oh I absolutely LOVED this story! it is filled to brim with tenderness, affection, humor, comfort, and so much love.

Javi & Mari’s whole relationship built from first meeting in college until the present time is so completely captivating! they are the perfect duo, wholly complementary, matching each other wit for wit, challenge for challenge, heart for heart. I absolutely love every stage of their relationship. I also loved how it is split into three parts, showcasing how their relationship has had such growth, solidification, trials and tribulations, heartbreak, explosion, and just the strongest kind of love.

I want to share what I loved about each sentence of the story but that would spoil so much so I’ll just leave it at this: this is a perfect friends to lovers, second chance, “it’s always been you,” story. I hope every single person everywhere reads and loves this story.

thank you so much for the ARC!!!!

“Apparently the man of honor has duties beyond trying to con‑ vince the bride to dump the groom. Who knew?“
When Javi dumped Mari was an insane adventure to go to.

I loved the way Mari and Javi cared fro one another, they both always wished to be remain friends and in each others life rather than risking ruining themselves with the complex emotion of love. Honestly that was so for real of them because i to would shut up and let my hot best friends who has a successful life and carer in la be happy with someone else than to mess with that. At the beginning of the book i wanted to shake Javi like a goddam maraca but the more we discovered about Javi the more I absolutely understood where he was coming from and why he did what he did

I AM ALWAYS WRITE AND I FUCKING KNEW ALEX WAS SUS!

Loved hoe supportive Mari’s friends were and how realistic it felt.

Truly the romance of the summer.

Marisol Camps and Javier Baez are best friends who make a pact never to date someone if the other doesn’t approve. Fast forward ten years after college graduation and Javi is finally getting his life and career on track. But Mari is the one with a surprise. She is getting married to someone he barely knows. Now he has only a few weeks to confess his own feelings and stop the wedding.

The story begins in the present day but goes back to their friendship and making their pack. They do cross paths in the years between but between her going to law school and working for her father and him across the country trying to write a musical it isn’t their time. This is the type of book where you are just waiting for them to wake up and actually express their feelings. They both have good friend groups and both have some family drama which fleshes out the story. The family stuff especially felt realistic.

I enjoyed the story. I’ve previously read and enjoyed ‘The Wedding Crasher’ by the author. I commented on that book that there were so many things that were done really well and I feel the same about this one. I will be on the look out for future books from Mia Sosa.

On the eve of their college graduation, best friends Javier Báez and Marisol Campos swore never to date someone the other doesn’t approve of. Now, almost a decade later, Javi has a problem. Mari, the woman he’s secretly pined for since sophomore year, is engaged—and Javi didn’t even get the chance to vet the Pedro Pascal knockoff she plans to marry.

A successful entertainment lawyer in Los Angeles, Mari is no longer seeking Javi’s dating advice or waiting for him to declare his love. Instead, she’s made a different pact—with herself. And to succeed, Mari’s vowing to build a future with someone who wants to commit to her.

Alternately hilarious and heart-warming, this was a winner for me! I totally loved this. Like most of Mia Sosa's books, it's a treat! Check it out! 4.5⭐

I received an advanced complimentary digital copy of this book from Netgalley. Opinions expressed are my own.

Mia Sosa knows how to write love stories. The MCs are best friends from college who’ve friend zoned each other. And while they each have their quirks that prevent them from going head first into the relationship, they both genuinely care for each other. They’re also incredibly charming. The flashbacks helped with the context, but the present day storyline was what kept me hooked.

When Javi Dumped Mari is a college best friends to strangers to lovers featuring Marisol Campos and Javier Baez. Mari and Javi meet in college but both immediately and independently decide that the best way to keep each other in their lives is through friendship instead of having a quick and volatile fling. Years later, Javi is finally ready to declare his love for Mari, only for her to tell him that she is engaged to be married. Mari has made a pact with herself to stop seeking Javi’s advice and stop waiting for him to confess his love for her. Javi, then, takes it upon himself to use these next six weeks leading up to the wedding to prove that Mari’s fiancé is not enough for her— remaining loyal to a pact they’d made with each other ten years earlier to vet the other’s potential prospects.

Reading Javi and his internal motivation of being the best version of himself before he could even allow himself to reveal how he truly felt about Mari felt like holding up a mirror to myself— I am currently in a place where I don’t feel I deserve good things, most friendships, or honestly really even to attempt to find romantic love because I’m not the best me right now, and like Javi, I feel stuck and am fully aware that I am in my own way. (I, however, am still on my journey to figuring out how to unstick myself.) While there were times that I wanted to shake some sense into him (like seriously!! maybe just some open and honest communication in how you feel about Mari, dude!!!), I understood him, and I really loved how he very much so prioritized Mari’s happiness (except for when it took away her agency and her choice— I’m glad that Mari addressed that with him and that they agreed to work on that together lol).

I also very much relate to Mari’s feeling on indebtedness to her father. While hers is related to his being the parent who stuck around to raise her in the country of her birth after her parents’ divorce, I feel a similar type of indebtedness to my parents as the daughter of immigrants— in the Philippines, it’s called utang ng loob, or debt of gratitude/heart. This specific and nuanced feeling of debt is ingrained into Filipinx culture, and it is this same debt that helps me understand Mari. Oh, to be a daughter of brown parents and living beneath not just their expectations, but the weight of placing such high expectations on ourselves in order to make them happy.

The eternal conflict of timing within friends to lovers, especially when Javi and Mari met relatively young and so much life had passed, was almost frustrating as a reader because despite the HEA that’s guaranteed within the romance genre, it was as if Javi and Mari *thrived* in the tensions of will-they-won’t-they, idiots-in-love, and years-long unconfessed feelings. I’m usually a sucker for a good friends to lovers, but this wasn’t necessarily my favorite Mia Sosa book. While I did have a fun time reading this novel, perhaps my discomfort lies within Javi’s insecurities of not feeling enough hitting a little too close to home with where I feel I am in life. 😅

Thank you, Netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam | GP Putnam’s Sons, for the ARC!

While I liked this, it fell short of my expectations along the way. I never felt the connection between the characters and I wasn't rooting for them to make it. Javi's lack of confidence (and success) being miraculously changed so late in the story plus the clearing the air with his brothers was just too easy. Thanks to netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

🎧 Audiobook +📗 eBook: When Javi Dumped Mari -a standalone

✍🏾 Author: Mia Sosa- I've read The Worst Best Man and The Wedding Crasher both 5 ⭐

📃Page Count: 352

📅Publication date: 6-24-25 | Read: 6-24-25

🏃🏾‍➡️Run Time: 11:10

🌎 Setting: LA to Belmont College in PA

👆🏾POV: dual present and past timelines

Genre: Rom-Com, Adult Fic, Latinx

Tropes: friends to lovers, in love w/ BFF, 2nd chance, slow burn, friend pact, marriage

⚠️TW: colorism, prejudice, toxic/controlling parent and siblings


🗣️Narrators: Gisela Chipe and Andre Santana voice all the characters with standouts from Javi, Mari, and Alex. The reading style brought the text to life, and the author and narrators worked together perfectly. The pacing and flow allowed me to get lost in the story. The narrators paused and announced new chapters and there was a table of contents which helped me follow along.


Summary: Javi and Mari have been BFFs since sophomore year in college. They made a pact to vet each other's dates. Now, almost twelve years later Javi finally "gets his life together"- a new place, job prospects, and therapy. He is ready to tell Mari he's in love with her. The problem is Mari has done enough waiting for him and moved on. She is engaged and surprises Javi by bringing her fiancé Alex.

👩🏾 Heroine: Marisol "Mari" Campos-a Brazilian American entertainment lawyer at her father's firm
👨🏾 Hero: Javier "Javi" Baez- Puerto Rican writing a musical for the theater "The Mailroom"

🎭 Side Characters:
* Alex Cordero-Mari's fiancé, work at the same law firm
* Chloe Rivera-Mari's BFF, works at the firm
* Sascha Campbell-Mari's roommate/BFF
* Brittany Holton-Mari's roommate/ BFF
* Patricia + Luiz -Mari's mother & father
* Manny and Leandro- Javi's older brothers were in a boy band "The Triborough Boys" w/ Javi (who created it), and he clashed with the record company, so his brothers ousted him.
*Jeremy-Javi's roommate/friend

🤔 My Thoughts: This reminded me of The Worst Best Man and the movie My Best Friend's Wedding. Javi has been in love with Mari but never felt good enough. He didn't excel in school or have a good job like Mari out of college. Mari's father Luis pushed her hard and judged Javi harshly, so he ghosted her for six years. Sleeping together didn't help matters but he finally stepped up and followed his heart.

*Spice: 4/5 🌶️ open door
*Emotion: 5/5 🥲
*Couple: 5/5 🧑‍🤝‍🧑
*Rating: 4.5 /5 ⭐

🙏🏾Thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Group Putnam | G.P. Putnam's Sons, Penguin Audio, and Mia Sosa for this ARC & ALC! I voluntarily give my honest review, and all opinions are my own.

Well… that sure was a book.

Now, I’m not gonna hate on Mia Sosa. I’ve read her books before and I’ve adored them. The Wedding Crasher and Worst Best Man were both a lot of fun. I really loved both.

This though? Jesus. I’ve seen more chemistry between a box of kraft Mac and cheese and myself. I’ve seen better chemistry between oil and water trying to mix. This wasn’t good. It was very very bad.

I will admit, I can’t stand the miscommunication trope and that’s literally what this entire book was. That’s all it was. They just needed to freaking talk.

Javi, I liked him a lot. Until I didn’t. Him ghosting his best friend just felt icky. They wouldn’t have even talked had she not conveniently bumped into him on a film set.

Mari, everything about her annoyed me. Everything. I couldn’t even connect with her character because every time she spoke, I was annoyed.

I have to admit, I skipped 20 chapters in this book and picked up 4 chapters before the end. Here’s the thing though…. I missed nothing. I still completely understood what was going on and didn’t need any of those chapters. That isn’t good.

Anyway, read it if you want but I can’t recommend it.

Mia Sosa is an author I’ve been wanting to read for a while now, especially since I enjoyed a short story she wrote for a holiday anthology a few years ago. Her newest novel is When Javi Dumped Mari, a friends-to-lovers romance that takes 12 years and a rapidly approaching wedding (to the wrong man!) to finally blossom into what it was meant to be.

What I Liked:
- Back-and-forth timeline. This isn’t a straightforward dual timeline; the past slowly catches up with the present, which actually makes everything happening “now” come into focus and feel so much more urgent. Over the years leading up to the wedding, readers get to see how Javi and Mari became college friends, lost touch, and then started to explore new facets of their relationship later on. It was sometimes frustrating for me (just kiss already!!), but ohh I loved the journey.
- Dating approval pact. Both Mari and Javi have been unlucky in love, so they decide to act as each other’s approver for any new potential partners. Basically, if Mari starts seeing someone, Javi has a chance to suss them out and give his thumbs up or thumbs down on the guy. Mari has the same say over who Javi dates. This works well enough… until Mari goes rogue and randomly gets engaged to a guy Javi’s never heard of after only a few months. And the wedding is in only six weeks!
- A rapidly approaching wedding that needs to be stopped! No, Mari, no!! Don’t marry this rando when you could (finally) have Javi instead! Operation “I Object” is in motion! Thankfully, Javi isn’t the only one trying to stop this rushed wedding. Mari’s other friends (love them, btw) are totally Team Javi.
- Discussions of worth and what you can bring to a relationship. Part of what’s been keeping these two apart is the perceived imbalances between them. See more in the next point, but basically, Javi doesn’t feel worthy and doesn’t want to be a burden who drags Mari down. Aww. He has some growth to do in that regard.
- Careers and family issues. After finishing college, Mari has an easy path forward in her career: join her dad’s entertainment law firm and quickly work her way up. Javi struggles with his employment and personal goals (something I related to), but I loved his longterm effort to write a musical and see it on the stage. There’s a big imbalance between Javi and Mari in that regard, but they can bond over imperfect family relationships. Javi and his two older brothers had a rift years ago; Mari has an ongoing complicated relationship with her dad. These come to the forefront by the end!
- Spanish and Portuguese language. Since Javi and Mari and Puerto Rican and Brazilian, respectively, they speak Spanish and Portuguese as second languages. These two languages are pretty similar, enough that they can understand each other, so I loved how they’d always say “Para siempre; para sempre” to each other. Between the two, I only speak Spanish, but I could understand the Portuguese used here well enough!

Final Thoughts
When Javi Dumped Mari is a slow burn romance that takes its time unfolding, but even at 448 pages, it didn’t feel like it dragged on at all. I loved every bit of this book, from characters who keep you engaged to a love worth fighting for, even after all this time. This is a friends-to-lovers romance that is funny and impossible to turn away from, and I’m sure it will win readers’ hearts. I look forward to reading so much more from Mia Sosa!

Javi and Mari have been platonic best friends since college. Now, Mari is engaged to a man who Javi knows is wrong for her, but she has asked Javi to be her Man of Honor. Now he has six weeks to convince Mari not to go through with the wedding.

I loved that this book was dual timeline. It gave so much context to Javi and Mari’s relationship in college and how they got to where they are now. Their friendship in college was so sweet and supportive. The whole time, they both had feelings for the other but neither acted on them out of respect. They were very much opposites—he was a closed book and introverted, while she was more bubbly and peppered him with questions until he broke each time. They really just fit together perfectly and were able to be completely themselves with each other. In the present timeline, Mari drove me kind of nuts, but I totally understood her motivations and reasoning. I loved watching the story play out and wondering how it would end. I definitely recommend this sweet friends-to-lovers romance!

Thank you to Mia Sosa, Putnam, and NetGalley for this e-ARC; all opinions are my own.

Read if you like:
💕 Friends to lovers
💕 Dual timeline & dual POV
💕 Mutual pining for YEARS
💕 Latinx rep

When Javi Dumped Mari is a laugh out loud comedy !,Mia Sosa has a gift for writing books that feel like you are watching a movie. The passion, the drama, the chaos... 💋💋💋💋 Chef's kiss!

I don't know much else to say besides this book is everything. I loved the flashbacks that showed how their friendship and the pact came about. I loved how just unapologetically comfortable and loving they were with each other no matter who else was around even though they both weren't saying their feelings aloud I never doubted that they loved each other. It was the perfect friends-to-lovers with a hint of second chance.

Mia's characters, family dynamics, best friend side characters, and Latine rep are always fully fleshed out without being overbearing and When Javi Dumped Mari left me feeling warm and so full of love and hope and this book came at the perfect time.

Thank you GP Putnam for my arc and finished copy!

When Javi Dumped Mari by Mia Sosa is the epitome of idiots to lovers. They become best friends in college, secretly yearn for each other, and even after moments of kissing and hooking up, these two STILL(!) deny their true feelings for each other. I wanted to jump in the book and knock some sense into these two!

The story is told in dual timelines showing how Javi and Mari meet, lose touch and then reconnect just in time for Javi to be Mari’s Man of Honor at her wedding. Which is terrible timing because Javi is finally ready to declare his feelings! He has six weeks to break up a wedding, steal the groom’s girl, and he doesn’t have one clue how to do it. (IYKYK movie reference!)

In the meantime, Javi and Mari have a lot of family trauma to overcome before they can be together, and while none of it is magically solved, I loved that they were both in therapy to process their emotions and move forward. It works for the “right person, wrong time” part of the storyline because they do need time together and apart to achieve their goals while also becoming who they need to be for each other as adults. I loved it!

- friends to lovers
- Brazilian American FMC/ Puerto Rican MMC
- moderate steam
- WDTK? Ch. 15 (fake)/ Ch. 22 (for real)

Thank you to @putnambooks for the eARC in exchange for a review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this book. This is my first time reading this author and the premise brought me in. I feel like this was an easy read with easy to connect with characters. I’d read this author again!

It took me a ridiculously long time to realize that When Javi Dumped Mari is a riff on When Harry Met Sally. To be fair, to me, the only part of the movie that really stuck with me were the scenes with Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby. I really enjoyed When Javi Dumped Mari. I’ve liked all the Mia Sosa books I’ve read, but I loved this one. It is funny and heartfelt. I loved the ups and downs of the friendship between Mari and Javi, and between Mari and her girlfriends. Mari has an excellent friend group, and if this were a tv series, I would be tuning in for their shenanigans.

Mia Sosa gives us a slow-burn, friends to lovers with a dual POV with a timeline that goes from present to the past, showing us Mari and Javi’s relationship from college to adulthood. We meet them in the present day when Javi is clearly about to ask Mari to be in a romantic relationship, but Mari instead tells him she is engaged. And then we go back to when they first met in college. I laughed at their early antagonism. It’s so clear that they are crazy about each other, but Javi isn’t ready to be romantic, so Mari builds a friendship with him.

Javi puts the breaks on his relationship with Mari several times through the book. It takes him a long time time to get himself together enough to be Mari’s partner. If you are looking for a character who embodies the aphorism, perfect is the enemy of good, Javi is your guy. Fortunately he does one of my favorite things for a masculine character in romance to do – he goes to therapy. Mari has her own (daddy) issues to work through, but she is consistent in her belief that Javi is good enough for whatever he wants to do. She is very invested in her own success, but for Javi, she just wants him to believe in himself enough to try.

I received this as an advance reader copy from P. G. Putnam and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.

I generally enjoy Mia Sosa books, but this one wasn’t for me. I’m not a fan of the miscommunication trope, and the mood was too angsty for me.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

3.5 stars

When Javi Dumped Mari is a chaotic and messy best friends to lovers romance. Javi and Mari met in college, became best friends, and made a pact to vet each other's prospective partner. Their friendship has its ups and downs during the years since college, but nothing stuns Javi more than Mari's sudden announcement that she's getting married...to someone else, someone Javi has never even met before! 90s romcom vibes all the way!

Note: This review will contain spoilers. I'm sorry, but it's unavoidable because I need to talk about what went wrong for me.

Javi and Mari's story is told in dual timelines, with flashbacks that are well-placed at the right timing. It was all going well for me...until the ghosting! For 6 years! What!!!!!! I was floored. The worst thing about the ghosting is that if it weren't for a chance encounter, Javi may never made his way back to Mari. And this just kills me because WHY?? This is one of my major pet peeves. I need the characters to work for it and not just leave their (potential) relationship to chance. 6 years is just way too long a time for ghosting your best friend. I might have forgiven the ghosting if he had made an effort to reconnect with her. But nope. Coincidence is what brought them back together. Javi deserved to suffer for that and I think he got off easy lol.

Despite the push and pull and the mutual love between Mari and Javi, the former actually goes all the way to the altar with her fiance. Surprisingly, this did not annoy me because I really liked the climax and the revelation of who the source of conflict was. Plus, I trust Mari to know what she's doing. On that note, expect some telenovela vibes for the climax LOL. Although, it certainly could have been more dramatic. What can I say? I love drama. The juicier, the better.

Honestly, I really enjoyed this book; it's just the 6-year ghosting that really irked me and continues to irk me as I write this review. Take the ghosting out of the equation, and this book pretty much checks all of my boxes. I want to give it a higher rating because I really liked the romance overall, but the ghosting and the reunion-by-chance annoyed me way too much.

💔✨ BOOK REVIEW: When Javi Dumped Mari by Mia Sosa 💅🏽

Javi dumped her. Big mistake. Huge. Because Mari’s not crying—she’s plotting, thriving, and maybe... falling for someone else? 😏

This book is peak Mia Sosa: hilarious, heart-squeezing, and hotter than a revenge dress on a tropical vacation. It’s got second chances, sizzling chemistry, and a heroine who turns heartbreak into a glow-up with bite. You’ll laugh, swoon, and possibly want to dump your ex just for the plot. 📖🔥

✨Perfect for fans of:

Spicy rom-coms with actual substance
“Oops I’m hot now” energy
Family, food, and a little petty payback
Highly recommend. Your TBR will thank you. Your ex? Not so much. 😎

#WhenJaviDumpedMari #MiaSosa #RomComGoals #BookReview #BookstagramRecs #TBRPile #DumpedAndThriving #LatinaRomance #RevengeGlowUp

This was my first Mia Sosa book and I liked it. It wasn't anything particularly exceptionally, but overall I had a good time reading it. It was a pretty perfect summer, hammock reading book. I did struggle with the imbalance in the relationship between Mari and Javi, often feeling like Javi was way more invested in making a go of things than Mari was. I know we find out the reason for some of that later in the book, but that was a frustration for me. I will certainly look for more Mia Sosa books for when I just need a little brain candy.