Julieta and the Romeos: A YA Rom-Com Beach Read with Mystery and a Love Triangle - Hardcover

Andreu, Maria E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062996541 ISBN 13: 9780062996541

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2023

Synopsis

You’ve Got Mail meets a YA Beach Read with a bookish mystery at its heart in the newest rom-com from Maria E. Andreu. The ideal next read for fans of Emily Henry, Kasie West, and Jennifer E. Smith.

Julieta isn’t looking for her Romeo―but she is writing about love. When her summer writing teacher encourages the class to publish their work online, the last thing she’s expecting is to get a notification that her rom-com has a mysterious new contributor, Happily Ever Drafter. Julieta knows that happily ever afters aren’t real. (Case in point: her parents’ imploding marriage.) But then again, could this be her very own meet-cute?

As things start to heat up in her fiction, Julieta can’t help but notice three boys in her real life: her best friend’s brother (aka her nemesis), the boy next door (well, to her abuela), and her oldest friend (who is suddenly looking . . . hot?). Could one of them be her mysterious collaborator? But even if Julieta finds her Romeo, she’ll have to remember that life is full of plot twists. . . . 

From the author of Love in English comes a fresh take on love and romance, and a reminder to always be the author of your own life story.

Which of her real-life Romeos is writing their perfect fictional meet-cute?

• Enemies to Lovers: Her best friend’s brother has always been her nemesis. So why does sparring with him suddenly feel like flirting?
• Friends to Lovers: She’s known her oldest friend forever, but a summer glow-up has her seeing him in a whole new, heart-stopping light.
• The Boy Next Door: A charming new neighbor is fixing her abuela’s sink… and maybe her cynical view on love.
• Bookish Romance: An anonymous online collaborator is helping Julieta write the perfect rom-com. But is their chemistry just fiction?

About this title

About the Author

Maria E. Andreu is an Argentinian American author whose work has appeared in Teen Vogue, Newsweek, the Washington Post, and the Newark Star-Ledger. Her debut young adult novel, The Secret Side of Empty, was a Junior Library Guild Selection and a National Indie Excellence Book Award winner.

From the Back Cover

Praise for Maria E. Andreu
Julieta and the Romeos

"A fun, heartfelt reimagining of the story we all know so well (but maybe not as well as we think!), Julieta and the Romeos juggles not one, not two, but three swoon-worthy romances, with a thoroughly modern Julieta who isn't afraid to go after what she wants."- Katharine McGee, author of the New York Times bestselling American Royals series

Love In English

"An engaging novel about language, culture, and empathy. Highly recommended." — School Library Journal (starred review)

"Ana's real love affair is with language itself. Andreu captures Ana's cultural and linguistic roller coaster with eloquence and precision." — Publishers Weekly

"Andreu depicts Ana with authenticity and grace." — ALA Booklist

"An entertaining, even joyful read." — Horn Book Magazine

Reviews

Gr 9 Up—Julieta's passion for writing leads to a competitive summer program with a well-known author in New York. When her best friend's brother Ryan, a boy she has been at odds with for years, suddenly shows up on the bus with her to class, she is annoyed and confused by his efforts to connect with her. But Julieta has more important distractions including her parents' failing business, her estrangement from her best friend, the secret identity of her online collaborator, and the emergence of two other Romeos, Calvin and Lucas. Julieta's attention is primarily focused on determining which of the three Romeos is secretly collaborating with her on an online story that has strong parallels to her own romantic narrative. Calvin, Lucas, and Ryan bring out different versions of who Julieta wants to be, and she is convinced that one of them is not only her collaborator but her perfect match. As she comes close to finding the collaborator's identity, she learns that the narrative she created for herself is limiting her perspective. The plot moves at a compelling pace with numerous threads that facilitate character development. Readers will be in suspense about the identity of Julieta's online collaborator and her ultimate Romeo right up until the final chapters. Julieta speaks Spanish and her parents are from Argentina. VERDICT This is a fun and introspective romance that transcends the expected Romeo and Juliet tropes. Romance collections will benefit from this solid addition.—Lynn Rashid

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0062996541
• ISBN 13: 9780062996541
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 400