Thank you to Lacie Waldon, Netgalley and G.P. Putman's Sons for an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Summary
The first day of college, Liv, Phoebe, Simone, Mac and Deiss crossed paths and have been a group ever since. They all live in L.A. and make a point to meet up the third Thursday of every month. Liv has spent her whole life doing what she is supposed to do. She reads books about how to get ahead in work and how to find a husband. She never says no in the work place. When a colleague calls her out, Liv says no for the first time, and it feels good. Liv then decides to finally join all her college friends on the yearly vacation they take every year and books last minute to meet them in South Africa. When Liv starts doing everything she has been wanting but been avoiding for years, she realizes she is happier.
South Africa, and the return to L.A. finds Liv in close proximity with Deiss. The changes Liv is making to herself and circumstances are showing Liv that happiness may not be what she thought it should be and friendship and love may be closer together than she realized.

Review
I adored this book. The only thing I wanted was more. I would have loved more of the backstory from the college days. I wanted more to understand Phoebe and Mac and Simone and their relationships with everyone. I wanted more of Liv to understand how these people were her best friends but she kept them at arm's length for their whole relationship. Regardless, it was a beautiful story about acceptance, learning what makes you happy and following your heart instead of the 'what I should do'. It was so much more than a romantic comedy. Yes, there was romance, but it was also about platonic relationships and relationship with self.

This is a Contemporary Friends to Lovers Romance Fiction. This book was so much fun to read. I really enjoyed reading this book, and I loved getting to see the main character, Liv learn to really live. I loved the romance in this book. The romance was slow moving, but it was so cute and fun. The ending was the normal romance book ending, but I enjoyed it. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (G.P. Putnam's Sons) or author (Lacie Waldon) via NetGalley, so I can give an honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

From the Jump was a great sophomore novel by Lacie Waldon. I actually enjoyed it more than her debut, The Layover. The wanderlust was real while reading this and it made me ache for a friend group that would survive the test of time. I think some things wrapped up too nicely and forgiveness was handed out quickly. I would have liked to see the robbery storyline all the way through and a little more development in the relationship outside of the bedroom.

I was drawn to the cover of this book! It just looked like a super fun read and that was exactly what it was. This book had me hooked from the start. I absolutely love reading about friend groups. I had a hard time getting into the book but things became better after the 20% mark. This was just such a cute and easy summer read and I overall enjoyed it a lot. I have to subtract a star because I felt like Liv and Diess lacked chemistry. Overall, this was an easy and adorable read and I would totally recommend!

DNF at 35%

I was bored. I couldn't get a sense of who the characters were, or why I should care about them.

Also, the ARC was formatted terribly, which made for a bad reading experience.

After a difficult childhood, including a period of homelessness, Liv is obsessive about exerting control over every aspect of her adult life. On paper, she has it all figured out, but in striving for the things she believes are indicators of success, she’s missing out on life. When her closest friends - four people she met in college who remain her best friends to this day - depart for their annual vacation without her (as her budget doesn’t allow her to indulge in these trips), she starts to realize how much she’s missing. Over cocktails with a colleague, she impulsively decides to book a flight and join them on the trip. While there, she lets go of some of her control - forgoing her strict hair and makeup routines, and opening herself up to Deiss, one of her best friends. Unfortunately, upon returning from the trip she finds that she’s been robbed - her apartment has been cleared out, along with her bank account, and all of her control crumbles. Deiss offers to let her stay with him while she figures out her next steps, and the romance that blossoms between them is a delight to watch.

Yes, this is a romance, but more than anything, I loved the self=discovery journey we see Liv take over the course of the book. At the start of the book, she is hiding behind the many walls she built to protect herself, and watching her knock those walls down one by one throughout the course of the story is so satisfying. I found myself rooting for her and celebrating her wins. My only complaint is that I wish the book were longer, as I would love to spend more time with these characters!

I loved Lacie Waldon’s first novel, The Layover, so I had to snatch this one up. This cover is absolutely beautiful. From the Jump is the perfect vacation/summer read! A very fun and quick read.

Lacie Waldon remains one of my favorite authors. This book is the perfect summer time read. So pick up this book and go to the beach. Lounge for a couple hours and read the masterpiece that is The Layover.

From the Jump is a cute, sweet, friends-to-lovers story about friendship and finding yourself. Due to fears from past experiences, Liv is a chronic yes-woman who strives to be perfect and make everyone else happy. When she finally learns to say no, she has the experience of her lifetime. After learning to say no and breaking her self-imposed rules, through no fault of her own her life basically falls apart. Her best friends are there for her, especially Lucas Deiss. She realizes that she feels more for him than just friendship, but nobody wants to risk the group dynamic by dating. Liv has learned firsthand that following the rules and making others happy has worked better for her than doing what she truly wants. Can she afford to risk her friendships for love?

What I liked:
the trip to South Africa
the strong group dynamics and themes of friendship
exploring how friendships change
the record shop
Booker and Mia, record shop employees
Deiss and Liv's slow-burn relationship evolution
Deiss!
how Liv grows and changes, and realizes what truly makes her happy

Although some might have trouble connecting with Liv (and some may find her too uptight or annoying), I definitely connected with her need to make her employers happy, say the right things, and always be "on." We are also given reasons that she is this way, so this is something to keep in mind.

What missed the mark for me:
My only complaints are about the depth of relationship between the five friends. For being friends for over a decade, they seem to know very little about the things that friends would normally know about each other.
From what we learned about Simone, I had a hard time believing that she would choose this group of friends over the many other people I'm sure she could have been good friends with. I needed a better explanation about why these people were so important to her. However, these things didn't detract from the story.

Overall, I loved this book! I would recommend it to anyone who loves friends-to-lovers, stories about friends, settings in South Africa, settings in LA, characters who feel the need to be perfect then loosen-up and find themselves, and any lover of rom-coms.

Thank you to NetGalley and P.G. Putnam for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review. From the Jump is out July 19th!

From the Jump by Lacie Waldon -- FYI the cute summery cover does not do this book any justice 😜 it's pretty much your typical type A, driven, work obsessed woman is forced to get out of her comfort zone and finds romance with the carefree hot guy. I loved the vacation to South Africa and the back story of Deiss (hot guy). Didn't really love the stories of the friendships starting in college or Liv's upbringing. Everything else was fine. I never wanted to abandon the story, I was in it enough to keep going. From the Jump would be a good story to read on a lazy and hot summer weekend when you're stuck inside or during summer travel but I don't think this is a story that would pull you out of a reading slump.

This new release that drops tomorrow was my first vacay read. The action centers around Liv Bakersfield—one of five best friends that have been together for a decade and are all going through that late-20s evolution.

Things I loved about this book:
• the friend group is believable with inside jokes and that intrinsic knowing of one another that only comes with time
• the setting: part of this book takes place during a vacation in South Africa and the other in Los Feliz. Both were fab—one for the adventure & one for the laid back vibe that was such a stark contrast to the main character.
• the male MC in this book, Deiss, was pretty swoony as the story went along, and his quiet, strong support of Liv was really sweet.

If there was one issue I had, it is that Liv was really hard to like for a lot of the book. You definitely see why she insists on the facade and self-regulation as the book progresses but you have to stick through about 20% to get there. Just be forewarned.

Special thanks to NetGalley & Penguin for the arc!

ARC REVIEW FOR FROM THE JUMP

4.5 Stars

Thanks to Netgalley, The Penguin Group (GP Putnam) and Lacie Waldon for the #eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I really, really enjoyed this book. The concept of a friend group so diverse staying friends for so long was actually really exciting. I thought they all balanced each other well personality wise and experience-wise. I was a little surprised with how much they let slide with each other, while also having what seemed to be a bit of a superficial relationship- no one ever talked about the deep down, nitty gritty stuff that you do with true friends. It felt a little forced at times, like the only reason they stayed close is because of the length of time they've been friends. It doesn't seem like a great foundation was built.

I really could relate to Liv. Not necessarily having to do everything exactly perfectly, but with the need to always be "on" or always be the one to solve the problems. Don't let people see you sweat. It was interesting to watch that from the outside looking in because it gave a different perspective. It was also magical to watch the back and forth between Liv and Deiss...and let me just say, Deiss might actually go down as one of my favorite love interests in any story I've read. Protect him at all costs.

Overall, this book was beautifully written, transported me into the story like we all want, and sucked me in forcing me to pull an all-nighter to finish it. Best part? It comes out tomorrow (7/19) - so if you don't have it on your TBR or pre-order, do it now!

dnf @ 32%


i really enjoyed the layover by the same author but unfortunately i just couldn’t get into this book no matter how hard i tried.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!
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I loved this book SO much! Liv and her group of friends are literally #friendgoals and I love them all so much - I feel like they’re MY friends. Deiss is a *next level* book boyfriend. I’m obsessed with him. It’s fine.
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We meet Olivia (Liv, as her friends call her), a primed and proper blonde girlboss who follows all of the right rules and none of the wrong ones. On the first day of college, she meets Phoebe and Simone, two fearless and fun friends, as well as Mac and Deiss. The dynamic of this five-friend group is truly wonderful & makes me wish that I could go back to school and start it all over again. Liv finds herself empowered by a few pointed comments from Deiss and her coworker, and ends up having a blow up at work that leads to her having 6 weeks of (unpaid) time off. Conveniently, this coincides with the friend group’s trip to South Africa.
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What entails is a fun, thrilling story about love and friendship. At what point is the risk of losing someone worth the fun of having them? How far would you put your chosen family’s happiness before your own? What’s the point of rules if they don’t get you the result you want anyways? Lacie nailed the intricacies of female friendship, the “it’s-always-been-you” trope, and friends to lovers. This book is a perfect, perfect, perfect summer read and I 10/10 recommend!

From the Jump by Lacie Waldon

🌍 This was a fantastic friends to lovers/found family/romance novel! I truly enjoyed it.

❤️ I think I enjoyed this book so much because I really related to Liv. Until recently, I’ve always been a yes person, particularly when it came to work-related things. I’ve also been very averse to taking risks. But, like Liv in this book, those personality attributes were keeping me from experiencing life the way I probably should have been! In a lot of ways, I feel like Liv is my fictional twin!

🌍 The found family aspect of this book was awesome. I loved the dynamic between Liv, Deiss, Phoebe, Simone, and Mac – friends who continued their relationship beyond their college days. There was love, jealousy, respect, anger, fear… all the things you would expect from a group of adult friends who are actually quite different from each other, yet value their relationships. The way they interacted and supported one another was refreshing.

❤️ Now, throw in a friends to lovers situation amongst the group and things start getting interesting! I loved Deiss. I’m way too old for a book boyfriend, but if I had one he would be it! Liv and Deiss were fun, genuine, and believable. Their relationship was fantastic, and I got goosebumps a few times as their relationship evolved into something more than friends. They were adorable.

🌍 The secondary characters are also fun, particularly quirky Mia at the record store! And there are cats! Who doesn’t love a book with cats?! 😊

❤️ If this book isn’t on your radar, it should be! It is a perfect summer read with great characters and I definitely recommend it. From the Jump hits the shelves on 19 June 2022!

Thank you @NetGalley and @PutnamBooks for an eARC of this book, which I have read and reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

2.5 stars, but I'm not rounding up for Goodreads, because, in my opinion, it does not deserve it.

In From The Jump, we have Liv, an always yes girl, who strives to be perfect in everything she does with a personality so regimented her friends nicknamed her the Ice Queen, which leads me to one of my major issues with this book. Her so called friends. Having met in college, they continue to stay in touch 11 years later by hanging out every third Thursday, and yet they know nothing about her and really aren't that great of a friend to her. She's never been on vacation, because she's such a stickler with her money and her job, but her friends never try to choose a more affordable vacation that she could partake in. Liv needs to find new friends.

This is a friends to lovers trope, which I'm usually a fan of and although, I enjoyed Liv and Diess' banter it wasn't enough for me to enjoy this book, because not only do I have issues with the above. But we also get a very short section with minimal descriptions of the actual African vacation. The whole book seemed to skim over details and would just plop us down in a situation, but not give us the journey there. Annoying and frustrating.


The side characters were surface level at best and maybe that is what gives you the vibe they really don't know Liv. However, I also was not a fan of Liv herself. I found her annoying and naive. Not just for her choice in friends, but her choices in life and I wished we had seen more growth from her.

I wasn't planning on being so negative with my review this morning, but as I was typing it out I realized how annoying this book really was for me. Others have enjoyed it based on the overall ratings shown on Goodreads, but I can't recommend this book. I have heard great things about the author's first book and maybe in the future I will read it. But as for this one, it just wasn't for me.

**Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an advanced copy of this book and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion. I am posting this review to my Goodreads account immediately and will post it to my Amazon & Instagram accounts upon publication.

REVIEW

From the Jump ~ Lacie Waldron

READ IF:
* You have dreams of a African safari trip.
* You’re a “cat-person.”
* You think best friends can become boyfriends/girlfriends.

SUMMARY: Liv Bakersfield lives her life by a rigorous set of rules and always says “yes” in her professional life - so much so that it causes her to miss out on a lot of the spontaneous happenings that her friends enjoy without her. When she finally says “no” it lands her unemployed but it also lands her on an airplane to South Africa where her best friends are vacationing.

This trip is the catalyst for Liv’s journey of self-discovery and some much needed time with her best college friends, especially the shouldering Lucas Deiss, makes her realize who she is and who she wants to be.

REVIEW: I would most certainly define this as a summer read - sweet, light-hearted fluff. From the Jump is a true coming-of-age story and a celebration of friendship. Liv is the girl who thinks she has it all figured out but realizes she truly doesn’t know who she is and who she wants to become. Her friends help along the way, especially Deiss who was a welcome “steamy” addition but pacing was a bit off as his relationship with Liv evolved.

My only complaint (and I realize this might be nit picking) is that the supporting characters in the book are described as Liv’s “beloved group of college friends” but they don’t really know each other. There are pets they don’t know exist and childhoods they don’t know about - there is a lot of withholding for a group that is so close-knit. Felt a little off to me…but all in all, a cute and relaxed summer romance.

Adorable, refreshing, and the perfect summer read!

Liv has it all together. She follows all the rules as she knows is the right thing to do. Once a month she meets up with her best college friends, a tight-knit group. Everything is going swimmingly. That is until her friends go on yet another trip that she declines because of course, she’s doing the right things. Having a change of heart, Liv goes on that trip after all. This starts a whole wonderful chain of events.

This was the perfect rom-com. Funny, romantic, escapist. Everything you would expect. I loved that there were flashes back to college life but that they were not too long or cumbersome so as to detract from the present-day storyline. The characters were all developed in a way that I felt like I knew each one personally.

I will be now reading anything Lacie Waldon has written in the past and anything she writes in the future.

I would definitely recommend this book to fans of romance novels in the vein of Emily Henry and Christina Lauren.

Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for the advanced copy.

Liv has always lived her life playing it safe and following all of the rules. But one day she decides to live differently and starts saying no. She quits her job and jumps on a plane to join her friends on a South African vacation. But when she returns home she finds all of her money and possessions have been stolen and she needs to start over. She temporarily moves in with her friend Lucas, and develops a bit of a crush on him in the process, but she doesn’t want to ruin thor friend group.

This was such a fun friends-to-lovers story. I love a story that features friends that become family, and this group of college friends really embodied that so well. I also appreciated the message about following the picture perfect path vs. finding your own path in life and doing what makes you happy. The way Liv came about discovering that was a bit chaotic, but I think that added to the fun of this book. This was a fun escapist read (also this cover is stunning!) I look forward to what Lacie Waldon writes next.

Thank you to Putnam Books for the gifted copy.

Thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons for the early reading copy of From The Jump via Netgalley. Review below contains my own thoughts and opinions.

I LOVED this book! I read The Layover by Lacie Waldon last year and really enjoyed it, so I was very excited to read From the Jump this summer. It was just about my favorite friends-to-lovers book I have read in a really long time. Liv and (Lucas) Deiss had so much chemistry together and I loved reading their journey. If you love friends-to-lovers, a close found family/friend group, and a life shake-up, this is definitely the book for you!