Julieta and the Romeos

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

Aspiring writer Julieta, the daughter of Argentinian immigrants, has an eventful summer. A creative-writing course with her favorite romance author and the three Romeos who capture her imagination offer Jules distractions from the fate of her parents' struggling restaurant. Ryan, the "rich, fratty, know-it-all"--but good-looking--twin brother of her White best friend, Ivy, is also in the writing class, and Jules is surprised to learn he, too, doubts his abilities. Jules works at the restaurant alongside handsome Argentinian American childhood friend Lucas. Grounded and familiar, Lucas understands balancing big dreams and parental concerns about security. Finally, there's Calvin, an attractive new classmate Jules finds fixing her abuela's sink and watching telenovelas with her. He's a White boy on a different path, one that may not include college. After Jules posts part of her "Untitled Teen Love Story" to the StoriedZone website, a user going by Happily Ever Drafter reaches out, requesting to collaborate on future entries. Jules is consumed by her efforts to identify this mystery co-author with whom she feels a connection and who might secretly be one of her Romeos. Jules' immigrant family's struggles to adapt to inevitable change and loss ring true: Their strengths and vulnerabilities are authentic and compelling. Jules is appealing and believable as the different boys in her life serve as prisms through which she imagines the consequences of different life choices, both her own and her parents'. An engaging tale of family and identity wrapped up in a sweet rom-com. (Fiction. 13-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.