As an avid romance reader, I am very picky and exigent with my reads. Booked on a Feeling has been my first 5-star rom-com of the year, and you should know that I don't give 5 stars lightly. I loved the characters and their evolution, and how they fought for their dreams regardless of what other people thought. I loved how Jack put Lizzy first and let her go so she could find herself without him influencing her decisions. I loved seeing how Sparrow grew into its potential, becoming what I could picture as my dream bookstore. All in all, this was a brilliant book, and I can't wait to see it become a favourite in BookTok.

I see this book everywhere and I love it! I want to see it even more. This book was so fun and I'm obsessed with the cover!

This book would make such a good movie! Unfortunately I did find some of the story too slow, but it was really cute! The cover and title really got my attention, and I think people who enjoyed the first two will like this one as well.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

Lizzy Chung gets things done. She makes plans and doesn’t stop until she finds success. She is so close to making partner at her law firm until she passes out from a panic attack in the middle of a trial. Lizzy knows she needs to take a step back. So she joins her childhood friend, Jack Park, in his cozy home town. Except Lizzy doesn’t know Jack has been harboring a huge crush since they were ten years old. As they work together to revitalize the town bookstore, they have to navigate complicated feelings and a whole lot of tension!

The atmosphere really did it for me for this one! A book about a book lover who spends her free time caring for bookstores…I’m in love. This friends-to-lovers romance was just plain cute. Of course, after reading it I discovered this is the third in a character series and I will definitely be going back to read the first two. This book is for anyone who loves a fluffy rom-com with good banter and dual POV!

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

I adore a good friends to lover trope even when one of the friends takes longer to read the room. I devoured this book in a day because I could not put it down. I loved the mc so much. Sometimes when it switched pov it wasn't the most organic or at a point that really made sense, like at a chapter change. But overall I loved it.

Things I loved:

❤️ Wonderful AAPI, specifically Korean rep. The centering of love shown through classic Korean dishes cooked by Jack's family was incredibly sweet.
❤️ Lizzy (obsessed with P&P) is a fellow book nerd and checklist afficionado
❤️ Jack is a precious baby angel that deserves literally all of the love
❤️ Who doesn't love a love story centered in a bookstore?
❤️ The book cover scene
❤️ This romance has the appeal of a classic Hallmark movie
❤️ Lizzy has a healthy relationship with food and sticks up for herself in conflicts with her mother. I also love that she is unapologetically herself

Things I wish I had more of:

🤷🏻‍♀️ Jack and Lizzy are super cute together. I wish I had gotten to see a little bit more of the development of Lizzy's change of feeling from friends to lovers. The switch felt a bit abrupt while Jack's felt more natural.
🤷🏻‍♀️ I really liked the pining in this book, especially with Jack, some of it just felt a little redundant and heavy handed, but it is a romance novel.
🤷🏻‍♀️ Alex and Tara are great characters and I would have loved to see more of them throughout.

Overall this was a super sweet read! Thank you again for letting me read and review this romance 😊

I. Love. Boy. Falls. First. - I read this with a friend via ARC. I also love childhood friends to lovers. This was a basic read, nothing crazy! If you're looking for a light hearted easy read try it!

Reading about books is always to cool to me. And two friend revamping a book store? YES. But i am choosing to give it 3 stars because even though the romance was sweet, as I stated above it was just basic! Nothing again the story or the author, I enjoyed myself. But I have read better books (in my opinion)! I do love how compatible Jack and Lizzy were!

2.75⭐️

Thanks you to the publisher via NetGalley and St. Martins Press for giving me an e-ARC of this book!

I went into this read with really high hopes and expectations. A romcom about a book lover? Yes. A lifelong friend-turned-lover? Yes. But sadly it did not meet the expectations I had for it.

Some things I really liked were the growth of the main characters and how they were able to find their passions and grow out of the stereotypes and labels placed on them. I also liked their banter and dynamic. However, the story itself fell kind of flat to me and the plot seemed very rushed. At times I wondered if the story would reach a climax and find some tension or pressure—but it never came. Overall it was a very easy read and I enjoyed the main characters more than anything

Lizzy is on her way to achieving the "American Dream." She immigrated with her parents while in grade school and has gone on to get a law degree. She works at a successful law firm and is on her way to being partner. During her first trial, she has a panic attack and notices how burnt out she is. She takes a few weeks off to spend time in Weldon, CA where she spent summers as a child. It just so happens that her childhood best friends, Jack Park, lives there. They spend time together and he is unaware of her crush on him and vice versa. They work together with a bookstore owner to redo her store and along they way, they find it hard to just be friends.

The story was predictable, but I loved the character development and how Lee showed that money and a fancy job are not all that make people happy.

Oh my god this was such a cute book! I absolutely loved it, I know I’m more of an enemies to lovers girl, But I loved loved loved the book!

My Summary
A feel good read! I really enjoyed this book. My first arc and it felt awesome because I'm a big fan of Jayci Lee. The story if two best friends falling in love. Lizzy and Jack two bestfriends had no idea her taking vacation is his home town would lead to them falling in love. What makes this book even better was the fact that most of the scenes took place in a bookstore. This book is a must read! A steamy, spicy, fall hopelessly in love rom com.

⚜Likes/Dislikes

📚I love books about books and a love story of two bestfriends never gets old.

⚜Dislikes

📚None

⚜Favorite/Least Favorite Part

📚My Favorite part was when Lizzy decided that her and Jack had something deeper that they should explore. I also loved her purchasing the bookstore because that's a dream of mines someday.

📚My Least Favorite part was when they both acted like they weren't in love yet.

⚜Can everyone read this book?

📚Yes!

⚜Would I recommend?

📚Absolutely! A must read!

Just Read Stars
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Jayci Lee for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review! When I requested it I didn’t know that it was the third book in a series, but I’m glad that it can be read as a standalone. It follows Jack and Lizzy, childhood best friends, as they reunite. This was such a cute concept and I love the cover, but the actual story was hard for me to get into, which could just be a personal issue! I think there could have been a few things done differently, such as including more backstory, but it’s still a cute read. I’m rating it three stars because while it was fun, it wasn’t my favorite.

thank you St Martin's Press and netgalley for the eARC.

<i>booked on a feeling</i> follows a classic friends-to-lovers romance plotline between lizzy, a burnt-out attorney at law, and her long time best friend, jack. she gets panicky after one of the biggest events of her career, and turns back to jack's town for a three week break. cue them falling in love.

i don't quite know how to go about this review, so let me just start by saying i <i>desperately</i> wanted to dnf this book at about 30% in, and that's for a few reasons.

for starters, both characters lack depth. the author sets up this concept of each of them having their own struggles, but they're not fleshed out the way you want them to be, especially when its the focal point of their characterizations. lizzy's whole career path, which is a key part of this book, doesn't get concluded until the last 5% of the book. and even though you EXPECT that to be the conclusion, its written in a way that to me doesn't quite work. like yes she was happy working on the bookstore and that's talked about endlessly, but there were better ways to write that conclusion. jack's plotline is also so oddly written, it just seemed like the author was just looking for something to divide them and settled on giving him that career plot, especially seeing as his argument with his family & lizzy isn't even wrapped up. they just say they're happy for him and move on.

next, the romance. i don't even understand how jack and lizzy became friends. its alluded to that their families were friends, but her parents also moved away? and she somehow stayed there despite being a child? and yet the town jack's family lives in isn't her childhood town????? they NEVER touch on their childhoods or even their past friendship, its just pointed out that its SO important and that he LOVES her desperately and we're meant to believe it, which is an absolute fail to me considering the trope here is in fact friends to lovers--its needed to be far more established for that work, and that's what disappoints me most.

also in terms of the romance, the pacing just completely fell off for me. from the start it's established jack loves her, which is a trope i adore, but then lizzy's sort of interest in him wasn't well written. it starts off between them as physical interest but when it develops into actual emotions its just done in a way that misses the mark completely, at least to me. it feels rushed despite the book also feeling very long, but i chalk that up to the amount of unnecessary description we get.

even the i love you scene just felt flat to me, and that's disappointing. i was so excited for this book, but i finished it and just felt disappointment.

Went into this one with really high hopes but it was just okay for me. It did not immediately catch my attention so I didn't find myself wanting to pick it back up.

Booked on a Feeling is third in a series but can be read as a standalone. I was very excited to read this book and was really hoping I would enjoy it but it was just okay for me. It is a very sweet best-friends-to-lovers romance, but felt quite superficial to me. Jack and Lizzy already know everything about each other, we find out Jack is in love with Lizzy in the first chapters, and Lizzy basically the same. There isn’t really if any relationship development between the two of them other than avoiding and then exploring the sexual nature of their relationship. The major conflict between them is very clear from the beginning and is sort of just avoided until the end, which also just left a general feeling that there wasn’t quite enough here. I’m sure others will love this one but it left me wanting more. I enjoy Jaycee Lee’s writing and have enjoyed her other books but this one just wasn’t my favorite.

Lizzie Chung is a successful attorney on her way to make partner. Unfortunately the tough life of a lawyer on the partner track causes her to have a panic attack during her first trial appearance. She decides to take a leave of absence and visit her childhood friend Jack Park in the small town of Weldon.
Jack has secretly been in love with Lizzie for years and he's hoping that something might spark between them. Jack & Lizzie team up to help a struggling bookstore and it brings them closer together but will their inner anxieties and insecurities doom their relationship?
This was a really sweet romance that dealt with some serious topics. Lizzie has serious anxiety and both Lizzie and Jack struggle with what they truly want out of life. I enjoyed the bookstore aspects and the love of books that is woven throughout the story.
I haven't read the first two books but I'm definitely going back and reading those.

DNF. I loved all the representation of Korean culture and the voice of the two MCs, but I couldn't get past Jack's mopey pining over Lizzy and second guessing everything he was doing. The overall plot should have worked for me but I just wasn't a fan of the execution. It could be that I just don't like the friends-to-lovers trope but I suspect the corny situations worked against my immersion into the story.

Jack and Lizzy are childhood best friends who are reunited in adulthood - destined to become more.

The storyline was an adorable, bookish themed concept. I was so excited to read this one! I was given an ARC from NetGallery, and St. Martin's Press to review for them.

Lizzy is a burnt out lawyer who finds herself in the middle of a bookstore revamp in her hometown. During the time she is able to rekindle her friendship with Jack - who is a bookkeeper for his family's brewery. Slowly things turn into more. He has harbored a crush on her for many years, and wants to turn their friendship into a relationship.

This honestly was not for me. It felt a bit juvenile in the writing aspect. I feel this would be a good read for the pre-teen demographic. The angst didn't hit the mark for me, and there were childish things like over "giggling" at things the MMC did/said. I gave this a 3 star because the premise the story was based on truly drew me in. In the future I look forward to seeing the growth of this author!

Ahh I absolutely loved this. Lizzy and Jacka are both delightful with charming romantic tension is so charming. It gave me such happy feels, and was such a fun read. The story was fast-paced and it is never boring.Definitely a great recommended rom-com!

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin's press for an advance copy of Booked on a Feeling to read and review.

I really wanted to love everything this book. It had such a cute premise, and I love a good friends to lovers trope.

I loved the main premise of a burned out corporate lawyer taking a vacation and helping to fix up a bookstore with her best friend. However, the characters of Lizzy and Jack simply fell flat. I didn't feel that they had much chemistry, and the romance seemed a bit juvenile. Lizzy giggles and Jack growls a lot. Also, the internal dialog for each of them sound more akin to a teenager's inner dialog than young, professional adults.

I also would have loved to understand more of Lizzy and Jack's backstory. Maybe if I we actually got to read more of how they got to know each other, the chemistry would have been better.

That all said, the book was still an enjoyable and quick read. The plot was cute, and the secondary characters were fun. Overall, I enjoyed the book and I would give the author another try.