This is a second chance romance set in beautiful Napa Valley. Two exes work together to plan a wedding for their best friend in one week after his wedding venue burns down. I like second chance romances and I loved You With a View so I was excited to read this one and, while this had a more serious tone and I wasn’t laughing out loud like I did in her first book, the novel has a lovely setting and main characters that I cared for and could root for.

Georgia first met Eli her sophomore year of high school at her best friend Adam’s house. Adam’s home is warm and welcoming while hers is cold and lonely – her mother left when she was three and her father works all the time. Eli and his two younger sisters moved to town to live with their aunt when his dad lost his job and Adam welcomes him into their friend group as well. Georgia and Eli become first best friends and then fall in love. After college they move to New York together and something happens to break them apart. Now it’s been five years since they lived together and the story alternates between the present and flashbacks to the past.

Adam asks Georgia and Eli to travel to Napa Valley for him and help finish the plans for his and his fiancé, Grace’s, upcoming wedding after a series of wedding planning disasters. Adam’s family owns the vineyard where the wedding will take place and both Georgia and Eli worked there during summers when they were teens. Adam needs their help to line up a cake and a DJ. As Georgia and Eli spend time together working on the wedding, it’s clear their relationship is far from over.

Georgia and Eli both have their own reasons for wanting to help Adam with his wedding. Georgia is afraid of losing her friendship with Adam, Grace, and their friends. She sees her relationships with them changing as they pair up and she is afraid of being alone and on top of that, the company she works for has asked her to relocate to Seattle.

Eli feels like he hasn’t been a good friend because he’s been so busy with work he has missed important events with them, like the bachelor party. He has been working as an analyst for a large bank in New York and his work, while exhilarating, has become stressful as they have promoted him. He wants to help with the wedding plans to show his friends that, yes, they can count on him to be a good friend and best man.

My favorite parts of the story are when Eli and Georgia are at the vineyard with the beautiful courtyard and pool. I would have liked to hear more about their time working there as teens. There is a lot of angst and tension between Georgia and Eli as they remember what happened when they were a couple. It’s special to see them open up to each other about the issues they are both dealing with in their lives – I just wished they had done this sooner. Things get steamy when they end up having to share a room at the vineyard and they show each other how much they’ve always loved each other.

There are some wonderful side characters, both family and friends and it’s really sweet when Georgia and Eli get their second chance at love. You, With a View was one of my favorite books of 2023 and while I enjoyed The Ex Vows, it had more of a serious tone to it. But I think contemporary romance lovers who like a little angst in their love stories will find this one suits the bill.