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.