Second chance romances are actually the best.

It’s been a while since I read a good second chance romance and let me tell you, this one did not disappoint. I love the fact that Eli and Georgia started out as friends, especially with Adam their mutual best friend. Something I also really enjoyed was that, even though we went back in time to meet them when they just met/when they dated/when they broke up, it’s not too long so it doesn’t overpower the storyline. I like that she kept it mostly in the present and just the fact it took them 5 years to get there.

Honestly a really good read, a little bit emotional and hit a bit too close to home at some points but other than that it was a really nice time!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange of an honest review!

-friends to lovers
-second chance
- dual pov
I have no words to describe the love I have for this book!! It was fun and the perfect book for summer while it also had so many real moments that made me sob. If I wasn’t giggling or swooning I was crying sad and happy tears.

Georgia was so relatable. I loved reading about a character who faced the same problems and worries as me, it made me feel so understood and seen.

Eli is one of the best book boyfriends. The things he said and did has raised my standards to a new level ( for the better or the worse).

They fit perfectly together!! The way they still understood what the other one needed even after not having seen each other for 5 years.

Thank you Jessica Joyce and netgalley for this arc!!!

Georgia, Eli, and Adam have been best friends since childhood and would do anything for one another. Eli and Georgia fell madly in love from a young age but by 23 they just couldn’t make their relationship work anymore. They agreed to keep their distance whenever possible for the sake of their friendship with Adam. Now Adam is getting married and after a series of catastrophic events it is down to the best woman and man to save the day.

Whilst Georgia and Eli spend time at their old summer home their chemistry floods back. Georgia sees glimpses of the man she adores and Eli is determined to show her just how changed he is. But Georgia has been pushed away and hurt before and isn’t sure that risking her heart and her friendship will be worth the absolute devastation if things go wrong again.

My thoughts: A second chance, friends to lovers, forced proximity, found family, with spicy moments and anxiety representation.

I’m starting this by saying that this author’s previous book You With A View was one of my absolute favourites last year, I still regularly think about that book so if you haven’t read it yet I urge you to.

The story of the couple having to team up to save their best friend’s wedding was really sweet. So many things went wrong that it became a little silly but it was fun to see how the pair would work together and overcome the obstacles. However if it were my wedding i absolutely would have just cancelled!

The book had a sadness underlying it which touched on how friendships and relationships change as people grow up. It highlights how important it is for people to communicate their feelings. This is where a lot of the mental health representation features and this is done very honestly and carefully. I particularly appreciated the coping strategy Eli uses in this book when suffering from panic attacks as this is something I’ve come across before.

The depth of love between the main characters is ultimately what I fell for most in this story. Both characters are loveable in their own right but the way they love one another is so heartwarming. Their banter is also really strong and you can’t help but root for them!

Overall this is a great second chance romance, Jessica Joyce has smashed it again.

Someone told me this book was even better than You With a View and I thought impossible, but damn it was absolutely incredible. Completely different so I don’t think I’d say better they are probably on equal footing of amazingness.

I’m not going to lie, I cried a lot during this book. It was one I kinda felt seen in. It was relatable and such a damn beautiful journey from start to finish. It gutted me and hurt my heart, but it also completely made up for those facts. The paper rings destroyed me in the best way.

I absolutely love second chance romance and this whole book is one of those that shows why.

Eli and Georgia. Gah. Everything they go through and how they find their way back to each other. I love every second. The looks, the fighting the connection, (and man they had some amazing intense chemistry), both of their childhood traumas and baggage, it all just comes out a little at a time until you can see the whole picture and oh my heart. I loved it and them so much.

The found family aspect as well was just the icing on the cake. I loved all the friendships they have and those evolving too.

I was so excited to read this after having absolutely loved YWAV and let me tell you that it did not disappoint. At all.
I loved everything about this and that’s saying a lot because I’m not the biggest fan of second chance romance. But after this, I think I might give this trope another chance.
I loved Georgia so much. The way she thought, the way she acted, you couldn’t help but root for her and love her.
I loved seeing how Eli learned to deal with his anxiety and the way he wanted to get better for himself and Georgia.
The secondary characters were a great addition too. I loved their group dynamic. It felt really authentic and natural.
I think Jessica Joyce has become one of my auto buy authors!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc! I loved the premise of this book which is why I gave it 3.75 stars. The book did start off a bit slow, but around the 25% mark is when it started to pick up more and when I began to get really into the book. I loved the character development in this book, and I loved how we got moments/thoughts that showed the MC's past together which was really good. I loved the plot of this book and how it forced the MC's to work together despite their past. I do want to re-read this book at a later point to annotate it so I will be placing an order for it soon!

Tropes:
- Forced Proximity
- Second Chance
- One Bed
- Friends to Lovers

I thought this might be a nice feel good summer read and I really wanted to enjoy it. However I have to say there really wasn’t much of a story and the characters lacked any real depth. I kept hoping there was going to be something more but there wasn’t and it was a relief to get to the inevitable end.

Thank you NetGalley and Jessica for the Arc copy of this book.

This was a beautiful story that had me sobbing from the heart when I finished it and I can’t stop thinking about these characters. I am a sucker for a romance story when you go back to your one true love.

I really loved the character Georgia I saw myself a lot in her as a person who likes to have everything in order .I understood her need for control and wanting the best for her loved ones.

Jessica beautifully also writes about Anxiety from Elis childhood and when he comes back to Georgia you get to noticeably see changes in him and that he finally seems to be dealing with those issues in a healthy way. They are forced to work together to make the wedding of their friends Adam and Grace happen, and watching these two evolve was magical to read. Some of the unfortunate mishaps at the wedding and the way they had to resolve them has me in stitches.

I did feel it took a long time to fully get into the story but also understand this was needed for the readers to understand both characters and their journey.

I loved this book X



.

Thank you NetGalley, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers and Jessica Joyce for this EArc in exchange for an honest review.

Here we have Georgia, professional list maker and good friend. She is off to be the best woman at her best friends wedding.... but her ex is also his best man. Georgia hasn't spoken to Eli since their break up and is struggling with the idea of coming together again.

That is until the are both sent to the venue to plan the rest of the wedding... together! They both have lists to complete, but rekindling their romance was not on the list! Somewhere in the chaos, Georgia begins to see the man she fell in love with. She finds that if she just puts down her lists, their might be a chance of something new.

A great reminder of the power of love and second chances! Eli is such a sweet character! The chemistry between them both shines through and was so fun to read!

Well well well, if it isn’t the consequences of my actions… my actions? Reading this book. The consequences? The biggest book hangover. After reading her debut novel, when I saw this pop up…. I RAN. Joyce just has a way of delivering beautifully written, well formulated characters whilst giving us a romance we all pine for. Bravo!

T H E E X V O W S
🍇🍇🍇🍇🍇🍇🍇🍇
@jessicajoycewrites

omgggggg, the angstttttt. i loved the slow build of this book, it had me hooked so quickly!

georgia and eli, exes since they broke up five years ago, must work together to give their best friend the wedding of his dreams in california wine country, after disaster strikes.

this was so soft and beautiful, it was the little moments that were captured so well. this is the epitome of second chance romance done oh so well. i cannot wait to read jessica's other book too.

omg and the part with the notes with the reasons he loves her .. it reminded me of my husband. on our one year anniversary (19 years ago) he stuck 40 reasons that he loved me on trees down the road we walked to college on. i still have them and recently shared them on my stories. i loved reading this part of the book so much.

thank you @netgalley @penguinukbooks @jessicajoycewrites for this arc.

I'm convinced that everything Jessica Joyce writes is a masterpiece! She weaves together a story, develops the tension between her two characters, and explores their inner conflicts in a way that allows the reader to really connect with all aspects.

I loved Georgia and Eli and how their love story was told while delving into their past, really creating that tension of a second chance romance. Along with this, there was forced proximity, 'right person, wrong time', found family, single POV, witty banter, and so much pining!

I highly recommend this and cannot wait for what Jessica Joyce comes up with next!

I am a huge fan of You, with a View so I've been really excited for this one! Luckily it didn't disappoint! Georgia and Eli are one of those couples you'll be immediately invested in. Jessica Joyce does a beautiful job writing about the love between them and making you want to root for them. Reading about their journey is heartwarming and occasionally heart-wrenching. Fans of the emotional romance will eat this one up!

I loved seeing Eli confront his anxiety and realize what patterns he needed to break. I would have loved to get some of his POV so we could understand what was going on in his head and know more about the cause of those struggles. Despite not having his POV I did love the look we got into his feelings for Georgia and their history together.

If you like second chance or an emotional romance this one is for you! I think fans of Happy Place by Emily Henry will like this one as well as fans of Ever After Always by Chloe Liese.

I listened to the audio version of this title and love it! Kyla Garcia did the narration. Romance readers may recognize her from Yours Truly. It is single narrator but also single POV.

The Ex Vows: An addictive, emotional and joyful second chance romcom beautifully written. Such a fun and easy read! You will love this one. I read it over the course of a weekend. Cant wait to read more by this author.

I just adored Eli and Georgia from the prologue and did not stop until then end. This book put me through the emotional wringer and I loved it. The chemistry between Georgia and Eli was everything. Heat, yearning, tenderness, true friendship and deep rooted love. Their story pulls you in and in between the chaos and background of trying to rescue their mutual best friend’s wedding you have this beautiful story about two people who love the bones off each other but were just caught up in a spiral of their respective pain and couldn’t communicate with each other first time round but just might have that second chance to get it right. A lot of lovely moments in this that had me blabbing especially at the end when the wine reveal happened. This author has cemented herself in my auto read list. A very well deserved 5 🌟.

I’m a sucker for a good second chance romance and this one started off well but it tailed off for me in the middle. I didn’t particularly feel the chemistry between Georgia and Eli, it started a get a little bit repetitive and I think it would have benefited from seeing more of the friend group on the page. I saw another reviewer say “Eli and Georgia didn’t drive the plot, the plot drove them”, I thought that summed it up well. If it wasn’t for Adam’s wedding there would quite literally be no plot at all.

I’ve seen a lot of people compare this book to Happy Place and quite honestly, that’s blasphemy. It has similar tropes but it could never compare to Happy Place.

The one thing I did like was the paper rings ‘reveal’, I thought that was really sweet.

Overall I’m quite disappointed, I’m leaning somewhere between 2.75 and 3 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved Jessica Joyce's debut novel "You With a View" last year, so was really looking forward to this one, which was released this week.

The Ex Vows is a rom-com-drama, featuring a couple who agree to get along for the sake of their friends, who are getting married.

Georgia and Eli immediately connected when they met as teens, eventually becoming a couple. Now, 15 years later, they're almost thirty - and have been estranged for five years.

Their best friend Adam is getting married, and Georgia and Eli don't want to cause any trouble. But with rumours of a wedding curse and one disaster after another, can the two really leave their past behind and work together to help everything go smoothly?

I ADORED this book. I really loved the author's previous book too, so I was very excited to read this - and I wasn't at all disappointed. I just love how she writes these real, flawed characters, with no unnecessary drama.

I loved that we got to see a male main character address his mental health and burnout, rather than it always being the female character. I also just really loved both Georgia and Eli, I really warmed to both of them, and their chemistry was OFF THE CHARTS. Y'all know I am a slow burn gal, and this was absolutely scorching - with probably one of the best 🔥 scenes I've read in a contemporary romance. The tension was palpable, and they were so respectful of each other.

The side characters, I was less enamoured with - frankly, I found Adam and Grace to be more than a little annoying, and the wedding "curse" stuff was a littttttle far fetched, but I'll take them all ten times over to get this sweet love story. The yearning. The swooning. The emotional growth. The tension. The chemistry. Jessica Joyce, you're a mastermind.

I adored it. One of my favourite, if not my favourite, contemporary rom-com-dramas of the year so far. Please write more. Many, many more.

I did receive a #gifted eARC from the publisher (@penguinukbooks ) but as with You With a View, I've also ordered myself a paperback copy so that I can hug it. Jessica Joyce just became an auto-buy author for me.

“ℋℯ𝓎 𝒫ℯ𝒶𝒸𝒽 “

This story was cute, flirty and funny with such likeable characters. There’s banter, spice and plenty of swoon 😍

I’m not usually the biggest fan of second chance romance but I really gelled with this one. I think because I liked both Georgia and Eli individually, I was rooting for them throughout.

I resonated with Georgia in her love for lists and I loved the anxiety rep and thought it was done so well. I use the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 method in my work I loved seeing it written so well into this 👏🏼

The paper rings were an absolute highlight, swoon level = 100% 😍

I loved You, With a View last year and this one is another firm favourite!

I read You, With a View on holiday last year and it was a lovely introduction to Jessica Joyce’s writing. So I was very excited for her new release, The Ex Vows. A second chance romance, set in California? Sign me up!

Georgia and Eli broke up five years ago. When they’re forced to work together to save the wedding of their best friend, feeling begin to resurface and they have to decide whether to jump back into something they had thought was firmly in the past.

The Ex Vows had everything that I felt Funny Story by Emily Henry was lacking. Georgia and Eli were well developed, and the secondary characters were strong and relevant to the story. I loved the exploration of mental health, anxiety and panic attacks and the weight of the pressure we place upon ourselves and our career success. My only criticism was the swift conclusion and epilogue, which felt a bit off-kilter from the character development within the main bulk of the story.

Jessica Joyce is definitely joining the list of my auto-buy authors!

* 371 pages 📖
* 🔥🔥.5
* ⭑ ⭑ ⭑ ⭑ ⭑ 5✨
* “Don’t think I’m taking this moment for granted, Georgia, or any moment you’ve given me this week “

I you guys are probably tired of me by now but Jess is amazing. Omg, this book was written in such a beautiful way. The feelings that I went through were not a joke. I adore Eli and Georgia 🖤

Best friends to lovers and second chances are my favourite trope, it’s like it’s always been you and this book delivers so well.
If you like happy places you would love this one as is similar but in a different unique way that would guarantee tears, happiness and a heart bursting out 🖤💌

I feel right now like This book ruined me and healed me in the last 3 days. But this book is a masterpiece in all the tropes that it contains 🖤 💌