Such a beautifully written book where the characters felt all too real in the absolute best way. Amazing character development and storytelling. An emotional roller coaster at the end. (Full of happy tears)
Also such a fun storyline with lovable side characters. Full of hilarious banter and fantastic chemistry between the main characters.
I absolutely loved this book.

Whether you’re a fan of second chance romances or not, you absolutely need to get your hands on a copy of The Ex Vows when it comes out.

From the moment I read Jessica Joyce's debut novel, I knew she was an author to keep an eye on. With her debut, she introduced us to her talent for writing romance that not only delivered on the romantic elements, but also with deep emotional themes and flawed yet fully realised characters. Despite it only being her second novel, she goes above and beyond with The Ex Vows.

I was genuinely blown away by this book, and I have no doubt that this book will cement Joyce as a star in the romance genre. I fell so in love with Georgia and Eli’s story and savoured every page. This book was everything I hoped for and exceeded all my expectations. It’s definitely the best romance book I’ve read so far in 2024.

From the compelling plot to the humorous banter to the swoonworthy romance, The Ex Vows has it all. On top of the romance, I loved the witty dialogue and the found family. I also really appreciated the mental health representation, which I found really authentic - especially because the author depicted anxiety in a male character, which I feel isn’t too common.

An easy five stars!

this book was so beautifully written that I’ll never get over it. second chance romance and best friends to lovers are two of my fav tropes and this was absolutely perfect.
I loved the first book from the author but this one right here? It’s absolutely her best one yet. I cried my eyes out but it was so worth it.
Georgia and Eli are perfection and absolutely so meant to be. I love them!! I was truly rooting for them because they deserve the world.
Both characters are extremely relatable to me and I could see a lot of myself in both of them.
I laughed, I cried and I swooned with their story.
This is truly a masterpiece and everyone needs to read it!!!!

pub date is July 16.

thank you Jessica Joyce and Penguin Random House for the ARC.

➳ <b>1 star</b> ✩
⤿ a spoiler free arc review


💌 𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓮𝔁𝓹𝓮𝓬𝓽:
⤿ single pov
⤿ second chance
⤿ friends to lovers
⤿ one bed
⤿ forced proximity
⤿ found family
⤿ anxiety/mental health rep


if you know anything about me, it's that i love a *good* second chance romance. there's just something so beautiful about the heartbreak and angst behind a 'right person, wrong time' scenario that is so painful yet addicting to read. the PAIN, the ANGST!!! it’s truly one of those tropes that you can go your whole life hating but read one beautiful book with the most gorgeous prose and never understand how you could ever hate the premise of “right person, wrong time”. reading this however, i can understand the pure unadulterated rage one can feel. here it was the wrong person, at the wrong time, the whole time. i felt no chemistry between the two characters, and if someone could open the dictionary to find the word “grovelling” and thrust it into eli’s face, i would finally know peace.

every character was so one dimensional i wanted to claw my eyes out with a tablespoon. i wish i was being overdramatic.

you see georgia being this mirrorball, this is me trying people-pleaser BUT THOSE THREE DESCRIPTORS ALL ALLUDE TO THE SAME THING - she was a pushover with no spine who needed to grow up and learn to say no. and to be honest, i wouldn’t even mind all that much if she actually received some character development, where she grew i don’t need to know about how her “secret praise kink purrs” when i know nothing about her life, or her history, or anything truly definitive about her character.

eli was bland. very bland. like this man for sure does not season his chicken. he, without a doubt, eats bland chicken. now i’m slightly hazy about the laws in the us but i’m pretty sure this he could be arrested for cannibalism. i’ll need someone from the states to double check though.

side characters where?? i see nothing and no one. their mutual friend - i think his name was adam(?) - had barely any page time which was odd considering it was his wedding they were saving, and his fiancee/wife who’s name i don’t even remember (tis grace) was also just, <i>there</i>. her super-precious-to-her bff/roommate jamie (who’s name i also forgot) IS NEVER EVEN THERE!! it’s like the author planned a character cast of two then realised that would be too boring so she added in more characters, but kept the boring-ness.

oh and the plot? it was so boring: georgia and eli, childhood friends who have broken up, try to save their friend adam’s wedding after the venue burns down and eventually bang. that is literally it.

the whole inclusion of the "paper rings" plotline/side plot (?) felt very tacky to me, as if it was a way to redeem eli without him actually apologising for anything.

oh the reason why they broke up you ask? he prioritised his job over her. that was it.
so yeah, no real tension, no real stakes and no un-forced chemistry. i hate it here.


thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for my *honest* thoughts!

Jessica Joyce did it again!!! Her books are always so well written and beautiful 💞

"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.

This book was written so so so beautifully and the story had such a great backstory and I was so immersed with the characters.
I think my favourite part about this book was the found family aspect of it. I absolutely loved how close the characters were. The mental health representation in this book was also done really really well. I felt so connected to Georgia and she's just honestly a very real and relatable character. As someone who is a people pleaser and finds it hard to say 'no', this book really made me feel seen. And Eli is just such a green flag. I doubted him a little in the beginning because I didn't know the reason for their first breakup (it's a second chance romance), but I honestly think they both were always meant to be. They just needed some time to grow and learn about themselves as a person. The ending was absolutely perfect and I'm so glad I read this book.

I love second-chance romances, but usually they're not done very well. Jessica Joyce did an excellent job at writing a perfect second-chance romance. Her writing is just so beautiful, real and raw. It makes you feel all the feelings. This book is not only a very cute, feel-good romance story; it also touches on how it feels to be in your 20s and all the issues that come with that. I highly recommend this book!

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for the arc!

I liked the background story and how they were lifelong friends, then Georgia and Eli get together and move to NYC. He prioritises his job over her, and she leaves him.
I wanted to like this one, but it wasn't one of my favourites. The characters were nice enough. The story was fine. But it was rather drawn out- how can people take 9 days off for someone else's wedding? It just seemed implausible.

The disasters that kept happening with the wedding did keep it entertaining. And some very swoon worthy moments towards the end redeemed it for me.

The twisty paper rings - so sweet
Close friends
Second chance romance
Forced proximity.

Jessica Joyce really took the tropes I hate the most — second chance, miscommunication, childhood friends to lovers — and made me love this book? It just felt so raw and real and the issues that Georgia was going through resonated with me so much. I am also so so glad that there wasn’t a then/now timeline because I’m just not a fan of those, but instead the past was woven into the present timeline and honestly I feel like it packed so much more emotion than going back and forth between timelines would’ve. This book just perfectly encapsulates the feeling of loneliness and the struggle of friendships in your twenties I couldn’t stop crying because of how deeply I related to Georgia’s fears and anxiety over losing and keeping friends and how adulthood takes away the simplicity of the way friendship used to be when you’re younger. I’m rambling but I just love this so much and simultaneously hate how much I felt and cried during this book it’s just a love letter to people who struggle with friendships, you’re not alone <3

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

When I expected to read something about exes with unresolved feelings, I didn't anticipate engaging with their messy, genuine, complicated yet deep, realistic, passionate, embracing, heartfelt love story so much! The pacing was perfect. The back and forth between the past and present events was excellent and I loved the banter, the steam, the love confessions and every single detail of this story.

this was such a cute and unique concept i absolutely loved it! i love the writing so much. really connected to the fmc!

This was my first Jessica Joyce book, but WOW did she deliver. I'm typically not a huge fan of second chance romance, but this was done so well. The characters felt so real and the story, while very entertaining, touched on so many relatable yet heavy topics in a way that made me feel seen as a reader. I loved the relationship and dynamic between Georgia and Eli. They love each other, yes, but they're also each other's best friends. The way that seem to move in tandem, yet didn't force anything was so refreshing. Plus, he calls her Peach and that's everything.

Not only were the romantic relationships giving everything you could want, but the friendships and found family dynamic were so well written and developed. The emphasis on these relationships and fears surrounding them made the book so much more relatable to me.

This book had me giggling, swooning, and tearing up. An easy 5 star read.

I will definitely read more from Jessica Joyce! This was really well written, fairly emotional and really enjoyable. Georgia and Eli were brilliant main characters and were a great match for each other, the supporting characters too were well described and fitted in well to the storyline. at no points did this get slushy, it was just fun and lovely!

4.5 stars.
I'm not usually a massive lover of second chance romance but really enjoyed this. The mmc really redeemed himself and worked on himself rather than just saying sorry fifty times and. Did get a little bit emosh at times which is always a winner for me. Can't wait to see what else Jessica comes out with.

4.25 stars
1 spice

This book really took me by surprise, a very pleasant one.
As I have just finished it and everything is still fresh in my mind - that ending has to be one of the cutest I have ever read and I was almost crying from how sweet it was. I made the mistake of reading other reviews before starting but my mind was quickly changed.

The book flowed really well, the angst was suffocating at times , but I loved it! I loved how realistic the story and characters were, yes Eli and Georgia were apart for 5 years before Eli started to make changes to his life, but they were young when they broke up and the book highlighted how each person has to reach their own breaking point and come to each realisation themselves.

I personally related to Georgia as she struggled to feel as though she fits into her friend's changing lives even though its obvious they all love each other and are incredibly close. It was how she felt she needed to be useful, always there and without problems so that she wasn't a burden to her friends. If you relate to this, the book will feel extra personal.

Most importantly, I was really rooting for Eli and Georgia to make their way back to each other. I loved their story and this was an amazingly written book, definitely recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC copy.

i am writing this review on my own and all thoughts are from me. thank you netgalley for the chance to read the ARC!

all in all, this is quite a nice second-chance romance book that i read this year. it has good tension between the exes, so i anticipated more for their interactions. i never had any experience in love so reading this book kinda gave me an insight of how love works and it's not always sunshine and rainbow. it's always has it's roughness and bitter moments. i didnt pay much attention to the settings and other characters honestly cause i was busy focusing on the main characters and i was rooting for them to make up.

i had a hard time finishing this cause it has many fillers and i got bored easily, so it took months for me to complete my reading. but i did it anyway, and this book was great enough. so thank you for the enjoyable read!

I remember how much I loved the characters in You with a view, but these ones just feel meh. Don’t get me wrong, i like them, but not that much. I mean, it seems like Eli just did the bare minimum to get his girl back.

I really wanted to love this book, I was so excited even tho the friends to lovers and second chance romance are my least favorite trope to ever exist, but here I was, giving it a chance because it’s Jessica Joyce, but I’m so sad to say that this was not as satisfactory as i wish it was.

To begin with, I like the main reason of why they broke up because that is something realistic that we’ve seen in movies before (and real life). For most people it may seem like a flat reason, but that can really affect relationships. But the way they jumped to each other as soon as they were in the same room and forgetting everything that easy (and avoid TALKING very time) when they were supposedly so heartbroken felt too quick.

I really don’t get to understand Eli’s mindset, if he loved her that much, why didn’t he tried harder the first time in therapy to save their relationship? why did he decide to give up so easy without a fight?

The ending felt abrupt for me, and the way they got back together just because they actually talked to each other for the first time, he should have tried harder.

Anyway, I’m still a fan of Jessica Joyce and will continue reading whatever she publishes in the future.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Transworld publishers, Random house Uk for the ARC.

This book was such a delight that I’m still stuck in its universe. Eli and Georgia are two completely beautifully written characters that I wish they were real people so I could view their coming back together with my own eyes rather than having to imagine it.

This is a story of first love, second chances and finding yourself as a person. For admitting what you need instead of denying yourself. For recognising how much you need the people in your life no matter how needy you feel. Also recognising when you’re brain isn’t at it best and what you need to do to get it right again. Or as much as you can.

I adored this book. It will stay with me for a long long time.

I’m giving this a 3.5 stars. 3 feels just too harsh and it is a nice read. But after reading You With A View, this felt like it lacked something.

It’s a second chance romance between two people who are helping their best friends plan a wedding. It’s meant to be a messy break up previously but planning a romantic day means old feelings come back.

I liked the idea of the book but it ended up being very slow. The prose itself is good, I enjoyed the literal reading but I felt the chemistry wasn’t there and the wedding planning and various disasters felt like it overshadowed the romance side of things.

Title: The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce

Release Date: July, 18th, 2024

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Stars

Georgia Woodward lives her life governed by lists, especially the one detailing the dos and don'ts of dealing with her ex, Eli Mora. Since their tumultuous breakup five years ago, these rules have been her lifeline, ensuring she keeps her emotions in check as they navigate mutual friendships, particularly with their best friend Adam's upcoming wedding. However, when unexpected circumstances arise, such as the wedding venue burning down and Adam needing their help, Georgia finds herself thrown together with Eli in Napa Valley. As they work to salvage the wedding plans, old feelings resurface, and Georgia starts to see a new side of Eli—one that reignites the spark they once shared. Amidst the chaos of wedding preparations, Georgia must decide whether to stick to her rules or take a chance on a new beginning with Eli.

A breathtaking journey that delves deep into the complexities of human emotions and relationships. Georgia's relatable character resonates with readers who understand the struggles of navigating messy emotions and the desire to be chosen and valued.

As Georgia and Eli find themselves brought together while assisting with a friend's wedding, they confront their tangled past and buried feelings, leading to a poignant and heartfelt exploration of love and self-discovery. This truly tugged at my heartstrings.

Joyce's amazing storytelling captivated me from start to finish, making this book an unforgettable and deeply moving read. I eagerly anticipate more from this talented author.

Tropes:

Second Chance Romance
Forced Proximity
Friends to Lovers
Self-Discovery


Thank you to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers | Penguin, The Author Jessica Joyce & NetGalley for an advanced reader copy (ARC) in exchange for my honest review.

I received this arc in exchange for an honest review. 🤍

4.5 ⭐️

PAPER RINGS. PAPER RINGS!!!!!!!!!!!

this was amazing. jessica joyce just absolutely knocked it out of the park with this one. i loved you, with a view and this book cemented her as one of my favourite authors.

the characters in this were so well written and so easy to connect to. it was just the perfect second chance romance with brilliant writing. the individual issues the main characters were going through as well as their relationship really added depth to the story. i also loved all of the side characters and their friendships.

fans of emily henry will absolutely adore this book!!