THE EX VOWS BY JESSICA JOYCE
Pages: 400 | Publisher: Penguin | Published: 18.07.2024
Synopsis
Georgia Woodward and Eli Mora broke up five years ago so they’re definitely over each other… right?
When they’re thrown together at their best friend’s wedding, sparks fly – quite literally when the venue burns down a week before the big day. Now, it’s up to Georgia and Eli to get everything back on track.
As they rush to put on the perfect wedding, old feelings start to resurface. And now there’s only one bed…
Jumping back in is terrifying, but this time will love be worth the risk?
Review
I’m an absolute sucker for second chance romance. I love when characters have history and I absolutely loved their history in The Ex Vows and how they worked through it and the baggage that comes with it. The characters and their dynamics in general were so well written, the friendships so full of love of so many kinds. I also liked the glimpses into Georgia and Eli’s past relationship, how they went from friends to lovers but also stayed friends, and how they have such a wonderful friendship with their mutual friend Adam as well. I don’t even know how often I cried during this book. I lost count. But there were so many situations that made me tear up, both happy ones and sadder ones. The Ex Vows was perfectly executed from start to finish and I miiight have found a new favourite romance book.
YOU MIGHT LIKE THE EX VOWS IF YOU ENJOY
second chance romance | friends to lovers | mental health | green flag friend groups | platonic love | fun wedding disasters | list making | found family | characters in their late twenties
WEAK SIDE BY S.J. SYLVIS
Pages: 364 | Publisher: self published | Published: 20.04.2023
Synopsis
Theo Brooks is hard not to notice. With his coy smirk, rock-hard abs, and skilled agility on the ice, he’s the cockiest of all the jocks and, unfortunately for me, my new roommate.
When Admissions mixes up my first and last name and I end up living in the male dorms, I feel my perfectly tied schedule loosening with every string Theo pulls. And he likes to pull every single one.
It isn’t until I find out that my long-time boyfriend is sampling other girls that things get interesting. Theo proposes a solution to my problem—he helps me make my ex jealous, and I help him fend off the relentless puck bunnies that are doing nothing but distracting him from sealing his future with the best NHL team there is.
So, we fake date. We kill two birds with one stone.
The puck bunnies think he’s taken.
My ex is regretting his poor choices.
But the more Theo Brooks shows up by my side and places his hand around my waist, the more I realize that the lines we drew are blurring.
This may have started out as a fake-dating scheme, but with each misleading kiss, we may both get more than we bargained for.
Review
Bruh, what was that? I’m not sure what I expected but it wasn’t this. I picked this up after I saw a reel on instagram and sounded really interesting but I was more huffing and puffing in annoyance than actually enjoying myself. The fake dating thing was honestly unnecessary since everyone already knew they were in love with each other except the weird ex of the protagonist and don’t even get me started on this one. He was almost a cartoonish villain without anything going for him. He has not a single character trait except malice. Claire, the protagonist, is such a good girl and then she’s also poor and has daddy issues but she is so nice and everyone likes her immediately (except for her ex, has he ever even liked her?). I didn’t really like any of the characters, they all fell flat to me. And then there’s the aspect of sex scenes. Has anyone ever heard of protection? Have they heard of pregnancies? Of STDs? This whole unprotected, maybe consensual, kind of weird sex thing was really not for me, thank you. Please just talk about things before you commit? And then every single problem gets solved just like that, in the blink of an eye without any work. Yeah, no.
Anyways, I expected a lot more from Weak Side and was absolutely disappointed.
YOU MIGHT LIKE WEAK SIDE IF YOU ENJOY
hockey | dancing | and they were roommates | fake dating | good girl | playboys | found family | university setting
SOUNDS LIKE LOVE BY ASHLEY POSTON
Pages: 400 | Publisher: HQ | Published: 17.06.2025
Synopsis
Joni Lark wants to create the melodies that get stuck in your head…and your heart.
Her hometown has always given her surf, sand, and inspiration. But when her parents decide to close the family music venue, Joni’s life begins to fall off key – she couldn’t possibly write another song. Until a melody comes to her, half-formed, and with an imagined voice that she can’t forget.
But when the very real, very aggravating man behind the voice shows up in Vienna Shores – Joni can no longer deny their inexplicable telepathic connection.
To get out of each other’s heads, they’ll have to finish the song haunting them both. But there’s just one problem – they can’t agree on anything – and if they don’t change their tune, it might just end in heartbreak first…
Review
I swear I can’t go wrong with Ashley Poston. She just knows how to weave an emotionally wrecking story with humor and a wonderful romance I go absolutely feral over. The whole atmosphere of the book is stunning, it has the feeling of a long, wonderful but also exhausting summer day where you know it’s summer and somehow something ends while you don’t know yet what the rest of the year will bring. I loved so many aspects of Sounds Like Love besides that, like the family dynamcis and how each family member interacts with the others, but I also loved Joni and Gigi’s friendship and how it develops and changes while staying essentially the same. And then there’s the romance that’s part annoyance and exasperation, part trust and letting go, part softness and part fun.
And then the musical theme that’s everywhere in the story just makes it even better, both in the actual storytelling as well as the metaphors and how the whole book feels. Whenever I die, I’d like to be buried with my Ashley Poston books, they are my preciouses.
YOU MIGHT LIKE SOUNDS LIKE LOVE IF YOU ENJOY
music | writing | family businesses | “one last good summer” | good family relationships | strong female friendship | banter | nicknames
Have you read any of these books? If so, what did you think? What’s a thing you’d like to see more of in romance books?
Until next time,
