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A review by opalmars
Wish You Weren't Here by Erin Baldwin
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Thanks to Viking Books for Young Readers and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC of this book!
This is such a fun book! Sweet characters, great pacing and a very fun setting. A perfect romance for the summertime!
Juliette and Priya were really great characters. I liked seeing Juliette’s internal struggles about how she is perceived and how she’s treated at home, and I really understood why she felt like the camp was the only place where she could really be herself. My only criticism is that I would’ve liked to see more of her school and home life, to really emphasize her struggles.
Priya was a really good LI! Juliette thinks she’s conceited and is afraid she’ll do a mockery of the summer camp activities that mean so much to Juliette, but Priya immediately proves her wrong by cheerfully participating in the activities, befriending people and just overall being a sweetheart! I also like that Priya is very confident and talented. I honestly would’ve loved to see more of her, just like with Juliette.
Both Priya and Juliette did some dumb things at times, but I’ll just chalk that up to them being teenagers haha. Overall, they were really good characters, individually. But I also really enjoyed their dynamic! Their polite distaste for each other quickly turning into admiration was really nice to see develop. I liked that Priya was clearly being very nice (and sometimes flirty) towards Juliette, but Juliette was completely oblivious and just assumed Priya still disliked her. Such a fun dynamic!!!!! 🤭
I also liked Lucy and Gia as SCs, though, once again, I would’ve liked to see more of them. (As you can tell, a lot of my review is just GIVE ME MORE!!!!!!!!! because I genuinely was having a really fun time in this story and I didn’t want it to end haha).
I also think the summer camp setting was suuuper fun! I personally don’t have this deep love for summer camp the way the characters and author clearly do, but I can imagine that someone with that kind of thing in their life will feel a deep appreciation for Juliette’s feelings about never going back to camp. But even though I couldn’t really relate to it, I still think the feeling of saying goodbye to something that means a lot to you and feeling nostalgia about your teen years is something everyone can relate to in some way, and I like the way it was shown in this story.
Regarding the writing: there were a couple of typos (which I’m sure will be corrected before the book is published) and some 4th wall breaks (which are not my personal favourite), but, overall, I think the author did a good job making me care for these characters and building up the story. I breezed through it!
Overall: this is a really fun summery book with great representation that I think any fans of YA romance will really enjoy!
This is such a fun book! Sweet characters, great pacing and a very fun setting. A perfect romance for the summertime!
Juliette and Priya were really great characters. I liked seeing Juliette’s internal struggles about how she is perceived and how she’s treated at home, and I really understood why she felt like the camp was the only place where she could really be herself. My only criticism is that I would’ve liked to see more of her school and home life, to really emphasize her struggles.
Priya was a really good LI! Juliette thinks she’s conceited and is afraid she’ll do a mockery of the summer camp activities that mean so much to Juliette, but Priya immediately proves her wrong by cheerfully participating in the activities, befriending people and just overall being a sweetheart! I also like that Priya is very confident and talented. I honestly would’ve loved to see more of her, just like with Juliette.
Both Priya and Juliette did some dumb things at times, but I’ll just chalk that up to them being teenagers haha. Overall, they were really good characters, individually. But I also really enjoyed their dynamic! Their polite distaste for each other quickly turning into admiration was really nice to see develop. I liked that Priya was clearly being very nice (and sometimes flirty) towards Juliette, but Juliette was completely oblivious and just assumed Priya still disliked her. Such a fun dynamic!!!!! 🤭
I also liked Lucy and Gia as SCs, though, once again, I would’ve liked to see more of them. (As you can tell, a lot of my review is just GIVE ME MORE!!!!!!!!! because I genuinely was having a really fun time in this story and I didn’t want it to end haha).
I also think the summer camp setting was suuuper fun! I personally don’t have this deep love for summer camp the way the characters and author clearly do, but I can imagine that someone with that kind of thing in their life will feel a deep appreciation for Juliette’s feelings about never going back to camp. But even though I couldn’t really relate to it, I still think the feeling of saying goodbye to something that means a lot to you and feeling nostalgia about your teen years is something everyone can relate to in some way, and I like the way it was shown in this story.
Regarding the writing: there were a couple of typos (which I’m sure will be corrected before the book is published) and some 4th wall breaks (which are not my personal favourite), but, overall, I think the author did a good job making me care for these characters and building up the story. I breezed through it!
Overall: this is a really fun summery book with great representation that I think any fans of YA romance will really enjoy!