The set up for Mia Sosa’s When Javi Dumped Mari is so intriguing! Javier Báez and Marisol Campos are friends from college who friend-zoned each other early on and stayed that way. Their friendship has had ups and downs over the years, which we see in flashback.

The book begins when Javi and Mari meet up in New York for lunch and Javi feels like things are coming together, finally. He’s dressed up and all set to tell Mari how he’s got his life sorted – eight years after college, he has an apartment of his own, progress with the musical he’s been writing (for so long!) and a new therapist. He’s going to tell Mari that he can finally be the partner she wants. Mari has her own issues though, and when she gets to their lunch, she’s brought along Alex, her new fiancé. From there, it’s backwards in time as we see the original friendship between Mari and Javi develop and then, in the present, the countdown begins to Mari’s wedding to Alex – which is taking place in just six weeks.

At first, it seems as though the differences between Mari and Javi are insurmountable. Mari’s wealthy background and legal career provide a certain lifestyle, while Javi has been working on his musical script/score and doing casual jobs, meaning his financial situation is uncertain and he isn’t able to offer Mari the lifestyle she’s used to. It also seems as if Mari believes that her work is more important than Javi’s. She is very much in the thrall of her father, Luiz, who owns the law firm where she and Alex work, and he has always made her feel grateful for his support. She loves her job and is very set on pleasing Luiz. As she puts it:

“It also doesn’t hurt that my father’s estimation of me went up several notches when Alex and I announced our engagement.”

Her father dislikes Javi and puts him down whenever he can.

A key part of the plot is that when they were in college, Mari and Javi agreed to vet each other’s dates. Now though, Mari tells Javi that she doesn’t want his opinion on Alex, whom she is fully committed to marrying. Javi realises how serious she is – and it’s such bad timing for him, just as he is getting everything together. This sets off a neat ‘ticking clock’ situation for Javi to persuade Mari that Alex is not the man for her – and that he is.

To make matters worse, Mari asks Javi to be the man of honour. The bridal party consists of three girlfriends and Javi, and even with some awkwardness, they have the funniest times as they all fight and bicker to organise wedding-related things and try and support Mari however she needs. Alex is seemingly okay with Javi’s role in Mari’s life, but there’s a sting there and we get to see some ridiculous machismo from both men – no spoilers but the sky diving is a riot!

My biggest issue is that any intimacy (both emotional and physical) between Mari and Alex is necessarily glossed over in the lead up to the wedding. There’s very little conflict between Mari and Alex, and while Mari doesn’t cheat, the lines are blurred, with her long-buried attraction to Javi surfacing inconveniently. It’s a slow burn in the present because Mari is essentially with Alex for nearly all of the book. The past is a different story of course, but even so, author Mia Sosa is walking quite the tightrope here. Until Mari unpacks her history and feelings for her parents, especially Luiz, she remains committed to marrying Alex. This is the third of Mia Sosa’s books that has a wedding at its centre, and she deftly handles all the ridiculousness and excessiveness (see The Worst Best Man and The Wedding Crasher) and even with some angst, she keeps it light-hearted. I recommend When Javi Dumped Mari as an immersive and fun read.