The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce

e-Audio, 11:10:43
Narrated by: Kyla Garcia
Release Date: July 16, 2024
Published by: Books on Tape
Read from: July 28-29, 2024
Stand-Alone 
Source: PRH Audio App (I received a copy of this e-audio from the publisher and their influencer/librarian program in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Panic Attacks/disorder, Pregnancy, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, Infidelity, Misogyny, Toxic Relationship
For Readers Interested In: Romance, Realistic Fiction, Adult, Neurodivergent, Tear-Jerkers

    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.

*MY THOUGHTS*

I went into this with not so high expectations because I had only saw a few people who read it and they weren’t exactly raving about it. So I said screw it and went ahead and gave it a shot. And listen, I hit the 3 am club with this book. And I didn’t even mean to.

Idk what happened or how I got sucked into this book, but I couldn’t stop listening. I found myself trying to figure out what happened to them before they said it because I was like wtf could he have done that was so bad? And then I realized I just couldn’t stop listening. Because she was curbing him like a mo fo lol

The romance was good. I’m not usually a second chance romance girlie because they always break up the first time about some miscommunication or something that could have been avoided. And yep, this one was from a miscommunication, but by the time that’s told in the story, you’re at the end. She did her best to ignore him lol But I did want to point out that its in here because some people will get annoyed lol

I did feel like it was a bit repetitive tho. Like they kept going back and forth about the same thing without even acutally knowing what happened. I think if they had edited it down a little I would have been more ok with it. I just didn’t understand the back and forth. But when they finally got it together, I thought they worked very well together.

The part where I cried kind of snuck up on me. I wasn’t expecting to cry at all actually. But the grand gesture? As someone whose second love language is words of affirmation, this GUTTED me. I mean like it absolutely did. And the way it revealed itself was so like slow and they came from everywhere and Lordt I lost it. I don’t want to say anymore, but please know I was crying and didn’t even know I was crying. It was very sweet.

This was a surprise for me. Although there was some issues, I still enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. I don’t think I ever finished her first book, so how much I liked this was a big surprise. And now I have to go back and actually finish it to see if they’re all this way.

Overall, I give this

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