The Last Romeo
My debut novel came out in 2018.
THE LAST ROMEO (lesson 1 in being an author is you must only ever write your book title in CAPS – I have no idea why) was published by Little, Brown and I am VERY excited about that tbh.
This was a huge thing for me for about a million different reasons – my emotional state was somewhere in the region of Alexandra Burke’s seconds after she won The X Factor
Here is the cover in huuuuuge close-up:
Yes, my favourite Romeo is the one with the backpack and flowers, too.
Here I am doing a reading on Instagram Live:
It’s about life, relationships, social media, celebrity and how all these things come together and influence the way we live now. But don’t take my word for it, here’s the official synopsis:
“James is 34 and fed up. His six-year relationship with Adam has imploded, he hates his job making up celebrity gossip, and his best friend Bella has just announced she’s moving to Russia.
Adrift and single in loved-up London, James needs to break out of his lonely, drunken comfort zone. Encouraged by Bella, he throws himself headlong into online dating, blogging each encounter anonymously as the mysterious Romeo.
After meeting a succession of hot/weird/gross men, James has fans and the validation he’s always craved. But when his wild night with a closeted Olympian goes viral and sends his Twitter-fame through the roof, James realises maybe, in the search for happy-ever-after, some things are better left un-shared.“
Some people have said some very lovely things about it:
‘So funny and sharp, yet tender and emotional too. I loved it!’ Jill Mansell
‘I adored The Last Romeo . . . funny, clever and warm’ Adam Kay, author of This is Going to Hurt
‘Hilarious and insightful, The Last Romeo is the perfect blend of heart, spark and snark’ Isabel Costello, Literary Sofa
‘Predictably wise, beautifully written and enormous fun’ Marina O’Loughlin
‘Warm, witty, wicked and wonderful . . . What an amazing debut’ John Marrs, author of The One
‘Extremely funny, with real heart, depth and resonance’ Daisy Buchanan, author of How to Be a Grown-Up
‘Funny, witty, clever and so much more than just a novel about dating’ Matt Cain, author of The Madonna of Bolton
‘Sex and the City meets Bridget Jones’s Diary in this sharp and pacey queer rom-com gone wrong for the digital age’ Attitude
‘A savagely funny and occasionally poignant journey’ Sarra Manning, Red
‘We can’t remember the last time there was this much buzz in the literary world over a same-sex love story’ Indy100
You can order the UK editions on Amazon at but it’s also available elsewhere, like Waterstones or Book Depository and all that kind of thing. Googling should get you your preferred retailer fairly quickly
Which is all beyond amazing.
So there you go. SCREAM!
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Yay!
I adore your writing Justin. I can’t wait for this!! Will be getting the paperback here in Aus as soooon as it comes out. Big congrats x
Well your book is a headline review In Short Fiction in Spectrum in the Sydney Morning Herald this weekend. In far off Sydney it’s warm humid and often rain sprinkled days as the Madri Gras season approaches .. the book sounds interesting and fun..
Justin I just finished this little gem of a novel tonight – absolutely loved it. Now I want a sequel!
Just finished this and really loved it. Thank you.
Ah that’s wonderful of you to say. Thank you.
Thank You Mr Guyliner for all your wonderful posts which I’ve looked forward to and enjoyed for several years..
You say in your most recent ‘Table Manners’ post that you’ll be taking a break from that endeavour for a while, which is unhappy for us your many fans, but, I hope, happy for you as you work on your next opus and promote THE LAST ROMEO as you style it. My intention is to purchase it in electronic form, and indeed I did try to do so earlier in the year, so I long for the day.
Congratulations on all your achievements. May there be many more, and may you have great success. And, importantly, may you to continue to enjoy the hard work of writing at l ast as much as the fruit of your efforts brings such joy to us, your dear readers.
More power to you Justin,
With every good wish always,
Hey Justin. I always enjoy your writing; as a gay man who never really felt much like many (any?) of the others, I’ve enjoyed several of your editorials because they made me realise that there are other people who feel some of the same things. And obviously Impeccable Table Manners is hilarious. So imagine my joy to find our about your novel! I took it on holiday and devoured it. I mean not literally, I just read it really fast. It was very funny (the chapter where you write the parody of your own blog made me LOL on the sun lounger) but I was surprised at the emotional depth of it, actually. I thought you did a great job of capturing that so-very-familiar feeling of sexual temptation coupled with just a dash of self-loathing that inevitably leads to Jim’s spiralling. Anyway, I loved it, in short. (Actually, I think that was in long, wasn’t it?) Great job. Hope the next book is just as good. And thanks for being a gay voice I actually want to listen to 🙂
Thank you so much. That’s lovely to hear.