ARC Review: "THE EX VOWS" by Jessica Joyce

Hello readers!
Today we're talking about an upcoming release for this summer which, thanks to Random House UK, I've read in advance: The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce. Please, be aware there will be spoilers because I can't talk about the themes discussed in the story without revealing some aspects of the book.

Title: The Ex Vows
Author: Jessica Joyce
Publishing Date: July 16, 2024
Publisher:  Berkley/Penguin Random House UK
Pages: 484
Price: $19.00 (paperback)

Plot: 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 from the USA Today bestselling author of You, with a View .
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.

Review:

Rate: 5 stars!⭐

**ATTENTION** SPOILERS

First of all, again, I huge thank you to the publisher for the free book. 

Secondary, together with Funny Story and From Lukov with Love, THIS goes absolutely at the first place of my book of the year chart.

I've discovered Jessica Joyce last year, when I spotted You, with a view between the summer new releases, and I fell in love with it. It wasn't just an enemies to lovers summer trip novel, but a story of multiple love relationships, some lost, others ready to bloom, in a perfect picture of life: not always happy, with painful moments, but real. I really enjoyed the depth Jessica put in her book, that's why I asked for The Ex Vows arc, and she didn't disappoint me at all.

Even if I appreciated YWAV and this author's writing style, I wasn't prepared to love this book SO much. Because it's so GOOD, readers, believe me. So good I can't stop myself being emotional thinking about it.

I honestly thought I would have read a more light-hearted story; instead, I found something that I'll cherish in my heart forever. I was already in love at the end of the prologue, really. As I've already told Jessica, maybe it was just the right time to read it, but this romance resonated so much with myself I couldn't not be affected by Eli and Georgia's journey.

We start at a point we readers know so well: the upcoming wedding of their best friend - and the phantomatic curse that seems determined to ruin everything - forces the exes Eli and Georgia to work together to save the event from an easy disaster. The main reason of their breakup is explained in the early chapters of the book, but it hides so much more, and we unravel it during the whole story.

From an external point of view, it's clear as day they love each other, and while it was so frustrating seeing Georgia pull Eli toward her and then push him away, Jessica was a master to make us taking time to understand why the path that will lead them back to each other isn't so easy as it seems. Because some inner wounds don’t totally heal, even after years, and the fear to be left heartbroken again isn't easy to ignore. And again, that’s not all. While Eli has already started a journey to be better for himself and the people he loves, Georgia has yet to face her faults in the ending of their relationship and her inner fears, before making another try.

I really appreciated that, after her comprehensible anger and hurt toward Eli, Georgia gradually acknowledges she could have reacted differently and that could have made a difference, both for her boyfriend and herself. But they were both spiraling in different kinds of anxiety and uncertainty and didn’t know how to get out those conditions, stop being miserable and see the person they love the most suffering. Their walls came up and, nonetheless they were a couple, they became lonely even before their breakup. That until Georgia decided to choose herself over a life of unhappiness. And my heart broke, not only because she felt she wasn’t worth Eli’s time and attention and not enough to push his resolution to stop an unhealthy working situation that was ruining his life, but also (and above all) for Eli's understanding her decision to escape that "dark whole" that their relationship became, at the point he didn't stop her precisely because he was choosing her happiness too, and it was with him.

How couldn’t I not love this guy?

Finally a male character who isn’t afraid of his feeling and is so good to communicate them (underlining the importance of therapy, of course), but at the same time always respects Georgia, waiting for her to be ready for a real confrontation. And that’s not all, because we’re talking about Eli Mora. He always gives Georgia space and time to express what she wants and, most of all, he searches her consent in every physical approach. He’s so patient with her and kind, as much as sexy in closed-doors situation I can’t complain AT ALL – thanks, Jessica.

The surprise for me was the more I read, the more I appreciated Georgia too. Her fierce love for her friends, her tenaciousness to do everything she can to save Adam and Grace’s wedding, the way she wanted to protect her group of people because she doesn’t want to make them suffer for her (or Eli’s) choices. Someone could have just been selfish and jump into this second chance without looking back, but it’s clear that a part of her puts the happiness of her loved ones even before hers. And if this isn’t already enough, her people pleaser attitude and the constant idea of not being enough for the people she loves wrecked me, reminding to much about myself. I could see and feel her fears to be left alone and put aside clear as mine, and I adored how, thanks to Eli, she arrives to show this part of herself to her friends, plus their reactions. This book has clearly one of the best healthy friendship relationships I’ve ever read about – not to mention Adam and Eli. Their little gestures toward the other were so sweet and true they made my heart clench. 

And then, there’s Georgia’s terror toward her feelings for Eli. I think that what terrifies her the most was to feel hope about her and Eli together again, just to face a reality where he would still put work before her, back to spiraling in its anxiety, shutting her out, and she would feel small and too emotionally dependent on him. I totally understand it and I loved the fact that Jessica underlined the fact that someone have to be happy with themselves first to be ok, because if there’s something wrong (work related or not), if not faced and resolved, it could affect other aspects of their life, relationships included. Plus, several times during the story Jessica draw the attention to the importance of communication between partners. Georgia wasn’t able to express her unhappiness with Eli, because she felt she would become another burden on him so he’ll eventually leave her for someone better as her mother did in the past. At the same time, Eli didn’t face their problems with Georgia, focusing on keeping his job with the idea that the situation would become more bearable in the future. They didn’t talk, really, and so the only choice left was to break up.

Fortunately, Eli’s love for Georgia was stronger than what they both thought.

So, it’s obvious that to overcome all those elements, these two needed time (and tons of Eli’s patience). I won’t tell you how the novel ends, but I can say that for once an author gave her main characters the proper time and pages to arrive to an appropriate closure without rush.

At last, I also appreciated the idea of work presented: having a job is essential to live, we’re aware of that, but it couldn’t and mustn't become our entire life. Doing something we love is also a great bonus, and we should try new opportunities if they feel right to us, even if they imply some changes. Who knows what they could bring us.

Aaand that’s it. Thanks again to the publisher for this free book and Jessica Joyce for this heartwarming story. I needed it. And then thanks to you, dear readers, if you gave me some of your time to read this long review.

 

To the next one!

Chiara