The story originated on the author Charlotte Reagan's WattPad, where she's also written a sequel along with stories about the secondary characters Lakyn and Scott. All of them can be read there
(though Just Juliet and Loving Laykan are currently only previews since their formal publication).
Examples:
- Alliterative Name: Juliet James, Lena's Love Interest.
- Alpha Bitch: Claire is this for Bridgewood Academy, whom Lena calls “Princess Bitch”. She solely interacts with Lakyn and Juliet simply to insult them. She also has a Girl Posse whom Lena dubs Thing One and Thing Two, while they all have near identical styles. Lena thinks every school has beautiful, popular girls like them, who occupy themselves mostly by sneering at others.
- Bi-Wildered: Lena's friends and parents are all confused when Lena realizes she's bisexual through her attraction to Juliet, mostly just calling her "gay" despite Lena being clear on her bisexuality.
- But Not Too Bi: Lena is bisexual, though she's only with Juliet in the story.
- Closet Key: Lena realizes she's bisexual due to falling for Juliet.
- Coming-Out Story: Lena comes out to her friends as being bisexual early on after she realizes her sexuality. Coming out to her parents though takes longer. All of them accept her, though her parents more reluctantly.
- Dark and Troubled Past:
- Juliet started drinking and doing soft drugs to numb the pain of her mom's death. It ended with her being arrested for vandalism, after which she got into rehab.
- Lakyn's parents were abusive to him, so he was raised by his uncle. We later learn that he attempted suicide in the past, after losing his aunt (a surrogate mother), and has many scars on his torso from past abuse.
- Scott was caught in his house with his boyfriend when his parents came back from vacation early. He hasn't spoken to his dad since, while over time his mom's accepted him.
- Ben James, Juliet's dad, was best friends with a trans boy growing up, who killed himself over troubles with other people regarding his gender. He still won't talk about it, years later.
- Disappeared Dad: Georgina's daughter's father was neglectful of her in the past, but has started getting more active in her life, to her relief.
- Do You Want to Copulate?: Lacey bluntly asks Matt if he wants to have sex with her all week while they're on the trip. After being taken aback, he quickly says yes.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Juliet tried to do this with alcohol and drugs after losing her mother as a young teen.
- Dysfunction Junction: The entire James family (who make up most of the main cast) have quite tragic backstories, along with Scott, who's de facto a member and later fully becomes so through marrying Lakyn.
- Ethical Slut: Lacey makes no apologies for having a sex drive, and is fine with it being casual. She's also careful about consent, contraception and being safe from STDs.
- Experimented in College: Discussed by Lena's dad when she tells him along with her mom that she's bisexual. Lena retorts gently that it isn't experimenting-she's just into girls along with boys, and to deny it would be denying half of herself.
- Forced Out of the Closet:
- Scott was outed due to his parents catching him with his boyfriend, with his dad kicking him out afterward. They haven't spoken for years.
- In a milder example, Lacey outs Lena to other friends of theirs without asking after she told her, to Lena's brief annoyance. However, since all her friends accept her, she doesn't really mind.
- Gaydar: Discussed when Lena expresses surprise that Juliet isn't sure if Lena's into her. Juliet replies that her gaydar is far from perfect. Lena's mom later also clearly knows that something is up between them, but she'd acted fairly obvious about it.
- Gay Romantic Phase: Discussed between Lena and her dad. When the latter says that it's just a phase she'll grow out of, Lena responds by stating that she likes girls and boys, and to deny that would be denying half of herself.
- Good Parents:
- Lena's parents don't completely understand her being bisexual, but are accepting nonetheless and work to learn.
- Juliet's dad, meanwhile, is not only a great father to her but also takes in both her cousin and his boyfriend, whose own dad kicked him out.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Juliet is a blonde and a very kind girl.
- Hereditary Homosexuality: Juliet and her cousin Lakyn are both gay.
- Holding Hands: Lena and Juliet start doing this right after meeting. It's an early indication of their mutual attraction.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Juliet, who gets established as gay early on, has long hair, loves getting made up, mostly wears feminine clothing, and is planning to get into fashion. Lena isn't described as much since the story's all from her view, but has very similar tastes, though she's bisexual.
- Little Black Dress: Lena describes the dress she puts on to her first date with Juliet as this, even using the term exactly. Juliet later also wears one.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: Lacey, who's the most popular girl at Grant and frequently insults people, but only in jest. She's really not malicious at heart. Lena dubs her "Queen Bitch" nonetheless, though they're best friends.
- Lovable Jock: Scott is a football player, though also a kind, sensitive guy. Also he's openly gay and doting on his boyfriend, breaking with the aggressively heterosexual stereotypes of male jocks.
- Love at First Sight: Lena is drawn to Juliet instantly on seeing her, and says later she loved her from that first moment.
- Love Confession: Lena confesses her love to Juliet when they've broken up as the latter is leaving to study in London. Years later, when they meet again and have gotten back together, Juliet returns it, right before the end of the book.
- Maybe Ever After: Lena and Juliet break up due to their life ambitions taking them in different directions. While painful, Lena gets over this and moves on. However, then she meets Juliet again at Lakyn and Scott's wedding. Before they know it, they're together like before, and though there are barriers between them it's implied they may stay that way somehow.
- Mentor in Queerness: Scott offers to serve as this for Lena, helping her discern her sexual orientation and answer questions which she has to the best of his ability. She's very grateful for it.
- Missing Mom: Juliet's mother died of unknown causes a few years ago. She's still not over it, and only talks about this reluctantly.
- No Bisexuals: Everyone asks Lena whether she's gay at first when they see her being attracted to Juliet. Even after saying she's bisexual, they mostly still use "gay", while it often seems to be just slang for any queer person, though she does get annoyed by Lacey not saying "bisexual". Lena even used it herself sometimes. When she tells her parents, the concept of bisexuality itself seems to confuse them.
- Open-Minded Parent: Juliet's dad doesn't mind at all that his nephew's boyfriend stays over. He later says the same to Lena with Juliet, so long as they practice safe sex.
- Queer Romance: The story of a teenage girl falling hard for a female friend, realizing she's bisexual due to this and dating her.
- Preacher's Kid: Lacey's dad is a preacher, who believes extramarital sex is a sin. She's not only fine with that so long as Safe, Sane, and Consensual apply, but unabashedly promiscuous (however not openly to him, as you would expect). Lacey's not really portrayed as bad though, just rebellious and independent.
- Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: Lena and Juliet start out having one of these. They hold hands, lean affectionately on each other, Juliet lays down in Lena's lap, they spend long periods together, and Lena constantly gushes about Juliet's qualities. However, it then goes beyond as they're attracted to each other and Lena asks her out, with them starting a relationship.
- Recovered Addict: Juliet started drinking and doing drugs after her mom died, but went to rehab in the past and is now clean.
- Straight Gay: Scott and Lakyn are both gay, but don't have any real stereotypes. In fact, Scott's a football player. Lakyn's slightly effeminate, though more emo than camp.
- Teen Pregnancy: Georgina got pregnant when she was just fifteen from a boy who's also a teenager, and has a young daughter with him.
- The Talk: Juliet tells Lena that her dad gave her one in the past, after she came out as gay. He even looked up sexual practices that women engage in together so that he could tailor it for her. Juliet appreciated the effort, but still felt embarrassed by this.
- Title Drop: At the very end, after they get back together, Lena reflects that she's got everything she needs, that is: Just Juliet.
- Transparent Closet: Lena's mom picked up the fact that she was into Juliet before Lena came out, due to her gushing over her and them hanging out constantly.
- Twofer Token Minority: Lacey is Black, though it's only mentioned briefly once near the end (mostly she's simply vaguely described as "dark-skinned"). She's the only person of color identified among the characters who is in more than just one scene.
- Where Everybody Knows Your Flame: Juliet takes Lena to an underground LGBT club, The Rainbow Room, after they start dating, where they dance. Lena is surprised by being in a place with only same-sex couples.
