Tag Archives: camping

Review: I Wish You Would by Eva Des Lauriers

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , ,
I Wish You Would by Eva Des Laurier

I Wish You Would
Eva Des Lauriers
Henry Holt & Co.
Published May 21, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About I Wish You Would

In this drama-filled love story, private confessions are scattered on the beach during a senior class overnight and explosive secrets threaten to tear everyone apart, including best friends (or maybe more?), Natalia and Ethan.

It’s Senior Sunrise, the epic overnight at the beach that kicks off senior year. But for Natalia and Ethan, it’s the first time seeing each other after what happened at junior prom―when they almost crossed the line from best friends to something more and ruined everything. After ghosting each other all summer, Natalia is desperate to pretend she doesn’t care and Ethan is desperate to fix his mistake.

When the senior class carries out their tradition of writing private letters to themselves―what they wish they would do this year if they were braver―Natalia pours her heart out. So does Ethan. So does everyone in their entire class. But in Natalia’s panicked attempt to retrieve her heartfelt confession, the wind scatters seven of the notes across the beach. Now, Ethan and Natalia are forced to work together to find the lost letters before any secrets are revealed―especially their own.

Seven private confessions. Seven time bombs loose for anyone to find. And one last chance before the sun rises for these two to fall in love.

My Review

I really needed a candy romance book right about now, so I was really glad to find this one on my list. The short chapters make it especially binge-able, and the tension between the two estranged best friends makes it easy to keep reading well past bedtime (which I did.)

I like that Natalia is an artist and that her art impacts the story. There are moments when she describes how she’s feeling in terms of art or color. Ethan, by contrast, drifts into sharing strange facts when he’s stressed, which is really cute.

Almost the whole story takes place during an overnight camping trip for the rising senior class at Natalia’s and Ethan’s school. The first couple of chapters take place a few months before, and the last chapter takes place long afterward, functioning sort of like a prologue and epilogue.

The romantic plot of the story holds a lot of tension, with Natalia and Ethan recalling a kiss from months earlier that neither is sure whether the other regrets. The senior camping trip marks the first time they’ve seen each other in a while, and it creates a kind of forced proximity. The secret letters part of the story added some interesting components and quirky side characters and subplots.

Fans of J.C. Cervantes will probably like this quick, intense love story.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 15 up.

Representation
Natalia is Latine on her mom’s side. Includes minor characters of other races and gender identities/sexual orientations.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used fairly frequently. One character uses transphobic language and deadnames a nonbinary character.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. A boy and girl remove their tops while kissing. References to sex. References to romance between a girl and nonbinary character.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Two boys get into a fistfight. One character uses transphobic language and deadnames a character. References to sexual coercion, mostly off-scene. In one scene, a man boxes a girl into a corner, bracing his arm on the wall over her, and makes some comments with sexual undertones.

Drug Content
One teen character gets inexplicably drunk at the campout.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: The Devil You Know by Trish Doller

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

The Devil You Know
Trish Doller
Bloomsbury
Published June 20, 2015

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About The Devil You Know
Eighteen-year-old Arcadia wants adventure. Living in a tiny Florida town with her dad and four-year-old brother, Cadie spends most of her time working, going to school, and taking care of her family. So when she meets two handsome cousins at a campfire party, she finally has a chance for fun. They invite her and friend to join them on a road trip, and it’s just the risk she’s been craving-the opportunity to escape. But what starts out as a fun, sexy journey quickly becomes dangerous when she discovers that one of them is not at all who he claims to be. One of them has deadly intentions.

My Review
After meeting Trish Doller at ApollyCon in March, I knew I had to read this book. I loved the idea that it’s set in Florida, but not at the beach, and while it’s a summer story, it’s a whole different kind of tale than the usual Florida vacation! As with Where the Stars Still Shine, the Florida setting is super vivid. As a Florida girl myself, I often nodded along with the descriptions and laughed with Cadie at some of the things the out-of-town boys asked about life in the Sunshine State.

I think my favorite part of the book was the vivid details about Cadie’s memories with her mom, her relationship with her brother and even Noah’s memories. All those little things gave the story so much depth and really made the characters seem real.

There’s definitely a position on the romance angle of the story. Cadie thinks a lot about conversations she’s had with her mom about sex and her own feelings that she shouldn’t feel guilty, that it’s right to do it when she feels read, and that it doesn’t need to be special or limited to one experience.

As far as the rest of the emotional experience of the story—I found myself totally wrapped up in the suspense. I sat down to read for five minutes and didn’t even realize how much time had passed before I’d read five chapters, was late for everything, and had to make myself stop!

If you’re a super sharp cookie, you’ll probably figure out some of the plot before it’s revealed, but even if that’s the case, don’t let that ruin it for you. I was pretty sure from early on about who the good guys and bad guys were, but it didn’t lessen my enjoyment of the read at all. There were enough other reveals and intriguing moments keeping me turning page after page all the way until the end. If I hadn’t needed to stop reading that first session, I probably would have read straight through the entire book right then. As it was, I finished reading the same night.

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters are Caucasian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used with moderate frequency.

Romance/Sexual Content
Cadie worries that her ex-boyfriend may have shared intimate details about their relationship with his crude twin brother, who makes lewd comments to Cadie about oral sex.

Teens gather at a camp site for a party, where they drink alcohol and go skinny dipping. Cadie takes off her dress, and boys make some crude comments.

Cadie pretty quickly falls for a new boy. They share intense kisses and undress together. Later, she has sex with a boy. At one point, she tries to distract a boy by making him think she wants to have sex with him even though she doesn’t. It’s a desperate move and unclear how far she’s going to make herself go until she can’t do it.

She thinks a lot about sex and resents possible judgment about her choices. She believes she should be able to have sex when she wants without it being a big deal, and recalls her mom’s counsel advising her of this, too.

Spiritual Content
Brief mention of desperate prayer to God or anyone in the Heavens listening.

Violent Content
One boy appears to be the victim of a bullying incident. Cadie finds him naked and tied to a tree in the morning after a party.

References to a drunk fight between a man and his son which caused serious injury to both parties.

Twice people die of gunshot wounds, off-scene. It happens once in-scene. A boy attacks a girl and accuses her of making him hurt her. It’s clear he means her serious harm.

A crocodile grabs a boy.

Drug Content
Teens drink alcohol while camping and at a party. Reference to a couple Cadie thinks might be smoking pot.

 

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