Liv is a yes person who feels the need to be fit, be financially responsible, and be your best self. She's an overworked graphic designer and about to miss another vacation with her college friend group. She is deciding to stand and say no leads straight to quitting her job and hopping onto a plane to join her friends in South Africa.
In exotic landscapes, Liv is expecting fun and easy times with her friends, but close proximity makes things complicated " especially with the emotionally unavailable Lucas Deiss." With their friendship the only solid thing in her life she vows to do anything to keep her friend group together. Arriving back home everything is falling apart and she crashes right "into Deiss's arms." Will she risk everything or go back to the safe zone from before?
From the Jump looks just like what you would expect, fun and easy read to dive into. New beginnings, friends group, and working on being happy. What more could you ask for? I like the slow build between Liv and Deiss, it's done so well. I like the push and pull between them and seeing how things unfold. They are super sweet. I love the South African setting, is so dreamy (and I read this during winter because I was sick of being cold!) I enjoy characters who go and shake up their lives and Liv did that! One of the downsides is that I feel Liv says some of her friends are like family while some of them felt like that, and others felt like they don't know her personal life that well. They feel distant from Liv, but if they have been going on countless trips without her, it makes a little bit off since that group is closer together than she is to them. So Liv and Deiss relationship are what kept me reading, they are witty and sweet together.

Swoony friends-to-lovers of a group of friends that learn to live for themselves.

3.5⭐️

Liv has always followed the rules and done what is expected of her. One day, she wakes up and decides to start saying no to things and do what she wants to do. This leads her to quit her job and go on vacation to South Africa with her friends. When she gets back, everything starts going downhill for her but thank god she has someone who is willing to take her in until she gets her feet back on the ground.

This is a friends-to-lovers rom com. I enjoyed the interactions between Liv and Deiss but her other friends were questionable. These are supposed to be her best friends from college. They don’t know too much about her and they only seem to get together once a month. The friendship didn’t really seem real.

Overall, this book was light and sweet, but so much happens throughout.

Thank you to Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for the ARC copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I have mixed feelings on this -

I liked the overall premise of the story. Although I will say, I got frustrated with Liv's friends - why were they so selfish and left her out due to money so often?? She needs better friends. The romance was slow, but I was okay with that. It seemed to fit well.

Overall it was a cute story, but I enjoyed Layover a lot more. However, I am still really looking forward to more from this author!!

this book should have been a dual POV. I wasnt really intrigued with the romance in this book. and it honestly felt SO forced. this was chaotic and not in a good way. I didnt even finish this one....but thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

This book wasn't for me. I felt throughout the entire book that even though the main characters had chemistry it oddly felt forced. Nothing came off as natural. The friend group also came off as incredibly rude and toxic. I think this book had the potential but no follow through.

Liv loves the "shoulds" and that holds her back a lot of the time.
She decides to step out of her comfort zone, join her friends and here we have a nice romantic story!
I can just picture South Africa as LW has written it, now I must go!


I just reviewed From the Jump by Lacie Waldon. #FromtheJump #NetGalley

I really enjoyed The Layover, and this book follows suit.

It's a quick, fun read that doesn't require too much focus. I breezed through this one and expect to read more from this author.

BOOK REVIEW

BOOK: From the Jump
AUTHOR: Lacie Waldon
FORMAT: eBook
RATING: DNF (did not finish)

MY THOUGHTS

I started this book and found that I had a lot of difficulty connecting to the story. I did not finish it, not for lack of quality of the book but more so that I felt it was a “right book wrong time” situation where I wasn’t in the right mindset for this one at this time! Hopefully will be picking it back up in the future!

After loving The Layover, I knew I needed From the Jump. This is such a sweet, summery romance! It gave me all the wanderlust and is the perfect vacation read. This is a great friends to lovers story and all about stepping out of your comfort zone! I highly recommend and can't wait to see what Lacie writes next!

3.5/5 stars

This was a fun, witty, quick and emotional slow burn romance book. Liv was a main character that seemed to have it all...until she didn't. I was surprised that she was able to get to Africa with her friends so quickly and that scene (the night before she left when she booked her plane and packed) seemed very off and unrealistic. This book was a fun escape book and the narrator was amazing too!

What I loved about this book:
-The friend group
-the setting
-twists and turns throughout the book

What I didn't love:
-the main character felt a bit flat
-The ending felt rushed

From the Jump was so close to hitting the mark, but the lack of side character development really brought me down. I loved the chemistry between the two MCs, but the relationship Liz had with her friends felt so forced and made me mad that she allowed it for so long. Granted, that sounds realistic, but in this lighthearted rom-com, it didn't work for me.

Unfortunately this was just not for me. I only got 100 pages in and I had to stop. I can see where this might be a fun summer read but it just wasn't for me.

This was such a great read! Waldon gives us a sweet romance with found family, forced proximity, and friends-to-lovers tropes. The main characters were so relatable and endearing. If you’re in the mood for a sweet, light romcom this is the book for you!

This was cute, but not one of my fav romances. I liked the MC enough but the romance fell a little flat for me. Enjoyable, but ultimately not super memorable.

Really loved how entertaining this one was. Will definitely recommend to friends who love the friends to lovers grope!
Thank you NetGalley for providing a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

From the jump kept me engaged, entertained, and at times smiling! It was a great read and I very much enjoyed it.

Thank you to Netgalley, Penguin Group- Putnam, and Lacie Waldon for a copy of From the Jump in exchange for an honest review! This one started off a little slow for me but I loved how the author took her time to introduce me to the characters and their dynamics together! I love the friends to lovers trope so I really enjoyed watching the trope play out. I also appreciated the fact that there was more going on then just focusing on the relationship. I really enjoyed following along with Liv as she went on a journey to find herself and what truly brought her joy. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future!! This one is out now!

2/5 Stars

This was not the book for me. I did not enjoy reading this book. I found things very confusing. I didn't really enjoy the characters, The plot was a little lost to me. It just, unfortunately, didn't work for me. I think it would've been good to have another POV involved here. Again this book just didn't work for me. It very well couldn've just been me reading it at a bad time but.

Honestly, this book was not really for me. It was fine but it felt a little bit one-dimensional.

I found that I didn't personally connect with Liv, which might have been the main issue. I understand the workaholic trope and that her struggle to say 'no' and start really living her life was the main crux of the story, but like joining your friends on a vacation is not a big deal? Or it shouldn't be? Idk. So the friend group was odd. How do you not know more about each other after you've been friends for so long is really strange to me. I feel like you're told that the group is really close but its more telling than showing.

Friends to lovers also is not my favorite trope, and I think it can be hard to pull off. It also not really spicy which I am not really a fan of unless the story is super compelling. I didn't find this one to be.

Lacie Waldon's books are meant to be read on planes ✈️

I started FROM THE JUMP on one flight and finished THE LAYOVER on another a week later, and from the travel themes to the easy reading, both of them were great travel companions.

FROM THE JUMP (thanks for my copy @putnambooks) follows a chronic yes woman who rage-quits her job and decides to start doing what she wants to do instead of what she SHOULD do, starting with a trip to South Africa with her college friend group. This one took a little while to get going for me, but by the end I got very into the story and was excited to see where it went!