3.5 rounded up. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Publishing for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this friends to lovers book! Friends to lovers is not my favourite trope, especially when they are both super interested in their friend but just ~assume~ the other couldn't possibly have feelings for them. That being said, Lee does a lovely job of building the chemistry between Lizzy and Jack. The added layers of parent pressure to be high achieving and cultural connections to food and family really helped me settle into this book. The ending leading up to the epilogue felt a bit long, but still got me a little choked up!

A friends-to-lovers romance set in a bookstore? This should have been a slam dunk for me but it didn't connect with Lizzy or Jack the way I wanted to. I loved their antics and the bookish elements but I wish I was more invested in their romance overall.

Thanks to St. MArtin's for the copy to review.

3.75⭐ rounded up.

First of all I am mad that I haven't read book 1 & 2 and hope I didn't miss out on anything.

Featuring ~ dual 3rd person POV, lawyer, panic attack, bookshop, friends to lovers

Lizzie needs a break from lawyering and heads to the small town of Weldon and hangs with her bff, Jack, for 3 weeks. As they spend more and more time together, their attraction for each other grows. Can they be friends with benefits or will one of them want more?

The bookshop setting was lovely and I liked that Lizzy was on a journey to find what truly makes her happy. They have some nice banter and the karaoke scene sounded like a good time too. All in all, a fun quick read/listen.

Side note ~ I really can't stand where there are medaling parents to their adult children ~ Lizzy's mom really bugged me!

I was able to listen to the final version on audio as well, so I went back and forth reading and listening. Cindy Kay did a fine job narrating for 9 hours and 41 minutes, easy to follow at 2-2.5x

Okay, this one was seriously cute. I love a good friends to lovers trope and I like the way it was handled with Lizzy and Jack.

I'd have loved Lizzy to stay at her high powered job because there are not enough stories where women rock their usually male dominated careers.

Jack was a fantastic lead and now I want to go back to read the other novels in this series.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

I'm sad I had high hopes for this book. Who doesn't love book themes inside a book? It was a let down and I wasn't a fan of the characters.

My first book by Jayci Lee and I really enjoyed it! The main characters were acting a little immature for 30+ but not anything that really deterred me from reading or enjoying the book. I'm a sucker for friends to lovers romances so I loved that aspect as well. Definitely a great read for a quick cute but a little steamy palate cleanser.

The third in the Sweet Mess series by the author this book, like the two before it hits all the right now on all the right heads for all the things that are trendy in cozy romance reads in exactly the same ways it's predecessors did, Good for any friends to lovers with a must love books vibe going on.

a 3.5 stars! best friends to lovers just never fails me!

having read lee’s other two books, i was familiar with her writing style. it was fun and sweet but neither of her first two books captured me. i was so happy to read asian leads but they fell flat to me and i wasn’t as excited after reading them. this one though… was so much more than i had hoped for!

i’m sure it was the trope that really made me fall in love with it. best friends to lovers (and one has been in love with the other for so long?!) is just so right.

although it was the best of the three in the series, it wasn’t the best book i’ve read but it was still a solid standalone, does that make sense? i still found myself skimming some passages wanting to get to the best parts. jack and lizzy were both such fun and adorable characters to read and cheer for. their inner turmoil also came across the pages well in developing their characters… i just felt a little bored reading it. i wanted more fun and witty banter between the two who seemed so smitten. i did enjoy it nonetheless and may just get my own copy!

thank you netgalley and the publishers for sending me an ARC in return for an honest review.

This book was super cute

Once again I find a book that I love but is part of a book series. I needed to read the rest but reading this one without the others did not make me lost.

Super cute idea and I loved that idea of once you get what you have worked hard for your whole life you realize it was never your dream because it is true for a lot of people

i thought it was really cute and really appreciated the disability rep that was in the book. I really liked the story line and how her anxiety was handeled.

Ah this was so so cute! I read it in 2 days! I love friends to lovers tropes and it was a sow burn. The anticipation was building until 50% and then finally, magic! I loved the growth in these 2 characters. And the banter so so cute I loved every minute of it. I just wish the POVS were more separate. It would change mid chapter and I’d have to realize oh now it’s this persons POV okay and then once I figured it out it was good. Super cute read other than the POV I have no complaints! For sure I would recommend this to other romance lovers!

I wanted to like this. Lawyer who ditches job to run a bookstore, friends to lovers, handyman main character, bookstore renovation. On paper this sounds like exactly my kind of book. But I did not click with the author’s writing style at all. It’s very basic and amateurish, I felt like I was reading YA, or the first draft of a book idea rather than a well-crafted story. I found the dialogue to be stilted and not at all natural. Also the author provides details for the sake of details when describing a scene or a character’s physical actions, but without any apparent reason for the details in relation to the plot. I don’t mind detailed writing but there has to be a reason. This book is a perfect illustration of the idea that grammatically proper sentences that convey an idea alone are not enough to make a good writing. I think there’s a good story idea here but the style prevented me from connecting with the characters or caring about the story.

I decided to not finish this book. I wasn’t a fan of the writing style and to be completely ho eat the chemistry wasn’t there for me from the start. I do admit that I got only about 10% into the book, but I just knew it wasn’t the book for me. Hence, the DNF.

Unfortunately, I almost didn't finish this book. Had it not been an arc copy, I wouldn't have. I couldn't connect with the characters and had a hard time getting into the story.

This was a sweet romance with wonderful characters. I really liked Lizzy and Jack and their relationship is so heartwarming. This is a great friends to lovers romance that I really enjoyed. It was engaging to see both Lizzy and Jack discover what they really want in their life both professionally and personally.

This book feels like it should embody everything I look for in a romcom. Bookstore setting, friends to lovers, and just a cute overall romcom vibe.

Something about it just did not work as well as I wanted it to. Possibly the third person narration made it harder to connect, but something overall just fell flat. The connection to the characters was not there. It was hard to motivate myself to finish the story, and when I feel that way then it is when I start to drop stars in my ratings.

Personally, it felt forgettable and just not enough of a pop to stick long term, Good, not great, BUT I would still read from this author again.

Friends to lovers? ☑️
Bookstore setting? ☑️
Trying to please you our family while pleasing yourself? ☑️

This book was too cute. I loved the story of Lizzy and Jack. Both were wanting to fall in love but both were scared to damage their friendship. It was a great story line. The writing style kinda through me I wish it would have been told from Lizzy and Jacks perspectives but instead we got a third person narration.

Overall the book was a good read. Thank you to Netgalley, and St. Martin Griffin for the #gifted copy.

While I didn't like Jayci Lee's first romance in this series, Booked on a Feeling was a massive step up. Lizzie and Jack were sweet and engaging throughout the book. I love the gentle and caring approach to anxiety disorders and familial issues. I also thoroughly enjoyed the equal value placed on self love in this book, perfectly balancing out the romance. It made for a really well rounded and engaging story.

Though the book seemed interesting, I really don't have much to say on it. It was good and somewhat enjoyable, but I don't know if it would be something I would recommend or read again. The characters didn't really have much to them for me and the storyline made it feel like a chore to finish.

A friends to lovers romance set in a bookstore? I thought this would be a guaranteed five star read. While there were certain elements I loved, overall, it was not my favorite. I had such a hard time connecting with the characters sadly because it was written in a way that felt too much Young Adult for me.