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

Book Synopsis

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

A closeted queer teen, Kris decides to take the plunge into virtual reality after his friend, Helen, convinces him to buy a bootlegged version of the device from Jamie, the school outcast.

At first, his VoyfriendTM, Rowan, is a balm to his 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, Kris destroys his LI 3000, ready to move on and live in the real world. But Rowan isn't willing to let him go, and soon begins appearing in his life--leaving him menacing messages and hacking video screens.

Then Kris learns that Helen isn't the only one who died in a so-called "accident" with the bootlegged machines. If he doesn't find out who is causing the murders--and why--then his own life, the lives of those he 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.