I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Julieta and the Romeos by Maria E. Andreu Published by Balzer + Bray on 5/16/23
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 400
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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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. . . .
Short and Sweet Review
Julieta isn’t looking for anyone but she does enjoy writing romantic stories. Julieta is enrolled in a summer writing program and her teacher encourages them to publish their stories online so Julieta does and someone named Happily Ever Drafter decides to collaborate on the story. Julieta doesn’t know who this Happily Ever Drafter is but she begins to think it may be one of the three boys in her life, Lucas, Calvin, or Ryan. Julieta tries to figure out who the mystery writer is but she also remembers that life is full of twists and turns.
Julieta is a promising writer and she loves coming up with stories, so this writing program that she’s enrolled in is a chance of a lifetime. When Julieta post her first story she’s surprised that someone wants to collaborate with her and the story gets a bit spicy which makes Julieta think that this may be someones attempt at trying to date her. Julieta believes this could be her very own meet-cute. There’s Ryan, Julieta’s best friend Ivy’s brother, who is usually her nemesis but since being in the writing program together she’s seeing him in a different light. Lucas is one of Julieta’s oldest friends and he suddenly looks good, but he’s also the safe option. Calvin lives next door to Julieta’s grandma and he makes her feel like she should be more adventurous. We basically have a love square? I didn’t really like any of the romance mainly because Julieta spent so much time bouncing around the three guys trying to figure out if they were Happily Ever Drafter. We see why Julieta would think each guy could potentially be the mystery writer but the amount of time she spends with each of them is pretty minimal that there isn’t much of a connection. I will say I was rooting for one guy more than the others and although it didn’t happen, I was okay with the guy she did end up picking. We have a few subplots about Julieta trying to figure out if she’s a good enough writing, her parents marriage, and their struggling restaurant, and not spending enough time with her friend Ivy. The ending was a little surprising to me, I wasn’t expecting Happily Ever Drafter to be who it was, but I understand why they did what they did.
Overall, the premise was good and I did like Julieta I just wish maybe it was only two love interest instead of three. I also liked seeing snippets of Julietas writing and her ideas for stories. This was a cute romance novel and I enjoyed the little mystery aspect of it.
