The Boyfriend Backtrack by Dawn Lanuza

Publication Date: October 3, 2014.

Publisher: Anvil Publishing.

Genres: Romance, New Adult, Chick Lit, and Contemporary.

Rating: 

Purchase here: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice

Synopsis: If they say that life flashes right before your eyes when you die, do you also get a flashback of your exes when your perfect boyfriend is proposing to you? At least that’s the case for Regina Cortez. There’s her dramatic high school boyfriend, her first college crush, the irresistible heartbreaker, and the ever elusive one. By backtracking to her past, will Regina make it to ‘I Do’? Or will she just keep running away?

The Boyfriend Backtrack has overnight become one of my all-time favorite romance novels. The elegant and easy to get through writing and the mix of the friends to lovers and second chance romance tropes makes the book a hit. The main character of the novel is Regina, who after her boyfriend Kevin proposes, gets a flashback of all of her exes. This leads to a journey where Regina meets all of her exes again, in order to figure out what she wants and who her one true love is. Regina is an artist, a lover of France, and an amazing protagonist to follow.

I’m a bit of a Francophile. But that, of course, is rooted in my love for the French post-impressionist painters: Van Gogh, Seurat, and Cézanne.

What made The Boyfriend Backtrack such a fun read is that when Regina end up meeting her exes again – one after one – after her boyfriend proposes, we also get flashback scenes of how she first met them all. The story becomes a love letter to the loves that have been and the lessons learned, a love letter that comes with a map the leads Regina straight to the one that got away – her one true love. All through this, Regina has her two best friends – Jules and Leslie – by her side. This female friendship trio is honestly just the best. These women are all unique and different yet always have each other’s backs and support through thick and thin, and that is something I love and appreciate.

Even though this is a love story, and it sure is a great one, this book ends up being about more than just Regina’s love life. On her metaphorical journey through time and space, Regina realizes that in the past years she has lost touch with her passions and herself, and because of that, it becomes a story of Regina finding herself, her art, and who she is without a boyfriend in her life. This is something I think a lot of readers will love about this book.

We were in the moment, with Thomas and Micah, with the booze and the stories, but we made a little world on our own, under that table.

If you’re in search of a romance novel with both depth and the ability to make you smile unlike all else, The Boyfriend Backtrack is for you. This book has a soft hero, amazing supportive female friendships, two of my favorite tropes, and on top of it all, it is easy to read. All of that makes it a must-read for romance lovers, at least in my book.

A note I’d like to add: if you enjoyed The Boyfriend Backtrack or just think you will enjoy it and want to read more by Dawn Lanuza then I highly recommend The Hometown Hazard. The book is a great follow up to The Boyfriend Backtrack and is about Jules – one of the best friends of Regina. It is a mystery romance novel and a great read. However, it spoils certain events in The Boyfriend Backtrack so read that one first.