Love Redesigned

Julian Lopez is the other narrator and main character of Love Redesigned, as well as Dahlia’s love interest. He grew up alongside Dahlia and was equally competitive with her throughout their childhood years. As they grew into adulthood, Julian started to fall for his nemesis, though he never admitted to it until years later. Julian followed Dahlia to Stanford, where he introduced her to his roommate Oliver, whom Julian tolerated but never really liked. Julian was beginning to reveal his feelings for Dahlia when he received the news that his father had died suddenly, causing him to drop out of college and return to Lake Wisteria.

Julian faced immense grief after the death of his father. On top of that, he was helping his mother as she struggled with her depression and trying to keep the family business afloat. Due to these pressures, he felt he didn’t have time to pursue his relationship with Dahlia and didn’t want to burden her with his troubles. He therefore ended their relationship over a phone call. In the following years, he only saw Dahlia on occasion, yet he supported her as her business grew despite being hurt by her refusal to try to fix their relationship. Julian himself became obsessed with fixing things, putting his family before himself in every decision, and doing everything he could to help them while trying to assume his father’s place.

Shortly after he returned to Lake Wisteria, Julian helped his cousin Rafael develop an app that quickly took off, making them both billionaires. Julian also expanded his father’s small construction business into Lopez Luxuries, building a mansion for himself where he could be close to his family. Meanwhile, Julian’s life became more and more stagnant as he focused on making money and making sure his family was happy. He yearned to do things that made him feel creative, such as actually working on construction rather than having meetings. Before his father’s death, Julian loved to do carpentry but couldn’t bring himself to enter his father’s woodshop after his return to Lake Wisteria. Though he seemed to have everything he could want in life, Julian felt lonely and as if he didn’t have a home.

These feelings begin to change once Dahlia returns to town and their competitive energy sparks something new in him. Julian feels like he is finally beginning to be happy again once he starts working on restoring the Founder’s house with Dahlia, despite his feelings for her resurfacing along the way. Though he tries to get rid of her, he does everything he can to make Dahlia feel better and ultimately ends up admitting his attraction to her. During their casual relationship, Julian doesn’t feel worthy of Dahlia, but the way their last relationship ended has taught him to value honesty to make a relationship work. Despite Dahlia’s hesitance to admit her feelings for him, Julian is always upfront about what he wants out of the relationship and is willing to work through any hardships to be with Dahlia.

Though the changes to Julian’s character are somewhat less drastic, like Dahlia he is a dynamic character who comes to learn what he wants in life. Toward the end of the novel, Julian begins to give up some of the things he is uninterested in, like many of his mundane duties at the office. He is willing to give up his life in Lake Wisteria to be with Dahlia, knowing that she is what is most important to him. Julian also learns that he can put himself first and not care so much about what his father would have thought about him, understanding that he would have been proud regardless. Ultimately, Julian also finds a home with Dahlia at the Founder’s house, and they begin their life together happily.

Julian’s family plays an important part in his relationship with Dahlia and in his progress as a character overall. Though his father passes before the beginning of the novel, his memory haunts Julian throughout, as he wonders how to make his father proud. His mother Josefina has as much of an impact on his life, especially as her favorite hobby is trying to dictate Julian’s love life. She is the one to suggest he should help Dahlia, believing it will push the two together. After a life of hardship, Josefina makes sure to put things that make her happy first, trying to teach this lesson to Julian and Dahlia when she says, “This is what life is all about […] Living rather than going through the motions” (269). Josefina had dealt with serious depression and miscarriages before her husband’s death, yet she still does her best to inspire others to be happy.

Julian’s parents virtually adopted his cousin Rafael when the boys were young, making him more of a brother to Julian than a cousin. Rafa too faces significant loss which affects him greatly into adulthood, leading Dahlia to admit that she doesn’t want to end up like him. Though he is financially successful like Julian, his son Nico was born with a rare condition that is causing him to lose his vision, and Rafa still struggles with the aftershocks of a messy divorce from Nico’s mother. Unlike Josefina, Rafa lets his issues consume him; he is often used as a representation of the pessimism Julian must battle to be with Dahlia. However, a major change in Rafa’s life is foreshadowed throughout the novel, as is his romantic relationship with his nanny Ellie, which is explored in the second novel of the Lakefront Billionaires series.