⚠️cw: grief, bereavement⚠️
When Noelle Shepherd's TikTok goes viral, she's one step closer to discovering who her deceased grandmother's college secret lover is. She's shocked to discover Paul is the grandfather of her high school nemesis, Theo Spencer. When she decides to embark on a road trip to attempt to connect with their love story, Paul and Theo ask to accompany her. As they make their way through the National Park's, Noelle starts to realise that there is a fine line between hate and love.
I don't think I've ever identified more with a character than with Noelle. She's the high achiever who struggled to find her place after high school, while Theo is seemingly more successful than she could ever dream. But both are suffocating from expectations in their own right. Noelle's grief for her grandmother was tangible, and her insecurities felt all too real. The snarky banter with Theo was pitch perfect, but I absolutely adored their sweeter, poignant moments, as well as her friendship with Paul. There are some bittersweet parallels between the two stories. Theo is an absolute cinnamon roll underneath the façade, with his own vulnerabilities. I loved the development of their relationship and the gentle reveal of their true feelings. The intimacy was so intense but also swoon-worthy. The conflict was heartbreaking, and I was so invested in the resolution. There's also a truly beautiful message about connecting with family, in particular grandparents, running throughout. And that ending? Swoons.
This was a gorgeous debut, and I look forward to reading more from Jessica Joyce.

Overall Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Heat Rating: 🔥🔥🔥
Emotional Rating: 🙈💓😂😉💓💔😂😍😂💓😬💓😍🥰💔💓😂😉🙈😍🔥🥰😍💓💔😢💓🥰😍🥰😂🥰😍

*Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to leave an honest review. You, With a View is published on 6th July in the UK*

** I have uploaded the same review to Amazon UK but am awaiting moderation **

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

If you are looking for the perfect summer read, stop because this is it! Noelle, Theo and Paul are exactly who you want to spend your time with!

This book is heartwarming, uplifting, romantic and the perfect amount of steamy!

I loved Noelle from the second she started telling us her story. Sometimes it takes time to get used to the narrator and learn to love them but Noelle had me hooked from the very start. There is no messing around, the scene is set straight away and you want to be involved from the first sentence. Watching her and Theo develop their relationship was a joy to read!

We don't just get the one romance in this book, we are going on a journey of Noelle learning about Gram's first love, Paul. I loved getting to hear this story too and how Paul wasn't just a side character, he was there travelling with them and telling his story too.

I loved it and can't wait to see what Jessica Joyce writes next!

Wow! Can I stop at that? :) It is the sweetest and at the same time the hottest book I’ve read for a long time. Brilliant characters and storytelling, a must read this summer. I was even starting to dread the time when the book would end and I had to leave the characters when I was less than 1/3 through the book.

This is easily now one of my favourite books of the year, I love it so much! It stole my heart with it’s phenomenal portrayal of grief and persevering through your pain and sadness. This is such a beautiful tale of connection and of a love that lasts. Everything about this book and its two love stories was magical, I’m completely in love with it and Jessica can do no wrong!!!! I can’t wait to read whatever comes next, this is the most stunning debut novel.

Noelle and Theo omg <3 These two stole my whole heart and are just completely perfect for each other. The rivals to lovers is elite! They’re so easy to connect to and you love them right away, I was so excited to see how things evolved and all the biting, snarky remarks were just their kind of foreplay. These two are also so soft, they’re both really going through it and the way they seamlessly help each other through it gave Noelle and Theo a firm place in my heart. Their romance is everything I wanted, the chemistry is amazing, the tension rises so high and there are so many feelings!!! The hike, the initial visits at Paul’s house and in the water omg. But also all their softer moments, either just communicating or holding each other - totally had me swooning over them (and Theo duh). This book really puts you through the emotional wringer and it is worth every second. I could read about these two forever and the epilogue was perfection! Their love story is just as epic as their adventure and Paul & Kat’s, and I could not be happier with this world I fell into.

Paul & Kat’s great love story is was so wonderfully written and well woven into with the present day. We discover it piece by piece at the perfect pace and I was totally hooked with reading the next letter each time. It’s so wonderful how they had this incredible love together but they also went on to meet other soulmates, each living and loving fully despite not being with each other. And I love how they still loved each other after all those years, just in a slightly different way - but no less everlasting. Paul was such a bright point in this book, he’s wonderful, sweet and funny! The way him and Noelle connected was so soft and moving!!

I could not recommend this book more, if you only read one new author this year let it be Jessica Joyce because this is a masterpiece! Thank you so much to Netgalley, Jessica Joyce and Penguin for giving me the chance to read this ARC <3

THIS BOOK WAS SO GOOD. The absolute perfect romance - slow, sizzling tension, characters that are both admirable and relatable, and a weaving plot that touches on family, love and what happens when life throws curveballs. A must read.

What a surprise this book was!

I was expecting a standard (good) road trip romance, but what I got was a deeply moving, and intelligent story of loss, life and disappointment, and of course—love.
(Is it really the author's debut?!? Incredible!)

I truly connected with Noelle and her feelings of frustration with how life turned out. We're constantly told by this world: "Work hard and you'll achieve your dreams." But the sad fact is for most of us, (because of money/health/family/location etc) we can work our butts off and not get anywhere close. Then comes the disappointment and depression of "failure." She was a brilliantly written character.

Then there's Theo. And although their connection and chemistry are immediately palpable, this isn't some flimsy 'instalove' or lust situation. Their love grows slowly (properly), thanks to incredible conversations and deeper levels of trust.

Overall, I LOVED this story, and I'll definitely be re-reading it in the future, as well as looking forward to what this author can do...

5*’s – what a fun, steamy romance following high school rivals who find out their grandparents were in love and embark on the road trip of a lifetime. I was so invested in the romance and I loved the focus on the familial relationships. The characters felt real and whilst the tik tok elements did not I don’t really do tik tok so was just along for the ride with the social media aspect. I’ve also definitely seen things like this go around on twitter and it was nice to be able to follow the story through it’s conclusion. If you are a fan of letters to Juliet and steamy romances then definitely pick up this book! Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of the book.

This was an excellent debut novel. The writing was great, the story was engaging, interesting characters and the chemistry between the two romantic leads was everything!! The story centres on aspiring photographer Noelle who makes a discovery about her recently deceased grandmother (Kathleen) that sparks an unexpected road trip with her “nemesis/high school rival” and his grandfather (Paul who was Kathleen’s college boyfriend).

The story of what happened between Paul and Kathleen is weaved throughout the book and sparks the journey that both Noelle and Theo go on to finding themselves and each other. I loved Noelle and her voice. Her need to hold on to this one last secret with Kathleen, her eagerness to finding out more of her grandmother and Paul’s story, her very real fears about her future, her love/hate but not really hate thing with Theo and her annoyance at the growing attraction between them was all handled really well by JJ. You get a real sense of loss from Noelle not only because she is still grieving the grandmother who she loved but also because life has not turned out exactly as she hoped it would. The road trip with Paul and Theo helps her to reconnect with Kathleen and with her belief in herself and her photography again. Then there’s Theo, little arrogant, sometimes closed off and struggling to deal with his own loss on his own but filled with love for his grandad and all of this belief and support for Noelle in his own Theo way.

I loved Noelle and Theo together. Their banter was excellent, the tension between them was just delicious, their first kiss was 🔥and every moment where they unpeeled each others emotional layers was perfect, even if it took Theo a little while to catch up. This is my third road trip book of the year and once again it is another cracker. (5 ⭐️).

A few chapters into this book, I had a feeling it was going to become one of my favourite books of the year and it did not disappoint. In fact, it kept getting better and better and even though I had high expectations to begin with, it ended up surpassing them. What a beautiful story and a phenomenal debut 🥺 I’m obsessed!

I loved both MCs so much and really felt connected to them by the end of the book. (I want to be their friend😭). Their struggles with feeling like they aren’t enough were so incredibly relatable and I just wanted to give them both a big hug. Seeing them being there for each other and supporting each other through the hard moments, knowing that sometimes all you can do is just being there and encouraging them o keep going.

As the road trip progressed, not only did Theo and Noelle get to know each other better and fall in love with each other, but they also healed - her by grieving her grandmother, who she’d been very close with, and him by coming to terms with his professional situation and figuring out what the future could look like. The discussions about success and failure were also very interesting and necessary, and seeing them both “recalibrate” and have the chance to think about what they truly wanted to do and what would make them happy, even if it scared them sometimes, was inspiring.

Jessica was able to find such a perfect balance between all the elements/tropes - Noelle and Theo growing closer and falling in love, the road trip, the healing and talks about grief, the grandparent’s relationship short snippets of the past and their high-school dynamics - in a way that allowed her to explore them all very well without any of them taking the spotlight. Even the fact that this book was told in a single POV (which usually leaves me feeling like it isn’t enough - or, at the very least, that the book would have benefitted from a second POV) was not an issue with this one and I really had the time/chance to get to know all the main characters and understand what they were going through.

Honestly, the only bad thing about this book is the fact that it ends because I would have kept reading and reading if I could. I’m in love with these characters, their stories and their journeys and it truly warmed my heart to see them find happiness after everything they went through.

RUN DON’T WALK TO BUY THIS BOOK!!! This is a a beautiful, touching story that follows two people on a road trip that will help them heal and allow them to fall in love and you’d be crazy to miss it.

★ 5/5 Stars ★

A huge thank you to Penguin Random House UK and Netgalley for sending me this amazing ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a great romance story.

Noelle has lost her job and finds a letter her grandma had hidden, it told her about her first love. Noelle made a TicTok and finds her grandmas first love Paul. His grandson Theo, Paul and Noelle decide to go on a road trip they were going to go on, on there honeymoon.

Loved the characters in this book, the scenery was beautifully written about and was a very well written book. A lovely romance.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy.

What a lovely read this was. It was a perfect mix of travel, romance and emotions and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

I loved the emphasis on the characters relationships with their grandparents, it was so well written. My only criticism is that some bits felt a tiny bit rush or unexplained but otherwise a great read.

Thank you to NetGalley UK and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for a review.

2.5⭐️ rounded up

Overall, this book was not for me. It was almost a 3 star, because there were some parts I thought were fun, but ultimately knocked it down because there was too much that didn’t quite sit right. The pacing and development were a little odd throughout, and then really struggled towards the end.

tldr; okay, kind of cute, but wouldn’t reread.

A beautiful road trip romance with rivals to lovers and heaps of heart 😍

I adored this story and all the characters- it made me wish for my own close connection to a grand parent! The family bonds in this were absolutely beautiful, and this was a truly wonderful and emotional journey of dealing with grief, healing, self discovery and love.

Highly enjoyable and would recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley UK and Penguin for sending me this advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

When I first saw this book, the road trip trope was the main element that drew me to it. I was expecting the road trip to be the book's focus, and I was very excited about it. Don't get me wrong, this book is set on a road trip, but the characters and the story are so fascinating and enticing that I forgot what made me start this story.
"You with a view" talks a lot about grief in the most truthful and beautiful way; it takes the reader to a reflection about how grieving is different for each of us but simultaneously bonds us together in pain, longing, and healing.
Also, another great topic embedded in this book is the pressure to be professionally successful and the frustration around the 30s. As a millennial, we've been constantly pressured and taught by society that we can do anything we want, be very successful, and be passionate about work. But what happens when we don't? What happens when you get to 30 and you don't achieve an invisible success checklist? What happens when you bump on the road and struggle to be on your feet again? It's frustrating and makes us fear pursuing another path. So, while Noelle was going through this, I was relating to her on such a deep level that I just wanted to give her a big supportive hug.
Paul was such a great character, so real that it made me miss my granddad, with whom I used to travel every summer.
Noelle and Theo had amazing chemistry. I loved their banter and bickering when they were in the enemies phase, and I loved to see their friendship flourishing through their little secrets. At some point, in every romance reader's literary life, you think you read so many love stories that it's impossible to find something that touches us uniquely. Well, their story certainly did. I could see the small moments between them, the small gestures and touches, and the natural way their intimacy was building throughout the trip. For me, more than the sex scenes, what makes me swoon are the small intimate touches, the longing gazes, the caring, and that feeling of being able to see through the pages of love being slowly created.
I'm thrilled to have read this book; it was much more than a road-trip romance; it touched me from start to finish while I peeled the layers of this beautiful story.

A beautiful story following our main character who is unemployed and back living at home following her grandmothers death. When she finds a photograph of her grandmother with a mystery man she is intrigued and is led on a whirlwind journey full of romance.
But this book also explores grief and overcoming it.

[ARC provided by NetGalley and Penguin Random House. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review You, with a View.]

Rating: 5/5

You, with a View is a stunning debut from Jessica Joyce that completely caught me off guard. I had an inkling of what this book might deliver; a light-hearted, rivals to lovers, road trip romcom – but with this story you really get so much more. Joyce expertly balances love, loss and grief in a way that had me laughing in one scene and then drying my eyes in the next. I’m so happy to have been able to read such a lovely contemporary romance and I can’t wait to see what else this author writes.

This book follows Noelle Shephard who is unemployed, living with her parents and grieving the loss of her beloved grandmother. When she comes across old love letters shared between her Gram and a man that wasn’t her grandfather, she embarks on an online quest to find the mysterious gentleman who captured her grandmother’s heart. This leads her to reuniting with her high school rival, Theo Spencer, who discovers Noelle’s viral TikTok of her search for Gram’s mystery man and reveals that the man is none other than his own grandfather – Paul.

Now let’s talk about Paul, the sweetest man in the world. The relationship that Theo shares with his grandfather is a lot like what Noelle shared with her own grandmother, and that was strike number one for my struggling tear ducts. Seeing Noelle handle her grief really pulled at my heartstrings but seeing her form a connection with Paul – someone who was once so important to her Gram – rendered me into a bubbling mess. I absolutely adored the various relationships shown in this book but the core trio of Noelle, Theo and Paul was perfect.

You, with a View, at its core, is about a road trip of discovery. In an effort to feel closer to her Gram, Noelle wants to go on the honeymoon trip that Paul had planned with his young love many moons ago. But Paul wants to Join Noelle on the trip and he has one request; that his grandson, Theo, can join them. She’s more than happy to have Paul join her but isn't as keen to have her old nemesis tagging along. However, they’re both compelled by the love story that their grandparents shared and uncovering the truths of their bittersweet story brings them closer together as the book progresses.

And that leads onto the romance between Noelle and Theo which is now one of my favourites. The slow burn was brilliant and the sprinkles of spice were very much appreciated. They had hilarious banter and I loved how real they were with each other, even when they weren’t being entirely honest. There’s also some delicious ‘one-bed’ moments that you’re going to love.

This is one of those books that you come away from feeling significantly lighter. The tears may be a contributing factor but there was also something so cathartic about seeing how Noelle handled her grief. It made me want to reach out to my own family and serves as a reminder to appreciate the people that you have around you while they’re still here.

You, With a View is a heartwarming, poignant rivals to lovers rom-com with the perfect balance of charm, wit and feeling.

Noelle is grieving the loss of her beloved Grandmother and struggling to find her place in the world. Enter Theo, her handsome and super successful high school rival, and his wonderful Grandfather, Paul. In this gorgeous story we are swept along on the road trip of a lifetime, following these incredible characters as they discover things they never knew about themselves, the past and each other.

I LOVED this book so much! I'm not usually a huge fan of books that involve a heavy focus on social media, but Jessica Joyce does it in such a meaningful way that I couldn't help but fall in love it.

As someone who is very close to my grandparents, Noelle's relationship with her Grandmother really spoke to me, and absolutely broke my heart. Noelle's grief is so raw and authentic, and her subsequent relationship with Paul is beautiful.

The chemistry between Noelle and Theo is off the chart and I was dying for them to get together. If a steamy romance is not to your taste, it is quite easy to skip past the small number of spicy scenes. But if raunchy scenes are to your taste... then this will not disappoint! These characters are hot!

You, with a View is a gorgeous, modern take on a traditional love story, interweaving the past and the present and finding the perfect meeting point for the two to come together. I would highly recommend!

An enjoyable enemies to lovers story with a fun plot. Noelle’s mourning the loss of her beloved Nan and sets about creating a TikTok video to find out more about the mysterious man is some of the letters that she finds. This leads her to Paul and she ends up travelling with him and his grandson, Theo, on a trip to recreate what would have been Paul’s honeymoon to Noelle’s gran. Tension has always run high between Theo and Noelle being high school rivals. I thought the epilogue was perfectly written.

This was a great book, from enemies to lovers in a well written novel. Fantastic read! Thank you for allowing me to read an early copy!

Thank you to NetGalley & Penguin Random House for providing me with an e-arc.

This is a beautiful story about grief, love, healing and finding your feet. It cracks open topics that aren’t discussed as frequently in romance books with this level of detail and still manages to keep the light, fun, sexy tone.
Yes it’s about the romantic relationship but more so than that, the grandparent relationship and also the relationship with the self. It’s a really intricately woven story that is complex and meaningful, whilst simultaneously being simple and joyous.

This book has flawed characters, but that’s the beautiful part, they feel so utterly human and real it actually steals your breath at times. There are pieces of the characters you could pluck out and apply to yourself. There are life lessons, actual useful life lessons and pieces of advice that really resonate and are genuinely helpful. The whole story feels healing.

Imagine, if you can, a hug from a grandparent. The way it feels so comforting, homely, the familiarity of it…like everything will be ok in the end. That’s how this book feels. It feels like it fixes something.

The character development is absolutely beautiful, these characters are ones you’ll remember. You want them to be your friends. The unit that’s created is lovely - ALL the characters really and truly feel like they belong together.

My only sticking point was that the spice got a bit frequent and I ended up skimming a little bit but honestly I think that was just my mood.

Highly recommend, here are some tropes and themes to get you excited:

- road trip
- childhood rivals/old academic rivals to lovers
- only one bed (!!!)
- forced proximity