Cursed Boys and Broken Hearts

April 15, 2024
Middle school friends reunite to save a moldering B&B in this energetic second-chance romance from Sass (Your Lonely Nights Are Over). Grant Rossi, 18, has always blamed his poor dating record on a mangled wish he made five years before on the wishing rose, the centerpiece of his Italian American family’s vineyard and B&B. Fresh off a breakup with his influencer boyfriend, Grant impulsively speeds from Chicago to the exurb Valle upon his aunt Ro’s request to help refurbish the vineyard from his youth, which is in disrepair; the end-of-summer Rose Festival is their only chance to raise enough money to forestall selling the establishment. He’s thrown for a loop, however, when the summer gardener turns out to be Scottish American Ben McKittrick, 13-year-old Grant’s true love who broke up his first relationship by kissing Grant’s then-boyfriend. The teens agree to be civil, especially after Grant’s carefully planned social media post drums up fresh business. But lingering unsupportive family dynamics, long-held hurt feelings, and the impending return of Ben to Scotland cast a long shadow in this clamorous romance, which Sass renders via high emotion and some lightly fantastical flourishes. Characters cue as white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.