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smalltownbookmom's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 rounded up.
This sophomore romance was one of my MOST anticipated summer reads! It started off strong and was AMAZING on audio narrated by my fav Brittany Pressley. I loved the dual timeline structure as we follow Liv Bakersfield a loner who only found her friend family in college and only years later does she finally start to take some risks instead of playing things safe and doing what's always been expected.
Perfect for fans of Nothing but the truth - I found a LOT of similiarities between these two summer releases. I did enjoy the banter between Liv and her college buddy Dice, as they travel to Africa with their friends and end up forced together A LOT. Not wanting to disrupt the group dynamics, the two try to resist their undeniable chemistry with mixed results.
I found the first half of the book really strong but it lost a little steam in my opinion, after everyone returned home to LA and Liv and Dice start working together. The dreaded third act break up rears its ugly head after a secret from Dice's past is revealed, testing these two in ways they weren't prepared for. Obviously they do make it to their HEA but it felt a bit forced for me tbh.
Overall, just an okay read for me. I loved the friendship, the banter, the forced proximity steam but things definitely tapered off in the second half and I was left wanting more. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!
This sophomore romance was one of my MOST anticipated summer reads! It started off strong and was AMAZING on audio narrated by my fav Brittany Pressley. I loved the dual timeline structure as we follow Liv Bakersfield a loner who only found her friend family in college and only years later does she finally start to take some risks instead of playing things safe and doing what's always been expected.
Perfect for fans of Nothing but the truth - I found a LOT of similiarities between these two summer releases. I did enjoy the banter between Liv and her college buddy Dice, as they travel to Africa with their friends and end up forced together A LOT. Not wanting to disrupt the group dynamics, the two try to resist their undeniable chemistry with mixed results.
I found the first half of the book really strong but it lost a little steam in my opinion, after everyone returned home to LA and Liv and Dice start working together. The dreaded third act break up rears its ugly head after a secret from Dice's past is revealed, testing these two in ways they weren't prepared for. Obviously they do make it to their HEA but it felt a bit forced for me tbh.
Overall, just an okay read for me. I loved the friendship, the banter, the forced proximity steam but things definitely tapered off in the second half and I was left wanting more. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!
tmoses's review
3.0
3.5 stars!
Fun, lighthearted read. I really liked Deiss. I hate miscommunication tropes. This is a great story to bring with you on vacation.
Fun, lighthearted read. I really liked Deiss. I hate miscommunication tropes. This is a great story to bring with you on vacation.
booksandbedtime's review
4.0
Liv like rules. And structure. And making her life into a perfect set of tailored expectations. But with the encouragement of some friends (and alcohol!) she learns that she can say “no”! She takes six weeks off work and books a flight to meet up with her college friends in South Africa. But when she doesn’t have a place to stay, she rooms with Deiss - her friend she’s been attracted to since college. What could go wrong?
I adored this book. Deiss is so swoony and irresistible. Liv’s character development is phenomenal as she shows a lot of growth.
It’s a friends-to-lovers, forced proximity, man who can’t commit kinda romance and basically all my favorite things.
Thank you Putnam for the ARC. Such a perfect summer book!
I adored this book. Deiss is so swoony and irresistible. Liv’s character development is phenomenal as she shows a lot of growth.
It’s a friends-to-lovers, forced proximity, man who can’t commit kinda romance and basically all my favorite things.
Thank you Putnam for the ARC. Such a perfect summer book!
merryberries's review against another edition
4.0
(4/5) Liv Bakersfield gives me huge Eleanor Oliphant (a la Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine) vibes, except if Eleanor had a found family of friends from college. She's a chronic yes-woman who makes decisions and lives her life based on the advice of blogs like Husband Huntress and the like. But when she decides to say "no," it feels better than she expected. The "no" snowball keeps on rolling and Liv decides to join her friends on a vacation to South Africa. When Liv gets back to LA, the snowball turns into a new apartment, new job, and a prospective new romance where she has to choose between what she *should* want and what she really wants.
Things I liked: FOUND!! FAMILY!! We LOVE to see it. I liked the pace of the book and found all of the characters (with the exception of one, no spoilers) to be endearing, if a bit overexaggerated sometimes. I'm not always a friends to lovers fan, but I liked this one.
Things I didn't like: Honestly I CRAVE(!!) a dual POV from Deiss' perspective. I need it! It would have really taken the book to the next level.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
Things I liked: FOUND!! FAMILY!! We LOVE to see it. I liked the pace of the book and found all of the characters (with the exception of one, no spoilers) to be endearing, if a bit overexaggerated sometimes. I'm not always a friends to lovers fan, but I liked this one.
Things I didn't like: Honestly I CRAVE(!!) a dual POV from Deiss' perspective. I need it! It would have really taken the book to the next level.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
thereadervee's review against another edition
4.0
This was genuinely adorable and had one of my favorite tropes: friends to lovers. It even has that forced proximity feeling with them sharing a bed while on vacation AND then becoming roommates of sorts after returning from vacation. But lemme just say, it has a suuuuuuper slow burn. I kept wanting to push them together to force it sooner, but ya know - patience is apparently a virtue.
The story follows Liv and her POV. Liv is a graphic designer and has to live life like the guidelines in the books she reads and in the podcasts she listens to. She needs everything to be in order and lives life according to her plan. Her mother had strayed from that and lost everything while Liv was in high school, leaving them homeless for a bit. She does everything in her power to make sure that it doesn't happen to her - or let herself even get that close to it. While in college, she finds her circle, a little group consisting of 4 others - Deiss is one of them. After all these years (I think it’s ten), they always make sure to have a monthly lunch and the rest of the group goes on vacation yearly but Liv doesn’t go because she’s trying to save money and stick to her plan. After realizing she needs to rebel and live a little, she says YOLO and ends up meeting her little gang in South Africa for their 2 week long vacation. She ends up sharing a room and bed with Deiss, because her last minute planning fell through.
After vacation, when they get home, her entire apartment has been robbed and they drained her bank account. Deiss being the god he is, has her move in with him and we get to see such a domestic relationship and watch their friendship truly bloom as she finally lets someone in. She’s usually really guarded and it made me question if her friends actually knew her - which I think is the entire point. Overall, it was a super cute book!
The story follows Liv and her POV. Liv is a graphic designer and has to live life like the guidelines in the books she reads and in the podcasts she listens to. She needs everything to be in order and lives life according to her plan. Her mother had strayed from that and lost everything while Liv was in high school, leaving them homeless for a bit. She does everything in her power to make sure that it doesn't happen to her - or let herself even get that close to it. While in college, she finds her circle, a little group consisting of 4 others - Deiss is one of them. After all these years (I think it’s ten), they always make sure to have a monthly lunch and the rest of the group goes on vacation yearly but Liv doesn’t go because she’s trying to save money and stick to her plan. After realizing she needs to rebel and live a little, she says YOLO and ends up meeting her little gang in South Africa for their 2 week long vacation. She ends up sharing a room and bed with Deiss, because her last minute planning fell through.
After vacation, when they get home, her entire apartment has been robbed and they drained her bank account. Deiss being the god he is, has her move in with him and we get to see such a domestic relationship and watch their friendship truly bloom as she finally lets someone in. She’s usually really guarded and it made me question if her friends actually knew her - which I think is the entire point. Overall, it was a super cute book!
sarahhtoast's review
2.0
Would love to read a book where the main character doesn't hate herself so much. Its on me for reading this after Hell Bent but I really wish they believed in themselves more. Also Liv's friends could have done more to meet her in the middle and she needed to talk to them more. You can't pretend your whole life.
emily_loves_2_read's review against another edition
4.0
From The Jump
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 7/19/22
Author: Lacie Waldon
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Pages: 352
Goodreads Rating: 4.07
Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for providing a digital copy of the book for me to read in exchange for my honest opinion.
Synopsis: Liv Bakersfield is so overworked that she is about to miss yet another vacation with her beloved group of college friends. She says no straight into quitting her job and hopping on a plane to join them in South Africa. Such close proximity makes everything more complicated, especially with the emotionally unavailable Lucas Deiss. Their friendship is the only thing in her life that's still solid, and she vows to do anything she can to keep the group together. But once they get back to L.A., Liv discovers that her leap of faith has become a freefall, sending her crashing into Deiss's arms. Liv must decide between doing what she should … and risking everything for what she shouldn’t want.
My Thoughts: Love this friends to lovers trope. I did enjoy this book and while I know that this is fiction, I did not care for Simone’s betrayal and it was breezed over and there were no heart-to-heart scenarios and everything goes on as normal in the group, as if there was no betrayal. The characters are well developed with depth, chemistry, amazing banter between them, and loved the college friend themed message throughout the book. Liv and Deiss are likable, relatable, and realistic. The message of achieving happiness versus perfection was brilliant. The author’s writing was complex, creative, and intriguing, with the exception of the part mentioned above. Overall, I enjoyed this read and would only change that one snippet. I have Lacie Waldon’s first book in my Amazon Wishlist and will definitely be getting it sooner rather than later. I would definitely pick up other novels from this author in the future.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 7/19/22
Author: Lacie Waldon
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Pages: 352
Goodreads Rating: 4.07
Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for providing a digital copy of the book for me to read in exchange for my honest opinion.
Synopsis: Liv Bakersfield is so overworked that she is about to miss yet another vacation with her beloved group of college friends. She says no straight into quitting her job and hopping on a plane to join them in South Africa. Such close proximity makes everything more complicated, especially with the emotionally unavailable Lucas Deiss. Their friendship is the only thing in her life that's still solid, and she vows to do anything she can to keep the group together. But once they get back to L.A., Liv discovers that her leap of faith has become a freefall, sending her crashing into Deiss's arms. Liv must decide between doing what she should … and risking everything for what she shouldn’t want.
My Thoughts: Love this friends to lovers trope. I did enjoy this book and while I know that this is fiction, I did not care for Simone’s betrayal and it was breezed over and there were no heart-to-heart scenarios and everything goes on as normal in the group, as if there was no betrayal. The characters are well developed with depth, chemistry, amazing banter between them, and loved the college friend themed message throughout the book. Liv and Deiss are likable, relatable, and realistic. The message of achieving happiness versus perfection was brilliant. The author’s writing was complex, creative, and intriguing, with the exception of the part mentioned above. Overall, I enjoyed this read and would only change that one snippet. I have Lacie Waldon’s first book in my Amazon Wishlist and will definitely be getting it sooner rather than later. I would definitely pick up other novels from this author in the future.
swooningandstepbacks's review against another edition
4.0
The sweetest of slow-burns, From the Jump is the perfect vacation read about a group of college friends and their evolving group dynamics. Central to the story, is Liv, a graphic designer known as “The Ice Queen” by her friends who has her life plotted out from A to Z until one day she gets the urge to change her trajectory by using the simple word, No. This one little word has big consequences and she finds herself leaving her job, on a trip to South Africa meeting up with her friends on their vacation at the last minute. From the moment Liv’s friend Deiss picks her up for a three hour journey, the chemistry begins to grow between these two. Since their friendship has spanned 11 years it’s easy to see how something more than just a friendship could spark.
The friend group dynamics were fun and fairly amazing considering this group of 5 had stayed in touch for so long. As liable to do, people change with time and Waldon writes the narrative in the present by reaching back to “then” moments from the groups’ past to tie to the current storyline. Phoebe and Liv have the closest relationship, but even still, no one in the group is an open book and everyone has secrets or things they don’t share openly.
I loved reading the moments between Deiss and Liv and felt that the lead up was written so well. Lots of swoony moments with build up in Africa and in the apartment and music store made me flip pages with anticipation. And the slow burn is so good. My one BUT would be that there was such an opportunity to discuss safe sex, but that moment was glazed right over. The lead up was done SO well and then the act seemed to be over within minutes. Could we get just a little bit more? Pretty please? I did love that Deiss’s character was consistent. Even though friends seemed to think that he cared about nothing, he clearly cared a lot and was vocal in how he felt, even when other characters brushed him off. I also enjoyed seeing the changes and transformation in Liv. Waldon takes her time writing this evolution and it pays off with how Liv begins to see herself and her relationships more clearly.
With any romance, there’s the third act breakup and this one bothered me slightly because it’s based on a secret that is withheld almost to the point of lying. Betrayal (of any kind) is a very tough place to come back from and I found myself cringing at what I thought the outcome would be. Fortunately Waldon works her magic and convinces her readers that a HEA is still possible, and that there is hope. I think this works because of the ground that’s been laid prior establishing what kind of person Deiss is and how he handles himself.
Overall I thought this was a fun follow up to The Layover and enjoyed it even more due to the solid chemistry and tension between Deiss and Liv. I can’t wait to see what travel destinations Waldon takes her readers to next. Thank you to G. P. Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for and honest review. All opinions are my own.
The friend group dynamics were fun and fairly amazing considering this group of 5 had stayed in touch for so long. As liable to do, people change with time and Waldon writes the narrative in the present by reaching back to “then” moments from the groups’ past to tie to the current storyline. Phoebe and Liv have the closest relationship, but even still, no one in the group is an open book and everyone has secrets or things they don’t share openly.
I loved reading the moments between Deiss and Liv and felt that the lead up was written so well. Lots of swoony moments with build up in Africa and in the apartment and music store made me flip pages with anticipation. And the slow burn is so good. My one BUT would be that there was such an opportunity to discuss safe sex, but that moment was glazed right over. The lead up was done SO well and then the act seemed to be over within minutes. Could we get just a little bit more? Pretty please? I did love that Deiss’s character was consistent. Even though friends seemed to think that he cared about nothing, he clearly cared a lot and was vocal in how he felt, even when other characters brushed him off. I also enjoyed seeing the changes and transformation in Liv. Waldon takes her time writing this evolution and it pays off with how Liv begins to see herself and her relationships more clearly.
With any romance, there’s the third act breakup and this one bothered me slightly because it’s based on a secret that is withheld almost to the point of lying. Betrayal (of any kind) is a very tough place to come back from and I found myself cringing at what I thought the outcome would be. Fortunately Waldon works her magic and convinces her readers that a HEA is still possible, and that there is hope. I think this works because of the ground that’s been laid prior establishing what kind of person Deiss is and how he handles himself.
Overall I thought this was a fun follow up to The Layover and enjoyed it even more due to the solid chemistry and tension between Deiss and Liv. I can’t wait to see what travel destinations Waldon takes her readers to next. Thank you to G. P. Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for and honest review. All opinions are my own.
alittlewrightreading's review against another edition
4.0
From the Jump was entertaining and I loved the bond between the friends.
Liv is an inspiration because sometimes I get so caught up in saying yes as a people pleaser. Maybe saying no could have life changing results sometimes.
The build up between Liv and Deiss was swoon worthy but I wish there was a little more between them.
The ending was everything
Liv is an inspiration because sometimes I get so caught up in saying yes as a people pleaser. Maybe saying no could have life changing results sometimes.
The build up between Liv and Deiss was swoon worthy but I wish there was a little more between them.
The ending was everything
gcoyne88's review against another edition
5.0
DELICIOUS. i love lacie waldon so im not sure why i was shocked about how much i loved this but it was truly incredible