lmiller1990, have you experimented much with @storybook/test-runner?
I've found it pretty capable for doubling my stories as Jest tests. For those using testing-library for component testing, it even acts like a GUI for those tests.
I like React because it's closer to JavaScript than any other JS library I've used. The public API is tiny; you get better at React by getting better at JavaScript.
The only thing I don't like about React is the rapid churn in architecture best-practices (Flux et al). This is in stark contrast to Ember—which nails conventions and tooling but is written far about vanilla JS.
We use React because components are a great abstraction for the web. React components are also very transportable, making them a great addition to integrated systems like Rails.
I like to focus on transferable skills. I don't want to be a Backbone/Ember/Angular/whatever developer. I want to be a good JavaScript developer. React makes that happen.
I've found it pretty capable for doubling my stories as Jest tests. For those using testing-library for component testing, it even acts like a GUI for those tests.
If you're interested, I threw together a little walkthru that show some of the ways I'm using it with Jest: https://github.com/chantastic/vite-react-jest-testing-librar...