First off I was blessed to receive this ARC from NetGalley and I’m choosing to review. Where do I even start. I could say how much I loved this book but that would be a gross understatement! I could probably name 213 things I loved about this book & characters (wink, wink)

There is so much real emotion and heart in this one. You could sense the heartache and the chemistry between Eli & Georgia.

I really love a friends to lovers trope but when it’s second chance too…..apparently I’m a goner.

When they gave in to their attraction and things got spicy…..yum. It was beautiful but not over the top!

I’m sorry Georgia but I’m in love with Eli too! Gah he’s just such a beautiful character. Especially as he grows and matures.

I could say so much but I don’t want to spoil anything. I just will say go read this book. It’s a top shelf romance with enough heart to make the coldest heart swoon! I will be buying this treasure on its release day!

Life isn’t perfect. It’s messy, full of highs and lows. This book is messy. Seriously, could anything else have gone wrong? What held things together, no matter what, were the bonds between friends. No, more than friends, found family.

Jessica Joyce has done it again - written a story that is perfect parts, tender, romantic, fraught with tension and with the biggest payoff.

I’m not a huge fan of second chance romance, but please trust the author with this trope. She writes is masterfully and with so much crackling energy.

Cannot wait for her next book!!

i loved this book! the representation of mental health matters was done so well and i think this was the epitome of how ALL friends to lovers to strangers to lovers should be. this literally couldn’t have been better!! my only feedback is there was a lot of repetition in how Georgia’s thoughts were about Eli and i felt like the ending was a convo they’ve had many times

After sobbing my way through You, With a View, I pretty much anticipated sobbing my way through The Ex Vows too (I was right).

THIS BOOK. As a late twenty-something with pretty much all married friends, Georgia is MY GIRL. I saw myself reflected in her through each part of the book. "And it’s easier to be alone, but it doesn’t mean it’s what I want." and "Even now I can’t shake it off, and I hate that. I should be okay on my own, but I can’t help searching for that feeling of belonging. It’s so hard for me to find my place—when I do, maybe I hold on too hard, but it’s only because I know what it’s like to lose it." -- Wondering how Jessica Joyce got inside my ~messy~ brain, took my thoughts about my late twenties, and wrote some of her wonderful, beautiful, tender prose. (I am tearing up writing this)

Eli, my anxious king, and Georgia, my precious little people pleaser, keep you rooting for them throughout each part of the novel. One of my favorite parts about this second chance romance was how normal and realistic the dissolution of their relationship is. There's no dramatic event, just two kids who are the epitome of right person, wrong time, that eventually make their way back to each other.

And the PAPER RINGS? I can't take it.

You should absolutely add this one to your summer TBR - it's a must read!

Read if you love
- Friends To Lovers
- Second Chance Romance
- Forced Proximity
- Witty Banter
- Anxiety Representation
- Found Family
- Single POV
- Nicknames
- He wears a chain

Thanks to NetGalley, Jessica Joyce, and Berkley Publishing Group for an advanced copy of this book -- I won't be shutting up about it for the foreseeable future.

What a delight!

Excellent writing, well paced and plotted, and vibrant characters -- I enjoyed it so very much! I'm a sucker for second chance romance WHEN it's done right (Emily Henry is a QUEEN at this, for example, in Happy Place). This one felt kinda similar! I loved that it took place over a wedding, and it was fun to watch everything play out differently than I had thought -- always a nice surprise.

I also love seeing anxiety rep! I wrote coping mechanisms for anxiety (the grounding tactic) in my book too, and it was so cool to see another author doing that.

I loved this book so much!! Right from the prologue, I knew it was going to wreck me. By chapter three, I was already in love with Eli and Georgia and I didn't even know them yet. I literally never cry in books and this one had me happy crying which just shows how much I loved these characters!
If you loved You With a View and can't stop listening to TTPD, this will be your favorite summer read! Get ready to SWOON over these characters.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Short synopsis: Georgia’s childhood best friend Adam is getting married, but a “curse” is causing everything to go to crap. She teams up with her other childhood best friend (and ex boyfriend) to put on the best wedding.

My thoughts: I didn’t think anything could beat You With A View, but oh my goodness Jessica did it again! Immediate five stars from me! There is humor, and heart, and love, and forgiveness.

I just adore Georgia and Eli, their growth through this book is unmatched. I just loved watching them regain trust in themselves and in each other.

I had so many favorite scenes in this book that will be living rent free in my head for the foreseeable future. Just trust me and get this one on preorder!

Read if you love:
- Second chance romance
- Friends to lovers
- Weddings and wedding planning
- Stories with humor and heart
- Only one bed moments

I loved this second chance romance from Jessica Joyce. I was a huge fan of her debut romance, You, with a View, and I was cautiously optimistic about this one because the second chance trope is pretty hit or miss for me. But wow, this just really worked for me on pretty much every level. Our main character, Georgia, is dealing with a lot - her closest friends have all moved on into coupledom and she feels disconnected from them, she was just offered a promotion at work but taking it means leaving her home in San Francisco and moving to Seattle, and she's about to be the best woman at her best friend Adam's wedding... which is apparently cursed. The worst part of the cursed wedding is that Georgia will be spending a lot of time with her ex-boyfriend Eli, who is Adam's other best friend and who Georgia has cultivated a totally fake post-breakup friendship with over the five years since they split for the sake of their mutual relationship with Adam. She's ready to grin and bear it but then the wedding curse really strikes and the venue that Adam and his fiancee Grace reserved for their ceremony burns down. Georgia (who loves to make lists and solve problems) volunteers to take the lead on planning what is basically a whole new wedding for Adam and Grace in just over a week. Eli volunteers at the same time, so they're stuck together for a week at Adam's family's vineyard, the new location for the wedding and the place where Georgia and Eli's teenaged friendship blossomed into something else. This reminded me of Emily Henry's Happy Place, and I thought it was a great depiction of how life tends to change in your late 20s as friendships, romantic relationships, and careers seem to evolve and change. I laughed and cried while reading this, so it was a very well-rounded experience!

The Ex Vows is so good that I feel bad for any book I read after it. I have such a hard time writing reviews for books like this because it's like "What did you love?" and my answer of "EVERY SINGLE THING" doesn't really make a compelling review.

Like a lot of people, I was already a Jessica Joyce fan from reading her debut You, With the View BUT I have to admit that The Ex Vows was on another level for me. I'm not a fan of second chance romances usually, but honestly I will read anything Jessica Joyce writes because her writing is just SO GOOD. Also, I'm not usually a highlighter but there were so many clever/relatable/heart-wrenching lines that felt special and I needed to note for when my brain forgets (as it does bc it's very rude).

In general, I found all the characters so well developed that they felt like a real friend group. The inside jokes and banter within this group were so well done. I loved how they all knew each other so well, but in a believable way. The way the dynamics were different between every character felt really nuanced and authentic.

Our main characters, Georgia and Eli, were so good and human and well written and I loved them both BUT I especially loved Georgia. There were so many moments where she felt like a friend that I just wanted to hug, because even when she's not being completely rational I could totally understand and empathize with her. Both Eli and Georgia have great, realistic growth in this book and I love how their story unfolds.

Speaking of Eli and Georgia...THE TENSION IN THIS BOOK omg. As we know, I am an absolute slut for tension and banter and this book delivered both in spades. I see people complain about books that are not dual POV, but I feel like this book is a winning argument for why single POV can work so well. The not knowing what the other person is thinking feels SO real, and the way that Jessica Joyce built this relationship and the tension??? MASTERFUL.

Also excuse me?? My heart?? How dare you??? This book hurt me in the best ways. I was basically on the verge of tears this whole book. I was on a plane reading it, and I actually had to stop myself because the sniffling from fighting off tears was getting ridiculous.

Pacing was great in this book, it felt like there was no filler and every line felt important. This book goes in the small list of "wish this was longer", but let's be real I would probably say that no matter the length tbh.

If you couldn't tell: I absolutely loved this, I'm definitely going to reread, and I have already been raving and screaming about it to my friends.

Thank you Berkley Romance for this ARC!!!

The Ex Vows is a slow burn, forced proximity, second chance romance where exes Georgia and Eli are brought back together for the preparation and celebration of their mutual best friends wedding.

This was my first read from this author, and I was quickly swept up in the story and understood why so many friends have been hyping her books and recommending her to me. The story while having a sting romantic theme, tilted heavily into the contemporary/ women’s fiction side - which I absolutely love in a book. If you want a book with romance but also one that captures growth and explores relatable life themes - this falls right in that vein.

I really liked the characters here, they felt authentic- flawed and like someone you could both relate to and know in your real life. Each of our mains had their own struggles and journeys to go on. I appreciated the slow unfurling of their backstory as we got to see them reacquainting themselves in presently.

Some things I especially appreciated about this read were the positive and realistic portrayal of therapy and mental health in general. (Both anxiety and panic attacks are represented). I really enjoyed seeing how each character grew and learned how to articulate and communicate. I like that things didn’t magically come together but real work had to be done and thoughtful approaches had to be taken. Most importantly I really loved Eli as a main love interest and all he was going through and showed he was working on.

Overall, I’d just sat the book flowed beautifully and I was swept up in their story. I found the ending to be satisfying and hopeful.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the opportunity to read an early copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own and freely given.

Another great romance from Jessica Joyce!

I love second chance romances, and this book proved exactly why. Georgia and Eli are two characters that I am sure will win you over. They are two flawed individuals trying to balance their anxiety while also figuring out there own lives. I think this is definitely a place in life that several of us can relate too.

I will always love a MMC who values the small things and Eli knows EXACTLY how to!! This man is attentive, loving, and a romantic at heart. Seeing him allow himself to be vulnerable after bottling it in for so long was reliving. I was fully rooting for my man!

I also love myself a man who can acknowledge his wrongs and strive to be better!

Also I need to highlight that this book is very Therapy Positive which I LOVEEEEE, One of my favorite things about this is that Eli acknowledges that Therapy is a process and that it won't automatically cure his anxiety. Which is so real and honest of him, which I applaud him for.

Georgia was honestly a great FMC, I liked that we had her perspective in this book because it really helped me understand her character and frustrations. Towards the end, this girl was tugging on my heart strings because she really deserves nothing but the best. The way she is so present for the people she loves is respectable, and to be honest I strive to be like that too!

Each individuals character development was really well written, in second chance romances it's always important to find out how the relationship ended and how that will impact their future which I think this book did a really good job in showcasing!

Overall, I think this book was a good one. It didn't get the full 5 stars because there were some scenes where I wish we would've gotten more chemistry moments between but regardless I still had a good time!

I am super excited for everyone to read this!!!

Mental Health Rep: Anxiety and Panic Attacks

I enjoyed this in spite of the overuse of messy! (Like, how many times can 'messy emotions' be mentioned in one book?!)

But Georgia and Eli were sweet, and I'm glad they had a second chance. And their larger friend group dynamics were so fun. Plus I'm a sucker for the Bay Area.

Georgia and Eli are forced together when their best friend’s wedding begins to fall to pieces. Everything that could possibly go wrong, starts going wrong, and the two of them step up to solve as many of the last minute issues as they can. The two end up back where their relationship began and through last minute cake tastings, DJ auditions, and spending time in a place that’s so close to their hearts, the two realize they cant (and don’t want to) stay away from each other.

I loved the personal growth in both main characters. The pacing of this book. The way it addressed the anxiety of moving into a new stage of life, especially within a friend group, and how challenging it can be to navigate. I also felt like this was such a realistic representation of a couple getting back together. There is so much work that each id then does on themselves and with each other to make a relationship happen again.

- second chance
- childhood friends to lovers
- forced proximity
- only one bed
- found family

Georgia and Eli were THE couple. From the first time they bumped into each other at age 15 they were orbiting, waiting to grow into the love of a lifetime. But after moving to NYC together after college and the realities of demanding jobs and adulting begin to wear on them both their perfect, easy relationship falls apart. 5years later they are now at their mutual best friend's Adams wedding - as best man and best woman. When the wedding venue burns down the week before the big day Georgia and Eli volunteer to save the day by helping re-plan Adam's wedding. Each of them is trying to prove not just to the other, but also to themselves how valuable of a friend they are. But as every forced proximity expert would tell you they can't pull off the seemingly impossible without working together and opening up to each other about the secrets they've been carrying around for far too long.

Tropes to expect: friends to lovers, 2nd chance romance, witty banter, found family, forced proximity, anxiety rep, only one bed, it's always been you, no third-act breakup (because technically they aren't "together")


4.5 stars (rounded to 5) and 3/5 steam

TW/CW: absentee parents, anxiety/panic attacks

I really wanted to love this one since early reviews are raving about this one. Unfortunately, I’m in the minority here and didn’t love it like I wanted to.

The positives: I loved the premise (big second chance romance girl here). I loved the mental health rep. I loved(!) the ending. However, something was missing for me to get more emotionally invested earlier on. I think I would have liked dual POVs and/or dual timelines. I think if people liked Happy Place, they’ll liked this one.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾☆ 4.25 stars ☆☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

With its gut-wrenchingly beautiful prose and unapologetic authenticity, "The Ex-Vows" encapsulates the very soul that is second-chance romance.

playlist 🎧: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2II8qzYZpWORnOhEqYu3Uz?si=aae1f6db90864e78

At the end of the day, I am nothing if not a friends-to-lovers enthusiast. The thought of someone falling so deeply in love with the messiest parts of you that in turn, they only cherish the beautiful ones all the more is a sentiment that is burrowed so deeply into the core of my being, I would be lost without it.

“I’m in love with you.” “Again?” “Still.”

As a self-proclaimed second-chance romance connoisseur, I can proudly say that Georgia and Eli earned my stamp of approval long before their reconciliation.

Georgia “Peach” Woodward is for the overthinkers. The planners and list-makers. The glue of the friend group. Her love is without bounds, though her fear of being abandoned in the wake of it was one that resonated deeply with me. I’m convinced that it’s a rite of passage to be lonely in your twenties, despite not being alone. It’s comforting to know that so many of us will see ourselves in Georgia and will not just survive, but thrive in due time.

“When I say I’m still in love with you, I mean the first time I saw you and right now. I mean every second in between.”

To quote none other than Georgia herself, “Eli is the living embodiment of it’s always the quiet ones.” Lord, do I mean that in every sense of the phrase. From his eager determination to his desperate pleading, he’s landed a coveted spot as one of my absolute favorite book husbands. I would marry him with paper rings in a heartbeat.

For those of you that despise ‘other woman’ drama, I would like to reassure you that this man doesn’t have a disloyal bone in his body. I mean, Georgia is stronger than me because I would’ve folded the moment he set his sight on me at that airport.

“Time is cruel and a miracle all in one swoop. It shows you what you had, and sometimes brings it back to you, but it’s always different.”

Georgia and Eli are inevitable. Say what you want to say, believe what you want to believe, but these two are soulmates in every universe. Their pull was so magnetic it made my heart ache. The intimacy between them was sensual, romantic, tension-filled, and meaningful. Chemistry is defined by them. There’s an empathetic nature about the couple that took my appreciation for their pairing to another degree. Their relationship was a cry from effortless. To overcome their fate of becoming star-crossed lovers was to endure loss like no other. To be torn from the heart you’ve donated yours to.

The overarching theme of mental health awareness in the aftermath of their breakup was approached in a delicate and yet pragmatic manner. Both Georgia and Eli finding their way back to therapy to make sense of all their lives have become was an intentional and powerful decision. Relationships are about just as much as you trusting yourself as it is trusting your partner.

“How strange it is to have a first for the second time. How lucky and messy and perfect.”

While I was secretly hoping for this to be an infinity star read, there were some aspects that took the magic away on my end. While I am an avid angst lover, the tone of writing wallowed in it throughout the entirety of the story; no thoughtless banter to level the interactions as a breath of relief. Alongside the weighted mental health representation, it consumed me in the feeling of grief. Diving into the actual contents of the writing, there were some very obvious pop culture references that were distasteful to me stylistically, but did ween out as the story progressed. Nonetheless, it was clear that our protagonists were of the millennial age, more so Georgia than Eli.

There were a select number of occasions where the race of certain characters would be very blatantly stated, and while I hope I’m not stigmatizing or reading too much into it, it just seemed…odd that it would be gone about in a way that was non-discreet and truthfully, ineloquent. At the end of the day, none of the characters that were profiled this way were involved in the novel enough to warrant a physical assessment of that caliber. It was out-of-place and could've been substituted for more valuable information, such as their career or familial background.

Moving onto the conflict of the story, the “curse” surrounding Adam and Grace’s wedding seemed a little too outside the realm of believability for my taste. There’s only so many disasters I can accept before determining the common denominator seems to be the individuals involved.

Though it didn’t fall short because of it, I could see the use of dual POV and alternating timelines being beneficial in this scenario. Especially since the dynamic in this novel is very much centered around a character-led journey. Georgia’s inner monologue came across as monotonous after a while and being in the dark about their past only heightened my despair.

That being said, I can already envision my re-read upon this book's traditional release. With similar tones to "Happy Place" by Emily Henry, I stood no chance. The second-chance, friends-to-lovers romp is tried and true and I don’t plan on deviating from it any time soon!

Thank you to Berkley Romance and Jessica Joyce for so kindly providing me with an ARC. As always, all thoughts are my own and are in no way influenced by early access to this title.

If Happy Place and <i>Love, Theoretically had a baby, it would be this book! 😍

This book has EVERYTHING I look for in a contemporary romance. It has the *perfect* amount of angst, which is balanced SO well with intenseeeee romantic tension and chemistry that just sizzles off the page. There's laugh-out-loud flirty banter, LOADS of pining, found family, emotional depth that will make you ache, a slow burn relationship that's built from a strong foundation of friendship, and the perfect amount of spice. The romance is SO hot and SO convincing, it may have you lowkey wondering if you should call your ex (I mean, I get it... but you probably shouldn't) Pacing is so important to me when it comes to second chance novels and this book is the blueprint! I loved You With a View, but this one solidified Jessica Joyce as an auto-buy for me.

The Ex Vows rocked my world and kept me up until 3 am because I couldn't put it down. I can't stop thinking about these characters. I don't know what kind of magic she put into this book but I'm obsessed and can already tell this will be a book I want to reread over and over again. Can't recommend highly enough! 🥹💞

The writing for this was lovely as always, and I thought the characters had depth and were well fleshed out. I really liked them. It did feel like it dragged some in the middle and that the conflicts were a little bit thin? Mostly though, the reason it doesn't get more than 3 stars is the absolute constant mess ups for the wedding. It was just too unbelievable.

The emotional depth in this book! I was in tears! It’s beautiful & powerful! The friendships in the book give a good hug feeling along with the shared history! I love a second chance romance & I gobbled this up!!! Georgia & Eli <3