A star-studded assortment of essays from acclaimed and bestselling authors and celebrities that illuminates the lasting power of desire and longing, and celebrates our initiation into the euphoria, discomfort, and mystery that’s our first superstar crush.

You remember your first crush .

CRUSH includes tales of heartbreak, humiliation, and hilarity from a roster of popular luminaries, including James Franco, Carrie Fisher, Stephen Ruler, Roxane Gay, Jodi Picoult, Emily Gould, and about CRUSH: Writers Reflect on Like, Longing and the Lasting Power of Their First Celebrity Crush Hanna Rosin, who share intimate memories of that first intense taste of love. Listed below are funny, whimsical, occasionally cringe-worthy stories of falling head over heels for River Phoenix, Mary Tyler Moore, Howard Cosell, Jared Leto, and a host of various other pop culture symbols.

A few contributors channeled their devotion into obsessively writing embarrassing lover words. Some taped pics in college lockers. Others embellished their bedroom walls with posters. For tweenaged Karin Tanabe, it was discovering bad son Andy Garcia-playing the gun-loving mobster Vincent Corleone in The Godfather III. Barbara Graham unsuccessfully staked out a flat on Park Avenue for a glance of her blue-eyed soulmate, Paul Newman. There is only one pup for six-year-old Jodi Picoult-Donny Osmond-while Jamie Brisick’s pre-teen obsession was Swiftness Racer.

Swoon-worthy and unforgettable, the essays in CRUSH will leave you laughing, cause you to cry, and keep you enthralled-just like your first celebrity crush.