Liked this one a lot! Very fun "enemies" to lovers set in a summer camp. I enjoyed the way that Priya and Juliette interacted, how even when they didn't like one another, they still looked out for each other. I admit, I did find Juliette a bit bratty at times with the way she acted towards the counselors and her friends. Although, at the same time I can see why she acted the way she did, as it's her last year at camp and she wants everything to go smoothly. Overall, I thought this book was fun and a great source of nostalgia for anyone who's ever been to a summer camp. 4.6/5 rounded up!

thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for a review!

hang on.... is this book about me? well, not exactly, but as far as sapphic romance at summer camp goes i'd say i've lived it out. this one captured all the awesome things about summer camp, and crushing hopelessly on people on summer camp, and even confessing to people at summer camp, but this time it was enemies to lovers with great representation and a lot of awesome banter!

this was super cute and i enjoyed it :D it did not take me that long to read and even though juliette made some poor decisions at times it was never that bad. girl did not realize she was head over heels for way too long tbh we all knew immediately.

i kind of wish we got some more background on why they were enemies? but maybe that's the point is that they never really had a good reason and that's why they got over it so fast, which also makes sense. they are the cutest couple and i hope they have a great life <33

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 <i>activity</i>. Literally contrived. By adults. Activities are fun! So is sharing a cabin with your sworn enemy / hot crush. Whose butt is just like <i>right there</i>. Not that you’re staring at it. (“’Right … you were looking <i>with</i> 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 have more to say, things less fair and more complicated. Like: Juliette is an asshole? Kind of? And some of her jokes border on… bullying? A suspicion only strengthened by how clearly her behavior is rooted in insecurity? (but see above re: emotional maturity). That Galahad, the "mean" counselor, reacted to Juliette's little mental break over her new roomie about how I would have? And is maybe the real victim in this story? That I'm a little skeptical Juliette is ready for a serious relationship, and if this were real life and not YA romance she would almost certainly learn that by putting herself and some poor innocent (named Priya) through a one-to-six year ringer? (What was that? Not being "real life" is the whole point of summer camp? and YA? and romance? wha?)

I <i>like</i> Juliette, I really do. I like Priya, too, obviously (obviously!) but I'm not convinced she exactly knows herself, either. Especially not if she's been nursing this weird little crush since forever? It almost feels like something complicated is going on here with queerness, something perhaps not quite intended… (Of course, they weren't gonna let a boy and a girl share that cabin. We're coming for your bathrooms, straights, but your summer camp cabins are probs safe for now. Ish.) Or maybe kids being seventeen and idiots is just complicated and stupid and silly and sweet all at the same time, and so the book is those things too. Though now I think I’m making it all sound more sophisticated than it is (or should be!)

Anyway, weird review, I know, but it's a fun book. Super silly, but it gave me some things to think about, too. (That last might just be me, though. I could probably read psychological depth into a phone book. Don't be me. Read it like a kid. After your bed time. Go back and reread the flirty scenes for clues. Step out of reality for a sec. The water's great.)

Even though is considered a YA book, I really enjoyed it.
The two main characters are Juliette and Priya. They have known each other their whole lives and agree to be civil to one another. Juliette does not care for the way Priya dresses (in white) and the way she has everything. Juliette is popular at the summer camp she always goes to and longs for it every year. Just imagine how shocked she is when the person sharing her cabin is Priya. Juliette tolerates her and starts to see how Priya does not have everything and is not as happy as she appears. Not only those things, but the secret crush Priya has always had on Juliette.
I would recommend.

Did you ever have that one friend? Well friend is not quite the right word, frenemy or friendly rival might be a better choice if you were on the same level, but she is out of everyone’s league. That’s how things are between Juliette and Priya. Juliette has spent most of her life orbiting around Perfect Priya, but she is counting down the days until she returns to her favorite place in the hold world: Fogridge, her beloved summer camp. It’s her last year as a camper and she is living for being the camp’s big fish. But one off handed comment to Priya’s mother has changed all of that when Priya arrives at camp, where she’ll be spending the summer, crashing Juliette’s safe space and changing it into something different.

This book scratched the itch I often get for watching vintage 80s and 90s summer camp movies. All the fun bits were there: color war, the camp musical, cocky camp counselors, inside jokes between long time campers, injuries, and camp crushes. All of this and some truly fun lovable characters, including or leads Juliette and Priya. Characters that are truly inclusive without feeling forced or one-note, which sounds easy but is hard to come by. Juliette’s camp friends Lucy and Gia are great, and an endless source of fun and funny. The family run camp gives the whole thing another layer of personality, and Juliette’s new head counselor, Galahad, lets just say she is a great foil and someone I loved to hate.

If your looking for a fun rom-com with big camp energy, give this book a try.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I wanted to like this book, so so much. As a young kid whose own summer camp genuinely changed their life, I was excited. I also read That Summer Feeling, I am not immune to nostalgic summer camp romance stories!! And I love a good YA novel as well, so this was shaping up to be a home run.

From the start though, this book set itself up to be the definition of fine. Good at points, confusing at others, and unfortunately left a sad taste in my mouth. However, lets talk about the good first, because there is good!

One, Juliette's struggle with her feeling "too much" is incredibly relatable to how I felt at her age, and how, genuinely and truly, my own summer camp help me feel more secure in who I was and my own identity. And Priya was a character who I loved getting to see more and more of as she became a fleshed out character as Juliette learns more and more about her.

The negatives I feel like can be summarized by saying that it is a debut author (not saying that all debut novels have this problem, just that it is a common one!). I think the books biggest flaw all comes down to pacing, in figuring out where to let a story line breath, in letting itself expand and contract. Not saying the book should be longer! (As that is a problem right now in the YA world, books being too long while saying nothing), but rather that Baldwin has not yet figured out how to pace out a story in the time that she did have. And the good thing is? That this is a debut novel, and I believe that Baldwin has the talent to take the steps into becoming an even better writer. Because if she could give the time to dive more into the characters she has? This would have gone up in rating for sure.

There are aspects that I didn't like, that are more subjective, such as it being fairly fanfic-y in tropes (a common theme right now, and not my brand of tea particularly), and overall not the fun read I wanted, even though it shows promise. I hope to see more of Baldwin's work however, if only to see how it evolves.

Overall, this was a very cute summer sapphic book! I really enjoy how Priya and Juliette aren’t mean to each other for no reason and instead have a mutual relationship that they are civil as they run in the same friend groups.

Once our two main leads end up in not only the same summer camp but also the same cabin, we see their “enemies” to lovers begin to build so organically. I love good banter and it’s good to see lines that aren’t cringy or just flat out mean.

This book brought all the ache and nostalgia as a summer camp person myself that graduated from camper to staff member. This year is actually the first year I won’t be going (life, you know?) and this book made miss it so much. God, I wish I could go.

I suppose I should talk about the romance instead of reflecting on my own sadness about missing camp. Juliette and Priya are the absolute cutest ever! I really appreciate that the miscommunication trope is not the conflict in the story. I HATE the miscommunication trope. This book was just an all around great read!

I ATE THIS BOOK UP MAN!! FULL MEAL, DESSERT, AND SNACK!! I was never a summer camp girlie, but this book made me yearn for it. The only summer camp I went to was what I called Church Camp and I was forced to ago after I was real depressed in middle school, but that's not relevant to the review. Erin Baldwin clearly knows how to write gen-z dialect so well that I wasn't super cringed-out anytime there was some pop culture reference. But overall, this was a banger. Cute rivals to lovers, and there was a super cute epilogue that I think more YA romance need. If you love sapphics and summer camp, specifically the girl in the rainbow tie dye at the start of Parent Trap, read this once it comes out!!

Honestly, I didn’t expect to like this book as much as I did, and to be clear, I was expecting to like it a lot! It’s a fun sapphic ya novel about camp; what’s not to like? Juliette is expected to share a room with her sort-of rival Priya. Priya’s from Juliette’s school—which means she’s very conscious of the blending of her two worlds and that Priya’s invading her safe space—her cabin, her friend group, even her camp activities.

I wasn’t exactly a camp kid—though I did attend a STEM camp at what would later be my high school that was less color war and sports and more labs and academics—but I don’t think you have to have been a camp kid to understand that gut punch that is loving a place and knowing you’ll have to leave it.

The romance was sweet, and I enjoyed their growth. But I think that’s the part this book got right above all else—it’s such a love letter to camp but also to the liminal space of late teenagerdom on the precipice of your whole life changing, and Juliette spoke to a lot of those anxieties so well. It was easy to root for her—to empathize with her resistance to change, even when different doesn’t always mean bad.

thanks to netgalley for the arc!

This is about two frenemies, Juliette and Priya, who have been stuck with each other for their whole lives. They called a truce, so they're nice to each other and won't talk about each other to their friends, but they still aren't fans of each other. All Juliette wants to do is spend summer at Fogridge Sleepaway Camp, a place she can be herself. She's already sad that it's her final summer there and then Priya shows up.

I like both of the main characters, especially as we learn more about them and they learn more about each other. The side characters are all well done and nobody is "just there." I never had a summer camp experience, but I can see that resonating with a lot of people.

I feel like the romance was well done and not rushed. I'd recommend this to anyone who likes books about being at summer camp, former or current theater people and readers who like lgbtq+ books.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was so amazing! I absolutely loved the characters and Juliette was such a relatable and funny character, and of course Priya was just so fun to read about. I needed two more books about them. The only issue I had was with Gia and Lucy, I felt like their characters were added as a second thought and they were pretty one dimensional, but the relationship between Juliette and Priya made up for it! Would love a sequel were we see more of Juliette’s family issues and how it affects her views of herself and her relationship.

This novel beautifully captures the butterflies of young love amid the heat of summer camp. Follow these two girls as they go from enemies to lovers in this sapphic camp romance.

I really want to know what’s in the water with these recent ya contemporaries. They’ve been so good I am gobsmacked. Wish you weren’t here was no exception.

I loved the plot, I loved the banter, I loved how no one drastically changed at the end of the story and had a personality change. The characters are my current Roman Empire. It is so necessary to my bloodstream to have a toxic free friend group that aren’t all unnecessary in love with each other and fight for no reason.

I’ve never been a summer camp pal, I did a week trip once and I was so miserable I cried when I got home. This made me yearn for a summer camp, it seemed so fun. A little group or place where you can just exist is what everyone needs.

Overall, this is a 2024 favorite. It’s a quick and fun read. Everyone deserves to be in my pocket. This is a must summer read and I will be shouting from the rooftops to make sure it happens.

*I received a ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

I did not like this book, unfortunately. It had more to do with me than the book. I was a sleep away camp counselor and I did not enjoy it. If I had a different experience or had been a camper I think it would’ve been different.

It’s very camp heavy. I’m not saying I was a Galahad like in the book but I certainly wasn’t the over enthusiastic Flagstaff that everyone loved. There were so many names, too I could’ve done with less. I felt instead of plot reasons it was camp reasons. This book is also currently marketed as ‘theater kids’ and while they do a show at camp there’s way more camper activities than just theater.

As far as the main characters, their enemies to lovers romance is sweet and YA innocent. It has a nice arc for both characters. I did find Juliette a little too whiny at times but gave her grace because I’m sure I was too at that age. I’m glad she found gratitude by the end. I still don’t understand Priya’s all-white clothes but I’d guess it plays to her perfectionism. I am oh so glad this WLW romance will available to young adults.

Lastly, TK was a name of a character and I know they were camp nonsense names but that’s journalistic shorthand for “to come.” So, I’m curious if that character will have a better name come the release.

I hope you’ll form your own opinion you may love it.

This was a wonderfully done romantic comedy. And I love the 2 lead characters. It had a great plot to it. And I really enjoyed the romance element to it. The characters felt like they had a lot of chemistry and I could see how they fell for each other. It was a great overall read. And I didn't want the book to end. Erin Baldwin does a great job writing this and it left me wanting to read more from them.

This book made me wish I went to summer camp as a teenager. The author did a good job making not only the main characters relatable, but the secondary characters were also fun and I found myself caring about them as I did the main characters. Though this book is for younger readers, I as an adult in my 30s found the storyline appealing. In my opinion, this is a sweet summer romance that could be enjoyed by all ages.

I really enjoyed the writing in this book! The characters were dynamic and loveable. It was a quick read for me! Some of it felt a little rushed but that might just be a me thing. Overall, I thought this was a fun and sweet book!

This is one of the strongest debut novels I've had the pleasure of reading in a long while. The world building is just as vivid and lush as the characters themselves -- who have some of my favorite voices ever. Juliette and Priya are so lovable on their own, but especially together. I especially enjoyed the nuanced take of a 'not so' enemies to lovers dynamic. This is one of those books that will stick with me for a long time.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc!

Wish You Weren't Here by Erin Baldwin follows two childhood not-friends, Juliette Barrera-Wright and Priya Pendley. It is Juliette's last summer at Fogridge Sleepaway Camp, her home away from home, and she is excited to spend all five weeks being herself. These plans are very quickly disrupted when she arrives at camp to find Priya in her cabin. Juliette grows increasingly more frustrated as camp starts to mirror her home life, and she once again finds herself constantly second to Priya. However, as the two girls actually start to spend time together, they realize that their long-term mutual frustration might not have to be where their relationship ends.
Immediately, Erin Baldwin's writing style made this book so fun. The book was in Juliette's first-person perspective, and I felt like Erin captured the thought process of a teenage girl very well. The dialogue and texting between characters also felt real, which was a refreshing break from the way adults normally exaggerate teenage colloquialisms. And *speaking about* texting, I got a little glimpse of the love of my life, mixed media. Loved the visual of the text messages!
I had a bit of a love-hate relationship with Juliette's original thoughts about Priya. There were a few extra repetitive trains of thoughts that felt a little childish when I had to read them for the fourth time in a row. She's obsessing about how the town loves Priya thinking, "Why should I worship her?" I've got news for you babe, you actually can just not if you don't want to. Free will is a thing. Especially coming from a character whose core trait is supposed to be that she is "intense" and doesn't say things to please people even if it means she is less popular.
All of that being said, at about the 25% mark, these thought processes changed quite a bit and became very real, and I was entirely for it. It was less movie-script rivals and more of the inherent jealousy that girls feel for each other when they are raised in a society that always compares women to pit them against each other. And I get it and I've felt it, and Erin wrote it so well. This switch also made the progression of their relationship from 'rivals' to friends to lovers feel so natural, since getting over the "I hate her because she's pretty" mindset is something most teenage girls already go through. This story just adds queerness into the mix.
Also on the note of Juliette being so real, Erin Baldwin had no business being so correct in her writing of 'intense' girls. Oh my god, too many lines hit way too hard for a silly little queer rom-com. "It's hard work for me to be likable and, sometimes, I don't want to work." Excuse me? How dare you? The messages surrounding this particular personality were so heartwarming though, and something I think more young girls need to hear. You can be 'too much' and 'intense' and still find someone to love you because of that, not despite it. Those personality traits are not flaws.
Last but not least, Juliette and Priya, my loves. The banter absolutely ate. The sarcasm, the teasing, the growth into friends first, oh my god. So gorg.
10/10 recommend to absolutely anyone wanting to read a cute sapphic annoyances-to-lovers romcom that also somehow tackles the complex societal pressure on teenage girlhood. Erin Baldwin, you have my heart and soul.

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My ARC copy of the book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley for a fair, unbiased review.