I Wish You Would

Eva Des Lauriers. Holt, $19.99 (288p) ISBN 978-1-250-91055-4

Self-reflection prompts personal bravery in this high-strung dual-POV romance endorsing honest communication among friends and family. Despite coming from “different worlds,” white-passing scholarship student Natalia Diaz-Price, “the only other Latine person in my class,” is Ethan Forrester’s “favorite person.” Similarly, Ethan, who reads as white, accepts Natalia as “exactly who I am. No armor. No fake smiles.” While acting on a pact to “be each other’s firsts” on prom night, however, a miscommunication leaves each of them believing their romantic feelings are unrequited. After a summer avoiding each other, they reunite during a senior class seaside camping trip, uncertain of where they stand and each jealous of the other’s assumed new love interests. Ethan is the only one around when Natalia accidentally spills a jar containing anonymous secrets from her classmates’ self-reflection exercise, prompting them to desperately hunt for seven missing letters—which might include their own confessions—and forcing them to confront their past along the way. The lovers’ stubborn noncommunication sustains the romantic angst that drives Des Lauriers’ debut. Multifaceted secondary characters and Natalia’s candid examinations of the hypersexualization of BIPOC women add thematic depth. Ages 14–up. (May)

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Reviewed on: 02/22/2024

Genre: Children’s