James Brodie has just broken up with his long-term partner and is back on the dating scene again. The twist is that he is also writing an increasingly popular blog, describing each date in detail as he searches for his 'last Romeo'. Gradually the friction between his online and 'real' lives (what am I saying? online is real too for lots of us) mounts up, bringing crisis points and causing James to question what he's really looking for, and how responsible he is for the happiness of other people in his life.
I'm a big fan of Justin Myers' Guyliner blogs, especially his Blind Date columns, and if you are too, you will LOVE this book. And if you're not, you have an online treat waiting for you after you've finished this book. The writing combines genuine laugh-out-loud moments and deep emotional insight into the turmoils we go through on our own dating odysseys. I'm glad I'm not running the dating gauntlet at the moment, but The Last Romeo took me back to the highs and lows of meeting someone new and wondering if he's 'The One'. I recommend it highly for anyone looking for a touching and funny book about the struggles and joys of modern romance.

An amusing insight into blogging and the dating scene. Jim is Romeo, a blogger who’s looking for happy ever after and documenting all the mishaps on the way!

Fun and interesting with a few bittersweet moments, this is a well-crafted book that keeps your interest.

It’s already being talked about — and deservedly so.
A good read 4*

Thank you for the review copy, given in exchange for an honest review. This book sounded really fun, but I have to admit when I started to read it I struggled to get involved with the story and lost interest in it quite quickly. It's a shame as it's had some really good reviews from others, but it just wasn't the book for me. Good luck with the book, and thank you for the opportunity to read it.

I’ve been a fun of Justin Myers since his anonymous ‘Guyliner’ column - reviewing the dates he had with typically amusing and at times scathing detail. ‘The Last Romeo’ is clearly semi-autobiographical - in the first quarter of the book i was very conscious that I’d read earlier versions of the narrative in the Guyliner dates. I’d mentally written this review at that point - lightly written and great for someone who wasn’t already familiar with the column, but lacking new insight.
However... approaching the halfway point (i think, i rattled through the remainder at pace!) the story developed a new take, addressing the complexity of living a double life - both from the perspective of an anonymous blogger becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the situation and of a celebrity yet to come out. This was richer and more satisfying than the fluffier first section, and changed my perspective. I’m glad i didn’t jump to first conclusions and not continue, and I’m looking forward to seeing what Justin does next.

I've followed the Guyliner blog and Justin Myers' various writings for a few years now, so going into The Last Romeo I knew I was going to be a fan of the writing style. What I got was a fun and warm rom-com, full of all the wit and intelligence I was hoping for. As a single person in London, I recognised so many of the situations perfectly rendered. I've been recommending The Last Romeo to all my friends, and I hope it's very successful.

Fun and charming. A delightful romantic comedy, and it's great to see a book like this with a gay protagonist, I hope we'll see more books like this instead of the usual chick-lit focused on marriage and having kids. I really enjoyed reading about these characters' lives. More please!

As a main character, Jim is a very relatable character. He's not perfect, he has issues and the way he goes about finding his "Romeo" is sometimes hilarious. This "realness" makes the story for me.
I really loved the other characters and the way the relationships between them were portrayed. I also loved the commentary on celebrity and social media all of which is very relevant.
Some things were slightly irking though, there were some derogatory comments about bloggers that annoyed me even though I know they shouldn't, as I'm sure this isn't what the author really thinks. Also a few plot niggles, very overall the writing is excellent and it's definitely more than your average romance novel. It's also great come across a book with a gay main character who's looking for love that doesn't turn into cliched M/M erotica.

James is a newly single gay man looking for love. He decides to write a blog on his exploits on the dating scene in London. His blog goes viral when he dates a famous athlete and writes about the experience.

The idea of the story is enjoyable and it is a good example of the "London singleton looking for love" genre. I loved these kind of books when I was in that position myself but as a middle aged mummy in rural Warwickshire, I'm less emotionally invested. Saying that, I still really enjoyed reading about James and his dates. I also enjoyed the fact that the writing was definitely PG-rated as the sex scenes were not too explicit.

The book is written in two voices - one is just James in the first person and the second is James writing his blogs and responses in social media. This worked well enough although I do find this style a little tiresome in a novel. I prefer the flow of a standard narrative. But that's just a personal preference.

I was a little surprised by the ending and felt it was a bit unrealistic also. This is probably one of the only weak spots of the book and, to be fair, it is just in the last few pages so the rest of the plot has been tied up already.

So I would highly recommend it if you are young and single and would also recommend it for anyone else looking for a light, feel-good read.

I enjoyed The Last Romeo and its honest take on dating in your 30s. The main character, James, embarks on a new stage of life after breaking up with his critical boyfriend,Adam.

James starts a blog to document his search for love and this soon spirals out of.control with james struggling with his two personas: Romeo and James.

At times I found the narrative of the dates and then the blog post of the same event repetitive, but I enjoyed this book and would recommend to others.

I finished this very early this morning and am feeling a little bit mixed up about it.

There's a lot to really like. The writing is excellent and there's a lot more depth and realness to it than I was expecting. It's wonderful to finally come across a book with a gay main character who's looking for love that feels very true to life and has some great messages.

As a main character, James (or Jim) is very genuine. He's far from perfect, he's insecure, doesn't seem to really like or value himself but he is someone I'd want as a friend and there was so much I could relate to. I didn't particularly agree with everything he did (a lot frustrated or worried me) but I could certainly understand it. Similarly his experience of dating, while uncomfortable and awkward a lot of the time was very believable and true to life.

I really loved the other characters and the way the relationships between them were portrayed. I also loved the commentary on celebrity and social media all of which is very relevant.

Unfortunately however I think it was the realness and the depth that stopped me from loving this. It hit a little too close to home for me making it uncomfortable to read rather than enjoyable. Added to that James ends up on a path I really didn't like which I can appreciate is deliberate but left me feeling a little bit down. Possibly I just wasn't in the right mood for this amount of realism and if I'd read at some other time it would have bothered me less.

Overall, I'm not sure my feelings on this will ever be clear. The more I think about it the more I think yes that bit was brilliant or I'm really not sure I liked that bit. It definitely challenged me so I think I'll just suggest that you read this for yourself and make your own mind up.

The story as the name suggests, goes henceforth. James (Jim as he is known as) breaks up with his dominating boyfriend and joins an online dating app to try and find a new boyfriend, a new life. At the behest and encouragement of his best friend, Bella, he starts a blog about his disastrous dates, using an alias One More Romeo, searching for his last Romeo...
Till Jim blogs and tweets about his Olympian swimmer date, and the entire rigmarole of the wrong swimmer being named, the real date knowing about the blog, twitter community in a furore, and Jim being sandwiched between all this.
This is the debut novel by the author and fellow blogger, Justin Myers. And what a fabulous entry to the land of published literature. This was my first book where the main character is a gay guy, and I definitely got an eyeful of information. I am still blushing...
Jim is quirky, insecure, and does not know his real potential. It is through his dates and o boy.. some of them were major catastrophes (worse than my dates), that I slowly got to know him. It took me time to warm up to his character, and then it was smooth sailing. He is so much fun, most of the times, and his dates or rather the blogging of his dates were so humorous...
Like all his followers, it didn't take me time to follow him, his life, and his alter ego Romeo. I like the fact that the author, Justin Myers, has slowly merged the real and the online virtual life so well, that Jim starts losing the real values to the virtual adulation. It takes a swift kick to his awesome arse for him to come back to real life
Justin has made the main character very lovable, and Jim comes across as a genuine guy who is trying to find his way to life and love. Sometimes like all of us, Jim trying to swim against the current... It is just too difficult. Jim's friendships with all the other characters was very authentic, and some of them were quite outlandish too.
As in any book, there are a few niggles; in the beginning of the story, it feels as if he just sails through life doing the bare minimum. I couldn't identify with a thirty four year old just barely hanging on to his career and not even doing it well. There seems to be no fire in Jim. I know I am being old fashioned, but there is a lot of sex (though not described in detail). But those come across as funny eccentricities.
Finding love after a certain age is quite difficult, and I understand when Jim panics. But the river of life always finds its way out and so did Jim/Romeo...
I end the review with a quote from the book where Jim realises the truth of his life
Everything I'd done, the men, the mistakes, the fans, the haters, the writing -— they'd all brought me here. I'd changed so much, some of it for the worse, but I'd come out the other side...
This is so true, Justin Myers, this is all we can do. It is definitely entertaining to see Jim going through all the emotions and stages, from immaturity to growth, from fear to strength, from routine to different, and from despondency to courage. A wacky, hilarious read with generous sprinkles of emotions, on a bed of hope..
P.S. If you want to know if Jim found his last Romeo, maybe he did, maybe he didn't... For that you've got to read this book to know...

Brilliantly written.. I felt very well connected to the characters. A very real feeling book

It's so refreshing to have a book from the point of view of a gay guy. I know there are books about like this, but for me, this one stands apart. Why? Well, dare I say it is normal?

With no shade or underhandedness that is. Life is life, love is love, you are who you are and most importantly we have no right at all to judge any other human. We are the same regardless!
Anyway, when we read we are all guilty of thinking in a stereotypical way. You want romance/women's Fiction; we think of a scatty, lovely girl who needs a good bit of dick and a life.
You want Mystery Thriller/Psychological Thriller; we go in thinking about deranged and deluded fucking psychopaths with a normal everyday life to make it more gritty. You get the picture.
A book about a gay guy finding love will be put into the box of 'oh it will be dead camp and hilarious all showy and all in your face.' I absolutely fucking hate that we do this and I am so glad people are bringing out books that chip away at the bars of the stereotype jail they're in and are getting out.

Long winded to get to this point like, but Justin Myers is one of very few who has been able to break down bars to let life as normal people who are unfairly judged daily out with a book so good and so fulfilling that stereotypes, judgment and knobheads cannot only fuck right off, but can learn a thing or two about compassion, humour, people and real fucking life.