You, With a View — Books, Beauty, & Buys

By: Jessica Joyce
Published Year: 2023
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 352

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this novel.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Two weeks on the road... stuck in a car with your high-school enemy.

Noelle Shepard is grieving the loss of her beloved grandmother when she discovers decades-old photos and letters that hint to a forbidden love in her gram's past. Needing to know the full story, she creates a TikTok video appealing for information - and it goes viral.

Through her video, she manages to track down her grandmother's secret love, Paul, who offers to take her on the honeymoon road-trip he and Gram planned but never got to go on.

Noelle jumps at the chance to make this one last connection with her grandmother. There's just one problem - Paul's grandson is Noelle's frustratingly handsome high-school rival Theo.

And Theo has to come, too.

It's only two weeks. Surely Noelle can survive that long? But with one car between them - and often only one bed - it doesn't take long for things to heat up...

First Impressions

I love this cover. It immediately caught my eye on a list of books coming out this summer and added it to my list after reading the summary. Shortly after that I received the opportunity to read it for review and was very excited. Very good first impression.

What I thought

This was a cute romance and I enjoyed the travel aspect of it a lot.

Noelle is at her lowest point, 6 months after her grandmother passed away. She has no job, is living at her parents’ home, and is unsure where to go with her life. Her grandmother was her best friend and when she discovers an old love letter from a man she never heard her grandma mention before, she makes a TikTok to find out who he is. When she meets the mystery man, she learns he’s the grandfather of her high school rival Theo. The three of them decide to go on a road trip that her grandmother and past boyfriend had planned for their honeymoon that never happened.

I am a sucker for road trip novels. I think this one could have done that aspect a little bit better. I thought that the destinations and adventure were going to be a little more central to the story. Instead, it was a backdrop with the relationship between her grandmother and Paul and the love story between her and Theo.

I think that Joyce did a great job telling the story of two people struggling with finding themselves after the lives they imagined at 18 did not come to be at 28. Your late 20s can be difficult, especially when it’s not what you pictured it would be. I wish I had read this novel when I was 28. It was interesting to see how differently Theo and Noelle handled their issues as well. Joyce did a great job explaining the background and reason for why they reacted the way they did.

Noelle and Theo did have instant chemistry and I enjoyed their banter a lot. I do wish there had been a little bit more dislike from Noelle at the beginning, considering how much she disliked him growing up. But that’s just because I’m a sucker for enemies to lovers. I pretty much loved every relationship Noelle had. She had great family interactions and beautiful interactions with Paul as well.

The third act break up wasn’t even bad. It wasn’t a true third act break up which I appreciated. There was a conflict but it felt like it was handled realistically and not a dumb “just talk to each other!” type of conflict.