Thank you to G.P. Putnam's Sons for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is amazing! Some highlights include international travel, soul searching, friendships spanning a decade, a side romance, and super hot love interests.

From the Jump is about Liv. She has her life in perfect order, until the day she decides to make some changes. With the help of her friends, she finds a new version of happiness.

My favorite part of this book is the balance. I have read a ton of books where the romance overshadows the character development and vice versa. I did not feel that way while reading this. The romance and character growth were incredibly well written. It was done seamlessly, as well.

I am adding a new name to my ever growing list of book boyfriends. There were a couple lines that I had to stop and process for a moment because they were either incredibly steamy or incredibly romantic (my two favorite kinds of lines). Friends to lovers is not my favorite trope but I am now reconsidering it.

I recommend this book for fans of People We Meet on Vacation because both books feature travel, long friendships, and friends-to-lovers. Be sure to pick up your copy of From the Jump when it publishes July 19. I will be front of the line when bookstore doors open. While you wait, check out the Layover, Lacie Waldon's first book.

It's slow getting into but the characters are really well written and I love the adventure that they ended up and I love the chemistry it's really fun to read

This was a sweet, cute read. Being a people pleaser myself I could really relate to Liv and loved seeing her journey and the boundaries she started to make for herself.
Her relationship with Lucas could have had a bit more tension… that hot sweaty kind of tension, but it was nice. I am not usually a fan of friends to lovers but this was a cute one.
Also, some of Liv’s “friends” kind of suck.

Huge thanks to NetGalley & PGPutnam for providing me with an ARC of From The Jump!!

LOVE! LOVE! LOVE!
If you are a fan of the friends to lovers trope From the Jump is for you!!

Liv finally decides to start living life by what she wants instead of trying to be the perfectionist she’s always been. She decides at the last minute to join her group of friends on a trip to Africa & this living life for herself thing seems to be going right until it doesn’t. Things take a turn & go wrong & then right & then wrong, you get the idea.

I absolutely loved the character development in this book by the end I felt like I knew them all personally!
I had a hard time liking Liv in the beginning but she really grew on me as the book progressed. & I LOVE DEISS!! I don’t want to spoil anything just read it!

This books is so. much. fun!!

One of my all time favorite books is People We Meet on Vacation, and I was pleasantly surprised to find many of the same vibes in this book.

Friends to lovers? Check.
Destination vacations? Check.
Laughter galore? Check.

I also really enjoyed Liv's whole friend group. Their banter and dynamics jumped off of the pages. Pure gold.

This was a fun and light read! I like the friendships and the cute romance parts . I really enjoyed this story.

***BOOK REVIEW***
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: From the Jump
Author: Lacie Waldon

From the Jump was entertaining and I loved the bond between the friends.

Liv is an inspiration because sometimes I get so caught up in saying yes as a people pleaser. Maybe saying no could have life changing results sometimes.

The build up between Liv and Deiss was swoon worthy but I wish there was a little more between them.

The ending was everything 😍

From the Jump could have easier been a 5 star but it was just missing something.

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the opportunity to read From the Jump in return for an honest review.

This was such a fun book! I really enjoyed the characters and their stories. Friend group dynamics are always fun to explore. It was a light read and left me with all the warm fuzzies I expect from romance.

I enjoyed the friendship and banter between this group of college mates. The self help guru Liv finally says no and i was excited to see what would happen when she joins her friends in Africa. I was rooting for Deiss and Liv. It just seemed to happen a bit too quickly for my taste. They went from friends to the bedroom and I missed the in between part. The big secret was a bit underwhelming to me but the author played it well in the storyline. There was just a lot going on in this book. The one thing I enjoyed was that it made me laugh. So, I'm giving it a 3.5.

Thanks to the Lacie Waldon and NetGalley for an advanced readers copy of this book for an honest review.

2.5 stars
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Last summer I read The Layover by Laci Waldon and I enjoyed it very much. I was excited to get an ARC of her upcoming release From the Jump, however I was disappointed.
I felt the characters had no chemistry or physical connection/attraction. I didn’t feel the love they supposedly had for each other, I wasn’t happy with how the 11 year friendship turned into romance overnight, it was completely unbelievable. There were no fireworks or explosives, everything felt anticlimactic and bland.
I liked the group of friends and the banter they had.
I wish Deiss had his own POV so we could have gotten to know him better.
Overall it missed the mark for me.

Super fun and heartfelt rom-com. I just fell in love with this book and this group of friends trying to figure out adult life in all it’s complex facets. It took me almost a week to read the last few pages because I did not want it to end. If you’re looking for a group of characters you’d want to be friends with in real life, this is a great investment of time and attention.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book.

Book Review: From the Jump by Lacie Waldon
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️
This review may contain minor spoilers.

From the Jump is a romantic comedy that follows Olivia, a people pleasing yes-woman, as she decides to stop doing what she "should do" and starts what she wants for her life. This book includes friends to lovers, forced proximity, one bed, & fantastic banter.

Liv was easy to connect with & I found her emotions to be very relatable. Didn't love that she was a little too naive to see some obvious things, but that naivety allowed there to be a handy miscommunication trope so I understand why it was included.

*Spoilers* Typically I get annoyed with friends to lovers stories. When one of the characters has been pining over the other for years and years it can feel so one-sided. This relationship however felt much more even. Liv & Deiss both have always been attracted to one another, but they haven't tried to/wanted to date one another prior. The events of the book are what spark their relationship, not one of them secretly pining after the other for their entire friendship.

My main con for this book is that multiple characters' wrong-doings were quickly glossed over or forgotten. One example is that a major secret (that is shared early on in the book) is exposed and everyone is just kind of okay with it. There don't seem to be any repercussions. It may be open to reader interpretation for how the characters dealt with this after the story ends, but I would have liked to see it more on the page.

Overall I loved this story and as soon as I finished I got Lacie's other novel The Layover. This one is enemies to lovers so I have high hopes for it 🥰

I received an eARC from NetGalley & Penguin Group Putnam for my honest review.

This book is ADORABLE. It follows Olivia “Liv” Bakersfield, a prim and proper graphic designer who is slowly getting fed up with her self-help book led life. She has a solid group of friends that she has had since college, but everyone seems to be a lot closer to each other than they are to her. When she decides to join them all on vacation in South Africa, her life goes topsy turvy.

This book is a ton of fun. I think any and every woman alive can relate to Olivia in the most basic of ways; the absolutely unrealistic expectations society places on women. There is a sweet love story in the midst of Liv’s self discovery.

It is the sweetest summer read. If you like a lot of spice, this one is not for you. If you like a fun, sweet love story, check it out when it is released later this summer! Its a great pool side read!

Yes! Yes! Yes!

I devoured this book. I absolutely needed this book in my life.

The bond that these friends have is something to envy. I am so ready to go out of the country with my friends now.

This book was so well written and the story line was perfect!

I love me some Lucas and if I wasn’t married, I would try and steal him.

My favorite character was Liz. I am so happy that she grew into this brand new woman right in front of my eyes. I feel like we are soul sisters in another world.

This book is a definite must read! Thank you much NetGalley for gifting me this fabulous read!

Thank you to Putnam Books for a gifted copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Lacie Waldon is the queen of travel romance! I adored The Layover, and couldn’t wait to get my hands on From The Jump. She just makes me want to jump on a plane as soon as possible! I love to travel, but I haven’t been to Belize (The Layover) or South Africa (From The Jump). Both of these books certainly made me want to move these locations up my list of dream destinations.

Let’s start with this cover. How absolutely gorgeous is this?? I don’t know who Lacie’s cover artist is, but they do an amazing job. When a book is as gorgeous as this, I will absolutely judge it by its cover.

From The Jump featured some of my favorite tropes, including forced proximity and friends-to-lovers. I adore a good friends-to-lovers story, and Liv and Lucas were the perfect characters for the job. Liv’s entire friend group was so relatable. I thought their personalities meshed perfectly, and I could see myself wanting to be part of their crowd. I was so happy when Liv stopped holding back from her friendships.

If you’re looking for some wanderlust, well-developed friendships, and a flirty friends-to-lovers romance, make sure you pick this one up.

thank you to netgalley for this arc! here's my honest review :-)
i LOVED this book! i also got very mad because i saw myself so much in the mc that i felt like the narrative was speaking directly to me. very uncool and also very cool. it's complicated.
if you're looking for a friends to lovers, this is TOP TIER. they're so in love and have been for so long they don't even realize it. their love is so honest and beautiful it almost hurts to look at. the characters felt very real and well written, the friend group was realistic and beautiful.

Review/Summary😍
From the Jump
Author: Lacie Waldon
Genre: Romance
Rate: 9/ 10

Summary: Liv Bakersfield is determined to live her life perfectly as possible which means only doing what she should do rather than what she wants to do but after a conversation with a coworker Liv snaps and decides to be impulse and say what she really thinks which leads to six weeks of leave without pay so she uses that time to join her friends in Africa where her decision to behave impulsive leads to unforeseen consequences regarding her old friend Lucas Deiss and housing arrangements.

Thoughts! This is super cute I completely adored both Deiss and Liv they were super cute together! Deiss was a gem I didn’t think I liked the friends-to-love tripe but it’s quickly becoming a favorite of mine. Live definitely had a life plan but I am glad that she realized it was dumb how and that Deiss knows that her life plan is dumb but lets her figure it out on her own. I also love how they settled the final conflict it could have been much more dramatic but I loved the limited drama of the conflict and that Deiss was an angel and super understanding I also love what would have qualified as a grand gesture and that he didn’t really need one. I also really loved Phoebe and Mac and the whole friend group and that the friend group is growing. Overall this was super cute and I cannot wait to reread it!

Lacie Waldon has done it again in this 5-star book! This is the best rom-com book I have read all year ( and I read many of them, lol). What makes this book stand out is that the book's focus was on Liv and Deiss's story, and there wasn't a ton of side plot. Of course, side characters are beautifully written and add to the banter, but they do not overshadow the story. The only negative comment is that Olivia's past could have been explained a little more initially. But, again, this was not a huge issue for me, as I will be rereading this one until I have memorized the words.

Thank you, NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam, for sending me this ARC in return for an honest review.

Olivia always does what she's supposed to do until one day. Her work friend Elena tells her that its okay to say no. Something clicks inside and she decides to say No. Which ends up getting her in trouble at work and starts some unpaid time off. She decides to join her friends on vacation in South Africa. They've been friends for 11 years. They've nicknamed her the ice queen. On her new journey she starts melting and finds a new happiness.

I could not put this book down. I stayed up late to finish it I enjoyed it immensely. I loved the characters and their friendship.

From the wild, wonderful landscapes of South Africa to the sun-soaked streets of Southern California, From the Jump captivates with its true-to-life friendships, empowering journey of self discovery, and a swoon-worthy romance that left me grinning for days. Lacie Waldon delivers yet another heart-tingling delight!