Photo Content from Maria E. Andreu
Her debut young adult novel, The Secret Side of Empty is a Junior Library Guild Selection, a National Indie Excellence Book Award winner, an International Latino Book Awards Finalist and has been called “captivating” by School Library Journal. Maria is Latinx and Argentinian-American and currently lives in New Jersey just outside New York City. Her work has been informed by her experiences as a formerly undocumented, non-native English speaker and immigrant to the U.S.
TEN RANDOM FACTS ABOUT JULIETA AND THE ROMEOS
Writing JULIETA AND THE ROMEOS was a journey. It went through several iterations. I also wrote a lot of it during the pandemic, so I worked to strike a balance between creating a sweet love story but also facing all the tough realities of that time. So, ten facts about it:
1. As I developed the story, I wasn’t sure which of the “Romeos” in the book the main character would end up with. They surprised even me!
2. I first tried writing Julieta as swoony and into love, but, ultimately, because I’m not that way I couldn’t nail that voice. Instead, I wrote her as she made it to print: guarded but hopeful at her core.
3. The restaurant Julieta’s family owns is named after a section of Mendoza, Argentina. My parents grew up in Mendoza and I still have a lot of family there.
4. There’s a little Easter egg on the cover that pays homage to the restaurant’s name. I love it so much!
5. Although this was not my first book, it turned out to be the first one I was able to plan an in-person launch party for. That meant A LOT of swag (maybe went a bit overboard on the swag, actually). So I’m still giving some away on my website: https://MariaEAndreu.com
6. The restaurant lingo in the book is authentic: I once was a co-owner of a diner.
7. The tango scenes also come from lived experience. I once danced tango in Central Park!
8. Putting “la” and “el” before names is a quirky Argentinian thing, and it’s not even all over Argentina. So if you can read Spanish and that looks like a typo, it isn’t.
9. Probably one of my favorite elements in writing J&TR were the “story within the story” parts of Julieta’s sailmaker protagonist. I had a lot of fun researching sail making to make those bits sound authentic.
10. I love love love who Julieta’s online collaborator turns out to be. I think it says something important about love and how we can open our eyes to just how much we have of it.
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.
You can purchase Julieta and the Romeos at the following Retailers:
And now, The Giveaways.
Thank you MARIA E. ANDREU for making this giveaway possible.
1 Winner will receive a Copy of Julieta and the Romeos by Maria E. Andreu.
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Going to the casino
ReplyDeleteOncology stuff.
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