it made it hard for me to enjoy the characters or root for them, specifically Ethan more so than Natalia. While I feel like Natalia eventually took responsibility for her part in where things went wrong, which made me like her a bit more, Ethan never did. It seemed like he would always find a way to blame his issues with communication on Natalia by saying things like “I only did this because she did that first” and it got to the point where I would be rolling my eyes every time we were in his point of view.

It wasn’t all bad however, as it was a quick and easy read and gave off a summer vibe that was enjoyable. Also, as I mentioned before, it had a good concept that was very reminiscent of To All the Boys and I liked that. The side characters in this were very fleshed out as well, though sometimes they seemed more interesting than the main characters. An issue for me with the side characters however was the way the story tried to tackle many serious topics within their storylines, but because they aren’t the most important and the book is so short nothing manages to be fully fleshed out or explored, which leaves it feeling pretty pointless.

Overall, because this was so short and easy to read I can’t really be that mad at it. I definitely think that this story will have a certain audience that it will do well with because it definitely has its positives, it just wasn’t for me.


~Rating: ★ ★ ✰ ✰ ✰.75~

I really wanted to love I Wish You Would, but there was just too much miscommunication and that absolutely killed it for me.

This was a terrific debut by YA romance author Eva Des Lauriers! Full of beautiful, emotionally-charged moments between the two leads both in the past and present day, this story is sure to evoke the magic and heartache of first love for any and all readers.

Secrets are at the core of Eva Des Lauriers's beautiful and vulnerable debut novel, I Wish You Would. That's one of the many reasons why this book is so relatable to its readers. There has never been a person who didn't have a secret or two in their lifetime, especially as a teenager. Des Lauriers does a fantastic job narrating the way secrets cause harm on many a level.

We witness the secrets pile up. Not just with Natalia and Ethan, but every student present at the senior sunrise; a school-sanctioned event that Natalia organized for their incoming senior class. What Des Lauriers does with her cast of side characters is deftly executed. She managed to make every side character interesting. Their personalities, the way they affect other students, and the way they affect our MCs, all come together like a tangled knot. Mixed up and messy and complicated, just like life.

And you'll just have to read the book to find out if any of them get their lives together, or not!

Eva Des Lauriers's contribution to the canon of the genre is the first in what I'm certain will be a long list of favorites.

I recommend this book for anyone who loves Taylor Swift, angst, SECRETSSSS, and beautifully shared FEELS.

4.25 Stars

First off, the fact that this shares a title with a Taylor Swift song drew me. And for those wondering, yes this book gives off major 1989 vibes and the vibes of that very song with a little bit of "You are in Love" thrown in. (There even is a snow globe metaphor towards the end of the book, mirroring the YAIL bridge!) As a swiftie, it made me very very happy.

Secondly, this book plays hard on the miscommunication trope. If that isn't your vibe, then I would stay away. For me, the miscommunication makes sense but it did drive me crazy at times. But, unfortunately for me, I feel for Natalia and her anxiety. There's a quote from the book that states it's easier to reject than be rejected. That's a major worldview of Natalia, which leads to a lot of the problems.

This book wasn't anything too revolutionary but it was a fun run. I lived for the teen drama and the mutual pining from Natalia and Ethan made it so juicy. Also trying to guess who wrote each letter was super fun!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

As someone who works with teens, I am generally more forgiving than other adult readers of YA about characters in YA acting like teenagers. However. Natalia and Ethan's constant misunderstanding and miscommunicating (or just not communicating) was frustrating. There were several things going on with side characters and plenty of places for interesting conflict so the focus on these two always thinking the worst of each other, many times for no reason, got old.

Such a cute ya romance! I loved that the book takes place at the beach for senior sunrise. Natalia and Ethan had such great chemistry. You could tell that they genuinely cared for each other. It was also fun to see the side characters stories develop. Overall a fun fast paced read that I highly recommend!

I WISH YOU WOULD is so many things i love about contemporary YA romance put together and tied up in this package with the most stunning cover (which is even more perfect when you read the book and understand the meaning of the color palette).

i initially was drawn to it because of the taylor swift title, and i was NOT disappointed. this book is extremely taylor coded.

natalia and ethan, our main couple, reminded me why i love best friends to lovers so much. they’re so compatible, and with the dual POV narration style, you get a front row seat to seeing them both being obsessed with each other. and guys. the pining in this book reaches OLYMPIC levels. i’m not kidding. there is so much more angst than i was expecting. but it’s so well written, because even when there’s misunderstanding/miscommunication, we understand each person’s logic behind it and it genuinely makes sense from their POV.

i also loved how well the pacing was done. there was a high possibility of it not being so, because of the fact that it the majority of the story takes place over 24 hours (T3 rachel lynn solomon fans, this one’s for you) but the action was perfectly balanced. i never felt like there were dry spells or information overloads, and every single character is characterized beautifully.

all in all, a spectacular debut novel that will delight fans of YA romance.

I Wish You Would is perfect for teenagers. There is a little bit of spice and innuendo but not enough to cause concern for parents. The drama that ensued from miscommunication will be relatable for the teen age group and gives the valuable lesson that while problems may seem big in the moment, things typically work out in the end. Definitely recommend for the age group it was written for, young adults and teenagers.

This book is a super quick read and incredibly fun for anyone who loves to be in everyone else's business. (The confessions on the Lion Letters were such a highlight!) I especially enjoyed Natalia's character arc as she learned to confront things head-on, and the romance was super sweet. I would love a spinoff exploring some of the other characters!

Many thanks to NetGalley for granting me an arc in exchange for an honest review!

When I first heard about this book, I HAD to request it because of the Taylor Swift title. I was hoping for a cute and bingable contemporary romance. And that’s exactly what I got! I I Wish You Would was so easy to read, which I loved. Plus the romance was absolutely PRECIOUS. The amount of love Ethan and Natalia had for each other was kind of insane 🥺💗 I’m jealous. I really liked the plot as well! Some bits were a little cliche, but I thought the part with the letters was really clever!

And most importantly, I Wish You Would totally reminded me of the Taylor Swift song, which was really what I was here for haha.

Thank you so much to Eva Des Lauriers and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for the eARC of this title. This was a cute story but not sure if I would recommend it. Maybe more suitable for older YA readers.

After reading the blurb for this book, I was really excited to jump into this story. Unfortunately, I decided not to finish this book about a quarter of the way into the story. I had problems with the interactions between characters (heavy mentions of sex in the beginning pages in a YA novel doesn’t work for me, this should be NA instead), personal victimization of each individual character, and an overall dialogue that felt like it was intended for a much younger audience (these characters are supposed to be seniors, reads like middle school).

Despite this, I appreciate the opportunity to read this ARC. Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s.

I really enjoyed reading this, it was such a light fun read. The senior wish/secret jar gets tipped over and some notes fly away. Can Natalia and Ethan find them all before another student does? Even though they haven’t really spoken all summer they will try their best to work together.
Most of the characters were likeable. You could laugh and get mad at them. Enjoyable read.
Many thanks to Netgalley for the chance to read and review this one.

Requested this because of how beautiful the cover it! Immediately caught my attention. I Wish You Would follow to best friends at their Senior Sunrise after they avoided each other all summer. They had an awkward near hook up after prom and it hasn't been the same since then. Natalia is the senior class president and has been in charge of putting the while thing together, so when the class writes letters to themselves and some go missing, Ethan helps Natalia find the missing ones and the two have to confront what has been going on between them.