This was a cute book in the Sweet Mess series. I enjoyed watching Lizzie's story unfold and how she learned to stand up for herself and do what she enjoys, rather than pleasing others.

A solid 4.5 from me! Started reading this arc since I was on a beach with no service and didn’t want to lug my book on a boat ride, and I’m so glad I started it! Honestly I had no clue it was technically in a series until looking at my Goodreads when I finished reading it. About the only thing that would be spoiled in this one is just who the couples are but doesn’t the synopsis do that anyways? The best friends to lovers where the guy has been pining for ages IS MY JAM. I had all the little heart flutters with all the cute turning into lovers ugh. I was kinda confused with the spice not gonna lie, that’s why I’m docking .5. It was like .75 for spice cause we got everything but the actual sex which was weird? It just decided to fade to black at that moment after being somewhat descriptive? If I was being introduced to spice for the first I don’t think I would’ve found it weird at all. Plot was great, loved the development, amazing book. The spice was just odd.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me. I just wasn’t feeling it and not reaching for the book. It felt like a typical friends to lovers and I felt like I could see exactly where the book was gonna go. I just needed a little more.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

⭐⭐⭐

i'd recommend this to fans of
- small town romance
- friends to lovers
- guy falls first trope
- books talking about books

thoughts:
I really enjoyed the convos about the bookstore, being an avid reader, and also following your dream, doing what truly makes you happy, but that's it. Unfortunately, as for the romance, I find their banters a bit cringy and I can't find any chemistry between Lizzy and Jack.

Jayci Lee’s latest book is every book-lovers dream! Booked on a Feeling contains everyone’s favorite trope: guy falls first! With a female main character who has a love of reading and a swoony hero who is obsessed with her, all book nerds will be sure to fall in love with this sweet story. Lizzy is a corporate lawyer in the big city who just won a huge case… and wasn’t that excited about it. Devoid of happiness, she begins to wonder if the late nights and panic attacks are worth a shot at being made partner. She decides to cash in her paid time off and spend three weeks staying in town where her best friend, Jack, lives and works. As these long term friends spend more and more time together, in the same city--finally, they uncover feelings they have been doing their best to hide. Their lives have taken separate paths, but maybe it is time for them to go off-roading. Booked on a Feeling is a super charming book readers can finish in one sitting, I recommend this book to fans of Abby Jiminez and Alisha Rai! Thanks so much to the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

If I had to describe Booked on a Feeling in one word it would be sweet. It is a very sweet, if frustrating at many times, book. This is definitely one of those romances where things would be resolved a lot quicker if the two MCs just communicated with each other. Lizzy is soooo type a, she is a serious 3 on the enneagram and that drove me a little crazy at times because thats so not me lol but I did appreciate her self discovery as the book went on. Jack's hotness is about the only thing he had going for me most of the time but that's because insecure nice guys are a total red flag/deal breaker for me but once again, liked his self discovery at the end. It was a very sweet book even if I couldn't really connect with the characters.

Books about books are always a win for me! As a librarian books are my life and as a collector and reader books are my life as well.

Lizzy has reached all of what she thinks are her life goals, she has become a lawyer at prestigious law firm and is well on her way to partner until a panic attack during her first trial has her rethinking her path in life. She decides to take a break and spend it in the sweet little town of her best friend Jack. Little does she know that Jack has been in love with her for years, but has never done anything about it because of the great friendship they share. He has three weeks to spend with her and is determined to keep their relationship in the friend zone, but sometimes love has other plans.

This was a sweet friends to lovers romance with a fair amount of spice. It was a bit of a slow burn to get there, but I think that works out ok because they don't want to jump right in and ruin the great friendship they have. I liked how both characters were focused on finding their true path in life, even if it wasn't what their families may have expected for them and even if it means they might end up in different places. The side story involving saving a local bookstore only adds to the story and helps Lizzy find her true passion.

This book was really sweet! I loved the whole childhood best friends to lovers part! And the setting of the town and the bookstore really made it feel warm and cozy!

3.3 stars!

This was a sweet friends to lovers romance that I enjoyed but just felt like something was missing. The chemistry was there and so were the emotions but I think there just wasnt enough action on those emotions for me? Maybe? Idk all ik is that something felt like it was missing.

Read For:
- Best friends to lovers
- Finding your passion
- Pining
- Bookstores
- Diverse representation

Overall this book was good, again just felt like there was a little something missing.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to review! All thoughts are my own.

This is my third attempt at a Jayci Lee and unfortunately will also be my last. Her titles and covers are always just so cute that I can’t help but want to read it! The premise for this was very strong: bookish theme, childhood friends to lovers, and small town romance. All things I normally adore! I also really love the multicultural representation Lee brings in her books. I just found the dialogue in this awkward and unnatural, one dimensional characters, and just not enough background on the characters to bring myself to care about what happened. I must say I did enjoy the first chapter and felt the premise overall was a good one. I hope others enjoy this more than I did! I’m pretty picky with my romance reads so it might just be me.

Booked on a Feeling by Jayci Lee
⭐️ ⭐️

▫️friend-to-lovers 👩🏽‍❤️‍👨🏻
▫️bookish theme 📖
▫️small town 🏘
▫️revamp an old business 📈

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this, but it ended up not hitting the mark for me. As a reader, I didn’t feel that I knew enough about Jack to find him appealing or even interesting (as the main love interest). I found some of the dialogue awkward and uncomfortable. This was a miss for me, but I know others who have enjoyed it.

I really wanted to love this book. I'm slowly expanding my romance reads and this one sounded so insanely adorable and involved a BOOKSTORE, what was there not to love?

I ended up being pretty disappointed. First of all, even though I knew this was a friends to lovers troupe, I didn't expect it to be so...nice guy-ish? Jack had been secretly pining for Lizzy for years, basically being at her mercy for whenever she needs him, because he is in love with her. Its a case of a guy feeling trapped in a friend zone and doing whatever he can to get out of it, which is something that has never sat right with me.

Then there was the descriptions, OH THE DESCRIPTIONS. Both Lizzy and Jack are Korean, but the author acts as if this is a fantasy culture and not one that is rooted in reality. Anytime a Korean food, phrase, or cultural norm is referenced the story stops to go "In Korean culture, this is the type of food that is made for you when you're upset because of this, this, and this." It really pulled me out of the story because Jack and Lizzy had no reason to explain this to anyone, it was purely for the readers sake. It was easy to figure out some of these cultural differences through context clues, and the extra pause in explanation wasn't necessary. (Plus the food descriptions were unnecessarily long)

And don't get me started on the sexual descriptions...."be still my throbbing vagina" is not a phrase I ever want to read again.

I also felt as if the timeline was skewed? Lizzy is supposed to be spending three weeks in Weldon on her vacation, but SO MUCH happens in this time period. I don't want to flat out spoil anything, but between her and Jack's relationship, the work she does at the bookstore, it's A LOT. At one point it seemed as if Lizzy had accomplished two weeks worth of stuff, but timeline wise it had only been about three days. This girl must've been waking up at 4am and going to bed at midnight in order to accomplish all the stuff on her various to-do lists. It just wasn't realistic. And I know its just a book, but contemporary fiction is one genre where the timelines and nature of a day need to be a little more rooted in reality.

I ended up liking the side characters a lot more than the main ones - I adored Shannon and her son, and Jack's sister (whose name I can't recall at the moment), but some of the side characters were severely underdeveloped. Jack has a twin brother, who randomly pops up only when Jack needs to talk to someone and has no personality traits of his own.

Maybe I'm diving into contemporary romance too quickly - so far there are only a very select few authors that I like and I don't think I'm the target audience for friends-to-lovers romance novels quite yet...but for the right person I can see them loving this story and the overly cute romance of it.

I have one other small caveat that counts as a spoiler, so don't scroll further if you don't want to know!

Incoming....

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Spoiler ahead...

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I would have rated this book higher if it wasn't for just one detail - which if its a troupe you enjoy that's GREAT, but for me its the one sure fire way to make sure I don't read your books again. It sounds nitpicky and pretentious, but I get to decide what books I read, right? If this book had ended just one chapter earlier I would've been satisfied with the ending and gone "aw that's cute" but instead we got the "one year later" time jump. In that one year, Jack and Lizzy got married, which I don't care how long you've been friends, at the end of the book they had dated for LESS THAN THREE WEEKS and been broken up for a few months, that just seems a little speedy for my liking. And then there's the part I hate...LIZZY IS PREGNANT!!!! I don't know what it is about this troupe that bothers me so much, but if your happily ever after has to end with marriage and a baby on the way, its not for me, and I say this as someone who is in fact, married with a child.

Like I said though, I'm still very much dipping my toes into the contemporary romance genre as a whole and discovering what I like and what I don't. This book wasn't for me, and I still tend to be overly critical as I figure out the tropes that I like.

I do hope there are people out there who absolutely adore this book and that it finds its target audience!!

“I love you.” “Again.” “I love you.”✨

*thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: “I LOVE BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS!!!” & revamping a bookstore… sign me up! 🤍

Lizzy and Jack were the perfect MCs and I loved seeing their friendship turn into a cute relationship. They complimented each other so well. It was a romance book that I did not want to put down! Something about it just clicked with me & this is one of my favorite rom-coms I’ve read this year!

Y’all are going to want to check this one out!!!

Read if you like:
- friends to lovers 👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻
- books about books 📚
- second chance romance 💞
- dual pov 👥
- personal growth 🌱

Rating: ☀️☀️☀️☀️💫/5

Bookstores ✔️
Brewery ✔️
Best friends ✔️

This slow burn, friends to lover story was just right. Back in the town of Weldon (with some appearances from the other Weldon friends) Jack and Lizzy have been best friends for 20 years.

Lizzy comes to Weldon from LA on a much needed leave from her lawyer job for three weeks and to finally see best friend. She stays above a failing bookstore and immediately falls in love with the store and the store’s owner, Shannon. She helps fix up the store and brings life back into with the help of her friends.

Jack is the bookkeeper for his family run brewery but is struggling feeling adequate now that the brewery is doing well. He fills up his days helping out his childhood best friend fix up the book store when he’s not helping out with the brewery.

Definitely go along on this sweet romance as these best friends try to navigate their dreams and while deciding if a relationship is worth risking their friendship.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for a review!

This was such a good read and I absolutely loved the story behind the characters. I was rooting for them the entire time and was happy to see them find each other again. I hope to see more of them in the future

Sadly, I wasn't able to connect with this one. 

Having said that, I did enjoy a few aspects of the novel. The bookish subject matter was fun and I officially adore the idea of owning a bookstore! A few quotes in the book made me smile about motherhood and bring an avid reader, two things that I can relate to. Especially that growing TBR stack!

Lizzy and Jack are our main characters. In my opinion, they had a cringe-worthy relationship, to put it mildly. I just did not connect with either of them and more often than not, found myself feeling that both of them were immature - together and separately. They reminded me of high schoolers in their first relationship. Not longtime best friends who were wanting to see where they could take their relationship on a romantic level. 

Booked on a Feeling is a light read and if you enjoy the cheesy (with extra cheese) friends-to-lovers trope, I propose you give it a chance. Who knows, you may love it like so many others have!

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read Booked on a Feeling by Jayci Lee in exchange for an honest review.

small-town romance with a great female lead. the male lead was so incredible and i loved this so so much. please read this ASAP!!!

This was a really fun read! Give me a rom-com with a bookstore and I’m hooked. This book hits all the right notes. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Friends to lovers with a small town bookstore revitalization!

Lizzy Chung is an up and coming LA lawyer. She owns her condo. She just won her first case. The only problem? She’s being crush by her anxiety to the point of fainting during her opening statement. And when she finds out she won the case, she doesn’t feel excited. Deciding that she’s just burnt out, Lizzy decides to take a three week vacation to Weldon, where he best friend of twenty years lives.

Jack Park has been in love with Lizzy almost his entire life. They’re just best friends and he knows that. He works as a bookkeeper and server at his family brewery but is secretly applying to jobs down in LA so he can try to improve his life. Thinking he’s pining safely from a distance, the last thing he expects is to bump into Lizzy on his morning run! How is he supposed to keep his heart in check while spending every free second together?

Plot: 4/5
The arc of the plot was really cute. I could guess how it would end up which isn’t a bad thing I just kept waiting for it to happen. The romance was definitely there and I loved it. I am a huge fan of romance books that center around books/bookstores/libraries.

Characters: 4/5

Lizzy is a head strong, passionate, and creative woman who clearly doesn’t want to be a lawyer. A conflict averse lawyer? Not a thing. Once she becomes aware of her attraction to Jack, she takes the lead and goes after what she wants. I would have liked to see more of why she had never seen Jack as a possibility before.

Jack Park is everything you could want in a man. He’s funny, thoughtful, and handsome. He’s a bit insecure about what he’s achieved in life due to being too humble but he’s taking the initiative to improve himself. His family is also incredible, I want his parents.

One of my favorite things about this book is that both characters are in their 30’s and changing their life paths. It’s almost like a coming of age story but for adults.

Writing: 3.5/5
I liked the style and it is very dialogue heavy, which I enjoy. There were however lots of time skips for things I would have really wanted to see. Like for Lizzy’s trial, we only see opening statements and then she’s won in the next chapter. It felt like we only saw the parts of their lives that overlapped and we didn’t get to see much of their individual time.

Overall: 4/5

I am for sure a fan of Jayci Lee and the way she creates romances that pull you in. Booked on a Feeling gave me everything I wanted and more. This is the perfect summer romance for book lovers.

This is the heart-warming and fun story of Lizzy and Jack. Longtime friends turned something else when Lizzy decamps from L.A. to Weldon seemingly overnight after realizing that she's burnt out from her high-powered gig as an attorney.

Jack welcomes her with open arms but questions whether or not this is the time to pursue his true feelings, ones that go beyond friendship, for Lizzy. Little does he know (at least until about 35% through) that she is also questioning their long time friendship and what else might be in store for them.

Even though she's supposed to be on vacation, Lizzy throws herself into helping to spruce up (which is a kind term) the bookshop below the apartment she's rented for her stay in small town Weldon. It turns out to be exactly what both Lizzy and Jack need to bring them together and give them some perspective on their lives - in Weldon? In L.A.? Together? Apart?

I know this is part of a series and I am intrigued and will add the other books to my list, but you don't have to have read them to enjoy this book. The one thing I would say is that the epilogue may make more sense if you've read the other books (I presume) and generally it doesn't add too much to the story so if I could give it a do-over I'd just skip it.