I get it now, the intense hype for Jessica Joyce. The Ex Vows is an angsty, emotional story about childhood friends who once took a shot at love and missed, coming back together for their best friend’s wedding and finding the embers still burning deep.
Georgia and Eli had a connection ever since they met as kids, which manifested in a tight-knit friend group that never wavered. That is, until they finally recognized deeper feelings one summer at the vineyard, and that changed everything. But they were young, and stupid, and were too good at ignoring their problems until they were too big to handle. Fast forward a few years, and their third wheel best friend Adam has found his person and they’re getting married. It’s not the first time Georgia and Eli will see each other since the breakup, but nine days? It might as well be an eternity. With a wedding that is cursed with the worst possible luck, and Georgia and Eli as the fixers, the two of them are seeing far too much of each other to maintain the careful avoidance they’ve practiced for years. It’s time to finally face the truth.
I should probably only give this book five stars, but this is a case of the prose making it impossible to rate it lower. Jessica Joyce can write, y’all. The way she builds an emotionally wrought scene in the present while pulling backstory and flashbacks in those same moments without losing focus is immaculate. It’s the kind of writing I want to do. So yeah, five stars.
My problem with the story itself I think stems from Georgia’s personality? It’s consistent, at least, but she gives herself so many problems by being a people-pleaser at any cost, especially to herself. She feels like she has to earn her relationships, that if she doesn’t invest in them consistently, smooth out any discomforts that might arise, her friends might realize they don’t need her and she’ll lose them. It’s a deep hurt that stems from her family life, and it’s still a very real part of her daily life.
This book explores a prioritizing friends culture I’ve never experienced. For these folks, friendship is everything. It covers a lot of versions of friendships being tried and tested. It’s something very important to Georgia. Maybe too important? But that’s probably being conflated in my mind with her aptitude as a major pushover.
Aside from that, this story has heaps of swoon-worthy romance. As I mentioned before, she uses just enough of the history between Georgia and Eli to make us burn and yearn for them in the present. I really appreciated that these flawed characters in the end earned their happy ever after.
Read it for the prose, read it for the redemption, read it for learning from clumsy mistakes. Read it for the immersive summer vineyard vibes. Read it because this is the kind of love story that demands a place in your thoughts for a long time after you’re done turning the pages.
Details
Title:: The Ex Vows
Author:: Jessica Joyce
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: Berkley
Length:: 390 pages
Audio Length:: 11h 10m
Audiobook Narrator:: Kyla Garcia
Published:: July 16th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars
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