How can a book that is packaged in such a cute, romantic way in truth be a story that will rip my heart out and put it back together again with a little kiss on the forehead?
The Ex Vows was one of the greatest love stories I've ever read in so many ways. Georgia and Eli know each other in ways that not many people will ever know: as children, as each other's first loves, as exes, and as secret lovers. The journey we go on with these characters is one I will carry with me forever and I can't wait to share a story so close to my heart with others.
I also hope people can learn and resonate with Georgia and Eli's personal struggles they overcome throughout the book. I think Jessica did an excellent job of highlighting how childhood traumas can impact romantic relationships as well as encouragement to overcome those thoughts. I also appreciated her handling of anxiety and panic attacks through Eli's character.
This book was beautifully human and I fell in love with every single character that was introduced in the story. Every character felt real and that I could go drive down to Napa and hang out at Blue Yonder with them.
One of the best romances, and books, I have ever read!

I really enjoyed this book, however, fear I have an unpopular opinion in that I didn’t absolutely love it.

What I enjoyed: the setting, the friendship, and Eli as a character.

What I didn’t love: with the single POV and constant inner monologue the book felt very slow and I found myself getting bored.

This was completely lovely, I inhaled it, how long do I need to wait for another Jessica Joyce book?

I thoroughly enjoyed this second chance romance. Eli and Georgia were a great couple, and Eli just seemed dreamy. The first half or so was a little slow, but the last quarter of the book was so good!!!!! I loved the meaning behind all the paper rings. Great read!!

*Thank you partner @berkleyromance and @prhaudio for the #gifted e-galley and audiobook in exchange for an honest review.*

The Ex Vows is a second chance romance. Georgia and Eli met at 15, became friends then best friends then dated in college and moved in together. Until they broke up, 5 years ago and since then they’ve faked being friendly whenever they had to meet again for their common friends’ benefit. But they aren’t friendly, and Georgia has a to do list of how to behave and what to do and not do in his presence because it’s intoxicating, and she’s shoved the feelings down for 5 years and plans on keeping it just that way. Until it’s their best friend’s wedding and things are not going as planned and the two of them are suddenly in charge of fixing things. Together.

From very early in the book, I just knew Georgia and Eli were going to give me all the feelings. There is a lot of confusion, and hope, and fear. It was very clear that they were the right person for each other and they just needed to find themselves again at the right time. The love Georgia has for him is overwhelming her but you can also feel how hurt she has been and she still is, and how afraid she is of letting herself fall and getting hurt again. But at the same time, Eli is carefully trying all along to make things right and you know he desperately loves her just as much.

Thank you to @prhaudio for the gifted copy! Thank you to @berkleypub for the eARC!

I was giddy to read The Ex Vows after loving You, With A View. I had no idea that this would blow my expectations out of the water though. This is one of the best romance’s I’ve read this year. Filled with deep emotion, two characters whose connection is palpable and will have you rooting for them from the start, The Ex Vows is an insanely good second chance romance.

Georgia and Eli were clearly made for each other and playing out their emotional journey to find themselves and their way back to each other was stunning. I absolutely adored this! I laughed, I teared up, I wanted this book to never end. Please do yourself a favor and read this immediately!

2 Stars
It was so hard for me to get in to this - I just found myself bored by these characters and this story and the pace felt really slow to me. Maybe I’ll try to revisit this again in the future.

Thank NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC!

One thing Jessica Joyce is gonna do is write an amazing book and that’s exactly what this was. I had high expectations after You With a View (which I adored) and they were blown out of the water with this book!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Jessica for an ARC of this amazing, perfect book. I appreciate it so much!

This second chance romance was absolutely everything a second chance romance needs to be. Eli and Georgia.. oh god. Chefs kiss. Their chemistry and history had me so weak and in a puddle. I loved the story line of them having to plan their mutual best friends wedding together after being ex’s of 5 years. This story brought all the sexual tension and spice 😮‍💨

The way that Eli loves Georgia.. oh my god. Just oh my god. Jessica Joyce - you know how to write the perfect romance novel. Please never stop!

5 STARS! DARE I SAW INFINITY STARS???

As a self proclaimed second chance hater, I can with 100% certainty say this is my FAVORITE second chance book that I’ve ever read.

I knew as soon as I started this book that I was going to love it. The writing, and the characters, specifically Georgia, i immediately vibed with and from then I was HOOKED

Jessica’s writing really just did it for me. I loved the way she wrote, with subtle hints to what happened in their past, vs. their current situation. Instead of getting full on “past” and “present” chapters.

I cried multiple times throughout this book, georgias struggles were SO valid and relatable to me. As someone that also struggles with saying how I feel, I was so proud of her by the end, and I just wanted to hug her and tell her to tell her friends she loves them!!! Her character growth was everything to me.

AND ELI!!! It’s a talent to write a single POV book and have me FERAL for the man. He was down bad STILL after 5 years. We love to see it. And his character growth as well was EVERYTHING TO MEEE.

This book is for the girls that feel like everyone’s moving on to different eras in their life without them. For the girls that feel like they aren’t enough sometimes. Who feel like they have to be perfect to be wanted.

consider me a Jessica Joyce fan page from now on!!

Estranged exes must stick close together to save their best friend’s wedding after a string of disasters in this swoony and steamy second-chance romance from the USA Today bestselling author of You, with a View.
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I just started this one and love books set in Napa Valley. Ugh my autocorrect always types Balls when I try to swipe write Napa. Lol well I grew up there and wasted my 20s at their bars and downtown so that makes sense.

This book is set in Rutherford and I love that little town between Yountville and St Helena. Love books about weddings and everything that can go wrong when the groom wants his two besties who are now exes to help him plan.

This book is utter perfection.

You, With a View was one of my favourite romances from last year and I’m happy to say the author’s newest release will be on my top reads of the year list too.

I love the tension that comes with a second chance romance and this one was on an entirely different level. There’s so much pain, confusion and yearning between Eli and Georgia. I also loved that this trope was used with only one timeline - unique for a second chance romance and it told the history well.

The writing is so full of emotion and heart. I could honestly feel every sentence deep in my bones.

Other things I’m obsessed with: the friend group (I want to be friends with them all!!), the wedding planning, the curse, the setting, the memory flashbacks, the tension and steam, the paper rings and every single genius word that Jessica Joyce writes with such passion and perfection.

Can you tell I’m beyond obsessed with this one?? 5⭐️ (doesn’t feel like enough….)

This was pure magic! Jessica Joyce is quickly jumping to the top of my auto-buy author list. Full disclosure: I am not a fan of second chance romances. There have been very few that I've actually enjoyed. However, I will literally read anything Jessica Joyce puts out there. With this one, she has, dare I say, almost turned me into a fan of the second chance trope, which I did not think was possible! From the first page, her writing draws you in and makes you feel like you are coming home. It's almost nostalgic and cozy. I laughed, cried and everything in between. It was a beautiful, angsty love story, where you genuinely feel like these two people were made for each other and just need to get out of their own ways. I cannot recommend this one enough!

Childhood friends to lovers and the "it's always been you" tropes are two of my very favorites, so I couldn't wait to get my hands on this one. Overall, I really enjoyed The Ex Vows, but the second chance romance didn't flow smoothly for me and I'm never a fan of the miscommunication/lack of communication tropes. The comedy of errors surrounding Adam and Grace's wedding felt over the top and it made the forced proximity trope feel too heavy handed between Eli and Georgia. I think I needed some chapters in the past or from Eli's POV to really feel the lasting connection between these two. Jessica Joyce makes readers work for the reunion and boy did she deliver. It really is always the quiet ones! ;) I also adored the friend group and the found family was wonderful (Cole lol). The ending was very sweet, but I also felt it was drawn out. I understand both Eli and Georgia needed to stand on their own, but the last 15%-ish felt like it took forever to get through to finally get to the HEA.

I mainly listened to the audiobook and have enjoyed Kyla Garcia's performances in the past, but this time her performance felt a little flat. There wasn't a lot of variation in her voices and so I did get a little confused about who was speaking in the larger group scenes. I also had a hard time differentiating between what was actually being spoken by a character and what was an internal thought.

Audiobook Review
Overall 4 stars
Performance 3.5-4 stars
Story 3.5-4 stars

CW: parental abandonment (past), financial concerns, anxiety, panic attacks

*I voluntarily read and listened to a review copy of this book*

Wow. Jessica Joyce, you sneaky sneaky lady. This one really got me. I’m going to be insufferable forcing this down everyone’s throats for the foreseeable future. had me crying at every turn. i LOVED this. felt it in my bones. thank you for giving us Georgia and Eli. I feel better for it.

Listen. I was all up in my feels and my heart was aching for these fictional characters throughout the ENTIRE book! This was an incredibly beautiful story that made me feel the same way Emily Henry’s books do. There are strong themes of friendship, working through childhood traumas of abandonment and financial insecurity, and learning to advocate for your own needs. It has the perfect balance of flashbacks to understand how Georgia and Eli’s relationship fell apart, mixed with the present to see that their chemistry was still there. A man asking for communication after what he has learned in therapy? Say less. Also, I love that this takes place over time. Things aren’t magically fixed just because they spent one week together. And the paper rings 🫠 🫠🫠🫠 If you’re looking for a swoony book, THIS IS IT! If you loved Happy Place by Emily Henry, pick this up IMMEDIATELY! If you hated Happy Place, I encourage you still give this a try!! I will absolutely be snagging a physical copy!

Sexy second chance swoon!! I’d like to give a shout out to Taylor Swift’s song Paper Rings which obvs played a big role in the making of this novel.

The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce is the surprise hit of the summer! I loved everything about this second-chance romance—from the characters, their emotional struggles, and their past relationship history, to the cursed wedding they are trying to save.

Georgia and Eli have been friends since they were teenagers, eventually falling in love and moving in together. Once they start their new life together, however, things fall apart quickly. Neither Georgia nor Eli has gotten closure on their failed relationship, which has left them feeling stuck.

Five years later, they are forced back together to help save the wedding of their mutual friend, Adam, and his long-time girlfriend. Fate seems to have other plans and there is one wedding-threatening disaster after another.

After a rough start, the wedding details finally come together, and the old flames can’t fight their rekindled attraction any longer. Unhealed wounds from the past remain on the surface, though, so the reunion is bittersweet—and temporary.

Jessica Joyce perfectly captures both the emotions and the chemistry of the characters on every page and tells their story in a way that feels like a punch to the chest each time something new is revealed. Her writing is beautiful and heartfelt, but she also gives us excellent banter and comic relief to break up the heaviness.

Eli, Georgia, and Adam have so much history, and I loved how they supported one another, even when it hurt. Eli’s sweetness and Georgia’s protectiveness truly shine through the pages.

The side characters are perfectly sprinkled throughout the story to add depth, while also doling out sage advice and a much-needed sounding board when needed. There is so much growth shown with all the characters, you can’t help but root for them.

This is my second book by Jessica Joyce—I also loved You with a View—and I think The Ex Vows firmly cemented her place on my auto-read author list. Grab this one for a beach vacation—or anytime, really. You won’t regret it!

Jessica Joyce has become one of my favorite writers. I love second chance romance and this book is exactly why! The FEELS! The ANGST! The yearning and longing! I’m obsessed

I also love how she writes about Georgia feeling as if she’s on the outside of her friend group as they get married and have children. She encapsulated the emotion that comes with that so well!

This book is perfect and I’ll be thinking about it forever

This book was a 4 star read for me up until the very end when something I did not see coming happened to be the sweetest romantic gesture I have ever experienced in a book happened. My hopeless romantic heart loved every bit of this book. Infinity stars!

Once again Jessica Joyce has absolutely blown me away, solidifying her spot as an auto-buy author. (My husband and our budget are both *thrilled* by this development.)

You can always google the summary, but the TL; DR plot is this: Georgia and Eli are exes that share a best friend, and they come together to make Adam’s wedding a success—a wedding which feels cursed, so many things have gone wrong. They only have a few days to fix everything, which requires them to work together, which requires them to actually talk, and old feelings (which never quite died) are revived and given new life.

The audiobook of The Ex Vows was absolutely FANTASTIC. Kyla Garcia is a wonderful narrator, bringing both Georgia and Eli to life. It’s a talented narrator, indeed, who can voice both male and female characters with such skillful aplomb. You know a book is good when you keep finding more chores to do just so you can keep listening. 10/10. No notes. One of the best romances I’ve read this summer. (Did I mention it also champions therapy and taking care of your mental health?! Super magic bonus points!

10/10. No notes. I adored it.