THE EX VOWS BY JESSICA JOYCE // spoiler-free book review: this second-chance romance book broke me and brought me back to life and you NEED to read it,,,

What do you mean I forgot to review this book? I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about, and how dare you accuse me of such things?

Um, wait, sorry, that was aggressive. I think I just blocked this book from my brain because she was very emotional for me, and I’m not ever going to be okay about it. Here’s your formal warning that I freak out a lot for the rest of this post!!!

But before we get into that, throwback to when I had the author on the blog for an interview:

Title: The Ex Vows
Author: Jessica Joyce
Page count: 399
Date published: 16 July 2024
Genre: Adult contemporary romance

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Synopsis:

Estranged exes must stick close together to save their best friend’s wedding after a string of disasters in this swoony and steamy second-chance romance.

Georgia Woodward lives by her lists, none more so than the one about her ex, Eli Mora. It’s full of the ironclad dos and don’ts they’ve been following since she returned to the Bay Area after their cataclysmic breakup five years ago.

With the wedding of their mutual best friend, Adam, looming, and them about to step into their roles as best woman and man, Georgia’s never needed it more. She refuses to threaten their tight-knit friend group with her messy—and still very present—feelings. The rules on that list will keep her cool, calm, and compartmentalized.

What’s not on her list? Eli arriving from New York with a new rule-breaking attitude or the all-inclusive venue burning to the ground, leaving the bride and groom in dire straits. Nor does she anticipate Adam asking her and Eli to help him make a miracle happen. Together.

As Georgia and Eli rush up to Napa Valley to pull off the perfect wedding, their old chemistry comes back in technicolor. Somewhere between cake tastings gone wrong, disastrous DJ auditions, and Eli’s heated attention, Georgia starts recognizing the man she fell in love with before. And if she lets herself break her rules, she might find what they’re building isn’t the something old that ruined them—it’s a chance at something new.

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Big thanks to Berkley Publishing for the eARC via Netgalley! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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STAR RATING: (5 out of 5 stars)

I think someone pointed a gun right at my heart and shot me a billion times. And by someone, I am most certainly not referring to Jessica Joyce. At all.

Ouch. You heard that? Yeah, that’s because IM STILL IN PAIN,,,

I shall try my best to put together some semblance of a review, but be warned this might be a mess.

Can’t remember if I said You, With A View was giving Emily Henry vibes, but this one 1000% does, and yes, my heart is absolutely crushed, and I am weeping for days. Thought I needed to preface this review by informing you of the important information.

While I’m at it, we can also mention I cried about 40% in, which, if you know me, is pretty rare. I’m a stone-cold bish, and I don’t cry often. Except when characters make me feel deeply alone, and then poof, rain falls. And I guess we can dive right into the characters within the pages of this devastating romance book with a cutesy-looking cover. Which HITS SO FREAKING HARD I WANT TO ROT IN BED.

You ever feel deeply alone and unseen and did I mention alone? This book might hurt a little for you, I’m afraid. I certainly did not have all of my abandonment issues put on full display, no idea what you’re talking about.

Gah, I think I should change the subject now. Writing? Yes perfect. Perfect segue, but also perfect writing. I don’t know where she gets those magic fingers from, but if you wanna share, Jessica, I’m all ears. She was like sunlight, like a shot of espresso. Don’t care if that’s an old meme, but it’s so trueeee!!!

And the set-up? Hello exes at a wedding with all the shenanigans and feelings and angst, I ATE IT ALL UP. And then cried about it. A lot of whiplash, one might say. But I think this book had the best wedding drama I’ve seen in a while. Even the fake freaking cake spiked my anxiety to no degree. You know I was invested.

Gah, and the friendships in this book! I love me a good friend group, and these three had me by the neck. Ugh, and the setting was IMMACULATE. I was there on that freaking farm in the cottages feeling all the angst. I was basically Georgia, if you put it that way. I was written into this book, and you can argue with a wall *wink wink*

Speaking of, I think I’ve said all I’m willing to about Georgia without needing therapy,,, lol kidding. Maybe. I connected so much with her, and even though our lives are so different, I felt every feeling she had like it was my own. Idk how Jessica Joyce got inside my brain and extracted my thoughts, but there you go *sobs*

Saving the best part till last aka RO MA RO MA ROMANCE!!!!! Or maybe I’m just here to swoon over Eli, who’s to say? Almost forgot my extravagant love for second-chance romance, but she is back and better than ever, and GOD IT WAS DELICIOUS. Where is mine???? The pining. The angst. IT WAS. ALL. EXCELLENT!!! CHEFS FREAKING KISS ALL THE STARS. She be spicy too, and I definitely wasn’t mad *smirks* Did I mention Eli was everything? Because yes. God, the charisma I WANT ONE!!!! And their chemistry was off the charts and through the roof and over the mountain and actually in space. Not an understatement. Crying myself to sleep now…

I think I need to book a session now, so lemme love and leave you all. Unfortunately, I am unavailable to provide emotional support, but I wish you the best of luck when you do read this book xoxo

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

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“It’s a privilege to have someone trust you enough to show you those pieces of themselves, the most vulnerable and tender, the least polished. It’s a show of trust to let you see them first thing in the morning, in the middle of a panic attack, right after they’ve cried. To give you a shaky smile after a messy fight. To come back to you again and again with their heart in their hands.”

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“But you deserve to let yourself feel whatever you need to. You can be messy. A disaster, if you need to. The people who love you will accept every single piece of it, I promise you.”

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“Fuck, the way I’ve wanted you,” he breathes against my mouth. “I don’t know how anyone can look at me and not see it.”

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“And I think about how utterly heartbreaking it is that we’re using the same connection that allowed us to conduct a wordless conversation across the room to know each other in such a clinical way now. Like strangers who’ve seen each other naked in every way that counts, in all the ways that wreck you.”

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“I’m going to knock on your door later,” he whispers. “Please answer it.”

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“There you are.” A smile melts across his face, slow and sleepy. “Hey, Peach.”

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“But like all my most important words, they get stuck in my throat.”

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“When I say I’m still in love with you,” he says quietly, “I mean today and yesterday and this entire week.”

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“Isn’t that the way I deserve to be loved— completely, messily, imperfectly? Isn’t that the way I deserve to love myself?”

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“That’s why it matters. Because I’m so in love with you that I feel like I can’t breathe. I think it every time I look at you, every time you let me in or you laugh or you look at me like I mean something to you.”

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“You were shown that you weren’t allowed to need things that inconvenienced people, and you learned to make yourself smaller. But why can everyone else be messy and you can’t?”

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HAVE YOU READ THIS BOOK? WHAT DID YOU THINK? HAVE YOU READ ANYTHING ELSE BY THIS AUTHOR? I’D LOVE TO KNOW!