🎧 PRH Audio Review 🎧

Georgie and Eli once were inseparable, but a bad breakup caused a rift that pushed them miles apart.

Now they are forced to put their differences aside and come together in a different way- for the wedding of their best friends. Serving as best man and maid of honor, the pair each take on vows of their own- promising to be civil, be present, and most importantly, be resistant to feelings for one another that never really went away.

But when the bride and groom to be run into a venue related snafu of their own, it takes Eli and Georgie to work together in the name of the love, even if it means spiting the rules that have successfully kept them at arm’s length for all these years.

The Ex Vows is the latest release by newly popular romance author, Jessica Joyce. I read and enjoyed You, With A View enough to give this a try, but I will say that unlike many others, I wasn’t blown away by either story.

My main problem with The Ex Vows was I’m still uncertain what Georgie and Eli’s big problem was. We are thrown into the after, but never really get much of the before to really process the rift, or to root for the reunion. Their coming together to fix odd wedding related mishaps also felt odd and misplaced, as did the couple they were coming together for in the first place which barely made it into a story of which they were the catalyst.

I know I’m in the minority with this review and I’m ok with that. But The Ex Vows is one book I wish I had a stronger bond with.

This is probably the best contemporary romance I read in 2024. It's hard to explain how much I loved this book. Everything about it was pure perfection. Honestly I thought I would never love this one as much as I loved You, with a View but Jessica Joyce outdid herself with The Ex Vows. Eli and Georgia were utterly perfect in their imperfect and messy relationship and I just wanted to never stop reading about them. I can't wait to read more from Joyce!

Huge thank you to @berkleypub @berittalksbooks @thephdivabooks @dg_reads and @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Georgia and her lists…have I ever identified more with a character trait? Probably not. Anyway, Georgia is a task orientated list maker and one of her many lists include a do and don’t list regarding her ex. Eli and her just happen to be sharing best person duties for their mutual best friend and they need to make sure their history doesn’t get in the way of Adam’s wedding day. One disaster after another leads to the wedding and it’s up to Georgia and Eli to put the wedding back together and in the process they find a second chance at love.
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I loved all of these characters and Joyce did such a great job of establishing their relationships from high school to current time. I was totally invested in these characters!

I love Jessica Joyce and her writing style. I loved You, With a View and The Ex Vows was just as good. Georgia and Eli had such an honest and consuming relationship. I loved watching their relationship develop throughout the book. The writing was done so well and the chemistry kept me hooked. I also loved all of the friendships present in this book. Those details always make a big difference for me as a reader.

Thank you so much to Berkley Romance for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was my first book by this author, and won't be my last.
I really enjoyed this book!
I enjoy the friend group dynamic (because I don't have one lol!). I think it brings a lot of depth to the relationship, and a lot of history. Best friends to lovers and second chance romance? I'm so in.
This book did not disappoint! I can't put into words how much i enjoy this read <3

Thank you for this early eard! I absolutely loved this book! I read it so quickly and was just hooked to the characters and story. This book was packed with intense tension, and I was shipping Georgia and Eli sooo much even from the very start. Their relationship broke my heart and mended it back together. I felt like they were so believable. The character growth was so well done individually and with them together. I just loved every aspect of this book. The tension between the exes, the stress of getting the wedding all planned in such a short amount of time kept me hooked. I found myself not being able to read fast enough because I needed to know what would happen next. Georgia "Peaches" and Eli are on my list of favorite couples now. They brought out the best in each other as they began to get to know who they each were after 5 years of being apart. The friends to lovers to estranged exes was so well done. They history between them was palatable and so heart breaking. You can't help but root for them to mend their relationship and past hurts.

I now need to read every book Jessica Joyce writes.

I'm not usually a fan of second chance romances but I did really enjoy this one, it was pulled off very nicely! I feel like Jessica pulled off the realities of relationships and what needs to go into them for them to work, Eli and Georgia's relationship felt so realistic and relatable. I was really rooting for them to work it out and find their happiness!

I really enjoyed this book.

I thought that the characters, trauma, storyline and plot was written well. I always love a book with sexual tension and some angst. I love these characters, history, and I loved more than anything it ended.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book and would buy it for myself

This is going to live RENT FREE in my head for a long, long time. I just love a second chance romance, and this MMC has absolutely set the standard. I absolutely enjoyed reading this. Some romances tend to feel unrealistic but this just felt so genuine and authentic and they felt like real people I may know in real life. This was charming, funny, and wholeheartedly sweet. Jessica Joyce you can do no wrong!

4.5 stars!! THIS WAS SO GOOD!! I basically devoured this book in the span of 24 hours and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Jessica Joyce’s writing is so fast paced and easy to digest while still holding so much emotion and meaning. I love Georgia and Eli and their story and I was kicking my feet and giggling when things worked out for them in the end and they got their happily ever after. Highly recommend for all my romance lovers!

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

“We can be all those things—good, bad, easy and needy, okay or not on an endless cycle—and trust that the other will stay. Our circumstances are messy, but so is life. It doesn’t mean that we can’t love each other through it. We already are."

I was so hesitant about reading this because second chance romance is one of my least favorite tropes, but ahhh this ended up being so good. This was a mixture of hilarious and heartwarming moments; it tugged at my heartstrings and pulled them back together all at once. This story is a great reminder that nothing has to be perfect, it is more realistic because it is messy. Being married is not an easy fare and I think Jessica Joyce writes romance for the readers who are aching for something desperately real and raw.

Thank you so much to @berkleyromance for the gifted copy of The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce (as well as the e-ARC)! 💖

This absolutely took over my life in the best way possible! I loved learning the backstory of Georgia and Eli and being able to experience their romance when they slowly found themselves gravitating toward each other. I’m not usually a big fan of second-chance romance - but this was beautifully done.

Beyond the romance and the sweet, endearing moments, the friendships were front and center! It was beautiful to be able to see a very real character going through growth in their 20s and finding themselves. It added more to the overall romance and story to make it relatable and so well done.

This was an amazing second chance romance, and probably one of my favorite romances of the year at that! SCRs can be a bit tricky as a trope imo, because you need to establish so many different pieces and plot points for both the initial/past conflict to feel legitimate AND for the later inevitable coming-back-together feel EARNED....and Jessica Joyce did that in ACES. Eli and Georgia are both wonderful, well-developed characters in their own right, filled with so much depth and passion and warmth and.... humanity. Honesty. They felt like people I knew or could be friends with in real life and, whether they ended up together or apart, I found myself falling in love with them as people and truly rooted for them and their respective happiness as individuals (and of course as a couple). JJ has a way of writing that really makes both her characters and the setting she chooses for them really leap off the page; it's magical. I would highly recommend this book and it most certainly won't be my last from her either!

An absolutely stunning second book from Jessica Joyce. Her prose is extraordinary, and her ability to develop a story that draws the reader in and refuses to let us go until we reach the very last word is a unique talent.

Something I love about Jessica's two books is her use of objects as anchor points for the story. At the first introduction of the objects, they may not appear to be significant, but as the story continues, and the objects keep returning, they become more and more important. In the Ex-Vows, the paper rings are that object and when it's revealed at the end just how significant they are, I was SOBBING.

The love story between Georgia and Eli is bittersweet, and tender, and fierce, all at the same time. It's a second chance romance trope done so brilliantly, because the time spent between breakup and reunion really allowed each MC to grow and find their own life path, allowing them, when they come back together, to approach their relationship with more maturity and clarity and improved communication.

I will read anything Jessica writes.

Thanks to Berkley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

The amount of times I cried. Look, I'm going to need my emotions back.
Why was this just the perfect lovestory and a second chance one at that which I highly do not like because why didn't y'all fight harder for each other and this book does a great job of explaining exactly that while also taking me on an emotional Rollercoaster.

Georgia and Eli are so freaking perfect for each other I cannot. The chemistry and love between them is too cute.

I also really enjoyed the whole friend group in general. Like Adam is such a good best friend (as is Jamie) and omg Cole was definitely the sarcastic broody side character I needed.

I loved the anxiety rep as someone who lives with it daily the author really did invoke just how crazy and sometimes misunderstood anxiety really is. And exactly how dumb it may look from an outsider without it but just how much it's killing the person with it.

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy and I'm kicking myself for waiting this long to finally pick it up.

I just don’t really like this. I have a hard time with second chance romance and this book is why. They start hooking up again before they have an actual conversation and I just hate that. Also I don’t really like book that take place around weddings. Overall not the book for me.

that was messy in every way possible. the messiness IS the plot. Georgia and Eli are both messy individually and as a couple.

Adam, their mutual best friend, is getting married in less than 2 weeks but the wedding prep so far is a myriad of disasters. literally nothing went right. the peak is when their supposedly wedding venue caught on fire so they need to find a new venue and basically starting the ceremony-related prep from scratch. being the good best friends, at the same time Georgia and Eli volunteered to help fix things on the new venue and Adam was thrilled so they couldn't refuse even if that meant they have to work together and help each other after they had a messy broken up 5 years ago. and because they came to meet every vendor together, those vendors always assumed that they're the ones who's getting married. and they're too tired to correct them.

so in short, this book is about wedding prep simulation between a couple of exes in less than 2 weeks.

when the book started, it's already full of history since Georgia and Eli met at high school, became best friends with Adam, turned into a couple, then turned into strangers after they break up but still putting on "we're okay" act whenever they're around Adam.

when the roots of their break up 5 years ago, i was a little frustrated because they were just only 23!!! SO young!!! very understandable that they didn't have their shits together.

i didn't really care about he wedding prep stuff. it's really messy to the point that it's unbelievable. but the last chapters, when Georgia and Eli finally TALK, really touched my heart. i wept a little.

The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

After loving the debut from this author, I was excited to pick this one up and it did not disappoint.

I enjoyed the circumstances and relationship arc of the second chance romance and these main characters. The MC was nearly picture perfect and definitely written by a woman. 😂👏🏻

I listened to this on audio and enjoyed the performance! Thank you @prhaudio for the review copy. I definitely would recommend this format!

Perfect for you if you like:
Second chance romance
Forced proximity
There’s only one bed
When a person is home 🥹
Paper rings 💞

As their HS best friend (Adam) is getting married, exes Eli and Georgia must work together to solve numerous wedding issues. After hardly speaking since their breakup 5 years before, they have to put Adam first and get along. And eventually they hash it out over why they broke up in the first place.
I'm not usually a fan of the second chance trope but I really liked this one! Their breakup reasoning was extremely believable and their mental health struggles were too. I loved how Joyce wrote about the individual growth that was necessary for both Eli and Georgia.

Read if you love:
-winery settings
-"Paper Rings" by Taylor Swift
-themes of loving someone despite their mess
-found family
-some spice but easily skippable if that's not your thing