Book Summary and Reviews of Just Another Dead Boy by Kelly Mccaughrain

Just Another Dead Boy by Kelly Mccaughrain

Just Another Dead Boy

by Kelly Mccaughrain

  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Published:
  • Jun 2026, 352 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Regan has two rules: Don't fall in love. Don't have hope.

In a world where everyone knows the date they will die, wild-child Regan works at a luxury resort as a "Juliet" for the Romeo & Juliet Service, promising to provide the illusion of star-crossed romance to rich boys on end-of-life retreats. She gets to live life on the edge—skydiving, partying, and doing a host of other people's bucket-list thrills—then moves on to her next client. But when world-famous Death Date researchers the Dalys arrive, she's tasked with her hardest client yet, their overachieving, stone-faced son. Jude Daly sees right through the setup—he thinks she's a parasite, and, frankly, she thinks he's an entitled jerk. They agree to fake romance for the sake of Jude's parents and Regan's job, but as contempt turns into something else, will Regan ignore her ironclad rules so she and Jude can take on Fate together? Or will his impending Death Date catch up with them first? A compelling and heartbreaking twist on Romeo and Juliet, in which Regan realizes she might have to stop living like today is her last—and start living like it isn't.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"By turns philosophical, funny, suspenseful, and moving, this work builds a convincing world populated with sympathetically fallible people. Achingly tender and leavened with hope." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Perfect for fans of Adam Silvera's They Both Die at the End, this is a book librarians will want to pick for its appeal to all romance fans and all admirers of the enemies-to-lovers trope." —School Library Journal

This information about Just Another Dead Boy was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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Author Information

Kelly Mccaughrain

Kelly McCaughrain's debut, Flying Tips for Flightless Birds, won an unprecedented hat trick of awards at the 2019 Children's Books Ireland Awards, as well as the Northern Ireland Book Award. Her YA novel Little Bang is short-listed for the 2025 Carnegie Award for Writing and the Children's Books Ireland Awards. Just Another Dead Boy is her first YA speculative romance. Kelly McCaughrain was Children's Writing Fellow for Northern Ireland for 2019–2021. She lives in Belfast.

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