I Wish You Would by Eva Des Lauriers - OPTIONAL

I Wish You Would by Eva Des Lauriers, 288 pages. Henry Holt and Co. (Macmillan), 2024. $20.

Language: R (155 swears, 52 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

12th grader Sunrise is the last event of the summer, the first event for the upcoming senior class, and a day for Natalia to avoid her family drama. Unfortunately, there will not be any avoiding the drama with her best friend, Ethan, who ghosted her all summer. They haven’t seen each other since that awkward mess on prom night, and now their reunion will be in front of all their friends—and enemies—in their class.

I nearly quit reading in the first two chapters of the book because of the implied sex in chapter one and the promise of drama in chapter two. All of the conflict is a series of misunderstandings—though a few are purposeful misleadings—and poor choices, which is often annoying to read. I spent a significant portion of my reading time yelling at the characters to use their words. Despite my annoyance with the chosen style of conflict, I still got a feeling of satisfaction from the neatly tied conclusion.

Natalia is Latina, her mother is Latina, Ethan is described as “pale,” Leti is Latine, and Ms. Mercer is described as having “olive” skin. Leti, Sienna, and a couple other characters are part of the LGBTQ community. The mature content rating is for alcohol use including underage drinking, mentions of condoms and sexting, kissing, sexual harassment, partial nudity, and sex. The violence rating is for assault and joking about murder.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen