Such a cute book!

This book is about a group of friends who all take fun trips together! I will not lie, I was not fond of some of the characters, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was all about stepping out of your comfort zones and learning about yourself. It was a good rom-com read, and I recommend it!

Friends to Lovers, but add in a hefty dose of Found Family, Forced Proximity, stepping outside of your comfort zone, and salllloooooooowwwww burn. Like, nothing until 70% slow (and then it's closed freakin' door). There was maybe a little too much going on in this group between trips around the world, secret pasts, why is anyone still friends with this girl, financial instability, side character drama, and a pact between friends not to hook up with each other among other things. So be warned, this is not a spicy book, but it is sweet, swoony, and full of chemistry. If you love Friends to Lovers, this is absolutely your book. And even if you generally don't (*raises hand*), you'll probably still find lots to enjoy in this very well-written romp!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It was my first intro into Waldon's repertoire but upon finishing, I immediately Googled what else I could read (and found The Layover!). Liv was relatable and was dealing with the harsh realities of life, and I was rooting for her upon first meeting. It was fun to see how her romance with Deiss but I even more so liked the emphasis on friendship. Would definitely recommend it!

From the Jump
by Lacie Waldon
Pub Date: 19 Jul 2022
4.5/5 Stars

A group of friends who stay close for 11 years without knowing each other’s secrets and a friends-to-lovers slow burn trope. I didn’t know much about this book before I received it. It pulled me in from the beginning and I was invested throughout. Couldn’t wait to finish but was sad when it ended. Loved the characters and loved the book!

Thanks to NetGalley and the Penguin Group Putnam for this entertaining ARC of From the Jump.

After reading the Layover by Lucie Waldon last year, I was very excited to read her new book!

If you are looking for a fun read that covers group friendship dynamics, friends to lovers romance, figuring out what you want to do with your life, and realizing life is too short to follow all the rules-- then From the Jump is for you!

Olivia, a graphic designer and perpetual yes girl, quits her job when she realizes not only is she unhappy but she hasn’t been living her life. She’s part of a friend group of 5 who have been tight-knit since freshman year of college and meet up monthly for their group hangout. At their most recent get together, everyone, with the exception of Olivia, is excited for their upcoming vacation to South Africa. Olivia never joins the group on vacation because, in order to remain financially responsible like she is "supposed to," she can't attend these trips.

When she realizes she’s been missing out on quite literally everything, she decides to quit her job and meet up with her friends on vacation. She arrives on vacation feeling like a new woman! What Olivia didn't realize is this trip would change everything! Specifically, her friendship with Lucas Deiss. He is the guy in the friend group who is know as the charming guy who isn't capable of settling down. But after a few moments alone on the trip, Deiss and Olivia are able to open up to each other in ways they never had before. Olivia fears if anything happens between her and Deiss, they may ruin the dynamic of the group, so she vows they she will never pursue anything with him. But due to a few unforeseen circumstances, Olivia ends up crashing at Deiss' place when they return home from their trip and she'll be staying there for the forseeable future.

I loved seeing how Olivia's character developed throughout the story. I feel many can relate to her in that we get caught up on doing what we're "supposed to do" rather than enjoying life. When she gets back from her trip, she decides she wants to do things that make her happy and take on career opportunities that make her feel creative. She really came into her own and I loved seeing that! She also works towards rekindling her friendship with the group after she realized she's distanced herself from them. Olivia realized how much she missed her friends and how much she's missed out on in the past 7ish years.

AND of course I liked seeing her friendship with Deiss develop into more. Deiss is AMAZING. He was never really swoony or over the top but I felt he was a great friend and supported Olivia which is what matter's the most. He always saw the real her and loved her despite her past.

I really enjoyed this book and it genuinely made me laugh out loud while I was reading it. Very fun and wholesome read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Olivia is a type A workaholic who has to rethink her life and values suddenly. Able to reunite with the friend group she hasn’t had time for the last few years, she finds a chance at love and a life that isn’t quite so planned out. This is a great light read about taking life into your own plans. Some of the plot points came off as a bit too ridiculous for me, but overall I enjoyed this one.

Hmm…
Pros: -the execution takes place in dreamy South Africa

-We’re witnessing the self growing of a woman who realizes she’s holding herself back by pleasing people, learning to say “no” and discovering new things for her life including the man she’s been yearning for 11 years!

-Slow burn romance, sweet banters between Deiss ( Lucas is his first name but Deiss suits him more) and Liv were extra sweet- heartwarming

Cons: dear Liv should differentiate between acquaintances and real friends because the friends she mentions as her family know nothing about her life and her true self. They don’t even care to arrange more affordable trips for years so she can easily join them. I wish the author develop more intense bond between those girls with back stories.

-At some parts I found Liv a little clueless, naive.

Overall: I mostly enjoyed this quick read but I found the relationship parts underdeveloped. It was still fun to have a visual trip to South Africa!
I loved the author’s previous book “Layover” and I’m still looking forward to read her future books as well.

Special thanks to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam/ G. P. Putnam’s Sons for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

via @netgalley @putman granted me an ARC of @lacywaldons book due out this summer #fromthejump and oh my stars am I loving it!. It's a friends to lovers trope, which is one i usually struggle with because it usually evolves people who struggle to communicate, but not Liv & Deiss. This book is full of heart, a solid friend group and a bonus romance. Plus you get the story of Liv letting go of who she thinks she's supposed to be for someone she wants to be.

This is such a frustrating book. Parts of it are really great: growing up poor and unsettled, Liv clings to order and rules., even when that means she skips her college friend’s annual vacation. Only she’s had enough, finally, and decides to step off the treadmill that is her life. Chaos and disaster and love ensue.
Liv’s life after the unsettling is interesting, and we get to see her good at her job. She and the love interest have an easy energy between them. Walton’s writing is sharp; you can feel Liv’s pain and joy.
And yet. And yet! So many weird things kept piercing my suspension of disbelief. These are her four closest friends. She calls them family. And yet she only sees them once a month even though three of them get together frequently. They go on these elaborate vacations every year and she won’t go because she can’t afford it. I’m sure she’d turn it down if one of her friends offered to pay, but why aren’t they planning things that she can afford, like weekend trips? Three of them don’t even know she has a cat, and I get LA traffic is terrible but only one has come to her apartment and that was only once. She’s not actually that close with them, and yet the book wants you to believe that they are chosen family. Also, the prologue is set freshman year of university and then we skip forward eleven years. But we needed more glimpses of the friendship dynamic throughout that time to sell it.
And then there’s extremely frustrating characterizations. Phoebe, her best friend is Black. We know this because her “dark skin” is mentioned twice and there are four references to her Afro. But there’s never a sense of her as a fully realized Black woman. We know Simone is Asian because she has almond eyes and her last name is Zhang. But again, it feels like artificial attempts at diversity instead of reckoning with them as real characters. Liv goes and has tea with her mother once a month. Her mom dated the wrong guys and got taken advantage of. They had to live in a car for part of Liv’s time in high school. Yet the mom is reduced to caricature, this helpless woman who makes up lies. Liv never really grapples with that. Liv’s apartment is robbed and she’s penniless, but there’s no way she wouldn’t have renters insurance. There’s also a dangling plot thread of missing money (does Liv’s bank ever refund her accounts?) and there’s no way that Liv would ever overlook a missing sum of what is enough for a down payment on an LA apartment. Even if she’s loosened up by the end, that’s still a large sum of money that she’s missing.
There are threads of a good story here. I like Liv and I like seeing her shake up her life and fall in love with a good friend (even if it’s all “tell don’t show” about the eleven years he silently loved her first). But it needed major editing and reconfiguring to fill in the plot holes and flat characters. I’d love to read the next draft.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Well that was a fun read. This is the author's sophomore novel (I loved her first, The Layover) and is about a group of friends that meet in college and stick together as friends into their early 20s. It has "Friends" show vibes, but set in California. The group vacations together every year, minus Liv because she is just too serious and "on the right track" to head all over the world with her friends Phoebe, Mac, Simone and Deiss.

In one moment, she decides to exercise her right to say no, unfortunately, it's to her boss during a staff meeting, so she finds herself with an extended amount of time off. So, she throws caution to the wind and flies to catch up with her friends in South Africa a day after they've left.

Once there, she ends up sharing a hotel room with Deiss, and things seem to escalate. Except, Phoebe has made them all swear not to engage in romantic gestures with each other as she doesn't want to wreck the group. The fivesome barely survived Phoebe and Mac's breakup after a seven year romance.

I loved the author's character development and the way we got to see the backstory of Liv and why she works so hard, as well as her journey to grow her creative side and pursue the possibility of love.

This was a really cute, swoon worthy read that had me smiling and laughing throughout the book. Lacie has such a knack for creating the perfect book boyfriend and I’m ready to protect Lucas at all cost.

I know as a romcom, I should really focus on the love, but it should be worth noting the fomo I have for the friend group.

My only wish would have been for just a tad more backbone from Liv. I wish she would have stood up for herself more with Simone and Zoe.


*Thank you to Putnam and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review*

I have to start this review saying I put this book off for a while. I was given this book by NetGalley for my honest review. I couldn’t convince myself for weeks to pick it up.

Finally after being in a book slump I started reading without remembering what this book is about. Once I started reading I realized why I put it off. It’s because it was too close to home. Perfectionism in a sense has been my middle name my entire life. I was scared of what I would see in myself by reading this book. I’m a millennial would matches so many of her characteristics and it’s a little scary.

I’m so glad that I took the dive in today. I read it in one sitting. I truly did connect with Liv. The craziness that happened to her in this book was astonishing, but I loved how each of those things caused her to change and grow. It was wonderful to read.

There was only one part of the book I struggled with… Simone was forgiven way too easily. That level of betrayal. Plus I generally just don’t like her so that could be impacting my opinion lol!

Overall I highly recommend reading this book!

I too am someone who “shoulds” all over myself so it was easy to relate to the main character. I’m happy I read this during particularly chilly weather as it made me imagine warm weather! This was a great read and would be something book clubs would love!
Thank you to Netgalley and Putnam for this arc ebook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is the perfect book for winter, when we're dreaming of all the warmth and sunshine of summer. Liv is stuck in a soulless corporate job when all she really wants is to design anything BUT graphics for health food. The book really gets started when she quits her job and jetsets off to South Africa. The vibes are IMMACULATE. I loved seeing the inner workings of their friendship group's dynamics, and especially the friends to lovers romance of Liv and Deiss. Give me the sex panther that is Lucas Deiss any day! The plot gets crazy at times, but I'm up for anything as long as it leads to a happily ever after. But dang, Lacie Waldon gives me wanderlust in a book every single time and I love her for it.

*Thank you to Putnam and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review*

I loved this book so much. The friendship of the 5 characters is what so many people strive to have. The locations were so fun and the tension was just right.

What a sweet, self-discovery and romance book wrapped in one. I related to Liv so much, always trying to live life by the rules and do things a certain because it's what expected of her. I loved the friendship between the group of friends and their South Africa trip! I also loved Diess and Liv's evolving relationship from friends to lovers, because you got to know the history of their friendship and the trust they built over the course of the story. I would definitely recommend for a short and sweet summer read!

This was a super fun friends to lovers romance! We will definitely be carrying this in the store and hand-selling it to customers! This is a perfect beach read for summer! I really enjoyed the South African location for the friends trip!

I read this book having no prior knowledge of this author or her work. That said, I will read everything she writes moving forward. This book was such a pleasant ride. It consisted of so many of the tropes I love-Forced proximity, secret pining, friends to lovers and more. The characters were loveable. The story was well crafted, realistic and genuine. It kept me engaged from beginning to end. I didn’t want to finish! Highly recommend. 5 stars!

I really enjoyed this book! The author is great at creating a slow burn. My only complaint is the ending felt a bit rushed.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc. The cover is what brought me in :) This book was so good !! I honestly enjoyed this book. As women were told to do certain things a certain way. This story has friendship, and romance all while Liz discovers who she truly is. I related to her so much. And this book has some spice ! Which surprised me, but I don’t mind it 😜