Kaylee and Dean have grown up together. Their parents are all best friends who met in college and vacation together every summer in Malibu. Kaylee is top-ranked beach volleyball athlete who looks forward to the summer break every year. The problem with this summer is that she dated Dean briefly and broke his heart, so she's not looking forward to the tension she'll face when their families share a house on the Malibu shore. Kaylee's mom was an Olympic beach volleyball player, so she's dealing with the pressure of being compared to her mom and trying to reach her goals as an athlete wanting to go pro. Combined with the stress of relationships and trying to protect her heart, Kaylee is known for dumping her boyfriends quickly. This one is different though and Dean clearly isn't over her. Never Vacation with Your Ex is a romance story about two friends who are trying to figure out how to keep their friendship and not mess up the dynamic between the two families. This coming of age story really focuses on the emotional growth that Kaylee must go through. Austin & Emily have a way with words that connect the reader to the emotions of the characters and they have become go-to authors for me. Although there was a brief part of the story where I thought it was changing directions, I enjoyed this beachy read. It's perfect for a summer vacation read. I love this cover too, so of course I ordered the physical copy for my YA shelf.

Thank you to Penguin Teen for the digital ARC.

I will definitely share this book with some of my students. I loved the body positivity in this book and also the theme of not giving up on the things you care about. It's hard to find engaging books that are age appropriate for high schoolers, but I think this is perfect for the girls I have in my class to read over the summer. This was a page turner and it kept me guessing the whole time. It heavily reminded me of The Summer I Turned Pretty, which is so popular right now among teens. I am giving this a four star review because it is an amazing book for this age group and pretty much everything that I expected. Though it is not especially educational, it is surely entertaining.

Never Vacation With Your Ex by @austins_b and @wibbs_ink was a perfect vacation YA read!
I’ll admit, I’m way too old to truly understand the influencer lifestyle… but besides that, I so enjoyed reading about Kaylee and her attempt to help her ex Dean get over her!
Teen relationships are so new that they can end up over the top, and so can their breakups, especially when the families are intertwined.
Stuck vacationing with her ex and his family, Kaylee knows she can help him move on… but can she really?
A fun one from beginning to end!
#ilovetoread #yaliterature #newreleasetuesday

This cute YA romance, was entertaining, humorous, but also a bit on the peer pressure/serious side of YA life.
Enjoyable, binge worthy, a good overall title, relatable at moments, with it's dose of awkward, likable characters.

This was a well-developed and thoughtful YA romance. Kaylee and Dean are high achieving best friends (who are also exes) going on a family vacation. Their connection felt very real and I liked how their second chance at romantic connection developed. As the reader, Kaylee felt a bit hard to connect to during parts of the story. I wasn't quite sure what she was feeling because she seemed to be a bit all over the place. This might also be a situation of an adult trying to connect to younger characters but it didn't take me too far out of the story. I really liked the character of Dean and he seemed like a very good friend to her. Overall this was an enjoyable read and will pair perfectly with a day at the beach this summer. Thanks to Emily Wibberley, Austin Siegemund-Broka, Viking Books, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

Cute YA romance, but I don't see where it is going to set itself apart in that particular genre. It is missing a wow factor that would set it apart from other titles. Kaylee is one of those characters that readers will either enjoy or not. Because I'm not the market demographic, I didn't find her all that likeable. She whined too much for me, especially given that she created her own limitations and emotional mess, but I'm also an adult with two teenage daughters of my own. While I can certainly appreciate the teenage point of view, I cannot necessarily relate to it.

I love second chance romance stories, and I think many young teen readers will find that appealing in this one. The fact that Dean and Kaylee were friends first may enhance it even more for some readers! Never Vacation with Your Ex will be a good title for teen readers who want a fun read without heavy emotions. It also doesn't hurt that it has a good summer setting, making it a great beach read.

Thank you Netgalley and Viking Books for the opportunity to read this book.

I’ve realized it’s hit or miss for this duo authors books. There’s things I love and some things it feels very YA, which I have to remind myself I’m reading. But I do love second chance romances and I love animosity, and I felt that in this story.

What would happen if you had to vacation with your ex?! Well Kaylee feels that when she has to with her ex Dean, because every year their families vacation together. To make this a carefree, less stressful vacation, she hatched a plan and decides to tell Dean the rules to follow. But what happens when you start to re-fall in love.. well you go with the ride.

This book gives you childhood friends to lovers to second chances. I’ve never been in this situation, so I can only imagine the difficulties of it. I liked how the authors wrote about it, giving me a view of something I’ve never experienced.

Kaylee is a self-confident queen; she knows she’s hot shit and I love her for it. And then there’s sweet and sensitive Dean who’s going to hold onto love as hard as he can. This high school romance story was delightful, fun, and witty with a great group of side characters who made the book feel well-rounded. Kaylee’s struggle with perfection and expectations was well done and relatable.

Never Vacation With Your Ex is a sweet look at found family and expectations. Kaylee was a really likable character, and I felt all the pressure she was putting on herself. Dean was a great friend, and was so mature for his age. I thought the chemistry between all the characters was really well written, and I had a hard time putting this down.

I typically don’t pick up YA romance, but I am glad I took a chance on this one!! Thanks to the publishers/authors for an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

This was a sweet book to read. The relationship between Dean and Kaylee went through its ups and downs, like any relationship in real life. My favorite part of the book however, is the message to forge your own path rather than following is anyone else's footsteps.

Emily Wibberly and Austin Siegmund-Broka are back with a second chance YA romance following (former) best friends Kaylee and Dean as they navigate familial expectations, their dreams, and young love.

Kaylee is a talented volleyball player with a famous volleyball player mom; Dean is a young artist with a passion for photography. Together, they’re THE wonder duo. Until they start dating, and Kaylee, a notorious heartbreaker, breaks up with Dean. Right before the annual family vacation - with Dean’s family. What could possibly go wrong?

Wibberly and Siegmund-Broka are really good at writing realistic stories that don’t try to romanticize the difficult stuff. Some of the major themes in this book were overcoming perfectionism, people-pleasing, and not feeling good enough. All of which are so important and relevant for teens especially, and I thought that the authors talked about and handled them really well.

Kaylee’s character development was, in my opinion, pretty realistic. She’s juggling a lot of pressure and expectations that no teenager should have to deal with, and I think she grew a lot, especially when it came to her emotions and her perfectionism.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel (the romance was really cute, too!) and I can’t wait to read more from this author duo.

3 Stars Never Vacation with Your Ex is a second chance YA romance. There were strong themes of living up to familial expectations, going after your own dreams/desires, and of course, young love. I wasn't a huge fan of the characters in this book, which is how I felt about the characters in the last book I read by these authors, The Roughest Draft. The MCs are super likeable, which makes it hard to relate to them and enjoy the story.

I thought this was a cute YA read.
Never Vacation with Your Ex by Emily Wibberley; Austin Siegemund-Broka was cute, funny and such a fun story.
This summer love story was written well with some pretty great characters.
I didn’t really feel connected to the MC but I’m sure most YAs might.
But that never took anything away from the story. I enjoyed it from start to finish.
I was hooked once I started.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Viking Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Wow…
This was p.a.i.n.f.u.l.

I was so excited for this… and it was just terrible. I don’t even feel bad leaving a bad review because I think the authors actually wrote the most terrible main character under the illusion that she would be likable. They failed because she was absolutely the worst with no redeemable quality at all. From the very beginning of the book, she is entitled, incredibly full of herself… to the point of it being painful to read.

The premise of the book is that she is going on vacation with her ex. This specific ex (because she has many ((it’s like a whole big thing of hers)) is one of her best friends. More specifically, her childhood best friend; son of her parents best friends, whom she vacations with every single year.

Even though her parents warned her not to date this boy, who has been in love with her for years, she disregarded it and does whatever she wants to do on a whim, and then breaks up with him 2 months later, thinking that it won’t affect everyone else around her. Not to mention so callously breaking someone’s heart just for the sake of doing something because you feel like it.

I am so irritated and I just know that I will not be reading from these authors again. There was no chemistry between Kaylee and Dean. I didn’t even see the friendship chemistry that they were supposed to have. So this was just a definite no for me.

30% in and she broke up with him. But she doesn't explain why. And then she acts hurt that they're not together. AND THEN gets mad at him for saying he misses her. None of this makes sense and it does not make it entertaining. As this is the 2nd book by this author duo that I've DNF'ed, I don't think I'll be trying them anymore.

This was a cute YA romance that made me long for summer. Really enjoyed Kaylee’s character growth and how the book dealt with all the pressures that can come with competitive sports in high school. Fun read, perfect for the beach. *I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this so much. I loved the writing and just how messy Kaylee is. The anxiety, the yearning, the wanting, the mess. This was amazing. I love Dean and the way their families are close. This was just so great.

I'm going to be 100% that I was interested mostly because of the comp of Forgetting Sarah Marshall despite feeling a previous book was fairly average, but sadly that is exactly what this is for me...fairly average.

I was so excited for this book. After reading mainly fantasy series for the past few months I was so excited to refresh my system with a cute summer romance. While I partially received that, I was also ultimately disappointed. At the onset, I couldn't get into the flow of the story and found no relatable elements. Additionally the main character - for me - was SO incredibly unlikeable. I found myself, on multiple occasions, rolling my eyes and putting the book down because I couldn’t take her selfish whining anymore. The whole book seemed to focus on the same three problems and the main character never understood why people weren’t ever sympathetic for her. The story was incredibly self centered and the overall plot view was incredibly limited. Overall, this book did provide me with the much needed dose of summer and warmth that I have been craving but other than that, this book fell pretty flat for me.

"He's inscribed with memories, context I share with no one else. Our every conversation, every passing glance, reminds me of our years of friendship. It's a melody of endless reprises, of new variations on the wonderfully familiar. It's like nothing else. Until I ruined it, of course."

Never Vacation with Your Ex by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka is exactly what the title implies: a romcom following two former best friends as they navigate their annual family vacation together as exes. While this book isn't groundbreaking in any sense, as a young adult romance it achieves the parameters set by the genre, and is a quick, fun beach read.

Synopsis:
Kaylee Jordan perpetually lives in the shadow her Olympic mother. A pro right out of high school and an Olympic gold-medalist in her twenties, Kaylee's mother has set the volleyball standard, and Kaylee is determined to live up to it. Kaylee trains constantly, habitually checks player rankings, and has become a social media star, partnering with sportswear brands and volleyball companies to promote herself to the public. With her dedicated training schedule and pressure to live up to her mom, Kaylee's life doesn't have time for dating. Sure, she'll hang out with a guy for a month or two, but as soon as things get serious, Kaylee cuts the cord. Volleyball comes first, and everything else is secondary.
So when Kaylee falls for her best friend, she decides to give the relationship a shot, despite warnings from both sets of parents, and her history of breaking hearts. Kaylee and Dean make it a record three months before Kaylee unceremoniously dumps him with no explanation, shattering both their romantic and platonic relationship in a matter of minutes, and leaving both hearts broken. Still, despite her heartache Kaylee knows she made the right decision; relationships distract from training, and falling for someone isn't written in her Olympic plan.
Unfortunately, a month after their breakup, Kaylee's parents remind her that their annual vacation with Dean's family–the Freeman-Yus–is still happening, and for the next three weeks, Kaylee and her ex will sleep across the hall from each other. To avoid absolute misery, Kaylee proposes a plan to keep Dean from wallowing in his room: she's going walk Dean through her patented rules for getting over an ex. Dean agrees under the pretense of spending time with Kaylee, and the two begin their quest to help Dean move on.
Of course, as the days progress, Kaylee finds it harder and harder to encourage Dean to forget their relationship and fall for other people. On top of her newfound jealousy, the two families begin to experience tension as old grudges surface and new fights emerge. Suddenly the always heavy pressure has increased ten-fold for Kaylee, as she battles the image of her perfect life against the very real, not perfect feelings she's been experiencing. As the trip comes to strained end, Kaylee has to weigh her picture-perfect future against the present she so desperately wants, and the roles of both volleyball and Dean in her life.

Thoughts:
While this book does its job, nothing about it left me feeling awed, changed, or inspired. The plot is predictable from the the title, let alone the first page, and the writing wasn't amazing enough to make up for the content. I found Kaylee to be a relatively average narrator, and would have preferred to read from Dean's point of view side-by-side with Kaylee rather than her first person point of view the entire time. I didn't find Kaylee and Dean's relationship realistic or compelling, and would have much gathered they stay friends. The two lacked chemistry in every scene, and I found myself shipping Dean with other characters more than Kaylee.
I also hated the way the parents treated Kaylee. From the get-go they all blamed Kaylee for Dean's mood and the ruined vacation. Sure, she broke up with Dean, but she's a seventeen-year-old girl––blaming her for the choices made between two teenagers is ridiculous and childish. The tension between the moms was channeled into expectations for Kaylee, and everyone calling her out in public situations made me want to strangle someone.

Overall:
In the end, I found the whole situation unrealistic; not only the relationship between Kaylee and Dean, but the families in general. My feelings may be skewed as an adult, but I can't imagine any scenario where good––or even mediocre––parents would put their children into the situation this book presents. However, jaded twenty-two-year-old feelings aside, Never Vacation with Your Ex does make for a classic young adult beach book, and I think for ages 12-17, this would be a cute, fun read.