Liv Bakersfield keeps her life strictly inside the boundaries she creates for herself to feel safe after an uncertain childhood, following the advice of various magazines and gurus. Yet when her job, where she is overworked and underpaid, is about to make her miss a trip with her friends to South Africa, she decides to take a chance. She quits her job and gets a last-minute flight to join her friends, the one solid thing in her life. There, she learns to loosen up while trying to contain her crush on the emotionally unavailable Lucas Deiss. When she returns home, Liv discovers that she literally has nothing – everything has been stoled from her flat; her bank account is empty, and her cat is missing. Deiss welcomes Liv into his home while she gets back on her feet, and Liv takes the time to figure out what she’s willing to go for in life.

I loved this romcom! Friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes, so I couldn’t resist requesting this book. I loved that their friend group remained close even after college, even if I questioned why they were friends with Simone. I recommend checking this book out when you want a heartwarming read and/or a chance to “travel” to South Africa by book.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book.

This was a fun and steamy read. The tension and banter were great. This is one of those where all of the major characters look like models (one of them actually is 😂) and it’s mentioned quite a few times how beautiful they are. Even so, this was a fast and enjoyable read!

Gahhhh I loved this book. My first by Lacie Waldon & definitely going to read all of her books now. Love the characters & the storyline. I listened to the audio and really enjoyed the narration.

A delightful read with a great cast of characters. The friendships really stole the show in From the Jump! I loved the traveling aspects in this book and loved experiencing South Africa through the writing. This was probably the strongest element of the book.

Liv Bakersfield is used to living her life in “shoulds.” Be fit. Be financially responsible. Be your best self. An overworked graphic designer, she’s stretched so thin that she’s about to miss yet another vacation with her beloved group of college friends. But when Liv finally decides to start saying no, it feels good…good enough to leap straight into quitting her job and hopping on a plane to join them in South Africa.

Amid the exotic landscape and unforgettable sights, Liv expects sun and safari animals and an easy time with her best friends. But such close proximity makes everything more complicated, especially with the emotionally unavailable Lucas Deiss. Their friendship is the only thing in her life that's still solid, and she vows to do anything she can to keep the group together. But once they get back to LA, Liv discovers that her leap of faith has become a freefall, sending her crashing into Deiss's arms. With the trust of the people she loves most on the line, Liv must decide between doing what she should … and risking everything for what she shouldn’t want.

From The Jump
By LaCie Waldron
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Perfect summer read!
If you love
•friends to lovers
•sweet romance
•funny
• and main characters doing things out of their comfort zone.
Then this book is for you! Highly recommend it was such a great read!

Thank you NetGalley and Putnam Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I haven’t yet read The Layover, but after finishing this, I’m really looking forward to picking it up.

Waldon writes a GREAT one-bed, friends-to-lovers trope!! The “miscommunication” trope is one I really dislike, but Waldon writes hers differently. I was able to more easily understand why there was miscommunication and confusion rather than my normal frustration at the obvious.

The build, up between the two main characters is intense. Their attraction is definitely full of sparks! When the air is finally cleared of the confusion …. 🥵

Obviously, the cover is gorgeous! I love how it looks with The Layover. BUT, I don’t like how it doesn’t have anything to do with the story. I wish it had an African safari themed cover with elephants instead. IYKYK

For some reason I had trouble keeping the female characters, Phoebe and Simone, separate in my head. Honestly, I didn’t really like either one of them, and I really disliked the jealousy that seemed to suddenly spring up from two girls that were meant to be longstanding friends.

I was happy with the pace of the book up until the end. After such a strong buildup, it felt rushed, leaving me with a bit of an incomplete feeling.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more from this author.

This book was everything I wanted it to be. It had me turned pages without even realizing. It was so good!

All the stars for this fun rom-com that somehow manages to both hit all the feels and be incredibly fun while doing so.
Liv has spent her life toeing the line and doing whatever it takes to appear perfect and in control when the words of one of her oldest friends push her to say no to a boring project at work and head off last minute to Africa to join her friends for a week of fun. She returns to find her life in shambles and everything she's worked for falling apart around her, but it just might be exactly what she needed.
First of all, it's great to see such a close group of friends still being there for each other. That's one element of the story that helped me love this book. It's not perfect and they all make mistakes over the course of the story, but I loved the idea of such a tight-knit group of friends staying together for so long.
And then there is, of course, the wonderful friends-to-lovers story of Liv and Deiss as they both slowly (and charmingly) accept the fact that they want to be more than friends. It's incredibly sweet and perfectly romantic.
I highly recommend this one for anyone looking for fun characters, crazy happenings, and delightful relationships to go with their rom-com.

Very happy thanks to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for the delighful read!

Short synopsis: Liv lives her life by the rules, but after one night of over indulging in alcohol she learns she can say no. She books a flight with her besties of 11 years to go to Africa and ends up spending a lot of time with Deiss, one of her hunky long time friends.

My thoughts: This was a cute lighthearted romance with some friends to lovers, Forced proximity, and grumpy cats. I love strong friendships, and really wish I could join in on the 3rd Thursday of the month traditions.

Liv was a cautious character, but I really enjoyed watching her grow and blossom to her full potential. I think Elena was a great friend to help her push through some childhood insecurities.

I wish we’d have gotten more time in Africa, the setting sounded amazing and I just wanted a little more. I’d also have loved to have gotten more from the famous friends trips Liv always passed on.

The romance was cute, and the ending was just the best. I’d like to see a spin-off of Simone to see where she ends up. Over all, great summer romance read.

Read if you love:
* Forced proximity and friends to lovers
* Grumpy cats with punny names
* Traveling the world
* Character growth

Thank you Putnam and PRH Audio for the complimentary books in exchange for a honest review.

Slow burn friends to lover with a high strung woman in the lead. This was cute probably 3.5 stars. Nothing amazing but a cute beach read. I liked the friendships and a woman discovering how to open herself up.

This was an easy, lighthearted quick read. It took me a little bit to get into it but flew through it after that. This was a fun summer friends to lovers romance. I enjoyed Lacie’s first book The Layover and this one did not disappoint either. I enjoyed Liv’s journey of self-acceptance and seeing her relationship with Deiss evolve. Overall, this was a 4.25 for me!

This book was SO CUTE! I loved Liv and totally felt the whole yes girl part. I can't complain about the setting either. This was the perfect summer read.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

All this book was super cute!
5 friends who have a pact to see each other once a month and go on vacation. When liv decided to stop following rules and goes for it, she joins her friends in South Africa and her world begins to change however with a couple set backs she doesn’t know if she did the right things and worries maybe all the rules mean something.

This book made me want to live and go for life

From the Jump is the sophomore novel by Lacie Waldon. Full of found friends, friends-to-lovers romance and self-discovery, this was such a fun read!

I loved the relationship that Deiss and Liv built and couldn’t help rooting for them. Liv also stole my heart as she starts to come into her own, learns how to set boundaries, and starts living the life she wants!

I also love a story about found friendships and the group of friends in this story are great and reminds me of some of my college friendships🙂.

With witty dialogue, a fast paced storyline and multidimensional characters, I would definitely recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for an e-galley of From the Jump.

Lacie Waldon captures my attention from the first page. I loved The Layover, and Waldon did not disappoint with From the Jump.

This was a comedy of errors from start to finish. Liv has a plan. - a plan that, once executed, will let her live her life to the fullest. However, when everything goes off rails, Liv decides to join her friends on their annual vacation. But as the errors continue racking up, Liv wonders if saying no and making spur of the moment decisions was for the best. However, her friend Lucas becomes a failsafe for Liv as she tries to get her life back on her track.

I loved this book so much!! I loved Lacie’s debut The Layover last year and I think I love this one even more! It’s a friends to lovers romance between two members of a long-standing five-member friend group, and I loved the friendships just as much as the romance. The main character is going through a lot of life changes realizing doing what she’s “supposed to do” isn’t making her happy or fulfilled and I loved going on that journey with her! Highly recommend!

In From the Jump we get to witness Liv grow from a work and success focused woman to discovering what in life will really make her happy. Throughout the non-linear timeline we get to glimpse Liv's childhood with a narcissistic mother who could not be relied upon to provide Liv with what she needed, to a college student where she finds a group of four friends that become her new family to adulthood and work-life.

After college, Liv is leading what she feels is a successful life. When life throws her a curveball she decides to break from her normal and meet her college friends on their annual vacation that she typically is too busy working to attend. On the trip Liv explores how growing up has challenged the once idyllic group and also she allows herself to let down her guard and explore her romantic feelings towards Lucas Deiss.

I really enjoyed the storyline, seeing how the group weathers the conflicts that arise and especially liked watching the relationship between Liv and Deiss progress.

I enjoyed Lacie Waldon's debut book and I was excited to give From the Jump a try! I was especially intrigued by the setting in South Africa. Overall, the story was okay and I enjoy Lacie Waldon's writing style. But there were some things about this book I wasn't a fan of. Though I'm not sure I can really place my finger on what those things are. That being said, I'm excited to see what she writes next and I'll definitely give it a chance!

Thank you so much @PutnamBooks & @NetGalley for giving me this eARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (Release Date | 19 July 2022)

SYNOPSIS | Liv met her five best friends at college and each year the group takes an exotic vacation together... except for Liv. She didn't grow up in the same affluent lifestyle as them so she often feels that she isn't worthy of being included or financially stable enough to go. This year she decides to throw caution to the wind & joins them in South Africa.

WHAT I LIKED:
- the focus on the friendship group & found family trope
- big fan of the will they / won't they friends-to-lovers vibe

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
- Liv was the least interesting out of the friendship group yet she is the main character
- the story just didn't hit me in the feels like I wanted it too
- the ending felt really rushed & unsatisfying
- the actual trip to South Africa was such a tiny portion of the book (& there wasn't really any flashbacks to their other yearly vacations)

Thank you NetGalley and Putnam books for the gifted copy in exchange for my review!

If I’m going to be honest, for me when I was initially read this book I was very much uninterested in the story. But it was close to the release date so I listened to it on audiobook. It made the story much more enjoyable for me. I feel like the storyline was good but the beginning was so rushed around and then boom she’s been robbed and all of this happens before the half way point of the book. Then the last half of the book was very slow. I feel like the beginning and the trip to Africa was just a complete disaster and I could have predicted it was all going to go back from the second she decided to book a last minute trip.

I really do wish Liv and Diess had more chemistry. I felt that they were cute but they felt way more like friends just trying too hard to find chemistry.

The characters were enjoyable and their relationships were supportive! That was a redeeming quality to the book. However I didn’t like Simone’s character. She came off very entitled and snobby. Phoebe and Macs relationship was so toxic to me. The relationship to friendship and back and forth is so not good for people mentally.

I think I liked this book overall but I don’t think that I will be reading this again.