Lacie Waldon knows how to suck me in. I loved her first novel and I knew I had to read this one. This was an easy read that I flew through. The first aspect of kept me interested in each of their stories and backgrounds.

Olivia (Liv) Bakersfield tries hard to do everything she's supposed to do to have a good life. She's the epitome of a responsible adult a yes woman if you will. Never wants to let anyone down,, but she's not really happy with her treadmill life.. Luckily, she has her close group of friends from college and eleven years later are just as close as ever. When she stops saying yes to everything and finally says no, , she leans on them for support. In particular, she leans on her friend Lucas Deiss.

The lifelong friend relationships, made it stand out from your average contemporary romances. All of her friends, are well detailed, and you could tell how much they genuinely all love each other.

The sweetest of slow-burns, From the Jump is the perfect vacation read about a group of college friends and their evolving group dynamics. Central to the story, is Liv, a graphic designer known as “The Ice Queen” by her friends who has her life plotted out from A to Z until one day she gets the urge to change her trajectory by using the simple word, No. This one little word has big consequences and she finds herself leaving her job, on a trip to South Africa meeting up with her friends on their vacation at the last minute. From the moment Liv’s friend Deiss picks her up for a three hour journey, the chemistry begins to grow between these two. Since their friendship has spanned 11 years it’s easy to see how something more than just a friendship could spark.

The friend group dynamics were fun and fairly amazing considering this group of 5 had stayed in touch for so long. As liable to do, people change with time and Waldon writes the narrative in the present by reaching back to “then” moments from the groups’ past to tie to the current storyline. Phoebe and Liv have the closest relationship, but even still, no one in the group is an open book and everyone has secrets or things they don’t share openly.

I loved reading the moments between Deiss and Liv and felt that the lead up was written so well. Lots of swoony moments with build up in Africa and in the apartment and music store made me flip pages with anticipation. And the slow burn is so good. My one BUT would be that there was such an opportunity to discuss safe sex, but that moment was glazed right over. The lead up was done SO well and then the act seemed to be over within minutes. Could we get just a little bit more? Pretty please? I did love that Deiss’s character was consistent. Even though friends seemed to think that he cared about nothing, he clearly cared a lot and was vocal in how he felt, even when other characters brushed him off. I also enjoyed seeing the changes and transformation in Liv. Waldon takes her time writing this evolution and it pays off with how Liv begins to see herself and her relationships more clearly.

With any romance, there’s the third act breakup and this one bothered me slightly because it’s based on a secret that is withheld almost to the point of lying. Betrayal (of any kind) is a very tough place to come back from and I found myself cringing at what I thought the outcome would be. Fortunately Waldon works her magic and convinces her readers that a HEA is still possible, and that there is hope. I think this works because of the ground that’s been laid prior establishing what kind of person Deiss is and how he handles himself.

Overall I thought this was a fun follow up to The Layover and enjoyed it even more due to the solid chemistry and tension between Deiss and Liv. I can’t wait to see what travel destinations Waldon takes her readers to next. Thank you to G. P. Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for and honest review. All opinions are my own.

When friends become your family it’s so hard to take a risk on love when you think you may lose it all. Liv grew up with such instability that she feels she has to have such tight control over every aspect of her life. When she finally lets herself relax and takes a vacation with her friends, everything begins to unravel and she’s left having to rely on Lucas Diess — her best friend who proves himself to be just what shes been searching for but didn’t think she could have. I loved Deiss so much and his care and love for Liv was so heartwarming.

*thank you to NetGalley and the published for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I am a big believer of the idea that someone just can’t click with a book that might be really good to other people…

Unfortunately, I really struggled to get through this book. The writing seemed a little all over the place to me and I had a really hard time with the MC, Liv. She seemed a little naive at times and I thought her inner-dialogue was hard to read.

I did really like the trip to South Africa and how that was described for the readers - I almost felt like I was there with the characters. But once the friend group got back home from the trip, I just didn’t connect to the story anymore and almost had no interest in what was going to happen.

I can see how this book works for some and not for others. I definitely think it’s worth trying to read it, I just didn’t vibe with this book as much as I wished I had.

Read if you like:
- friends to lovers 💕
- vacation vibes in South Africa 🐘🦒🐒 🦛
- a strong friend group 👥
- MC personal growth 🌱
- witty dialogue 🗣
- flashbacks 📽

Thanks to Putnum and Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review! I had not heard of this author before, but it sounded like a fun summer read. Olivia has lived her life doing all of the "right" things and decides one day to see what happens when she disrupts that plan. She has been friends with the same group from college - Mac, Lucas, Simone, and Phoebe, and she decides to say no to a work project and go at the last minute with her friends to South Africa on vacation, which jump starts a series of fortunate and unfortunate events. I loved watching Olivia find her voice. This is a friends to lovers romantic comedy, and the buildup is amazing - I did not want to put this down! Perfect beach read, laugh out loud funny. 5 stars!

Rating: 4
Crying Score:
Laughing Score:

I’m a big fan of Lacie Waldon’s books! I loved the layover and I really love how Laci captures the essence of traveling. The feeling, the experiences, the observations. I loved the part in this book where Liv first arrives in South Africa, and the description of the towns she drives through *chefs kiss*

Overall I liked this story, but my only qualm was the length of time that the story referred to. 11 years is a long time for some of these friends to still be treating each other the way that they did and it’s a long time to harbor a crush on your friend! However, I do think situations like this happen when people are just waiting for the right *time*

I loved the close proximity in this story, and I think Deiss was cute/sweet. Although a bit standoff-ish, it was clear that he has always cared for Liv. I’d love to read a story about Phoebe and Mac, they were the right kind of messy and I was rooting for them.

From the Jump comes out July 19th! Thank you Putnam for the e-arc! I can’t wait for Lacie’s next one.

I was able to read this for free thanks to Net Galley, although that does not affect my opinion of the actual book. I loved reading this book. From the moment it began, I was invested. Whenever I had to stop reading in order to go do something else, I kept thinking to myself “I want to keep reading” and that is when you know a book is really good. This book makes me want to go on a safari and travel through South Africa. I don’t know how else to describe this book other than to say that it truly is my new favorite. All of the characters have a piece of my heart.

Liv has been donning her armor daily since she was young - perfect makeup, perfect body, perfect job, perfect hair. But then, something snaps: she says no to an assignment she doesn’t want and jumps on a plane (or rather five planes with four layovers) to join her four best friends who she’s known for elevent years and who are already on vacation in South Africa. There’s Phoebe - her closest friend, Mac - who happens to be Phoebe’s ex, Simone - a well-off influencer, and Deiss - or Lucas Deiss, who seems to care about nothing but music. When the lodgings she’s booked fall through, Liv finds herself sharing a room with Deiss, and finding there’s more to her enigmatic friend than meets the eye. Upon return from their trip, disaster strikes Liv, and she finds herself relying even more on her friends and taking a good, hard look at her life.

I have to start off by saying - and this is not a disqualifying thing about the story - Liv is likely the most opposite from me of nearly any character I’ve ever read. The things that build her character are close to the opposite of what makes me tick. I find it fascinating to read characters like that, though! Her armor of makeup, of perfection, of keeping even her close friends at arm’s length is a defense mechanism for her past. Watching Deiss and Liv peel away their layers for one another was really sweet. But, for me, like nearly all friends-to-lovers, I had hard time fully engaging in the spark moment where they go from friends to lovers. On the other hand, once the feelings started flowing, I absolutely bought into the chemistry, and the friend group dynamics.

This is a fun one to spend a weekend getaway with - or just to treat yourself to a safari and a low-ish angst friends to lovers romance with some great found family. It wasn’t a book that knocked it out of the park for me, but I enjoyed reading it!

Lacie Waldon is being added to my list of auto-read authors! After loving The Layover, I couldn't wait for her next book and From the Jump was a great second book from Lacie. The friends to lovers trope is one of my favorite tropes, and I loved the will they or won't they questions throughout the book about Liv and Deiss, and they had great chemistry.

Aside from Lacie writing this book, I was also drawn to it since Liv is a graphic designer and I am one as well and you rarely see this profession in books. Once I started reading, I found myself relating to Liv in more ways than just the occupation. She is a rule follower and so I am, and saying no to things is not something either of us do. It was nice to see the evolution of Liv throughout the book as someone who always did what she thought she was supposed to do and discovered it was okay to do things that she wanted to do.

I would have loved this a lot more if more of the story had actually taken place in Africa.

I am normally all about some unrealistic nonsense in a romance. I love when characters find themselves in abnormal situations and fall in love under perfect circumstances. Like on a trip to Africa. But the ways that this story was unrealistic were not the fun kind. I was pretty bummed that the trip to Africa didn't last very long at all. It would have been a great vessel to learn more about all of the friends and have exciting excursions.

This is a story about friendship (pretty surface level ones) and discovering how to say no and do things you want to do. I did really relate to Liv and the pressure she was facing from herself to always be perfect. I thought this was done very well. We don't learn very much about Deiss at all, other than where he works and his childhood. He goes from being quiet and somewhat standoffish to sugary sweet boyfriend out of nowhere. The conflicts that threw them together were that Liv gets robbed and has nowhere to live or any money. So she becomes his roommate within hours of getting home from a one week vacation. This just felt so bizarre. There were so many other ways to have forced proximity without her being entirely dependent on Deiss.

I felt like none of the best friends really knew each other that well. They weren't that close and didn't even go out of their way to spend time together. The friendship felt forced and consequently how that played in as a conflict in their relationship felt forced.

It was a quick easy read, but not one that had a lot of substance and not one I will remember.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

*sigh* this cover is just as beautiful and swoony as the story itself. I love a good friends to lovers book! and From the Jump was the perfect beach and pool read. All about taking chances and stepping outside of your comfort zone.

I hesitate to use the word charming, but this was charming. Friends to lovers, quasi-self realization catharsis for the protagonist that has very little to do with falling in love, and almost everything to do with acknowledging and embracing what she wants for herself and her future by way of saying, "NO." A refreshing summer romance.

In this new women's fiction/romance novel from Lacie Waldon, an over-worked burnt-out millennial woman decides to take the jump and go on a trip with her friend from college. He's a mysterious trust-fund kid who has women falling all over him and she is the woman who just cares too much. I read twenty percent of this book and found that the characters hadn't left their tropes: women who cares and man who doesn't. Everything bit a bit two-dimensional and tired, so I read a bit more before stopping. Life's too short to read books you don't enjoy, and sadly I just couldn't get into this one. It was also evident that it was going to be heavy on the women's fiction, which is fine if that's what you're interested in, but I wasn't particularly. I got an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I really really liked this one! Liv and her four best friends have such a great found family story. I really felt connected to all of them and the plot moved at a good pace so that I wasn’t bored but I also got to bask in the setting for a while. Liv’s struggle to present the perfect face/attitude to the world was very relatable. I felt that the transition from friends to a relationship with Liv and Deiss was also fantastically well done and believable. This was a good quick read for the summer!

Thanks to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

This was a delight! I could not put this down and finished it way too soon. The characters are fun to get to know and Liv is such a unique character! Definitely recommend this as your next summer read!!

This is my second Lacie Waldon book & I was so eager to jump into it. After a comment from both Deiss & Elena weighs on Olivia.. a lifetime of yes’s turns to a whole lot of no’s & leads to Olivia going on her first International trip. After Olivia & Phoebe make a pact to not date or have romantic relationships with anyone in their friends group in attempt to not break up the friends group. This book was a slow burn romance wise it seemed like until the end but I still loved Olivia’s guide to saying yes, finding herself, & saying yes. Ton of fun banter & fun adventures in the book. I hope we can hear more of Mac & Phoebe’s story in the future. Thank you to NetGalley & G.P. Putnam’s Son for the ARC of From The Jump for my honest review. I can’t wait for more books from Lacie in the future!

A sweet and cute friends to lovers romance with some of the best secondary characters ever! My favorite character has to be Mia! I love her and wish she was in this book even more!
However, I did feel like the beginning was a bit rough and it almost felt like I was dropped into a story that was already happening and I had no clue what was going on.
I didn’t start really pulling for the Liv and Deiss until more than halfway through the book but they were so cute and I was happy with how it ended.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I adored The Layover so I was extremely excited to read Lacie Waldon's next book! Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book! This book is primarily about friendships, focusing on the 5 way friendship between college friends. Liv misses out on many things within this group, such as their yearly trips, because she is determined to make a better life for herself than she had growing up. In turn, she puts severe limitations on herself in terms of food and spending money. I love the growth we see from her character throughout the book. She realizes how much she is missing out on (even the day to day time with friends) because of these limits she has set.
I love Deiss and his sweet friendship with Liv, which turns into something more.

Liv Bakersfield has always lived her life as the go to girl. She has molded her life after being perfect and what everyone else wants her to be but after missing vacation after vacation with friends, she decides she has had enough. She quits her job and hops on the next plane to South Africa to meet up with her friends. When she returns, she finds that all of her belongings have been stolen. Her friend, Deiss, lets Liv stay with him until she can get back on her feet. Liv is discovering a new version of herself and she likes it more than she thought she would.