The Ex Vows | Jessica Joyce
"sometimes i swear adulthood is staring at your phone and wondering which of your friends has enough time to deal with your latest emotional meltdown, then realizing none of them do."
Two estranged exes and a cursed
wedding? What could go wrong? Apparently everything. The Ex Vows is a
beautiful, realistic and riveting story of two people, Eli and Georgia, who
five years after their cataclysmic breakup, are forced to work together to save
the cursed wedding of their best friend, Adam. The wedding which already turns
into a cursed one as fate keeps throwing unlucky accidents their way, including
the place where the ceremony will take place getting burned to the ground? Is
it a sign? Adam believes he is cursed as everything he has planned for the
wedding goes wrong: from the DJ unable to perform to no bakery available to
make the cake to the venue itself going up in flames, along with many more
problems. Georgia and Eli are his only hope to save the week, and the wedding
day itself.
Senior manager Georgia Woodward and
TMT associate Eli Mora have been friends since they were 15. They eventually
dated at 20 and after a messy breakup five years ago, Georgia and Eli, now aged
28, are suddenly thrown together again as their mutual friend Adam Kim, is
getting married and wants them to be his best man and woman. He believes they
are good, as that’s what they made him believe, but it has been a good while
since they actually interacted and the pain they’ve been pushing down is about
to spill over.
For five years, they both act like
they are not affected by the breakup for the sake of their friendship group.
They didn't have eye contact, barely greeted each other, tried hard not to
spend time in the same space, but now Eli keeps looking at her eyes, calling
her nickname "Peach," showing signs of the 15-year-old boy she fell
in love with, not the workaholic, resigned man with anxiety issues she left five
years ago.
The romance is mesmerising, painful
and sweet, somehow deeply realistic and also dreamy. The chemistry is palpable
and Eli and Georgia has the sparks even after the five years gap that we so
badly want in real life. The banter and the angst was effervescently present. I
loved the wedding preparation moments and they added the fun element to the
story. The friendship is one of the best thing in this book. I loved each and
every side character and how they brought nuances to the story with their
different personalities.
Georgia has glaringly obvious
people pleasing tendencies, lists for days, and is insistent on her hyper-independence.
Georgia's monologues are so beautifully written, full of remarkable profundity
and vulnerability that evidently shows her benevolence, devotion, compassionate
and altruistic nature for the people she loves. She is dealing with her own
anxiety and abandonment issues, she never felt enough for her family or friends,
is always doing what others want and suppressing her own needs. It was
beautiful to see how she felt free to lean on Eli for help and her needs, how
he made sure she felt enough.
Eli is the man who loves
unconditionally and thoroughly, but will also break your heart. His need to
have a stable life, to have funds in order to support his family consumed him
to his core. A childhood wound of his father losing his job and the subsequent
instability of his life – the moving, his parents’ marriage breaking up – have made
him focus too much on gaining financial stability. On top of it he is dealing
with anxiety and that played a major role in this story. But in the present, Eli,
with his newfound dedication, is putting in effort, finally pushing himself to
be better; to be the Eli that Georgia fell for, the one she deserves.
These two are the prime example of
why loving someone is sometime simply not enough. Their breakup was mutual and
so realistic it hit me right in the heart. They made so many mistakes but they
were just new adults at that time, trying to figure out their life and dreams,
navigating through hard truths of adulthood, making sensible decisions, pushing
each other away for the safety of the life they craved. Their first meet almost
wrecked my heart. The overwhelming and complicated emotions, hurt and love they
still have for each other even after five years of their breakup were heart-rending.
The lingering touches and tension that's filled with longing, hurt and
suppressed desires orchestrated their newfound love and passion.
As they are forced to work together
with errands, Georgia and Eli’s feelings for each other resurface but old fears
hold Georgia back. As they spend more time together to pull off the perfect
wedding for their friends, unsaid words, harbored feelings, palpable chemistry
push them to face their past. But being friends again is not enough. With a
love of lists to keep her life in control, Georgia also has a list of all
things not to do when she is with Eli which she is finding difficult to not
break. On top of this, her job has been dissolved in San Francisco, and she is
being promoted to manager in Seattle at the beginning of September, after the
wedding. She is torn about what to do both with matters of work and the heart.
Jessica weaved a story of second
chances, self-discovery and healing of broken hearts with comforting moments of
warmth, happiness and joy that came with reminiscing the past and exploring
present amidst the madness of cursed wedding. It stirred a spectrum of
emotions, giving hope and happiness amidst the messiness of Eli and Georgia's
relationship.
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