Wish I Were Here is a funny and whimsical closed-door romance set in the DeGreco apartment building in Pittsburgh. Uptight resident Catherine has carefully and meticulously built her life as academic and mathematician when she gets a offered a tenured university position. It’s all good until the university’s HR department decides her identity has been stolen and she doesn’t exist.

It’s a messy meet-cute when the DeGreco’s doorman, Luca Morelli, accidently knocks a coffee down Catherine’s front. He then finagles her a change of pants and drives her to her appointments, and this begins their romance. Luca is heavily tattooed, gorgeous and friendly, but just a little bit too loose with the rules and regulations. The plot centres around Catherine’s efforts to keep order in her world, and re-claim her identity. By helping her out, Luca and the DeGreco’s elderly residents wiggle their way into her life.

As much as this is a romance, and it is, the romance takes a back seat to the character development for Catherine as Luca enables her to recognize what she actually wants and needs. The novel is fade to black, though we can feel their attraction and it’s delicious to watch Catherine loosen up as Luca pays attention to her. Luca’s extended family of Morellis are plentiful and they all assist and meddle with Catherine’s identity crisis.

It’s very light-hearted, and tidy (no loose ends) with a teeny magical element that is so charming. Crucial to Catherine’s journey is her relationship with her dad, who has brought her up single handedly. He’s an acrobat, a talented showman and juggler and does all the tricks – but he’s a complete free spirit. He’s looked after Catherine while in and out of jobs, in a loose knit community of artists and performers. This gave her excitement but not the stability she craved. Catherine built her mathematical life despite her father’s unreliability, and she resents that he couldn’t keep a job or provide a stable home for her. It’s only Luca’s intervention that lets her see her father’s sacrifices.

The romance between Catherine and Luca threads it way through everything as their shenanigans in finding her real identify bring them closer. There’s tiny third act break up which helps them to realise they are such a great team together. I would have liked to see some more background for Luca, but he’s pretty perfect as he is!

If you like light-hearted, closed door, immersive romance, with a large cast of likeable characters and a heart warming happily ever after, this is it!