Just Another Dead Boy

“You think all this ‘live every day like it’s your last’ crap is about defying death, like you’re some kind of rebel. Like that’s brave.” He shakes his head. “That’s not brave. You need to stop living like today is your last and start living like it isn’t.“

DON’T FALL IN LOVE.

That’s the only rule.

In this world, everyone knows their death date. If you’re rich, you can check in to a resort to have the greatest final few weeks of your life, in five-star luxury.

Regan works at one of these resorts as a “Juliet”. Her next client is Jude, who has a week to live. Regan’s job is simple: make Jude feel as though he has found true love before he dies.

But when a fake romance starts to become something else, can they take on Fate together – before Jude’s death date catches up with them?

Coming June 2026!

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WHY I WROTE THE BOOK

To me, negotiating adolescence always felt like a balancing act between reckless hedonism and profound issues, so wild child Regan and uptight, philosophical Jude were a clash made in heaven. My favourite books are fun reads with substance at their core, and this mashup of love and death, Fate and fake dating, Romeo and Juliet meets Dirty Dancing, made Just Another Dead Boy the most fun I’ve ever had at my desk.

Like Jude, I enjoy a good existential question! At the heart of this romance are the big issues I wanted to play with. I’m fascinated and appalled by the way humans will attempt to capitalise on anything, and when I heard the phrase ‘suicide tourism’ (meaning travelling for assisted dying) my brain jumped straight to flashy tourist resorts catering for your last days on earth, offering every bucket list luxury imaginable. But I wondered, if you could put anything on your bucket list, would you really choose lavish consumerism and thrill-seeking, or would you want to experience true love before you die?

I created a tourist resort where those dying young can do just that via The Romeo and Juliet Service. But rather than the guests, I was more interested in the people who would work there, and what it would do to them to live in a world of opulent glamour they can’t afford, to encounter death on a daily basis, and to know that everything, including their hearts, is a marketable commodity.

What makes life meaningful? What does a life well lived look like? And can star-crossed teens, Regan and Jude, figure that out before the clock runs out for one of them?