If I Can't Have You - by Aden Polydoros (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

When heartbroken seventeen-year-old Kristi scores the season's hottest romance simulator, the Love Interest 3000, she doesn't expect the perfect boyfriend to become the perfect nightmare.

Reeling from a recent breakup, Kristi decides to take the plunge into virtual reality after her friend, Helen, convinces her to buy a bootlegged version of the device from Jamie, the school outcast.

At first, her VoyfriendTM, Rowan, is a balm to her post-breakup loneliness: kind, attentive, knows how to say all the right things. But things take a tragic turn when Helen dies in a grisly accident involving her own edition of the machine. In a fit of grief and rage, Kristi destroys her LI 3000, ready to move on and live in the real world. But Rowan isn't willing to let her go, and soon begins appearing in her life--leaving her menacing messages and hacking video screens.

Then Kristi learns that Helen isn't the only one who died in a so-called "accident" with the bootlegged machines. If she doesn't find out who is causing the murders--and why--then her own life, the lives of those she cares about, are forfeit.

About the Author

Aden Polydoros is an author of YA and MG fantasy and horror. In addition to receiving starred reviews from School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Bookpage, and Booklist, his debut novel, The City Beautiful, won the Sydney Taylor Book Award and was a finalist for the Lambda Award, the National Jewish Book Award, and the 2022 World Fantasy Award. His other books include Bone Weaver, Ring of Solomon, and Wrath Becomes Her, which was a Sydney Taylor Honor.