had me at second chance!!! omg this book was so good. this is the second book in the series and I ate this up. What I love about Jessica's writing is that you can feel an emotional connection to these characters. They make you feel seen and you can find part of yourself in them. being in my 20s, life change can be hard, and finding your people is such a gift. and I feel like Jessica really portrayed that beautifully.

Before I begin, I would like to thank NetGalley, Berkley Publishing Group, and the amazing author for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Okay, now... Wow. Just, oh my gods, wow.

This book will easily be one of my favorite books of the entire year, to which you might think, "But Sam, it's only March,". Yeah, you're right. That's how much I loved this book, and how confident I am that it will sit forever on that perch of favorites.

The first thing that captivated me was the setting- I am from the area, Marin/Napa/The Bay Area being in my backyard, so all of the little nods and appreciations to this place I call home made the book feel that much more meaningful and personal to me. The author did an incredible job captivating the beauty that is the rolling vineyards of Napa, and I could so easily picture this place where the story was unfolding.

Once I got cozy, the writing began to be the most beautiful aspect, the words like poetry, so full of emotion that I have over 100 highlights and an aching heart hours after finishing. Jessica Joyce is a true master in her craft, and the level of introspection, healing, growth, courage, and love she was able to put in this book is remarkable. I read romance books because they bring me joy, because I love love. However, there are rare times when you pick up a romance book and it is all of that and more- something special, something to be remembered. The heartbreaking beauty in the writing forever etched her words into my mind.

While writing these characters, Jessica was so thorough and honest in her portrayal of anxiety and the demons it can create. I truly felt like, at many times, Georgia and Eli acted as mirrors for the own mental turmoil that I, too, am overcoming. I felt at home with them, like I could breathe and feel and grow alongside them.

And if this wasn't all enough to sell you- the romance. The. Freaking. Romance. I was rooting for this couple from the very beginning, and oh my gods if they didn't just rip my heart out and put it back together over and over again during this book. Their journey was tumultuous at times and precious at others, and that trajectory kept me anxious to uncover more, to unravel more of their pasts. Their chemistry was palpable and sheeeeeesh does Jessica know how to write some spice. Eli was just.... delicious.

I highly recommend this book, and you all need it in your lives when it comes out July 15th. If my review hasn't made that clear, or if you are not yet sold (I don't know how you couldn't be), here are some of my favorite quotes to do the job:

"... anything less than forever was just a monster in the closet."

"I have a sudden hankering for the hand flex in Pride & Prejudice, so I'm going to leave you two to it."

"It's a gift to know someone when you're in love with them, and a curse when you're out of it."

"But while he was trying to fix what was broken in his past, he was breaking something that was right in front of him."

"It's so hard for me to find my place- when I do, maybe I hold on too hard, but only it's because I know what it's like to lose it."

"Exactly like that... I'll take it all."

"It's not about being messy, its about being honest with your mess."

... and about 172 other ones that you'll just have to read and find for yourselves.

WOW! "The Ex Vows" was an absolutely adorable, tender, heartfelt, honest, and funny second-chance romance. I laughed and cried and was completely charmed by these characters, including the lovable side characters (Adam, Cole, Grace). I loved how the author seamlessly blended Eli and Georgia's past with their present. It was heartbreaking to simultaneously watch them reconnect while learning what originally tore them apart. Both of their struggles with childhood trauma are so well represented, and there is so much refreshing honesty and realism around their conversations about anxiety, therapy, and mental health. But at the same time, there is no exaggeration or cliches used to describe what these two are going through. Their conversations are so emotional and real, and it was really refreshing to read something that felt so honest. Also, this book has the grand gesture to end all grand gestures - the paper rings! Swoon!

Favorite Quotes:
"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."

"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."

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this lovely story with me in exchange for an honest review. I absolutely loved it. I would recommend it to other romance readers, especially Emily Henry and Abbey Jimenez fans.

thank you NetGalley for this arc.

I love me a good second chance romance and this one had me hooked.

Georgia is seriously one of the bestest friends anyone can have. She literally would put others happiness before hers. I found myself relating to her in those moments. She’s one of those characters that feels keeps everything to herself & I really love Eli being the only one to truly know her fake smiles and everything.

Eli is literally everything. It was good seeing a mmc who deals with anxiety and panic attacks. It’s rare finding books like that. He’s such a sweetheart. Ugh!! The paper rings?? Swooned!!!

The chemistry between these two was everything. It’s a slow burn but it’s so worth it.

read this if you like :

- second chance romance
- friends to lovers
- forced proximity

A couple with chemistry, a beautiful setting, found family, and a not-so-perfect but filled-with-love wedding story... what more can I ask for with a romance? Oh, and a bonus- a man who goes to therapy!

I really enjoyed this book. At certain points, it was a bit too close to the edge of too much going wrong or dilemmas that didn't feel that likely, but at least this developed the characters more as we saw how they recovered and handled each challenge. And it was so steamy and swoony, I will ignore the small nagging musings I had about some of the events.

Ratings
Quality of Writing 10/10
Pacing 8/10
Plot Development 8/10
Characters 10/10
Enjoyability 10/10
Insightfulness 8/10

4.75 stars

Read this if you like second chance romance and characters that can acknowledge they aren't perfect. Fans of Emily Henry, Christina Lauren, and Kennedy Ryan will enjoy this one. It has some spice but it's overall much more plot than spice.

I was friends with my husband in high school and we stayed just friends for a long time and kind of had a second chance years later so I kind of love second chance romance!

I loved the friend group dynamic and the realistic changes that happen between friends after college, marriage, etc. I also really appreciated the representation of anxiety in Eli. I felt for him and his anxiety attacks and coping mechanisms were relatable.

Thanks to netgalley for an ARC to review.

Beautifully written and atmospheric. A gorgeous meditation on the age old paradigm of "right person wrong time."

Thank you Berkley for the ARC

Hands down one of my favorite reads of 2024 thus far - Joyce just has a way with words that bring you right into the characters world and makes you feel like you are right there along with them. I was so enmeshed in the world of Eli and Georgia, I felt like they were my friends and I wanted the best for them.

I've always been a sucker for second chance romance, but this one truly knocked it out of the park.

Thank you to Berkley Romance for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Unofficial Synopsis:
Georgia believes in the power of lists. With the wedding of her best friend Adam looming near, she must work with her ex, and Adam’s other best friend, Eli to get things on track. However, nothing goes as planned and Eli believes that rules are meant to be broken.

As Georgia and Eli scramble to pull of the perfect wedding for Adam and his fiancée their old chemistry rises. Can Georgia learn to let go and embrace a little rule breaking?

Review:
I loved You, with a View last year so was really excited for this one. I really ended up enjoying it, but not quite as much as You, with a View, it was still a fantastic read though! I loved the setting of this book, it seemed so idyllic and just like a lot of fun. Second chance romance is always dicey for me, though I feel like I say that with a lot of tropes. In this case, I think that it worked well! One thing that has to happen for me to get on board with a second chance romance is the evidence of character growth, and this book delivered that in spades! I loved the amount of effort that Eli put into growth including going to therapy. Men going to therapy isn’t something we read about often, and I think that books like this, where it is discussed, help normalize this practice, so I was wholeheartedly on board with it. I do think that this book would have benefited from being dual POV as I was desperate to get into Eli’s head more! I think that had that been the case, this would have been an easy five star for me. This is still a fantastic read and I would recommend it to almost all romance readers.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of THE EX VOWS by Jessica Joyce in exchange for my honest review!

This might be my favorite second chance romance book that I've ever read. Often second chance romance can be so agonizing because of "what happened in the past" that it makes the book difficult to read. However, I found that wasn't the case for THE EX VOWS.

In this story, Georgia and Eli are two exes who have to come together to help put on the wedding of their mutual childhood best friend. Georgia and Eli have been broken up for about five years, and they came to terms a long time ago that they wouldn't let their breakup affect their individual relationships with their best friend, Adam. In order to do so, they've pretty much avoided ever addressing it (and each other) and the few times they are in the same room together, they put on a front that everything is okay and they're still "friends". But Adam's wedding forces these two together again for over a week's time and during that period, the unresolved feelings begin to stir up and it's time to finally address their break up.

The plot of this book in simplest terms is "two exes try to save their best friend's wedding from hell." Everything that could go wrong did go wrong...and at the last minute, no less. It was fun and comical watching Georgia and Eli try to rescue this wedding together. Sometimes they succeeded and other times things got worse. It was a good laugh and something I could definitely see adapted as a romcom film.

Whenever I'm reading a second chance romance book, I am often thinking in the back of my mind, "okay, what went wrong with this couple?" And I am relieved to say that the cause of their break up wasn't due to something like infidelity!

I loved that there was a significant display of growth between both Georgia and Eli because they both needed that and it only made them stronger as a couple.

Normally in a contemporary romance I am begging for dual POV, and while I would have loved to have had Eli's, I didn't feel like not having it stunted my awareness of his feelings for Georgia. That man LOVES her, no doubt.

For the majority of this book, I was really enjoy it and thought it would be a solid four stars. But then the scene with paper ring post it notes at the end, and the fact that I couldn't stop talking about this book to one of my friends, pushed it to that full five. I loved this book. I cannot wait to have a physical copy of it in my hands and I immediately purchased Joyce's debut novel because I hadn't read it yet and needed more of her writing in my life.

Read this if you like:
•lists
•paper rings
•one bed trope
•second chance romance
•The best friendships
•have struggled in your uppers 20s when everyone around you is moving into phases in their life that you’re not in yet [not for lack of trying though 😩]

"In thirty seconds, you're not going to want this, and I can't pull away, so you're the one who has to."

THIS BOOK. You, with a View was one of my absolute favs of 2023. The Ex Vows absolutely blew me away too!! This will be the book of summer, mark my words. Jessica writes tension, chemistry, flirting, banter, and yearning so so well. Everything about this story could be real life. The emotion, the situations, the upper 20s and everything changing. Excuse me while I go listen to Paper Rings on repeat until July 16 when I can own a physical copy of this. I won’t be shutting up about this book until her next book comes out so you’ve been warned.

Thank you Berkley Romance for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

"We can be all those things—good, bad, easy and needy, okay or not on an endless cycle—and trust that the other will stay. Our circumstances are messy, but so is life. It doesn’t mean that we can’t love each other through it. We already are."

I am truly at a loss for words at how beautiful this book was. As a life long people pleaser, who is constantly over-aware of my messy, over the top emotions, Georgia's character touched my heart immensely. This book is for those people, who can't help but wear their emotions on their sleeve, who at the end of the day just want to be the one chosen, the ones who wish they were more than enough and the ones who keep giving and giving and giving just because that's just how their heart works.

Second chance romances are a new favourite of mine, the history that the readers get to have with the characters is such a perfect addition in any romance novel. We get to go along with these characters and their messy emotions and there is something about it that just feels so realistic.

Readers meet Georgia, she is the co-best man in her best friend's wedding...along with her ex, the one she never quite recovered from. Her, Eli and Adam were friends since they were younger, attached at the hip and finding their own little family in each other. After her and Eli's breakup 5 years ago, she has been lost, feeling like her family is slipping away from her. It's hard for her to ask for help, to ask for more time and attention from people, her fear is being seen as too much or too clingy or too emotional...cue my tears.

While helping save their friend's wedding, Georgia and Eli and thrust together in close proximity for the first time in 5 years, both forced to confront their messy, confusing feelings. What occurs is a beautiful, emotional and raw journey, forcing them both to confront their long buried thoughts and feelings, face their fears and take that scary leap into the unknown.

I just know this book will be a favourite of mine for years to come, messy emotions and all. I cannot recommend this book enough!

This book releases on July 16, 2024! Thank you to Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC!

I am stunned. There are too many words to describe how beautiful this book is, but I can't seem to choose which one does it the most justice. I'm not even exaggerating when I say that this, right here, is now one of my all-time favorite romances.

The Ex Vows follows two estranged exes, Georgia and Eli, as they help their mutual best friend Adam survive the unluckiest events leading to his wedding. As Adam's best woman and man, Georgia and Eli had to pretend that life post-breakup was all good, just so Adam could have the best time marrying his person.

This book is the perfect representation of Taylor Swift's 'You're Losing Me'. It's for the people-pleasers, the relationships that scream sad songs, and the overthinkers who risk it all. But if you didn't get those references, this book is also for the ones who just want to be chosen, the ones who wish they were more than enough, and the ones who keep giving because that's just how their heart works. I cannot recommend it enough.

Taylor Swift already wrote a song for Georgia and Eli and it goes a little like "I like shiny things, but I'd marry you with paper rings," and it's genuinely not fair how cute or perfect that is for these two second chance lovers.

I think the backstory of each character and how it related to their personalities/brought them full circle needed to be a bit clearer but I honestly really enjoyed this book. This literally was the most cursed wedding possible.

5 glowing stars!

Wow this book. I'm realizing that second-chance romances are a sleeper favorite trope of mine. But they have to be done well, or I find it hard to connect to the past or present of why characters want to be together. Jessica Joyce executed the aspects of second-chance romance flawlessly.

I felt Eli and Georgia's connection in both the past and present, not just one or the other. I felt the joy and heartbreak of every aspect of their past, while also seeing the joy and heartbreak and potential of what they could be in the present. Another part of why I think this second-chance trope was done so well, is the way that we get bits and pieces of the past without actually having to go back in time and see it happen on page. It happens in a few instances, but more in a memory way during a chapter instead of a whole chapter dedicated to the past. I don't know how a second-chance trope can be a favorite to me when I don't generally like a dual timeline story. BUT, I think when it's presented in the fashion that Jessica Joyce did, I eat it up.

These characters were so easy to identify with and understand the WHY, on both ends, as to why they broke up when they did. It was so refreshing to see Georgia and Eli experience something so simple as not being at their best at the moment, which could hinder any relationship, but then growing to learn that they can go through those things together and come out stronger in the end, both together and individually. This made them so relatable, and even though they both messed up, and hurt each other, it was so easy to root for them and for their own personal growth.

Like with any Emily Henry book I read, my heart was aching the entire time I was reading this book. Which is a testament to how well Joyce weaves together this story and what these characters experience, the highs and the lows, to get to their happy ending. Jessica Joyce is becoming a quick favorite as I also really enjoyed You, With a View, and I can't wait to see what story she comes out with next!

Thank you, thank you, Berkley, Jessica Joyce and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I cannot say enough good things about this book. Friends to lovers plus second chance romance is a DREAM combo - and Jessica Joyce delivered on such a great story.

I absolutely LOVED the mental health rep in this book - it tackled everything from anxiety to depression to imposter syndrome…. SO good. Georgia and Eli’s chemistry was so believable and tangible… I knew I was going to root for them from the beginning of the book.

This book has all my favorite things: found family, second chance, an amazing cast of characters… i could go on and on. I can’t wait for readers to get ahold of this book!

this book wrecked me in the best of ways. i was not anticipating to love this as much as i did, but i think this book is one of the best second chance romances i have ever read. it was flawlessly executed; allowing us glimpses at their past while showing their present and hinting at the future.

georgia is one of the most relatable fmc’s i’ve read about in a long time. i loved her personality, her willingness to help those she loves, and i really felt for her with her tendency to be hyper independent due to her upbringing, as well as her inability to put her needs first. i felt for her so much, and i was rooting for her character development hardcore.

and eli, oh my sweet eli. this man is giving gus everett vibes, 100%. i loved him from the beginning because it was so clear to me that his feelings for georgia hadn’t really changed, despite the years. seeing his development and how dedicated he was to his peach was literally swoon worthy!

the plot was very, very reminiscent of ‘happy place’ by emily henry, which i read earlier this year and loved. i honestly might have enjoyed this one a little more 👀 jury is still out, however. both are amazing books, and this one was also unique enough to stand on its own.

i cannot wait for this to be released so that i can add a physical copy to my shelves, and i’ve immediately put this author’s first work on hold at my library because i’m so, so eager to read more from her. i can’t wait for everyone to fall in love with georgia and eli like i did <3

Lyrical, atmospheric, and relentlessly horny, Jessica Joyce’s second novel delivers everything we’ve been craving since You, With A View. Eli and Georgia’s second-chance story gently unfolds across a beautiful, cursed wedding and ends with satisfying redemption for everyone .

Jessica Joyce has done it again! I was hooked on page one and it just kept getting better. The characters were well-developed, the friendship group was so fun, and such an interesting dynamic between Georgia and Eli! I loved the mental health representation and the conversations around therapy that were so normalized. The story had a great mix of humor and deep emotions. I could empathize with Georgia’s feelings of heartbreak and felt her yearning for Eli. I loved that every character was flawed in some way or another, yet they were all deeply loved for their imperfections.

I finished this book wishing for another 200 pages! I can’t wait to see what Jessica Joyce does next!

This one took me a minute to get into, but once I did it was easy to turn the pages. What was different about this for me from other romance books, was the way it was written. Eli and Georgia met as teenagers, dated and broke up in their early twenties. Five years has now passed but the intro started with flash forwards into their life, fluidly in the paragraphs. Later in the book we got the same jumps but backwards to explain the history, all fluidly in the same paragraphs versus new chapters.

This narration forced you to THINK about the story. To feel the story more. The book did drag a bit for me and one can only take SO many disasters for a wedding. There were a few surprises at the end that warmed my heart and the smut was light but satisfying!

I recommend checking it out as an avid reader to experience the time flashes forward and backwards.

A big thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC ebook of this story! Congrats to Jessica Joyce on book 2 - Will look forward to more