While a cute rendition of the friends to lovers trope, Booked On a Feeling lacks any element of surprise. The book will be enjoyable for romance readers and book lovers, but is ultimately predictable without much commentary on social issues or dynamic plot twists. The writing is concise, simple, and elegant enough that it makes the story easy to read, yet not overwhelmingly paced. The greatest strength of the novel is the setting and lovable characters, which will likely be the greatest draw for non-trope seeking readers. Overall a solid romance that will likely be a joyful comfort read to many.

Booked on a Feeling was a sweet read but ultimately, I wanted a little more from it. Thanks to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the early access to this book in exchange for my honest review.

✔️ Friends to Lovers
✔️ Cusp of a Life Change
✔️ RomCom
✔️ He Fell First
✔️ Running a Bookstore
✔️ He is Handy and Wears a Tool Belt

In every book I enjoy, there's a lot of putting myself in the situation. So the premise of running a bookstore (which is a pretty unrealistic dream of mine) was my favorite part about this book. The scenes where Lizzy is renovating the bookstore and making decisions about decor and displays were fun and made me appreciate the thought and care that indie booksellers put into their shops.

I wish I was more invested in the characters. Lizzy fell a little flat for me - I wasn't really rooting for her and I didn't particularly care about her trying to figure out her life. I liked Jack more - I think seeing him with his family and seeing him being handy and helpful at DIY home things helped.

I appreciated the mental health rep and the characters trying to figure out what was going to make them happy. Overall, this was a sweet story though i wonder if i would have read the first two books in the series. 3⭐️.

Steam 🔥🔥
Banter 🗣
Swoon 💕

Booked on a feeling is a friends to lovers romance that takes place in a book store, so naturally I’m all about it! Overachiever lawyer Lizzy is tired of her job and the everyday anxiety of it, so she escapes to her best friend Jack’s hometown and becomes enamored with the town bookstore and renovating it, but she needs Jack’s help. Only he’s been hiding a crush on her since they were 10, and this vacation of Lizzy’s us about to change everything for them. This romance is very sweet, although I will say at times the writing felt a little predictable and redundant and it relied heavy on the telling and not showing, so some of it made Lizzy and Jack feel a touch immature. But even so, I thought they were so endearing and adorable. It’s a slow burn and I loved Jack’s love for his best friend and the struggle he had to accepting her feelings. I think Lizzy’s feelings changed a little abruptly but as she was looking for passions and dreams, I think it did fit her. While I loved the friends to lovers of this closed door romance, I really loved the individual character growth—these two both are chasing their dreams, and they don’t back down for them, and their journeys felt so genuine. Plus their chemistry together was just lovely and fun, and I loved how natural their friendship read. And the bookstore was wonderful! I loved the love for books this story had, especially for romance novels. As a romance reader, I felt seen there, and I just adored that. Booked on a Feeling is light and fun, and it’s a great, relaxing read about love and finding your dream!

The third book in the Sweet Mess series, Booked on a Feeling follows Lizzy and Jack, childhood friends who are both feeling unfulfilled by their careers. However unexpected, their mutual discontent gifts them a few weeks to spend together in their hometown. Ready or not, their relationship as they know it will never be the same.

As they work to save a struggling business, Jack and Lizzy begin to discover each other in new and confusing ways. After decades of friendship, Lizzy's sudden awareness of Jack's body and his many, many muscles has her feeling both puzzled and horny. Ironically, just as the woman he's harbored a decades-long crush for begins to view Jack as more than a friend, he's left wonder if it might finally be time to move on.

Overall, Booked on a Feeling was a nice read. It felt like a love letter to the beauty of friendship and those of us who maybe don't have it all figured out just yet! The writing is top notch and the romance was especially sweet. As Jack and Lizzy's connection evolved, I definitely had butterflies in my stomach a few times. In particular, I loved Jack's perspective. His love for Lizzy, his devotion to her, all of it gave me warm and fuzzy feelings.

I think my main complaint was that it took some time for the plot to get going and I didn't necessarily connect to the romance like I anticipated. Though there were moments I loved, I struggled to feel invested overall. Considering how much was made of Lizzy and Jack's long-lasting friendship, I kept waiting for them to communicated more, potentially avoiding some of the conflict they later faced.

→ Thank you to NetGalley, Jayci Lee and St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 (Really Liked It)

This novel was very heartwarming, and soul soothing. I'm a sucker for the friends-to-lovers trope, and I enjoyed the pace at which Lizzie and Jack's relationship developed into more. Especially since this is written in dual POV!

Lizzie and Jack are both relatable characters with real world problems and internal struggles. They don't want to disappoint their parents, but want to follow their dreams. All while heating up their friendship of 20 years. It was wonderful reading a heartwarming story that was believable enough to make you root for the couple.

I only wish we saw more of why Lizzie and Jack are friends before their relationship went to the next level. I want to see why they like each other after 20 years, not just take their friendship for granted because I've been told to.

This is the 3rd book in the A Sweet Mess series, which contains standalone books. I'll be reading the 2nd book in this series, next.

Thank you St. Martin's Press, Netgalley, and Jayci Lee for the ARC of this book.

This book was charming, the main characters were likable, they had clear chemistry, and their own separate lives were well fleshed out, but this book still fell prey to the typical things that I dislike about romance books. I knew exactly what Lizzy wanted to do with her life the moment I started reading, and it was frustrating to see her struggle and to deal with all of the miscommunication and the lack of openness. Still, this book was enjoyable!

This romcom is about two lifelong friends Lizzy and Jack. Lizzy working as an attorney. She is on track to make partner after winning her first case as a lead attorney. Suddenly she realizes that being an attorney isn't all that it is cracked up to be and she decides to move back to Weldon where her friend Jack lives. She rents an apartment above a bookstore and decides to help the owner of the bookstore out. She loves books and has nothing but spare time. She convinces Jack to use his handyman skills to help fix the bookstore.

As they start to work on the bookstore, Lizzy realizes that she may like Jack more than a friend. Will she act on her feelings? Will Jack reciprocate?

The story was cute, I enjoyed taking the journey through the changes in Lizzy's life. Jack seemed to lack depth and was just there doing whatever Lizzy wanted. This really kept me from enjoying this book more than I did. Yes, it was fun to read at times, but it didn’t wow me.

I loved the idea of this book, an overwhelmed lawyer heads to her best friend's town and helps to fix up a bookshop while figuring out her own life. Friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes, but unfortunately the execution of this one just didn't work for me. At times the dialogue and actions of the main characters felt more YA than 30 year old adults. Some things were also overly explained that didn't seem to contribute much to the story line, while important information such as the background of their friendship seemed a bit lacking. I did enjoy the love for books that flowed through the pages, Lizzy's love of a good to do list, as well as the Korean representation. The epilogue was also pretty cute! Overall, there are many that would enjoy this one, but it just wasn't the one for me.
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy in exchange for my review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A woman finds a dead man in her new house. She and her fiancé are baffled but work with the police to find out who killed him.

I am always there for book themed books and especially for rom-coms so I was beyond excited for this one. Unfortunately the execution felt a little flat for me. I had a very hard time getting into this book and then staying engaged when I did finally start to get into it. Lizzy and Jack are best friends living a few hours apart. Lizzie is a lawyer on track to make partner who has just won her first trial. Jack works for his family’s business but dreams of seeing what else he could do with his skills with numbers and finances. Both of them have hidden attraction towards the other and like most friends to lovers no insight about how the other truly feels. I did like the cultural references and the interactions between Lizzy and Jack’s family. Both Lizzie and Jack had good potential as characters but I felt like Jack especially needed more fleshing out.

Thank you to Netgalley, Jayci Lee, and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
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BOOK REVIEW: Booked on a Feeling by Jayci Lee
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Rating: 3/5 stars
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This book was a friends-to-lovers, small town romance. I love small town romances, but friends to lovers isn't something I'm a fan of. One of the reasons I wasn't a fan of friends to lovers in this book was because I felt like we started off the book with both characters secretly pining for each other. I feel ike friends to lovers workss better when at least one of the characters is unaware of their feelings for the other. It just made me wonder why the two characters were putting it off and weren't toegther already.
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Another thing I found confusing in this book was the POV would change once in a while in the middle of the chapter without it being marked. It was usually fairly easy to figure out the POV chnaged within a paragraph of the change, but I would have rather had the section separated or marked. This could just be because I had an adavcned copy though that hasn't finsihed the editing process because some part sof the book where the POV changed it was marked or separated.
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With that being said, there were some things I really enjoyed about this book. I loved the small town shops in the book. We saw a hardware store, Jack's family brewery, and the book shop Lizzy is helping restore to name a few. These shops were adorable and I could read about them all day long. I enjoyed reading about the diverse characters. Lastly, I enjoyed that this book didn't end in the typical way where the big city lawyer moves to the small town. Instead this ended with both MC's moving to LA in the end with Jack and Lizzy getting new jobs.
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Overall, this a was a cute, feel-good rmance book. If friends to lovers is your thing, I reccomend you try this book out.

Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for an arc of Booked on a feeling by Jayci Lee. This novel publishes on July 26.
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I love a friends to lovers story and this one started off pretty strongly for me! I loved Lizzy and Jack and was really rooting for them throughout the novel. I found that there wasn’t a lot of background information on their friendship so even though they had been friends for so long, at times it felt a bit insta-lovey. There was more ‘telling’ about their friendship and relationship and I wanted to ‘see’ it more. There was quite a bit of miscommunication or lack of communicating that I found frustrating and this lead to the pacing of the novel being a bit slow for me.
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I did enjoy that there was quite a bit of character growth and self discovery for both Lizzy and Jack. There was also a good portion of the novel set in a bookstore which was fun!
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Overall I enjoyed this one! Pick this one up if you enjoy friends to lovers, books where the characters love books and self discovery and growth.

Content: panic attacks, anxiety

Friends to lovers is such an amazing trope and Jayci Lee executed it perfectly! I truly enjoyed the entirety of Jack and Lizzy’s story! I would recommend this to anyone who needs an heartwarming easy read! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Thank you so much for allowing me to read and review your titles. I really not the opportunity!


I do appreciate it and continue to review books that I get the chance to read.
Thanks again!

Booked on the feeling was such a cute easy read. Though I’m not a big fan of third-person pov I was able to get through it lol. I very much appreciated how anxiety, as well as fear, self-growth/understanding yourself, was represented in the book. Elizabeth (Lizzy) Chung was somewhat relatable for me I think she had this idea of what being a lawyer was going to be for her, what would please others rather than herself yet was faced with the reality of what the career really was and it wasn’t what she wanted. Jack Parker was such a sweet gentleman in love with Lizzy yet not sure if he should tell her or just try and forget about it because being best friends with her meant a lot to him. I enjoyed the bookish topics involved! One thing I didn’t care about was when starting the book I felt there wasn’t much background to the characters & the relationship. I was kinda thrown into it which sometimes works but for this book, it didn’t flow for me. Overall I think it was a cute read with issues many can relate to! Thank You NetGalley & St. Martin’s Press for the chance to read and give an honest review of the book!
3/⭐️

Booked on a Feeling follows Lizzy, a new lawyer trying to reach her career goals in a big city. Things are starting to look up for her at her law firm until she passes out at a trail hearing. After the fiasco, she spends several days in a small town where her best friend lives. During her time there she realizes there may be a spark between her and her best friend, Jack. Interestingly, Jack has had a crush on Lizzy since childhood but has been fearful of ruining the long-standing friendship

This novel is an interesting take on the friends- to-lovers contemporary romance. The writing style is very lighthearted and I would recommend this book to any reader who enjoys feel-good romance stories.

4/5 Stars!

This was a tough read-it felt like it needed some show, don’t tell-I was just being told. Series of events instead of being part of a story.

It's less of.. hating the book as it is hating the characters... which is kinda like hating the book.

Hate is a strong word in this case, because I wasn't mad I was more of just annoyed. Best friends for 20 years, but long distance best friends. He's been inlove with her this whole time but when she takes time of work to spend in their hometown and realizes she has feelings for him too, he get awkward. They'd go from flirting to him LITERALLY RUNNING away? They'd go from kissing to her meantioning more and he shuts down. Every advanced she made he shut down, but then he was the first one to get flirty again. Even when they were about to be intimate for the first time he's almost trying to talk her out of it. There's so much time wasted they could have been enjoying before she has to go back to work. Despite what he keeps repeating to themselves, everything already changed when they mutually verbalize there was feelings for eachother, WHY WASTED THE TIME YOU HAVE. You're never going back to just friends at that point, so be romantic.

Redeeming about this book was actually the last couple chapters and then epilouge. The realization about her career and the connection that brings them into the same place. The call backs from the first chapter that i was thinking about the whole time like "Why meantion that if it wasn't gonna happen." I also love when bookish characters talk about their relationships in book tropes and start to realize their mistakes because they've read it in a book before.

Overall, I wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to recommend this, but I wouldn't discouraged anyone from reading either? Kinda a middle ground.

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

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for letting me review this book. I thought it was really fun and a quick read and I didn't feel like I was missing anything having not read the other books in the series

Rating: 4 ⭐️

Lizzy is working her way up to partner at a law firm in Los Angeles as planned and life is seemingly good….Until she has a panic attack during her opening statement of a trial. After winning the trial she can’t shake the feeling that something isn’t right. Why isn’t she happy? She decides to take a spur of the moment three week vacation to regroup and heads to her childhood best friend Jack’s town to surprise him.

Unbeknownst to Lizzy, Jack has had a crush on her since childhood. On this trip she starts to see him in ways she hadn’t thought of before. After the back and forth flirty moments and knowing from both POV that they have romantic feelings for the other, we finally get our moment sealed with a kiss! The romantic chemistry is so strong between these two characters you can feel it! Their playful banter is so cute you’ll probably find yourself laughing more than once.

While in the small town visiting, Lizzy finds herself volunteering to help reorganize the local bookstore and befriending the owner and cons Jack into helping them out too. In this she comes to realize maybe everything she’d been working so hard for was only her mother’s dream and it was okay to change her path to be what she’s always dreamed. But what will it take to make that happen? And what about Jack?

There’s growth in both main characters, self discovery, heartbreak, second chance love and a lot of steamy moments!

Friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes and this one definitely hits the spot!

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this early digital copy in exchange for my thoughts.