i LOOOOOOOVE lacie waldon! the layover is one of my favorite books ever and when i saw she was coming out with another romance i knew i’d love it, and i did!!!

Liv, Phoebe, Simone, Lucas and Mac

They became inseparable friends from the jump (the first time they met) but Liv did not grow up with the same affluent lifestyle as the rest of the group, so she can never quite believe that she is worthy of inclusion.

For this reason, she overcompensates by working too hard and being so financially responsible that she has never joined the others on their annual vacation until now.

She finally takes some time away, and impulsively joins her friends in South Africa, where they are already enjoying a Safari, but she has no idea how that one impulsive decision will change the whole course of her life.

Turns out that despite getting together every third Thursday, and surviving the six year relationship and breakup, between two in the group (Phoebe and Mac), they really don’t know as much about each other as you would expect them to after so many years of friendship.

None of them want to risk the dynamics of the group again, so much goes unsaid.

And, unresolved.

In the Layover (which resonated more with me because I am in the airline business) the author gave us the enemies to lovers trope, with witty banter and an armchair visit to Belize.

In this book, we have the friends to lovers trope, with a big focus on friendship and armchair travel to South Africa.

While I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as her debut, Lacie Waldon has given us a character to root for in Liv, and a very swoon worthy lover in Lucas Deiss-though this rom com is mostly rated PG.

I am looking forward to seeing which trope the author tackles next!

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up!

Toss this in your beach bag on July 19, 2022.

Thank You to G.P. Putnam’s Sons for the gifted ARC provided through NetGalley. It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!

This is such a great book! I have some friends from college I am still close with but nothing like these five. Due to her upbringing Liv lives the perfect life...on paper. In an effort to live that life she denies herself most fun things in an effort to save money and keep her fit figure, everything her self help books and husband huntress podcast tell her to do to look poised and snag a husband. Her group nickname is the ice queen. Not gonna lie, she was very annoying to me at the beginning of the book. I am sooo not that girl lol.

But at her monthly meetup with her college friends (the night before everyone else leaves on a South African vacay without her) One of these friends is Diess (pronounced dice, which I have to keep reminding myself throughout the book lol) Deiss is almost the opposite of Liv. He owns a record shop and on the surface doesn't seem to care about much other than music. Diess asks her if she enjoys her treadmill of a life. This sparks something in her and she essentially quits and joins them in South Africa. I loved all the South Africa stuff, it brought me right back to my trip in 2015. In a series of probable but unfortunate events, Deiss and Liv end up sharing a room for most of the trip. The trip starts a shift in their friendship and that only intensifies when they arrive home and Liv's life essentially blows up around her and Deiss plays her knight in shining apartment sharer.

I'm more of a Deiss than a Liv. It was fun to watch Liv break out of her self imposed cage of perfection and to watch Diess open up more. This book has plenty of fun tropes, friends to lovers, forced proximity, forbidden love, circle of friends, and I'm sure more I'm missing lol. This is one I want to buy a hardcopy for myself once it is released!

Wow I loved this book. Protagonist Liv lives life by the book, constantly trying to do exactly what she thinks is expected of her. When her life is thrown off course by a series of unexpected events, she is forced to reconsider her priorities. Enter her longtime friend from college Lucas who has always been mysteriously attractive, but very much in the friend zone. The chemistry and dialogue between these two was great. The book sped by for me and I would definitely recommend it was a fun beach read!

From the Jump is a different kind of escapist romance than what I’m used to. Instead of centering around the love story between the main characters, this novel provides an escape from the monotony of life via a glimpse into the world of five unique and quirky college friends. In fact, one could argue that the secondary love plot is cuter than the main characters’ (me, one is me).
The first chapter takes us back to when Liv, Deiss, Simone, Mac, and Phoebe meet on the first day of college. In the 11 years since that day, not much has changed in the group dynamics. However, each of the five have blossomed into wild and fun-loving individuals (all except our main girl, Liv, of course). When Liv miraculously learns the word “no” and says it, multiple times in a row, at her no-nonsense job, she starts saying “yes” as well and heads off to Africa to join her friends on vacation. In a surprisingly non-romantic turn of events, however, this series of whirlwind decisions leaves Liv’s life turned upside down (and not necessarily in the good way). Throughout the novel, Liv navigates her own life while reconnecting with the friends that she’s loved as family for the past 11 years.
Is this a romance? Most certainly. There are some steamy scenes and quite a lot of built-up tension between the main characters. However, by the novel’s end I was satisfied with it not because of the romance, but because of the utter absurdity of the people, situations, and events that occurred throughout. I would definitely recommend this for someone looking for a contemporary novel that’s more on the fluffy, feel-good side.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

loved this book about friends to lovers. I enjoyed her friends and that she took a chance and put herself out there and tried something new and found love. Really loved her friends.

Omg this book was SO good! friends to lovers trope is really becoming my favorite! Liv and Deiss have been friends since college along with their entire group of friends (Mac, Phoebe, and Simone). After finally saying “no,” Liv turns over a new leave & finally joins the group on their annual trip where things between her and Deiss grow and only continue once she’s forced to move in with him when they return to LA. A truly amazing book, great slow burn and overall character development for Liv. 5/5 HIGHLY recommend!!

Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for the ARC!

I loved this book! I was drawn in from the very first chapter and did not want to put it down. I immediately wanted to get to know each character better. The story is written from Liv's perspective, who has been trying her best to live her life according to everything she thinks she "should" do. Surrounded by her best friends, she begins to learn that she doesn't have to be perfect and that maybe she doesn't always have to do what is expected of her. This friends-to-lovers romantic comedy is an easy read and brought a smile to my face!

I really liked this book. It was the perfect beach read. Certain parts were a bit dramatic but overall a great story. It has lots of sweetness and a little heartbreak. Breaking through the friend zone is one of my favorite tropes because authors are able to dive deeper with the characters. This one did just that and I loved it. It is an open door romance but it’s a very small part of the story.

4.5 stars
I really enjoyed Waldon's first book The Layover but I think this one is even better. If you love a slower burn romance, cute banter, a solid friend group and a swoon worthy hero then this book is for you. I found Liv to be very relatable in her lack of ability to say no and her views on how she should look and behave. Liv realizes that her past perceptions and behavior have been holding her back in life and I enjoyed watching her grow as a character. Deiss is the best of both worlds. A bit of a bad boy who maybe isn't that bad after all. I loved the friend group dynamics including Booker, Mia and Elena. I already miss these characters and plan to reread this is in the future.

Thank you to Net Galley for providing me a free ebook in exchange for my honest review. (less)

From the Jump was an engaging read about rethinking your life when it throws you a curveball or two, and the importance of found family. Liv has been friends with Phoebe, Simone, Mac, and Deiss for 11 years, since meeting them in college. They continue to meet up at least once a month and go on annual vacations together, though Liv doesn’t join them due to financial constraints and devotion to her job as a graphic designer. After standing up for herself at a work meeting, she begins to wonder whether work is worth prioritizing over friendship and the opportunity to finally travel and venture outside of California.

I enjoyed reading this and thought the chemistry and tension between the two leads was palpable. However, though the story is told from Liv’s point of view, her thoughts/feelings/motivations were not always clear to me. At times, it was difficult to tell what has kept this group of friends together so long and what they like about each other.

I recommend this to fans of friends-to-lovers romance and stories of found family.

Thank you very much to PENGUIN GROUP Putnam and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I would like to thank Putnam/Penguin and Net Galley for giving me the opportunity to read this book as an ARC. This is the story of Liv, who has always spent her life saying yes. Now, this is different than being open to life, Liv is a person who agrees, who goes along, who follows the rules. Then one day she doesn't and all hell breaks loose. Liv has been friends with Simone, Mac, Phoebe and Lucas Deiss( called Deiss). They are a close knit group, even if the others seem to have more disposable income than Liv. After college, Liv gets a job, works hard, saves and is responsible. Until she decides to change. Liv spontaneously accompanies her friends on a trip to South Africa and tries a life where she is not the responsible one. She also wonders if her long hidden romantic feelings for Deiss should no longer be hidden. Liv returns home, to a life in chaos- something she has tried long and hard to avoid.This is a story of choices, and how our lives are informed and imprinted by our parents choices, and our reactions to them. It is about friendship, both about those we let in and those we keep out. It is about secrets, and pasts choices, and letting people be close, but still keeping a distance. It is a lot , and I am not sure it all gelled together for me. It is one of those books, where I still had questions after I finished. Not in an - "I want a sequel kind of way", but more in a what did this mean way. The characters were not all likeable, in most of them seemed extremely shallow. Elena, the only friend of Liv's ( and I use that term loosely) who is not from college, is, in many ways, a mess.It was an ok book, but I just was not crazy about it. The relationships are muddled and I did not get a strong feeling for any of the characters. Just not my cup of tea.

This was a cute and fun read! I had a hard time getting into it at first, but it definitely grew on me. I love a good friends to lovers trope and I loved the dynamics of the friendships!

Thank you to NetGalley and PGPutnam for the arc!

A will they won't they, opposite attract perfect summer beach read romance. When people say, you don't get to choose your family, but get to choose your friends, it's true. Liv follows the mindset that everything has to be curated and perfect. From reading self help books on relationships, to home decor, and dieting, she doesn't get to figure out how to be herself. When her coworker encourages her to start saying. "no" at work a little more and not be so available, her life starts to spin in a good way. She joins her college friends on a trip to South Africa and doesnt look back. The rest is history.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an early read in exchange for my honest opinion.

I love friends to lovers so much. This was a SLOW burn, it was a little rough, but I was so committed to the story, so that it okay. Liv always does what she thinks she supposed to, until one day she decides that she’s going to start doing the things she actually wants to do. She has the same group of friends she’s had since the first day of college and on the first day of her new life she decides to finally join them on vacation - she’s never gone before bc she’s been too busy with work. That trip changes everything for her. She discovers things about her friends she didn’t know before - she’s kind of the odd one out, even though they are the most important people to her, she still struggles to make time for them. She also learns things about herself. She truly realizes that she has been doing too many things that don’t actually make her happy. I wish there had been more of Diess and Liv. I am always looking for the romance, even when I know that’s NOT the main point of the book. I loved every single second of their parts of the book. They clearly loved each other so much, but since they were so different, they never looked past friendship. They were also not willing to ever risk their entire friend group. That’s what was most important to all of them. I also wished there was more about the whole friend group. We got a look at the past and present, but I was wishing for more. I felt the same way about Lacie Waldon’s first book too - it was so good but I just wanted so much more.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and Putnam Books in exchange for an honest review! It comes out July 19th!

A sweet chick lit story of 5 friends who meet in college and stay close 11 years later. But how well do friends really know about one another when it comes down to their pasts? Even though the immaturity of the characters sometimes grated my nerves, the story was overall very sweet and, as the chick lit genre is, satisfying at the end.

This was absolutely adorable!

Liv, Olivia, Phoebe, Deiss, Mac, & Simone meet their first year of college and continue their friendship into adulthood.
One day, Liv decides she's going to take a chance and meet her friends on their annual trip, this time in Africa. Not only did Liv find herself entangled with Deiss, her work life and living situation changed. She has realized that the perfect life she has been trying to create for herself may not be quite so perfect after all
This was a sweet friends to lovers romance. I enjoyed these characters and their chemistry. This was such a well written book with a fun romance in the center.
I definitely think many romance readers will enjoy this.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read From the Jump before its publication date.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read From the Jump before its publication date. The cover drew me initially and even the synopsis peaked my interest. However I could not get into the story line and once I got halfway through just didn't want to keep reading because it felt like I was forcing myself. I couldn't relate to the characters and the story seemed to skip alot. It could just be not meant to be for me at this time. I'm willing to try it again later down the road.

✨Book Review✨

Book: From the Jump
Author: Lacie Walden
Genre: RomCom

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Liv Bakersfield reads all the books and lives quite literally by the book to keep her life on track. In an attempt to not be like her mother she was taught to do as she was told so she could be become better than her mom. If she looked the part and said yes she could be financially set, have a home, and have someone that loves her. But she just isn’t happy and has none of those things.

She makes to decision finally say no and leaves a dead end job to meet up with her best college best friends in South Africa for vacation. When Liv and (Lucas)Deiss discover they have an ongoing mutual 11 year crush things get so sweet and romantic and also had Liv terrified that their new found relationship would break the dynamic of their friend group. Love blossoms and friendships are tested. I loved how this story was about standing up for what you believe, the value of friendships, love, and loving life. Also the South Africa 🇿🇦 vibes have me wanting to book a safari like now!

I felt like there could have been more details on Livs childhood. Also wanted the friend group to include Liv more and as good of friends as they are they didn’t seem to include her in things just because she lived further away. The character development was great though and I wanted to be at the bar day drinking with them!

This is a perfect vacation read!!

This was an addicting friends-to-lovers, close proximity romCom that had me laughing and smiling all the way through. Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam for the advanced copy for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for an ARC of this read! All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Ohhh Lucas Deiss! I've read a lot of romance novels and this is the man that will stick with me forever - what an absolute dreamboat!

I enjoyed this book very, very much. I thought the characters were diverse, well-represented, and well-constructed. I enjoyed the blossoming of Liv, and I found myself relating to her in a lot of different ways. Sometimes we have to completely break our mold to find out who we really are. Can't recommend this one enough!