Tropes: second chance, childhood friends to lovers, forced proximity, fling, pining

"I'm in love with you."

"Again?"

"Still."

Oh my god. OH MY GOD. This book made me cry 4 TIMES. I genuinely don't know if I'm about to get across how much I loved this book but goddamn I'm going to try.

With a second chance romance, there are two key moments of potential failure - the reader not understanding why the couple ever split up, and not understanding why they would ever get back together. This book side steps these pitfalls with EASE.

The Ex Vows tells the story of Eli and Georgia, from friendship to lovers to putting on a show of friendship to lovers again, and in each of these stages their care and love for each other is clear. It is a beautiful, deeply romantic, love story about personal growth and taking another chance on the person who has the potential to build you up or to break you.

As well as writing an incredible romance, Jessica Joyce perfectly describes that period in your 20s where everything is changing and you have to learn how to be a person all over again.

Thank you to Jessica Joyce, Random House UK and NetGalley for the free e-arc. All opinions are my own.

This one just added Jessica Joyce to my auto buy list! This is my first book by her and I'm absolutely now going to find her other work to add to my library!

This is such a warm comfort read about love and friendship. It's a second chance romance trope which is beautifully done. I liked the setup of a wedding and the need to be friendly due to the group dynamics. There's also the part on moving away and trying to maintain the level of friendship which felt very realistic.

I like how the characters acknowledge their issues and try to work on them. I loved Eli's character and Georgia was a fabulous female lead. They had me shipping and invested in them from the beginning. But it was also the friendship between all the characters that's absolutely all heart.

This book is the one you read with a warm cup of coffee and blanket. A perfect summer read that I cannot recommend enough as it makes you feel with the characters and at times relate!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for this e-arc in exchange of my unbiased review.

I cried for a full week reading this... I had the best time.

I always thought my favourite trope was enemies to lovers, but recently I have really gotten into second chance romances. This was an excellent one.

The emotion could be felt in every word Jessica wrote. At times I was sobbing and couldn't quite explain why!

Jessica Joyce has made it onto my auto buy author list and I'm already waiting for her next book!

Reading the Ex-Vows was torture... in the best way possible. The longing, the pain, the heartbreak, the joy. It was all too much and I couldn't put it down. Jessica Joyce has become an auto buy author for me after this one. She really proved that second chance romance is the superior trope.

Watching these characters circle around each other while planning their mutual friends' wedding was excruciating. It was so clear that despite their heart-wrenching break up 5 years previously they were still in love. The tension was done so well, the spice was immaculate and it was intensely emotional.

Eli 'its always the quiet ones' Mora is my new book boyfriend and Georgia was such an intensely enjoyable main character. The anxiety rep was done really well, with Eli having to do some intense therapy after almost letting it destroy his life. Georgia did some serious growth throughout the story too, learning to put aside her people pleasing tendencies and speak to her loved ones about her needs. Having the characters grow separately (often with the first break up acting as a catalyst) is the key to a truly superior second chance romance and Jessica Joyce hit the nail right on the head.

This book was about romantic love but the platonic love was what really did me in at the end. The friendships between these characters was so strong, so warm, so unconditional.

I have no notes. 10 out of 10. Amazing. Marvellous. Magical. Perfect. Infallible. I will be thinking about this one for months to come. I can't wait for Jessica to break my heart again. Siri play 'Paper Rings' by Taylor Swift.

Thanks to Transworld/Penguin for this review copy.

Jessica Joyce has a knack for writing deep, emotional stories that can wreck a girl. The Ex Vows is a second-chance romance between childhood friends turned lovers turned exes, Georgia and Eli.

After five years of avoidance and fake friendship for the sake of their mutual best friend, Georgia and Eli and forced to work together to save Adam’s wedding. Neither of them has faced the mess together of what was left behind after the end of their relationship and being in such close proximity only brings all that pain to the surface.

This book destroyed me; it ripped open my chest, plucked my heart out and laughed while it smashed it under its heel. Sounds dramatic but it’s exactly what happened. The joy, the pain, the friendships, and the emotions pulled at me with every page, and the tears were not far behind. The love that existed between Eli and Georgia was wonderful and painful and made me cry far more than a girl needs to cry in one day, let alone in an afternoon. But while the story of these two did its best to pull me apart, it was so worth it to watch them grow and piece themselves, and each other together again.

Oh my goodness! This book has my heart and so does Eli Mora ❤️

Jessica Voyce is now an autobuy author for me.

Estranged exes Georgia(amazing name choice) and Eli Mora are forced to work together to save their best friend Adam's disaster of a wedding. Eli wants Georgia back, but is scared to open up. Georgia is afraid that trying again will break her heart for a second time and ruin their friendship group.

The chemistry these two characters had was palpable and undeniable. Every look and word spoken had me on the edge of my seat. I love that it showed the true reality of many relationships where work can distract and consume you so much so that you forget about the person you live with and love. I think I'm in love with Eli myself now with the way the author described every little poignant detail of their relationship. I love a second chance love story.

I loved the whole wedding planning aspect as it reminded me of what I went through a few years ago where it seems like everything is going wrong and then on the actual day you don't care anymore and just go with it. I love the friendship of Georgia and Adam and the little gang.

This book has everything I love in a romance book. I can't wait to see what this author does next.

Have you ever seen Michelangelo’s David in person? It’s a sculpture with the most amazing tiny details you can hardly believe its marble. Reading The Ex Vows is akin to viewing David. Jessica Joyce has a way of sculpting words to find the emotional truth of her characters. I was left with a major book hangover.

Estranged exes Georgia Woodward and Eli Mora are forced to work together to save their best friend Adam's looming disaster of a wedding. Eli clearly wants Georgia back, but despite her heart craving him, she can’t take another heartbreak if it fails again.

The book takes you on a deeply moving journey as Georgia is forced to examine and deal with her people pleasing tendencies resulting from parental abandonment. She's nursing five years of hurt that Eli prioritised his high-stress finance job and essentially abandoned her. Eli is still working through his anxiety which caused him to become a workaholic at the expense of his relationship, but has made changes to win Georgia back.

This book is beautifully written, full of poignant moments and observations that capture Georgia and Eli's vulnerability and yearning for each other. Jessica Joyce has a way of gripping your heart and wringing it out for 400 pages, I teared up many times. Yet, afterwards, I went back and re-read all my favourite bits. Sublime.

Thanks to Random House UK/Transworld and NetGalley for the ARC.

I was soooo happy to receive an ARC copy of this to review, thank you so much!!
First of all, after reading You, with a View (highly recommend) and loving it, I knew I had to give The ex vows a go.
I enjoyed this so much, I'm not always a fan of second chance, but this is done perfectly. Honestly this had me in all my feels. I loved all the characters, it was fast paced, it had tension, it had just the right amount of spice!
Jessica Joyce hit another one out of the park, I can't wait to see what she does next! 💜

This was absolutely incredible! It gave me all of the feels - it made me cry and it made me laugh

The Ex Vows added Jessica Joyce to my list of auto-buy authors. I loved You, with a View and she somehow managed to go beyond that and made me adore The Ex Vows. When I first started reading this book, it reminded me a bit of Happy Place by Emily Henry, which I loved, but, while Henry's book was one in which the friendships stood out to me, The Ex Vows was about the type of love that transcends the romantic and even the friendship side of a relationship; it was a kind of love so complete and understanding of the other person, a selfless kind of love.

Let's go back a bit so I can explain briefly what this book is about. The Ex Vows is basically about this group of friends - Georgia, Eli and Adam. Adam is getting married, so Georgia and Eli turn up in preparation for his wedding. Georgia and Eli had been friends, best friends and eventually lovers in the past, but had ended the relationship for reasons we only get to know through flashbacks bit by bit. What we do know, however, is that Georgia has definitely not gotten over Eli and it appears Eli is not done with Georgia either.

This book is filled with the best type of angst in a way that only the best Romance novels can achieve. The Ex Vows is a must-read!

Thank you so much to Penguin/Transworld Publishers/Random House UK and NetGalley for this e-ARC!

After reading You, With a View, I went into this expecting more of the same but this was absolutely nothing like Joyce's previous book in the best way.

Without going into too much detail, this book wrecked me a little. The relationship between the two main characters was so raw and heartbreaking and realistic. I'm not the biggest fan of second chance romances but when they're done right, they work so well and this one managed to make me feel like I'd experienced everything our MC's had right along with them.

Only real critique is that it could have been a little longer. There is also a healthy-ish amount of miscommunication but honestly it wasn't badly done either.

I think I'd be happy reading anything Jessica Joyce wants to write at this point.

This story was gut wrenching. Everything felt so raw and real. I don't think I've ever felt this way about a second chance romance book before and did not think it would be one of my favorite tropes but here I am. Thank you Jessica Joyce!

The heartache, the love, the nostalgia. The mental health rep, friendship in their 20s. I've felt every possible emotion while reading this book and I just cannot get over how eloquent the writing is and how close I felt to both Georgia and Eli.

The romance in this book was so beautiful. I found myself relating to Georgia on so many levels and cried more than expected. The loneliness aspect and her fear of abandonment hit way too close to home and I really wanted to give both her and Eli a hug.

I loved that Georgia and Eli went through their own personal journeys but still found their ways back to each other and made me a very happy (but teary eyed) reader!

Even though I would've loved to see Eli's internal thoughts and conversations between him and Cole and him and Adam, I still had the feeling that I knew what was going on in his head because of the author's ability to vividly describe his facial expressions and angst.

Read if you like:
- second chance romance
- friends to lovers
- mental health rep
- tension!!!!!
- found family
- forced proximity
- weddings

ALSO. The paper rings. Bye. That's it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for providing me with an ARC.

Jesus Christ, this is how you do second chance romance.

So many things to relate to personally, tears were cried but also laughs were laughed.

This made me FEEL things. I can’t read books that do this every time but when I do I want them to be like this.

I'm a big fan of second chance romances, but the truth is that most of the time they're not well done. It feels like something is missing, sometimes the current relationship isn't as believable as the past one, or vice versa, other times you realise that the couple shouldn't have got back together. But fear not, because The Ex Vows is second chance perfection.

In this book estranged exes, Georgia and Eli, are forced to work together to save their best friend's wedding. And let me tell you, the plot is amazing! It's not often that a romance novel has an actually engaging and enjoyable plot that's not connected to the love story. Following Gergia and Eli as they ran errands and tried to make sure their friend had the best day ever was so entertaining. Some scenes were hilarious because, as Adam said, it really did seem like this wedding was cursed. Everything was going sideways and these light-hearted, funny moments helped to break the tension and heartbreak that lingered throughout the story.

The romance was so beautifully executed. The way Jessica writes made me feel like I was experiencing every single thing the characters were feeling. The nostalgia attached to past memories was almost tangible, I felt like I was the one reminiscing about the past and everything that had been good and everything that hadn't. The love, heartache, agonising tension and longing between Georgia and Eli felt so real. The reason why they broke up was also very realistic, and although there was some miscommunication between them, I still think they would have broken up at that point even if they had talked about everything. Because it was clear that they both had to grow apart from each other in order to find themselves.

I saw parts of myself in both characters, from Georgia's people-pleasing tendencies and her fear of asking for help, to Eli's anxiety. The mental health rep was so beautifully done - there's something so incredibly sexy about an MMC seeking therapy. They're both complex characters, so raw and so real. I strongly connected with both of them, especially when they were being their most vulnerable and messy selves. At times it felt like looking at myself in the mirror. It was comforting and reassuring to watch these characters struggle, to see them afraid and uncertain about the future, but not letting fear dictate their lives. Both Georgia and Eli were working to better themselves, and it was obvious how much they'd grown once they were back together. Their love was so believable, and even if we only had the current timeline, I'd still believe they were soul mates.

There were so many things I loved about Georgia and Eli's romance, it had me giggling and kicking my feet in the air. The banter between them was so good and the spicy moments were amazing and very intimate. I bow down to Jessica, I can't get over how she can make me feel every single touch and kiss the characters share, I had chills running up and down my body. Other details I have to mention are the gold chain, the peach nickname, the cupcake and the paper rings. I will not elaborate on any of these, but just know that I will never stop thinking about the paper rings.

This book touches on so many issues that I think everyone in their 20s can relate to, especially when it comes to navigating adulthood and adjusting to big life changes, as well as growing apart from people you love because you're all at different stages of life. In many ways, it made me think of books like Happy Place and The Seven Year Slip, so if you love those books, I'm sure you'll love this one.

I was crying so hard at the end, some of the things that Georgia and Eli talked about really resonated with me and the life stage I'm in, so I was a mess of emotions.

This was one of my most anticipated releases of the year and it did not disappoint. This is now one of my favourite romances, I can't wait to get my physical copy so I can reread and annotate this book. This is the second chance romance of my dreams and I'd recommend it to anyone.

thank you NetGalley and Random House UK for the e-arc!

I absolutely loved this! I really enjoyed You with a view and at first I wasn't sure this could be better but I honestly love it ❤️

Jessica Joyce, stand up and take a bow! Brava!
This book was an absolute delight.
I couldn’t stop reading and devoured this in two days and then needed a day to process my emotions.
Jessica’s writing is the perfect mix of humour and wit along with romance and pining with a dash of angst.
The way she writes her characters dialogue and the banter between characters is just on a superior level. This second chance romance was written just beautifully and I couldn’t get enough of Eli and Georgia together.
I related to both characters on such deep levels and the battles with people pleasing and anxiety hit home but I think was handled so well.
I also adored the friendships and emphasising the importance of friendships as much as romantic relationships.
This gave me all the best feels and I already can’t wait to re read this! 🥰
I already can’t wait to read this again when it’s released.
Thank you so much penguin books uk, random house and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy of this book early in exchange for an honest review.

WOWWWW. you guys, this was good! 🥹

this is like if happy place, you’re losing me, and mirrorball had a baby? and it was the most gorgeous thing you’d ever laid your eyes on? if you liked her first book “you, with a view” this one is much more romance oriented and i loved that about this one. these people man- they’re those fictional characters that feel so REAL yk? from the dialogue to their grievances, or the stupid second chance romance angsty ache (that will get me every time) i was constantly compelled to pick this up and read it in two good sittings.

jessica sweetie you will always be famous and she’s just become one of my grocery list authors methinks 🥲🫶🏼

As a massive ‘You with a view’ fan I was super excited for this one! Unfortunately it just didn’t hit the spot for me. It lacked tension and there wasn’t enough build or stakes in it for me to really fall in love with this book. I also feel like we never got to learn much about that characters over the course of the story and if I’m honest, not much really happened (at least that’s how it felt to me).

Jessica Joyce’s writing style is genuinely really enjoyable in my opinion so this pulled it back enough for me to complete the book though and this wouldn’t put me off picking up another of her books!

An unfortunate 2.75 stars ✨

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

First of all, and most importantly, we LOVE a man who goes to therapy. All the green flags to our hero Eli.

I’m not usually a second chance romance girl but after reading You with a View and being completely enthralled by Jessica Joyce, I needed to read whatever else she’d bless us with. And boy did she deliver.

5 years ago Georgia and Eli broke each other’s hearts. They pretended everything was fine for their mutual best friend but never crossed a specific set of boundaries. When their mutual best friend needs their help to save his wedding, Georgia and Eli are forced back into each other’s orbit where they finally have to have the reckoning they never had the 5 years prior.

This book was just as wholesome as You with a View. It was like being curled up with a blanket and a cup of hot cocoa on a winter’s day. This will definitely be a comfort read that I come back to more than once. The romance between Georgia and Eli unfolds so flawlessly and I loved how well these characters dealt with their past traumas and insecurities together.

I love love

The Ex Vows - Jessica Joyce
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟+

Say hello to what could be my new all-time fave romance book 🥹 @jessicajoyce you are a genius.

LOVES
❤️ Banter that wasn’t at all cringeworthy.
❤️ Proper tension, chemistry and slow burn.
❤️ A fun storyline that kept things light.
❤️ All my favourite tropes including childhood friends to lovers, second chance romance and a dash of enemies to lovers.
❤️ The main characters felt SO authentic and relatable. I love how you saw both of them grow so much throughout the story and how I could really see some of myself in Georgia.
❤️ The romance wasn’t a straight forward, easy ride like you see in some books. It had its messy moments, as well as the highest of highs and everything in between.
❤️ Great mental health representation.
❤️ Fast paced and impossible to put down.
❤️ The gorgeous cover.
❤️ Super well written spice.
❤️ Every single friendship. I like how each of them had their own special dynamics and no two felt the same.
❤️ The paper rings.
❤️ The fact there was actual platonic friendships with no romance whatsoever, such a rarity in books where friends of the opposite sex who fancy the opposite sex don’t fancy eachother! We need more of this in books.
❤️ I don’t want to say too much in fear of spoiling anything, but the love declarations in this one are FLAWLESS - both past and present. One of them genuinely made me, someone who never cries at books, sob 😭
❤️ Despite being a single POV which often isn’t my preference, I felt I knew both Georgia and Eli so well by the end.
❤️ The epilogue, which was just the right level of adorable without feeling too much.

I’ll genuinely be shocked if anything beats this out as my favourite book of 2024.

The Ex Vows is out 16 July and I will be reminding everyone ever to buy it this summer 😌

I felt like a fly on the wall seeing and reading to this entire story unfold. I swooned a few times at how wonderful Eli is, and what a raw and gem of a character Georgia is! If you’re looking for something angsty and playful, reading this would be one the best decision you would ever make!