Holy shit. What a lovely book. Probably one of the best romances I've read in years. Had I known how much I would love it, I would've waited to read it a bit longer and tried to savor it instead of feverishly inhaling it in one day. Also goes in the hall of fame of emotionally-devastating romantic gestures and love declarations....I legit gasped. I though Joyce's debut was solid, but this one is god tier. If her next book is even a tiny bit better I'm afraid of what it will do to me.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Eli Mora’s dirty talk, Eli Mora’s chain, Eli Mora’s nickname for Georgia, Eli Mora’s paper rings.

this book is going to be part of the romance novel zeitgeist, hear you me

5 stars (at least!!!)

thank you so much to NetGalley and Berkley for the arc!!

This book... wow. I felt EVERYTHING while reading this: love, happiness, sadness, frustration, heartache. I laughed and I sobbed, I giggled and blushed and swooned. This is such a beautiful book in every single aspect. The story, the characters, the writing, the development. Its angsty, funny, heart-wrenching, endearing, and SO good.

I related so strongly to both Georgia and Eli, in so many ways. The way Georgia struggles with her own fears, anxieties, and abandonment issues. Eli’s anxiety, panic attacks, and the pressure he feels to find stability, even if that means sacrificing himself in the process. These are two incredibly well written characters, with a remarkable amount of depth and growth. Getting to see them grow as individuals and as friends/a couple was soso beautiful.

The romance in this book is SO good. It’s sweet, endearing, and full of love. It’s also heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, and angsty. The way Jessica Joyce tackled their love story was perfect. The bits and pieces of the past sneaking into the present moments made it hit so much harder. You can practically feel the undying love these two have for each other OOZING from the book. Eli and Georgia’s relationship full of chemistry, tension, love, banter, and care. Its also full of hurt, longing, desire, and devotion. The pining, the lingering touches and stares, the communication. Ugh, so SO good. THE PAPER RINGS??? THE CUPCAKE??? they are soulmates and you couldn’t convince me otherwise.

There is a million more things I would love to say about this book, but I’ll keep it all locked in until its released. Just know that I love Eli and Georgia, and this book was a life changing experience!!!

This is a second chance romance, with friends to lovers to strangers to lovers, forced proximity, and all of the emotions. HIGHLY recommend.

Thank you again to NetGalley and Berkley for the arc!!!

This is a second chance romance that takes place in beautiful Napa Valley. Two exes work together to plan a wedding for their best friend in one week after his wedding venue burns down.

Georgia first met Eli her Sophomore year of high school at her best friend Adam’s house. Adam’s home is warm and welcoming while hers is cold and lonely – her mother left when she was three and her father works all the time. Eli and his two younger sisters moved to town to live with their aunt when his dad lost his job and Adam welcomes him into their friend group. Georgia and Eli become best friends and fall in love. After college they move to New York together and then something happens to break them apart. Now it’s been five years since they lived together and the story alternates between the present and flashbacks to the past.

Adam asks Georgia and Eli to travel to Napa Valley for him and finish the plans for his and his fiancé, Grace’s upcoming wedding after a series of wedding planning disasters. Adam’s family owns the vineyard where the wedding will take place and both Georgia and Eli worked there when they were teens during the summers. Adam needs their help to line up a cake and a DJ. While Georgia and Eli spend time together working on the wedding, I could see how much they still cared for each other.

Georgia and Eli both have their own reasons for wanting to help Adam with his wedding. Eli feels like he hasn’t been a good friend because he's been so busy with work he has missed important events with them, like the bachelor party. He asks Georgia to promise to let him help with the wedding plans so he can show everyone that they can count on him to be a good friend and best man. Georgia sees her relationships with her friends changing as they pair up. She worries she won't see them as often especially when the company she works for has asked her to relocate to Seattle.

My favorite parts of the story are when they are at the vineyard with the beautiful courtyard and pool. I would have liked to hear more about their time working there as teens. There is a lot of angst and tension between Georgie and Eli as they remember what happened when they were a couple and I missed the humor of her first book..

There are some wonderful side characters, both family and friends and it’s really sweet when Georgia and Eli get their second chance at love. Thank you to the author, Berkley and NetGalley for the advanced copy of The Ex Vows.

Thank you to Berkley for giving me access to an advanced readers copy. I truly appreciate it.

I remember reading the Christmas/new year short story that Joyce had released most recently and that quickly turned me into a fan. Then I read You with a View and immediately added her to my auto-read authors. I know that going into The Ex Vows I was going to love this and it excessed all of my expectations. Joyce is such a talented writer and I strongly believe that she understands what it means to depict/show longing and desire. She just gets yearning and it is evident in all of her body of work so far.

I was extremely invested in not just the main couple, Georgia and Eli but also their friends! This is a testament to Joyce’s storytelling ability and her writing skills because all the rest of the characters felt real, not like caricatures. All too often in romances people don’t have friends that they can lean on but we see the support system that both Eli and Georgia has and that made the book even better.

I also think Joyce really captures that feeling of being scared about watching the trajectory of your friends’ lives as they get married and move and have kids while you are trying to still figure out how your friendship fits into the new lives they have created.

What a wonderful book from start to finish.

Sorry to everyone who thinks this book is about them. This is MY book. A childhood friends to lovers second chance romance where the FMC is 15 years old when she meets the love of her life?

Jessica Joyce is a master at her craft. Perfection isn’t real but this book? This book would be right there if it were. From the MCs to the friends of to the characters who only pop up for a second, everyone was a joy. Found family will ALWAYS have a profound space in my heart.

The anxiety rep? Wow.

I’m so jealous of everyone who will get to read this for the very first time.

I am in an online book group and there was a discussion because a member said romance books are awful because they are always written horribly. I instantly became enraged because that’s the farthest thing from the truth. And this book is the prime example. This book was full of deep emotions. There was so much longing, loneliness and feeling like you can’t be yourself with the people that love you. Georgia ripped out my heart. I am glad we were able to spend so much time in her head and really get to know her. Eli was also an amazing character. This was a beautiful book and I loved it so much.

I’M NEVER RECOVERING FROM THIS BOOK IT WAS SO GOOD.

i think this is jessica’s best book yet. this is literally the best second chance romance book i’ve ever read. the intensity, the tenderness, the pain, the pure love - absolute perfection!!! eli and georgia’s story is so perfect. i 100% recommend reading this.

a huge huge thank you to netgalley and berkley for the arc!

RATING: 4.25/5 STARS

Jessica Joyce's second novel is a winner! I'm convinced she has mastered the craft of second chance romances. THE EX VOWS had the perfect amount of tension and longing between the two main characters. There was excellent chemistry between Georgia and Eli. I loved how they addressed their issues with mental health and insecurities in order to grow in their relationship and set a fresh path forward. They were so honest and vulnerable with each other, which added a lovely richness to their well-earned HEA. This entire book was also very Taylor Swift-coded around the song Paper Rings, so that was a bonus surprise!

Is this real life? I’m stumped for words. This was one of the most beautiful, romantic books I’ve ever read. I have never rooted for a couple more than I did for Eli & Georgia. The little moments in this book were so heartfelt & tender & I couldn’t love it more. I sobbed my eyes out multiple times, parts really took my breath away. Beautiful writing, beautiful story of second chances, & a beautiful ending. I adored it.

Absolutely stunning book. Jessica Joyce crafts a love story that is tender, sexy and funny. The longing between the main characters was palpable and I felt so many emotions reading this. I loved how she handled the trope of second chance romance- with memories and flashbacks that felt well-placed and served the overall story. Her writing was just gorgeous and I found myself re-reading and highlighting so many quotes that resonated me. I also appreciated the overall character growth which was so important to this romance. Already can’t wait to read this one again! Thank you Berkley Romance and Netgalley for my copy.

Oh. My. God! Blown away, completely blown away! Two words – Fan.Tastic! I just know it’s already going into my reads of the year shelf, this year! I am so in love with Georgia and Eli, I can’t even explain. Everyone needs to have a love like theirs. I adored it.

Jessica Joyce has absolutely done it again, because this was perfection. The way she writes the funniest, most heartfelt, gut-wrenchingly beautiful characters and stories is simply unmatched. I was so immersed in this story that I genuinely couldn’t think about anything else. I LOVE Georgia and Eli like they’re my own friends and I’ll be thinking about them forever.

These characters feature so much depth, and perhaps that’s what makes them so relatable. I consistently saw little bits of myself in Georgia: her fear of needing people, the way she tries to solve everyone’s problems and predict their needs, and the way she works so hard to keep her emotions packaged up in a neat little box. I adored the way she learned that people want to support those they love, and what it means to truly be seen. It was reassuring to read that, yes, sometimes feelings can get messy, but it matters that they’re true.

The evolution of Georgia and Eli’s relationship was, in my opinion, wonderfully done. I loved the glimpses of their teen, college, and young adult years and how we as the reader were clued into who they both were at each stage. I loved that we saw their silly and serious sides. They were so tender with each other and there was so much longing (which is probably one of my favorite things about reading romance and Jessica knows how to write it). There’s something beautiful about second chances and I loved that while Georgia and Eli were giving each other second chances, they were also learning to trust themselves with such an important relationship. I appreciated that they approached their reunion with care and worked to be whole people before coming back together.

The way Jessica weaves little themes and motifs throughout the story might have been one of my favorite parts of reading it. Little nods to infinity/rings, and time, and change, and honesty added emotional continuity that kept me invested. Georgia’s inner monologue as she remembers moments, feelings, and conversations made me feel like I was experiencing them firsthand (which for me, is the mark of a great book). I felt her joy in goosebumps and her heartbreak in the pit of my stomach.

The Ex Vows was the perfect mix of sweet, heartbreaking, funny, sexy(!!), and heartwarming. I’m going to be thinking about these characters forever and am so excited to recommend this book to everyone I know!

Thank you so much to Jessica, Berkley Publishing, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. It was a dream come true to read and review!

SHE DID IT AGAIN 😭 SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP!! Actually read this while crossing the street bc I was almost done and had to go and COULDNT WAIT!!! Run me over idc, I just want this book tattooed on my heart.

After reading You, With A View last year, I’d already cemented @jessicajoycewrites as one of my favorite romance authors. Reading this only reiterated just how much I love her work and how much she accurately captures the essence of being young, messy, and utterly lost.

Y’all already know how much of a sucker I am for second chance romances—which is why I was so excited to read this when I first heard about its release. THIS is second chance romance done PERFECTLY. It’s such a beautiful love story that captures all the doubts, baggage, and heaviness that the past can bring—and how delicately ingrained it is in the way we love and learn to love.

But this isn’t just a love story. It’s also about growing up, learning to find our place in our friends’ increasingly busy lives—and doubting whether there’s room for it. There’s also such a beautiful representation of anxiety here in an incredibly multi-faceted way; written with so much empathy and tenderness that I couldn’t help but fall in love with every single character in this book. It was also such a fitting read for me—so so in sync with where I am in life. I want to read it again; I want to get lost in the story Jessica so BEAUTIFULLY writes. CAN WE ALL FAST FORWARD TO JULY SO I CAN ANNOTATE A PHYSICAL COPY TO DEATH THANK YOU.

The Ex-Vows is a heartwarming romance of going back to your love as different people and still being completely in love but better.

I have never related more to a character than how I did with Georgia. I loved this book so much. Jessica keeps getting better and better and I don’t know how it’s possible.

Everyone needs to read this book.

I adored The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce. Just like her first book, Joyce did an incredible job of creating tension between the main characters. I enjoyed the banter and history between Georgia and Eli. Their relationship sort of reminded me of the couple from You Deserve Each Other (by Sarah Hogle). I liked that instead of a third-act breakup, the author did something a little different. I also liked that Georgia and Eli worked on themselves before getting back together....yay therapy representation! I found this book super cute....especially Eli's paper rings 😍
The only complaint I had was some of the passages felt unedited. Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC.

This book was absolute perfection for me!! It had me gushing, tensing, swooning, drooling and panting over Eli and Georgia’ love story. And, I finished it with the biggest grin on my face. It was the perfect blend of heart warming and an angsty romance.