Book Review: Wish You Were Her by Elle McNicoll

[ID: a book with an illustration of two brown-haired teens kissing against a gradient of teal, yellow, and green. The teen on the left is wearing a light blue t-shirt and has a book in his hand. The teen on the right has long hair and wears a green dress.  Pieces of paper surround them. “Elle McNicoll” is written at the top in yellow font with “Wish You Were Her” and “Everyone knows her name. Only he knows her heart.” is written in white font across the illustration. The book sits on a bed of loose book pages and white envelopes with light green and clear wax seals. To the left is a brown fountain pen and a brown wooden seal stamp. Sealing wax in dark green and gold sits below the book. To the right is a paper crane made from a book page. The left of the photo is framed with fake green and white flowers.]

Happy Book Birthday to WISH YOU WERE HER by Elle McNicoll! Thank you to the publishers for an early look at one of my most anticipated releases of 2025!

WISH YOU WERE HER is a YOU’VE GOT MAIL inspired YA contemporary starring two autistic teens. 18-year-old Allegra is a mega famous actress looking for an escape from show business and the exhausting effort of masking her autism. She decides to work at her dad’s bookstore for the summer and maybe connect her anonymous pen pal. She instantly butts heads with another teen and bookseller, Jonah, without realizing he’s actually the one she’s been growing closer to via email. Can they find common ground without tearing each other apart?

I’ve been wanting to read Elle McNicoll’s books for a long time and I’m very glad to have gotten a chance to read her YA debut even though it wasn’t quite what I expected.

I’m not sure if it was just my frame of mind, but a lot of the plot made me genuinely stressed. Jonah and Allegra’s first meeting was SO disastrous and he was so unnecessarily mean in the beginning that I just wanted to hide under my covers in secondhand embarrassment. Likewise, Allegra’s struggle with fame and the nastiness of show business/social media was really hard to read about.

Thankfully, I was rewarded for pushing through with a really sweet portrayal of two neurodivergent people finding love, peace, and comfort with each other. In the second half of the book, their eventual connection and communication was really heart-warming and even brought me to tears! I also enjoyed the setting of a small town and book festival.

There’s a sweet love story at the core of WISH YOU WERE HER but it’s not quite the romcom that I expected (or perhaps wished for). I’m definitely interested in reading more from this author, but I hope her next book goes a little easier on my heart!

P.S. I would recommend this for upper YA readers as there is some fairly explicit language and sexual content.

Trigger/content warnings for ableism, sexism/misogyny/slut-shaming, and illegal filming.