A lawyer and a librettist discover that best friends make the best lovers in Mia Sosa's cheeky romantic comedy, When Javi Dumped Mari. Musical theater writer Javier Báez and successful lawyer Marisol Campos have been close friends ever since he caught her stealing newspapers during college 10 years ago--except for those six years he ghosted her because of his insecurity. And that one time, two years ago, when they reunited and their chemistry and unresolved feelings got the best of them and they slipped up and into Mari's hotel-room bed.
Since then, they've stuck to their pact that they would carefully vet each other's potential romantic partners. Javi has finally gotten his life together and plans to ask Mari to reconsider their decision to remain just friends, but Mari shows up to dinner with a man Javi has never met. Alex is Mari's colleague and new fiancé, and the wedding's in less than two months. Now Javi has to convince Mari she's making a mistake and that they should be together, while still being the best man of honor to Mari that he can.
Sosa (The Wedding Crasher; The Worst Best Man) delivers a true romantic comedy packed with laughs and longing. Her talent is on full display here: prose that pops off the page, and humor and characters that beg to be brought to the silver screen, or better yet, followed by a handful of sequels in which each of Mari's vibrantly drawn, hilarious friends will get their own happily ever afters. Fans of When Harry Met Sally and Alexis Daria will want to pick this up. --Suzanne Krohn, librarian and freelance reviewer