This checks all the boxes for me. ✅Stubborn AF friends-to-lovers. ✅Forced proximity in a cozy beach setting. ✅And angst. Lots and lots of delicious angst. Eva Des Lauriers’ debut YA novel I Wish You Would is as addicting as the Taylor Swift song it’s named after. It follows best friends Natalia and Ethan, who are so in love but oh-so terrified to rock the friendship boat. After a disastrous prom night and a summer of ghosting each other, they reunite for their Senior Sunrise school trip. Giving them 24 hours to fix things.
Other than the points I listed, what drew me in was the concept of Senior Sunrise. The students gather to camp out and fulfill the tradition of writing anonymous wishes along the lines of “If I were braver, I would…” Naturally, Natalia and Ethan write about each other, completely vulnerable in their letters. Immediately regretting this, Natalia attempts to retrieve her confession and is horrified when the wind scatters the letters all over the beach. As she and Ethan work together to find seven letters, the tension skyrockets. We get to read these letters as they’re found, and it’s interesting trying to piece together who they belong to. It’s also nerve-racking, because Natalia and Ethan’s letters could be out there too.
The short timeline gave me the sense that they had to get their feelings out at this trip or it would be too late. There’s a heavy amount of miscommunication, which would usually be annoying, but the emotion was so raw and well written that I was okay with it. Loving it, even. Natalia and Ethan felt like real people with real history — the kind of friends who get under each other’s skin, in every definition of the phrase. It made their arguments just as enjoyable (well, almost) as the tender moments. They’re a precious, perfectly shippable couple, and I already miss them. I finished this book deliriously happy, as I would after my own beach day.
**Much thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I Wish You Would will be released on May 21.
Rating: ★★★★★
Sara Bechtol 