Wish You Weren’t Here

Schillig whisks readers to the beautiful Italian city of Urbino in her effervescent enemies-to-lovers debut. As American law student Ava Graham heads off to a European law seminar, she’s proud to have her life plan on track: “Father-approved job? Check. Mother-requested experience abroad? Golden check. Everyone-approved fiancé? Rapidly approaching platinum check.” But before she boards her plane, her boyfriend surprises her not with a marriage proposal but with the suggestion that they consider her time away as a break from their relationship. When her host parents’ nephew, James Massini, arrives an hour late to pick her up from the airport, he receives the brunt of her bad mood. In the face of Ava’s ire, James, a well-known local photographer and professor of art history, is both infuriated and attracted. After Ava’s program is canceled, the pair are further thrown together when Ava is assigned to be James’s teaching assistant. Schillig lets the sexual tension simmer as Ava and James wittily goad each other, making their compatibility obvious to everyone but the sparring hearts themselves. Readers will be eager for these two supposed opposites to put their fears and differences aside and recognize their true feelings. Schillig should win fans with this one. Agent: Barbara Poelle, Word One Literary. (May)