REVIEW: The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce

In The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce, Georgia Woodward would do darn near anything for the first best friend she ever made as a kid, Adam Kim, who is still her closest friend to this day. So, when his impending nuptials to Grace Song hits one calamity after another, Georgia goes into list-making, fix-it mode, determined to give them the best wedding ever. What she didn’t see coming was being teamed up with her ex-boyfriend–and the third person in her and Adam’s friendship trifecta–Eli Mora. They’ve barely spoken in the five years since they broke up. Not that Georgia or Eli have let on to Adam. Nope. They came up with a list of ways to make their friendship work without tipping everyone off that they’ve never sat down and talked things out.

‘We aren’t the twenty-year-olds who loved each other but hadn’t said it yet. We’re the twenty-eight-year-olds who said it hundreds of times and still broke each other’s hearts.’

After even more wedding trouble happens, Georgia and Eli agree that they’re going to have to work on their to-do list together instead of separately as they initially planned. But they weren’t counting on how nostalgic it would make them to be back in their own Napa Valley stomping grounds. The place where teenage Eli and Georgia began to fall in love. If she’s truly being honest, she knows that the love between them was never at fault. It was the outside world and their childhood insecurities that pushed them apart. And after a few years of soul searching since that fateful December night–and Eli finally taking control of his life–Georgia has a feeling that if she can put her fear aside, they might just get their happy ending after all.

‘This is a very bad, horrible idea, my brain screams, but my body presses closer. Eli’s arms tighten, fingers digging into the small of my back. “Georgia,” he whispers…

THE EX VOWS kept me under Jessica Joyce’s spell the entire way through with vivid emotions, both tender and raw, and a lovely second chance romance that was five years in the making.

“When I say I’m still in love with you, I mean the first time I saw you and right now. I mean every second in between.”

CW: View Spoiler »Anxiety & panic attacks, child neglect & abandonment (historical) « Hide Spoiler

Murphy’s Law was alive and well in THE EX VOWS, where everything wedding related that could possibly go wrong did–over and over again. But more than the laughs and the poor groom, Adam, bemoaning a supposed curse, it was the powerful, all-encompassing love between Eli and Georgia that brought me to my literary knees. I couldn’t get enough of them. They are one of my favorite romance couples so far this year. (And there have been some amazing ones so far!) The camaraderie of all of their friends and how real their interactions were was the icing on top.

I think what sealed the deal for me was how Jessica Joyce showed us every single emotion Georgia and Eli contended with–but all without being overly dramatic. There wasn’t any animosity between them. They didn’t bicker and argue. They didn’t bad mouth each other to their friends. Instead, Eli and Georgia were still very, very much in love. But their own personal needs and issues overtook their relationship. It was heartbreaking to look through their eyes at their past, how it all broke down, and how painful it was being on different coastlines for five long years.

But the moments we saw of Georgia and Eli initially falling in love over time before it all fell apart as well as giving into their feelings now? That was pure gold. Something that I think romance readers will swoon over. I certainly did. Speaking of swooning, Joyce gave our deserving couple the most sentimental, sweet, touching, and poignant happy ending that I seriously want to go back and read again right now. I’m giving *all the stars* to this keeper shelf-worthy reunion romance and hope you enjoy it just as much as I did.

QOTD: What was your last keeper shelf-worthy read?

Book Info:

Publication: Published: July 16th, 2024 | Berkley |

Estranged exes must stick close together to save their best friend’s wedding after a string of disasters in this swoony and steamy second-chance romance.

Georgia Woodward lives by her lists, none more so than the one about her ex, Eli Mora. It’s full of the ironclad dos and don’ts they’ve been following since she returned to the Bay Area after their cataclysmic breakup five years ago.

With the wedding of their mutual best friend, Adam, looming, and them about to step into their roles as best woman and man, Georgia’s never needed it more. She refuses to threaten their tight-knit friend group with her messy—and still very present—feelings. The rules on that list will keep her cool, calm, and compartmentalized.

What’s not on her list? Eli arriving from New York with a new rule-breaking attitude or the all-inclusive venue burning to the ground, leaving the bride and groom in dire straits. Nor does she anticipate Adam asking her and Eli to help him make a miracle happen. Together.

As Georgia and Eli rush up to Napa Valley to pull off the perfect wedding, their old chemistry comes back in technicolor. Somewhere between cake tastings gone wrong, disastrous DJ auditions, and Eli’s heated attention, Georgia starts recognizing the man she fell in love with before. And if she lets herself break her rules, she might find what they’re building isn’t the something old that ruined them—it’s a chance at something new.