What bookworm doesn’t have dreams to work in or even own a bookstore? Lizzy, is a successful LA lawyer, but she’s struggling with feeling burnt out and decides to take some time off to visit her best friend Jack. Jack is the business mind behind the family brewery but he’s been feeling unfulfilled and ready to set out on his own, maybe somewhere in LA close to Lizzy. With Lizzy in Jack’s hometown he decides it’s time to get over his crush but the little moments they’ve shared have other ideas. While Lizzy and Jack help revitalize the local bookstore, they explore their feelings for each other and decide to use their limited time together as a trial run for their new relationship.

It’s easy to tell Lizzy and Jack are best friends and giving into their feelings is a big step for their relationship. Both of them struggled with some insecurities that clouded their relationship and needed to be worked out before being successful together. If you love a book about a bookstore and best friends then you should definitely read this book.


Thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

BOOKED ON A FEELING

Overall, this is one of my new feavorite rom-coms. I'll definitely be recommending it to as many people as I can. I think it has a lotof strong points and goes above and beyond the expectations I had going into it.

THINGS I LIKED:
The title was fantastic
I love Lizzy and instantly connected with her. She definitely jumps off the page
So many lines were laugh out loud hilarious
The "prepare to be dazzled" scene was swoon worthy. I love the dynamic!
Jack's family is so fun and I like how Lizzy fits with them
The vibes of the bookstore and town are immaculate
The texting was so well written, like it really gave both characters personality while seeming realistic
The first kiss was perfect
I LOVED THE ENDING

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE:
There wasn't a clear reason to me why Jack didn't feel comfortable making a move on Lizzy
I wanted to feel like Jack and Lizzy had more history, like references to inside jokes (without being too cringeworthy) or silent conversations or something that makes them feel really like best-best friends isntead of like... secondary friends. They have a good dynamic, but they don't feel close except for when the reader is told how close they are.
Also, Lizzy showed feeling a lot faster than she should've for this type of romance- I wish it was more drawn out
I connected with Jack's POV a lot less than Lizzy's, so I would've loved more of something that made him endearing

Lizzy Chung, Esq. is on track to have her perfect life/career. She left the small town she grew up in to be a lawyer in the big city, at one of the most prestigious firms. She gives her job her all and will likely be the newest partner in a couple of years; a huge accomplishment for someone still fairly new to the profession. Everything is great and going smoothly...until it isn't. The stress of her first major case and the race to make partner are proving to be a little too much and she realizes she's likely really burnt out. Three weeks in her hometown of Weldon in the Sierra Foothills is just what the doctor ordered. Not to mention her favorite person, her best friend of over twenty years still lives there. Some time away from the big city can really clear a persons mind and help find what's truly important. Plus, work will still be there once she's refreshed and ready to go. While some that know Lizzy are concerned she is taking so much time off, there's never a bad time to indulge in self care, right?

What a sweet, and at times overly so, story this was! This is also part three of a series, and since I hadn't read part one and two I was afraid of being even a little lost, but that was not the case. Lizzy was very relatable for me from the beginning which I really appreciated and enjoyed. I loved how Ms. Lee was able to create a calming atmosphere on the page when Lizzy arrived in Weldon. I could picture the town really well, and I loved that there were a couple of indie bookstores in the book as well. The chemistry between Lizzy and the other characters, especially Jack, was very enjoyable and funny. I really enjoyed how Ms. Lee developed all the various relationships in this book. The dialogue was always sharp and never over wordy which made this book a really fast and easy read. I will definitely be checking out parts one and two in the future.

This was a cute friends to lovers romance! It was light and easy to read, so it was a nice summer time read. It felt kinda just “meh” about the characters and their relationship…it was just okay. I thought their struggles were relatable but maybe there was just something missing in the romance. I’m glad I read it but it wasn’t very memorable or my favorite rom com.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for a honest review

This was such a warm, feel good read. It was like this book was giving me a hug. So many supportive, loving, warm characters; with some really cute funny parts. ⁣
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This was a friends to lovers trope, covering anxiety, self discovery, family drama, and amazing character growth. ⁣
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It was also surrounded around adorable book stores and a brewery which was a lot of fun!⁣
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I absolutely adored the interactions between Lizzy and Jack, and loved how they were besties for so long, tried to be more, but struggled until they knew for sure who their true selves were, knowing loving themselves first could help them love each other better. ⁣
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A fun friends-to-lovers story.

Lizzy Chung has followed her mom's plan for her whole life: become a lawyer at a prestigious firm and become partner as early as possible. But as she's working towards this goal she has a panic attack in court. Lizzy decides to spend a few weeks recharging in Weldon, a small town where she spent her childhood summers with her best friend, Jack Park. Jack has had a crush on Lizzy for decades, so he's excited to spend this time with her but also unsure about what to do about those feelings. Lizzy ends up deciding to help the local bookstore do a little revamp, and drags Jack into this project, all while he's stressing about his own life plans. Can they fight their chemistry as they spend all this time together?

First off, I have enjoyed every book Jayci Lee has written and this one is no exception. We get immersed in the world she builds, capturing Korean-American culture (and the food!) and the feeling of small town life in Weldon. We also get a chance to return to the characters we got to know in the previous books in the story, which I loved. Lizzy is very relatable as she tries to balance parental expectations and what she actually wants out of life. Jack has similar struggles and it's interesting to read about him working through them. They are 100% there for each other no matter what, and I can feel their chemistry coming through the writing.

My biggest frustration with the book was the conflict. Lizzy and Jack are both so determined to be there for each other that they don't actually figure out what that is very well. I could see the conflict was coming, but yet they still fell right into it.

Overall, if you've liked other Jayci Lee books, like friends-to-lovers stories, or just want a fun flirty read, definitely pick up this book! It would read fine as a standalone, but it's also great to see all the Weldon shenanigans. Will we get Alex's story next? I hope so!

3/5 - Book #3 of a Sweet Mess; Audioboo via NetGalley

So I didn't hate this book, it just more of wasn't anything special. A friends to lovers romance with a whole lost of secrets/miscommunication trope. This book was adorably sweet, and even with the spice, was just predictable and nothing different than so many other romances.

Brief Plot: Jack and Lizzy have been best friends their whole lives. When Lizzy takes a sabbatical from work, the two spend more time together than ever, and that time leads to them both questioing the romance between them, and how they could have a romance when they live different lives typically so far apart.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC copy of Booked on a Feeling by Jayci Lee. This is my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this advanced copy of Booked on a Feeling by Jayci Lee.

Lizzy Chung is on a well planned course to make partner at her law firm, but a panic attack and burnout from her job sends her to small town Weldon to recharge. Weldon is also where her best friend for two decades, Jack Park, lives. Jack, who has a decades long crush on Lizzy, has to decide whether to ignore those feelings, or make them known.

This is a friends-to-lovers, big city - small town, second chance romance. It was a cute and quick read, and great for those who love the slow burn turned spicy rom-com! And, of course, I loved the bookish elements of it.

For me, it was a little too cheesy and repetitive in the "I must make myself feel this way". More communication would have gone a long way for these main characters. ;) It also felt heavy on the lust, which made me doubt the love part? I predicted how this book would end almost immediately, but by the time I got there, I was invested enough that I was happy my prediction came true.

I love a cheesy rom-com as much as the next girl, but I was pretty disappointed by this book. I am generally a fan of books where you feel kind of dropped into the story without much exposition, but in this case it didn't work. When you have a friends-to-lovers trope that is predicated on 20-plus years of friendship, and understanding of how they became friends, why they became friends, and why they have stayed friends for such a long time is very neccessary, but there was little-to-no mention of their history as friends which made it difficult to connect with the characters.

I was very unimpressed by the writing, The author seemed more concerned with describing the minutiae of every character's movements, rather than any providing any character descriptions (we literally never learn what these characters actually look like) or taking time to further develop the characters. This added nothing to the story and made every scene a little grueling to get through. The dialogue felt forced and clunky, like the author was trying to create witty banter beween the character, but it justcame across as unoriginal and cliche.

It wasn't horrible, but overall, this book was underwhelming, unoriginal, and forgetable.

Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher, St. Martin's Press for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

A light friends to lovers rom-com - and the saving of an independent bookstore! Lizzy has worked non-stop toward the goal of becoming a partner at a law firm and she's almost there when she has a panic attack. A panic attack that makes it obvious that she needs to leave LA and reboot. Jack has never left the small town where he works as the bookkeeper for his family's brewery. Its not the job of his dreams but he's committed. When Lizzy discovers the bookstore below her apartment is in trouble, she ropes him in to save it. You know how this goes except that they both have career choices to make. And life choices. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good beach read.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book, provided by Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I have a soft spot for friends-to-lovers romances, and Booked on a Feeling checked off all my boxes. I did not want it to end. I loved Lizzy and Jack, and their 20-year friendship. The only thing holding me back from a 5-star is the miscommunication trope. It was book-long practically about everything, and that just took a bit away from the story for me. Also, Jack and Lizzy kept secrets from each other.

However, Lizzy and Jack's friendship, their love story, their ending, I was so happy with all of that. My husband and I were friends before we ended up together, so I'm always partial to these kind of stories. I appreciated the family dynamics explored - Jack's loving and supportive family, Lizzy's uptight and judgmental mother. I love that both Lizzy and Jack struck out on their own, found their own path, and didn't let their families dictate what they needed to do.

I'm glad we got that little glimpse into the future of their life - and I was very happy with how that turned out. I will tell you that today I pre-ordered a signed copy because it is definitely a book I want on my shelf.

This was such a cute friends to lovers story. I really enjoyed the chemistry and camaraderie between Lizzy and Jack, and how they both had feelings for each other but neither of them wanted to jeopardize their friendship. Their journey to realizing their feelings for each other was so fun and adorable.
I appreciated the dichotomy of how families are different and how their support or their lack of it can shape how individuals see themselves and how they choose to live their lives.
I also enjoyed how this story was for the book lovers, it had all the little idiosyncrasies that abound within the book reading community.
One thing I did not enjoy was the pusedo- miscommunication trope that was the obstacle to the HEA.
Other than that, this was a very readable, enjoyable romcom.

I love that the two leads of this book are Asian. Lizzy Chung is a lawyer in a very stressful job. Her relationship with her mother feels a bit stereotypical of the idea that all Asian families put a lot of pressure on their children to succeed. What Lizzy really loves is the bookstore in the same neighborhood where her best friend Jack Park lives. Jack is sweet and supportive, and runs and has abs--you know, leading male stuff. I do appreciate that Jack is as much eye-candy as white male leads in Romance novels. There's definitely steaminess between these two, but Jack seems a bit too overwrought about whether or not the relationship will ruin the friendship. Still. friends to lovers is a fun trope. I recommend this book for a light, quick read.

Thank you NetGalley for the digital ARC of this book.

DNF @ 27 %

Lizzy is an overworked lawyer who takes a spontaneous vacation to visit her best friend, Jack, in their small hometown. Little does Lizzy know that Jack has been in love with her for basically his entire life, and Jack was just trying to get over his intense crush before Lizzy showed up in town.

This book should be cute and romantic, but I could not stand the writing style. Here’s a passage from the book:

“They crossed the street, dodging an SUV making an aggressive right turn as soon as the WALK signal started blinking, and headed to the parking structure. She and Katie both forgot where they’d parked that morning, but they were in agreement that it was somewhere on the third level. Lizzy had to do that thing where she kept pushing the lock button on her key to find her car by sound. She liked her BMW, but playing Marco Polo was much more fun in a pool full of people. Their drive back to the office took less time than locating her misplaced car. She pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head as she drove down to the underground parking.”

Like… none of this is important. What a snooze fest. It’s a giant reading pet peeve of mine when every movement a character makes is written down in excruciating detail like this. Unless something important is going down while we’re searching for our car in a parking garage, all of this could’ve been cut. It just feels like a massive waste of my time.

This book also had the mutual pining trope, which I just don’t enjoy because of how frustrating it is. I found Jack to be pretty pathetic and he thought exactly like a middle schooler. Whenever he’d see a girl he’d study her and question if he had a crush on her or not simply based on initial attraction… that’s what I did when I was 12.

Nothing about this appealed to me. I really tried to push through since this was an ARC, but unfortunately I couldn’t bring myself to read another page.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5 stars

Thank you to NetGally and St. Martin's Press for letting me read and review this ARC.

This is a really good book. Thoroughly enjoyed it. The first chapter through me off because it started off with Lizzy working a case as a lawyer. I requested this book because I love books about books, and that is what I was expecting going into it. Although it does become that a little more later in the book, the first chapter being about a law case really kind of threw me.

Overall, a really good book, however it was not my favorite. I loved the characters and the idea of the story, but I think some parts of the book were a little unnecessary. It was also kind of predictable, which may be because it's a romance story, but it was a little too predictable for my taste.

*****************SPOILERS*******************

Although I love Lizzy and Jack, I think the whole fight and break-up portion of the book was really unnecessary, or at least kind of poorly written. These two have been friends for twenty plus years, but you're going to tell me they break up and choose to not talk again over a simple misunderstanding, like they would have never had any of those within their years of friendship. I don't know, just seems a little forced to me.

However, I am glad for the happy ending and how the whole story wrapped up. I think they make an amazing couple and will make amazing parents.

book review: booked on a feeling by jayci lee
rating: 3.5/5

if you know me, then you know i *love* friends-to-lovers romances. it is my all-time favorite trope. jack and lizzy have been friends for years. jack has always loved lizzy, but been too afraid to risk their friendship. lizzy is completey oblivious (someone in the party has to be!), but jack is the most important person in her life. when burnout forces lizzy to take a step back from her job as a lawyer, she returns to the small town where she and jack grew up. romancing ensues…

jack and lizzy’s interactions are so wholesome 🥰 you could tell how much each of them valued their relationship (even if that sometimes lead to miscommunication…). though the plot was a bit predictable, i still enjoyed this read. lizzy had a well written character arc in terms of coming into her own and deciding to go after her dreams, rather than live her parents dreams. this part of her character made me like and respect her. and i enjoyed that it also paralleled jack's journey, so they were kind of both in the same place, but just a little different!

the reason i didn’t love love this book is because i felt like i was dropped into lizzy and jack’s life. one of the most important parts of a friends-to-lovers (to me, at least) is getting the couple's backstory. i need to know how they got close. what their friendship was like when they were firmly ~just friends~. lee drops us into jack and lizzy’s lives without telling us how they got to where they are, and then the romance just kind of… starts? there wasn’t too much buildup. i wanted to know more about each of their lives, so i guess my complaint is that the story felt very surface level.

nevertheless, a cute, quick read that i’d recommend to put a smile on your face!

thank you to netgalley and st. martins for my e-arc in exchange for my honest opinion! #BookedonaFeelingJayciLee #NetGalley

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
Booked on a Feeling is, in my opinion, the weakest book Jayci Lee has released to date. I’ve already had mixed experiences with her work in the past, but this one was a massive disappointment, even by comparison.
There are some minor redeeming qualities. Lee does a good job depicting Korean diaspora culture, and its impact on her main characters. The pressure Lizzy feels is largely imposed by her family, and I appreciate the journey she goes on reckoning with her burnout and finding herself. I feel if this story hadn’t been (primarily) a romance and had focused more on h I’d, or the romance had been developed differently, I would have liked this a lot more.
Speaking of which…this is one of the weakest depictions of friends to lovers I’ve ever read. It stems from a real lack of context for the history between them, except that they’ve known each other a long time, and Jack has been in love with Lizzy for years. But it took a weird turn, because it became one of those “I’m not in town long, let’s have a temporary casual hookup” situations. And both of them go back and forth about how this isn’t serious, and as much as they want it, the other doesn’t feel the same, and it’s impossible because of their different lifestyles. The former got hammered in so much, I didn’t feel like the ultimate catharsis for either felt sincere…especially on Jack’s part. He was like, “I wasn’t really in love with her before, but now I am.” But what changed? Without context for “before,” all I have is that you’ve been sleeping together and occasionally sprucing up the local bookstore. And then, when they each try to be proactive and “fix” their distance problem, without first really addressing what they want, much less consulting the other person, they make it even worse.
And this book was also sooo…dang…slooooow. I get the impression it was meant to be a slow burn, but I feel like I’ve established there’s no real heat going here. I only finished this book because I almost forced myself to in hopes it might get better, although I did let myself get distracted by something else in the middle.
This book seems to be getting a lot of mixed reactions, so don’t take my word for it. It’s very possible that Jayci Lee’s books are just not for me, especially as this isn’t the first one I had issues with.

I really wanted to like this, but it is a DNF for me. The story is too slow and the characters aren’t very interesting. I found myself avoiding reading just to see it off reading it. 😔

This book is very cute, featuring a sunshine x sunshine pairing. I did like both characters and I was rooting for them to get together, but I did feel the story dragged in places.

Booked on a Feeling was a splendid rom-com. I would recommend this to any fans of “friends-to-lovers” or even people that love “books about books”. Jayci Lee’s writing style was fantastic, and her character development kept me reading. The anxiety representation was great and it seems to be a popular thing this publishing season. Overall, this is such a cute story and I would recommend it to my friends.