Amelia Hernandez is cursed—every relationship in her family ends in disaster or running for the hills. Determined to break the cycle, she embarks on an “Ex Retrospective,” revisiting old flames to uncover her flaws and become the perfect girlfriend. But when she crosses paths with Leon, the ex who shattered her heart, the possibility for revenge and romantic sparks collide. Amelia’s quest for closure turns into a complicated journey of self-discovery, where learning to love herself might end up being the real way to break the curse.
Don’t be fooled by the synopsis and the focus on romance because, at its core, this story is all about family.
While Amelia is a wonderfully fleshed out, charismatic, and self-deprecating protagonist that you are going to adore following, it’s the intricate familial relations that make this book what it is: riveting to the core.
It was so refreshing to read about a household filled with badass women who all have their own drive and motivation and how that influenced Amelia’s self-image, not to mention her relationships with the women who have brought her up.
It’s no easy feat to make every character stand out even if they don’t get all that much page-time but Luz handled it really well.
The curse was a fun added quirk that just made the story feel more rounded. How do you break a never-ending cycle of romantic love lost when you have so much familial love to give and share at home? How do you forge your own path in the world without diminishing the achievements of those that came before you? It takes a talented writer to make a “curse” like this work in a contemporary novel and Luz nailed it on the head.
Indeed, by far my favourite part of the novel and undoubtedly where Luz’s talent shines the most is the realistic portrayal of balancing the love you have for your family with the responsibility you feel towards them, especially when everyone’s else’s expectations and vision for the next decades doesn’t mesh with what you have envisioned for your future.
Especially the ever-present dread and guilt that comes with wanting to break away from your familial obligation was so hard to read but also incredibly well-done.
Luz really stole my heart here. I’ve seen a lot of depictions of familial guilt that is always paired with wanting to escape your parents or your legacy obligations because you don’t love your family and that is absolutely not the case here. Amelia loves, appreciates and looks up to her family members so fiercely but also wants to break the cycle of living the lives everyone else has lived and see who she can be on her own. It’s so clear that Amelia values every relationship, from the ones to her sisters to those to her aunts, but she also wonders what her life would be like if she didn’t have to make herself fit within everyone’s expectations in that household. What holds her back for most of it is the fear of disappointing the people she looks up to more than anything. This intrinsic need to be independent while also fearing the repercussions of not following the path carved for her had my heart pounding multiple times.
It takes a certain level of talent and dedication to make this plotline keep you emotionally invested and Luz brings that to the table and more.
Of course, there’s also a whole lot of emotional turmoil when it comes to the romance aspect of this novel. In order to break the curse, Amelia tries to turn herself into the perfect girlfriend by revisiting past relationships—and ends up falling for the one person again who broke her heart years ago. Leon and Amelia have undeniable chemistry from the get go. Despite getting teased a lot with little tidbits of information about their break-up, it does take quite a while for that whole story to unravel. While I personally think the “secret” of why Leon left all those years ago was drawn out for a bit too long, the reveal shocked me nevertheless. I love me some meddling families stories because they always deliver on the drama but these women take that to a whole new level, which makes for an excellent reading experience and gave me patented telenovela “gasp-at-the-reveal-of-a-secret-villainy-twin” vibes for sure.
Despite it all, Leon is one of those guys you want your best friend to end up with, as in, if someone told me only half of the things that Leon does for Amelia in this novel (both in the past but also the present), I would just tell my friend to marry him immediately. Fans of “he fell first and he fell harder” are going to devour Leon’s displays of affection and hold their breaths to see whether these two can go the distance.
Altogether, there were some minor gripes I had with the story. For one, some of the scenes of the novel do not line up chronologically. To keep this somewhat spoiler-free, I’ll just say here that for example someone would confess their feelings to the other person but then the very next time they see each other one of the characters doesn’t have any recalling of that and acts like it’s brand-new information when the other character repeats it which left me feeling a) confused and b) like some scenes were perhaps slotted in at the wrong time. For another, I think there could have been a bit more exploration of the “dating your exes to become the perfect girlfriend” plotline. While the synopsis makes it seem like this will be an important part of the novel, it’s eschewed almost immediately after Amelia reconnects with Leon and for the most part relegated to quick recaps of the dates that happen off-page at the beginning of chapters. It was only picked up when it was convenient to the plot which was a pity. However, those are very small gripes that were probably fixed before publication and even with those minor issues, this book was nothing short of amazing.
Lovers of the “once I fix me, he’s gonna miss me” trope are going to fall head-over heels for Build a Girlfriend, an impeccable debut following a girl deep-diving into her dating history to break her family’s curse of tragic love affairs only to learn that loving herself might just be the real curse breaker.
Build a Girlfriend is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of January 14th 2025.
Will you be picking up Build a Girlfriend? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
A teen deep-dives into her dating history to uncover her mistakes, become the perfect girlfriend, and get revenge on the wrong guy so she can ride into the sunset with the right one in this debut rom-com.
To the surprise of no one, Amelia Hernandez is once again single. It’s her family curse at work; whether it’s by heartbreak, scandal, or even accidental death, every romantic relationship that a Hernandez woman has will meet its demise eventually. And that may be fine with Amelia’s sisters, mom, and aunts, but definitely not with Amelia.
So, convinced that she is the problem, Amelia decides to embark on an “Ex Retrospective:” tracking down her exes, finding out where she went wrong, and using that information to finally become un-break-up-able for whenever her next relationship comes along. Because Amelia is determined to be free of the family curse…and her family.
However, when Amelia is unwillingly reunited with Leon, the ex to end all exes, she can’t resist having a little revenge on the side, too. After all, what better way to test out her new persona of perfect girlfriend traits than on the boy who broke her heart?
But old loves die hard, and as Amelia’s feelings grow more complicated, she suspects that she may be in for more than she bargained for.
