I was lucky enough to win an advance copy of YOU, WITH A VIEW by Jessica Joyce though a Shelf Awareness giveaway. Thanks for the early look, and have a safe and healthy winter!

Would you want to go on a week -long road trip?

We used to go on day road trips before we had my daughter, but after she was born, we stopped. Now that she’s a little older I think it would be fun to try again.

Noelle is unemployed and back to living with her parents. As she grieves the loss of her grandma she discovers decades old photos of her Gram and a man that she is clearly smitten. Noelle posts a video to TikTok and quickly learns that the man is her high school nemesis’s, Theo’s, grandfather. Noelle learns that Gram and Theo’s grandfather were supposed to set off on a honeymoon road trip – but that didn’t pan out. Now, Noelle and Theo begrudgingly take the trip together and make some discoveries along the way.

This book was beautifully written and held my interest. The road trip that they went on, is like a trip I would like to go on myself. I’d done the research and investigated it and then my plans changed. It did make it fun that I had learned about their stops. I couldn’t believe that this was a debut novel. Both Theo and Noelle were well developed, and they worked well together. The story was really sweet and I enjoyed it a lot.

Get it July 11th.

Thank you to the publisher Berkley Publishing, @berkleypub, @Berkleyromance, and Netgalley @netgalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sometimes you find a book that grabs your attention on page one and has you so sucked in that you emerge a few days later wondering where the time went. YOU, WITH A VIEW was that book for me. This book some of my favorite romance tropes--enemies to lovers, only one bed (yes, please)--along with a sweet story of long lost lovers, a road trip, and a viral video to boot. What more could a romance junkie ask for?!?! I loved Paul in particular--can he please be my grandpa too? Thank you to Jessica for the advanced copy and for writing such a wonderful book.

Synopsis: When Noelle finds out about a road trip her late grandmother planned to take with her first love, Paul, she decides she wants to go on the same adventure, hoping to learn more about her favorite person. The only catch is Paul’s grandson Theo is her high school rival and he’s joining too.

Thoughts: This book had a bit of everything: adventure, humor, a swoony romance, tender family relationships and a heartwarming plot. Told through a single POV, Noelle was a heroine that’s was easy to relate to. Like so many people in their 20s, she was struggling with her confidence and career, and it was nice watching her grow and rediscover her passions. With regards to the romance, her relationship with Theo was healthy, as they were not really “enemies” like this book was makeketed to be, and I love how supportive he was, especially about her photography career. Plus, once you hit about 50%, there’a wonderful spicy scenes. As this dealt heavily with grandmother/ grandfather relationships, I will say that Paul was my favorite character in the book. loved how he played matchmaker and had a special and open bond with Theo.

What’s not giving this the full five is that I found the book started off a bit slow. It wasn’t until about 20% that I started to feel invested in the characters and storyline. Also, for two people who used to be “enemies” and haven’t seen the other in years, I found it very fast to fall in love in just two weeks!

Read if you like:
-forced proximity
-traveling/ the west coast
-stories that deal with grief/ loss of a loved one
-meddling grandparents
-photography
-instant attraction

Thank you Berkley for the ARC!! Pub date 7/11!

Sometimes life is just wild, and getting the opportunity to advance read a romance that I don’t think I’ve ever anticipated this deeply is definitely up there. So you guessed it, I’m here to tell you all the things I loved about You, With a View. And spoiler alert, I loved it so much. Like probably an unhealthy amount? Trying to be cool (and failing) is my brand so, we might as well get right into it.

I’d like to thank Jessica and Berkley for the advance copy, thoughts below are my own, enjoy!

I’ve been sitting staring at my computer experiencing the sort of disassociation that can only come after I read a romance that kinda rocks my entire world. It’s not an unpleasant feeling, just a like subtle tectonic shift that you experience in slow rolling sensations. Where at the end you’re different. Not the same at all when you started.

Reading You, With a View changed me? Is that dramatic? LOL absolutely.

[The story, prose, and voice are so deeply familiar that I challenge anyone out there to not immediately fall in love with how Jessica not only writes but the effortless way she weaves together a plethora of emotions and moments both big and small. All while never losing sight of the authenticity she’s able to infuse within her world and characters. I loved it, your honor.

For anyone lucky enough to have had a close relationship with a grandparent (it’s me), this one will wrap its hands around your heart and squeeze (sometimes hard). The plot hooked me right away: ex high school rivals go on a road trip for a honeymoon that was planned but never happened between Noelle’s Gram and Theo’s Granddad. Oh and the Granddad Paul? He’s alive (FUCKING adorable) and very much tagging along.

I loved the relationship both Theo and Noelle have with Paul, and gosh did it make me miss my grandparents. Hug em if you got em ok?

There is so much growth over the course of this book, both in how Noelle views herself, how she works through the unrelenting grief of losing her Gram, and processing this “secrect” ex-beau from years before. There’s growth beyond the bickering her and Theo love to engage in (and honestly its basically their love language / foreplay). And there’s growth in moving beyond the limiting voices that sometimes take up a lot of space in our brains.

I loved the micro-tropes peppered throughout (hurt / comfort, only one bed) that feel like a delicious love letter to the genre. And wow these two have like, insane chemistry? Like truly next level deeply intimate soul-mate (but I’ll roast you a little) chemistry.

I felt so many things while reading this. Grief over my own lack of grandparents, the grief over lost years Noelle (and I) have experienced to those mean AF mentors that really get into your head (and heart) and do damage. Grief over Theo not thinking he could be enough. Grief over lost love.

But also a lot of joy. Deep, conscious, bubbly joy. Watching two ding dongs fall in love. Watching them support the sh*t out of each other. Watching them be imperfect and courageous, and scared but trying anyways. Dreamily sighing when Theo shows up in Tahoe. Laughing my ass off over the Peloton references. Truly this book. It’s everything its hyped up to be, and about 10x more.

It rearranged me. Hugged me. Made me a little heartsick. Made me hopeful. Made me feel seen. And THAT is the stuff magic is made of. You, With a View is headed to retailers July 11th 2023, and I hope you’ll pre-order, request it at your library, and pick it up wherever you get your books because it’s really special.

And uh that’s all we can ask for right? Really special books, written by folks that have pure magic pouring out of their brains. That’s all.

This book was so much fun! I adored it and the ending just put it over the top for me! I love the family connections in this story and the respect and love shown with the main characters and their grandparents. Noelle and Theo were dreamy and their banter and chemistry were off the harts! A very fun, well paced romance, and I look forward to seeing more by this author! I also loved how well she captured the awe and wonder of visiting so many beautiful sights out west! We'll be hand selling this beauty for sure and including it in our quarterly subscription boxes!

WHAT A DEBUT!!! I was so thrilled to read Jessica Joyce's debut. It's so exciting to discover a new talent. This book was near perfect and I will be recommending it to all of my romance-reading friends. Read if you like:

- adventure romances
- enemies to lovers
- he falls first
- family stories
- steam!

I want to carry these characters and their achingly sweet story around with me in my pocket forever. Anyone who wants to hurt Noelle or Theo has to go through me first! I hope they're out there right now as I type this, having the trip of a lifetime (and boning).

Light and sweet as roadside lemon meringue pie while following protagonist Noelle through a journey away from grief, familial expectations, and missed chances, this debut is expertly crafted and perfectly pleading from beginning to end.

the world isn't ready for this book. I WASN'T READY. theo...so hot. noelle...so funny. together, their chemistry was unbeatable. i was HOOKED on this book. it was a DRUG do you HEAR ME? i absolutely loved every single thing about this book and even through the third act break up that wasn't necessarily a breakup, there was such amazing communication. i am overjoyed by this book and desperate to continue following this author's career!!

This book is a journey. Not just for its characters--creative lost soul Noelle, her sexy and infuriatingly successful high school rival Theo, and his wise and kind grandpa Paul--but for the reader as well. Joyce holds the reader in safety, letting us settle into her dreamy, lyrical language while grinning at the expertly done back-and-forth banter between Noelle and Theo, all while exploring serious themes that somehow feel easy to look at at under her care: not just what it means to lose someone we love, but how to recover and reset when our personal dreams don't turn out quite as we hoped.

But saying it's a book about grief, or about growing up, or about going in circles to figure out where you need to land (which it is! all of that!), doesn't quite do it justice. Because this novel is full of bright moments of laughter and joy, and some seriously hot tension and steam that will live rent-free in your head for many days to come.

It is, simply, a joy from start to finish.

I am a writing mutual with the author but this opinion is given as my own, as an experienced romance reader and library worker. Thank you Berkeley and Netgalley for the ARC!

When I say I flew through this book, I mean that I need you to picture me as some human/Boeing X-37 hybrid breezing through pages at supersonic speed. (Did I just google fastest jet type for this? Yes, yes I did.)

I fell in love with these characters from page one (see, Noelle having to knock past a junk pile on her nightstand to find her phone, because is Noelle actually me?) and every page only made me love them more. There was such a natural flow of dialogue and tension between Theo (don’t get me started on the things I would do to Theo Spencer) and Noelle that it was impossible NOT to perch on the edge of your seat silently screaming at them to just KISS already, and boy, when they did…Whew. Beyond our lovebirds, seeing the closeknit relationship between Theo and his grandfather, and hearing about one between Noelle and her grandmother hit me particularly good. My Gran is my person, just as Noelle’s was hers, and it just added an extra layer of feels to an already overflowing-with-good-feels book. 💕

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔:

💞📚 - Theo Spencer. Period. The dimple. The sass. The grump. The flirting. I. Love. Him.
💞📚 - Noelle and Theo’s back and forth. The flirting between them never felt forced or awkward; it was just an absolute delight to read. I grinned like an idiot the entire time.
💞📚 - the PICTURES. Particularly, FOUR PICTURES. JESSICA KNOWS THE ONES. I HAVE SENT HER TO EMOTIONAL JAIL OVER FOUR PICTURES.
💞📚 - the secrets. Tell Me A Secret is just one of the cutest plot devices ever invented. No, I will not be taking arguments at this time.
💞📚 - THE TENSION. Seriously, for a good part of this book I felt like I was napping under a hydraulic press that had an edging kink. I absolutely lived for it. Jessica writes such good tension that felt so natural and carefully woven that it made me AGONIZE but in a DELICIOUS way.
💞📚 - Paul playing matchmaker. If it isn’t clear, I have a soft spot for elderly sidekicks in books. Paul was the perfect meddling grandpa that we all wish we had. (My own grandpa is a quiet, capable man who tells terrible dad jokes with an adorable laugh and is my favorite man to ever exist, but Paul is a close second.)

Basically, I loved this book. Like, loved with a capital L. It’s one I’m going to be thinking about for a long time. I am concluding this review with a promise that my new mission in life is to get a written promise that Jessica not only never stops writing books, but that she always sends them to me as soon as she can. (Once she gets out of emotional jail. Do you think she would succumb to a power play where I offer her a nail file in return for this written agreement?)

𝙵𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚀𝚞𝚘𝚝𝚎:

(My favorite quote is one of Noelle and Theo’s “Tell Me A Secret”s.)

“I wouldn’t stop you if you kissed me right now.” I say it quietly in case he changes his mind, but his eyes darken, his pupils dilating. He doesn’t move, though his mouth parts lile he can already taste it. “Now you.”

His breath dances over my lips. “If I kissed you right now, I wouldn’t stop”

*bites my pillow and screams*

And a runner up because I am a goblin and this is a gorgeous line:

He kisses like some people fuck: slow, deep, and dirty, with bitten-off noises that broadcast his need.

*screams into my pillow harder*

You, With A View has been one of my most anticipated 2023 reads since I first heard about it and I was so thrilled to get my hands on an ARC. This book is brimming with heart and is such an emotional, but fun ride. I loved Noelle and how she captures what it really feels like to be young and struggling, trying to figure out what your right way forward is. Her connection with her grandmother and her family was so heartwarming to read, and I really did love what a solid support network she had, especially in contrast to Theo. I loved reading her journey to discover her grandmother's past and her journey to re-discovering herself. Her love story with Theo is perfect and I am an absolute sucker for a good parallel. This book also masters the art of writing a closed off love interest and making the layers peeling back such a treat to enjoy. Noelle and Theo's banter is off the charts and I don't remember the last time a book had me wanting to yell "JUST KISS" so hard. Funny, tearjerking, and swoony, I cannot wait to have a physical copy of this on my shelf and to yell at all my friends to buy this when it is out.

This book was SO MUCH FUN!! But more than it being fun, Jessica explored grief so beautifully. This book was a literal journey and I’m jealous of anyone who will get to read this book for the first time.