Jessica Joyce on navigating second chance romances and Ex Vows

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, old feelings start to resurface. And now there’s only one bed… The Ex Vows is a heartwarming, gut-wrenching book exploring the second-chance romance trope.

This guest post is written by Jessica Joyce, author of The Ex Vows. 

Deciding to date your ex again surrounded by friends who know why you broke up the first time in real life? Painful. Deciding to date your ex again surrounded by friends who know why you broke up the first time in a romance book? Delicious.

If there’s one goal I always have when I’m writing a book, it’s exactly that: make it delicious. I always want to put my characters in situations that have readers kicking their feet and giggling, or covering their mouths like, Did that just happen?! Second chance is by nature a very juicy trope—two characters coming back to each other after months or years apart, saddled with unresolved feelings and things left unsaid? Sign me up immediately. And when you add in an audience of friends who saw the first round go south and two characters who want to make sure this time is going to stick before they announce it, the emotional stakes soar sky-high.

In The Ex Vows, Georgia, the main character, and Eli, her ex, share a mutual best friend, Adam. They’re reuniting at Adam’s wedding as his Best Woman and Best Man and a week out from the big day, everything about is going wrong. Georgia and Eli have to be on their best behavior while their best friend navigates disaster after disaster, which means rehashing old relationship wounds is a no-go. But it also means that they have to keep the leftover feelings that start coming back while they’re forced into proximity together to help save Adam’s completely under wraps. Adam has enough problems on his plate without worrying that his best friends might be headed for ruin a second time.

As a writer, it’s always so much fun to layer elements of tension like a cake (a wedding cake, to stay on theme). Crafting the navigation of characters exploring another chance with each other while their friends observe them means that they have to engage in a bit of subterfuge and faking; they have to act like they’re fine in front of their friends so they don’t catch wind of what’s really happening, and everything else that’s blooming—emotions, sexual tension, acting on that sexual tension—has to happen away from watchful eyes.

But something special also happens in this space of secrecy: these two people who knew each other before get to discover each other all over again in a quieter space. They get to test the foundation of their new connection and see if it’s strong enough. They get to keep it just theirs until they can determine that yes, this time it’s forever. And when they’re ready to admit what’s happened to their friends—which is arguably my favorite part of this scenario, because the shock! The awe! Or the chorus of “we knew the whole time!”s is so fun—they’re saying it to people who love and accept them, and will celebrate their second chance at love with their whole hearts.

Delicious, right?

The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce is out July 18. (Penguin)