2.5 stars

Unfortunately, I dnf-ed this at 85%. And I honestly would have definitely dnf-ed it earlier, but I was just really trying to push through it and finish the book, but I just couldn't.
I was never fully committed to this story; it never truly pulled it in, and I got bored of it frequently.
None of the characters were too deep, so I wasn't interested in them, and their relationship happened quicker than I imagined it would. This is a friends-to-lovers story (which I enjoy), and on one page, they were trying to fight their feelings for each other, and then on the next, they just gave in.
Overall, I found the book's entirety quite dull, and nothing stood out.

thanks netgalley & st. martin's press for the e-arc!! :)

If you thought The Dating Dare was sweet, then Booked on a Feeling will have your teeth falling out because of the sugary story. But if you are into sweets, you should totally read this one. It is cute, funny and totally cozy. Lizzy and Jack are just adorable and you can’t help but root for them to make it work. It’s also nice to see the characters from A sweet mess and The Dating Dare make an appearance. you don’t need to read those stories to be able to read this one, but it is a plus. And of course, now I’m hoping that Alex also will get his own story. Four out of five stars from me and a special thank you to Netgalley for providing the are.

Lizzy Chang is an LA lawyer. It’s something she (and her mother) have dreamed about forever. Lizzy being a successful something and making lots of money. So, when this overachiever passes out during her first opening statement in her first trial, she bounces right back thanks to her best friend forever, Jack Park.

Jack is Lizzy’s safety net. He’s always been there for her even when she had no idea she needed him. But Jack has a bit of a secret. He has had a massive crush on Lizzy for years. He works as a bookkeeper at his family’s brewery in a small town called Weldon. Although he knows his family needs him, he has always seen himself as a financial something in a high-powered business in a big city like Los Angeles.

So, when Lizzy shows up in Weldon unexpectedly after her first trial is over to decompress, he’s hesitatingly excited to see her. She tells him she’ll be there for 3 weeks. He finds himself in the position of either telling her how he feels or moving on. He has also made the decision to interview for a job in LA, which would let him be able to see Lizzy more.

So as Lizzy settles herself into her little apartment over the local bookstore for her stay, she feels she is in her happy place. Books have always been Lizzy’s go to for everything. She loves everything about books, and even turned Jack onto reading years ago. But this bookstore seems to need a little help. The owner has a young son and seems a bit stretched. There is hardly any people traffic at the store, and it is in need of a facelift. Lizzy, who has a hard time sitting still even when she’s relaxing decides to assist the owner and proceeds to make it her pet project. Of course, she gets Jack’s help as well.

That’s when the Lizzy and Jack story really heats up. Especially when Lizzy sees Jack’s toolbelt! But can two best friends with the best friendship each has ever had withstand this next step? And then when Jack throws a surprise curveball into the new relationship will Lizzy, who always needs to be in control be able to handle it? Can best friends ever be anything more without hurting the friendship?

Find out in this too cute, funny, love story which will absolutely put a smile on your face!

Thank you #NetGalley #St.Martin’sGriffin #JayciLee #BookedonaFeeling for the advanced copy.

Lizzy is a perfectionist who loves organizing and to do lists. Her best friend Jack has been in love with her since they were 10. When Lizzy is required to take a break from her prestigious job as a lawyer, she decides to stay near Jack in the small town of Weldon. Jack makes it a goal to hide his feelings for Lizzy but what if their friendship could become something more??

This was a cute romcom with just the right amount of heat. Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for the egalley in exchange for my honest review.

This was an enjoyable read with a sweet romance. It's all about the journey with romance books and this one was enjoyable. While I loved the friends to lovers of this closed door romance, what I really appreciated was the individual character growth—chasing their dreams and their journeys felt so genuine. I loved how natural their friendship read. And the bookstore was wonderful!

Booked on a Feeling by Jayci Lee is my first book by this author.
While reading, I was unaware that this book is #3 in a series (they are all stand alone books).
Perhaps I would have been more invested in the characters if I had read the previous two books...?

That being said, this is a cute "friends to lovers" story. Lizzy and Jack have been best friends for years, but have never ventured beyond that line. When Lizzy has second thoughts about her career as a lawyer, she takes a vacation to Jack's home town to assess her career choice. Jack is also taking a hard look at his career as bookkeeper and waiter for the family Brewery/Restaurant.
The story was cute and predictable. Unfortunately I didn't feel fully invested in the characters and the outcome of their relationship. I would definitely give another book by Jayci Lee a try. I only wish I had know there were two previous books in the series; I definitely would have read them first!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Jayci Lee for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Lizzy is very focused and determined. She is on the rise at her law firm. She has her first trial case and she is ready to show them all that she can be a trial attorney. The only problem is she has a panic attack during her moment to shine in the court room. She is mortified and escapes to Wheldon, a small town where her childhood bestie resides.

Jack is happy that Lizzy is in Wheldon. She starts working on an old bookstore and enlist his help. The chemistry is different with them now that they are adults. What they are feeling seems a bit more romantic and both are nervous.

Jack has always crushed on Lizzy. He is happy she is around. He is at a point where he has to figure out what he wants in life. He doesn’t have the same passion to work in the family brewery anymore. He is just scared to take a leap but Lizzy encourages him in more than one way.

This is such a cute friends-to-lovers romance. I enjoyed the quirky set of characters. They are both Korean Americans with similar backgrounds. Both are on a path of self-discovery while navigating the tricky waters of romance. The cultural aspects play a heavy part on why Lizzy is so hard on herself and why Jack feels obligated to work in the family business.

While I enjoyed the story and seeing the growth with them, I felt like the story lacked something memorable. There is no real tension or angst. Jack is just the perfect book boyfriend. Everything falls into place pretty nicely. The pop up of previous characters of the series is nice but if you haven’t read previous books, you won’t feel lost. They just add a familiar vibe to the story.

Overall, this is a quick and cute read. I recommend it for fans of contemporary romance.

~ Samantha

As always, Jayci Lee's books are compulsively readable. I loved her previous 2 books so had high hopes for this one but it wasn't my favorite of her books. While I initially liked the characters, the lack of communication went on too long and made the book drag longer than it needed to. I loved seeing the bookstore plot lines and the descriptions of Korean food but just wish the romance plot line and conflict had more to it.

This is a sweet story, but it just didn’t hit the right notes for me overall. I love the characters and the best friends to lovers story, but I was left skimming. I think it’s because, for me, Lizzy and Jack spent far too much time being obtuse.

Did Jack and Lizzy have a wonderful connection? Absolutely. I even got butterflies a time or two. I realize one of the points of this story is how much these characters are people pleasers. In different ways from one another, but still both always worried that they are letting others down. Yet the lengths they go through to NOT talk to each other about their feelings and important matters that have to do with the direction their lives will potentially take got to be repetitive. I found myself looking forward to their interactions with his family and their friends because they often called them out on things they had been keeping close to the vest. In other words, they made them talk. Still not enough for my liking, though.

There is a whole lot of food in this story when neither character is in the food business. That was actually something I enjoyed because I like to look up foods I’m unfamiliar with when I come across them in books and see if I could try something new. Just putting it out there, do with it what you will.

While Lizzy and Jack are both amazingly wonderful and kind people, they were also a tad bit boring. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing. I just felt I needed a bit more of a spark between them. It, quite frankly, felt one-sided much of the time. Which is the risk you take with a friends to lovers story.

This is a story that can travel well, to the beach or on vacation or when you know you’ll be sitting in a waiting room. It’s cute and sweet, but also easy to put down when you get interrupted and easy to pick back up when you have the time.

This is a cute romcom in the A Sweet Mess series by Jayci Lee. I had enjoyed The Dating Dare, so was excited for this one.
It centers around Lizzy, an attorney, and Jack, a brewery worker. Lizzy and Jack are best friends since childhood. She's currently working on becoming a partner at her law firm, but after she wins her first case, she begins to reevaluate her life. She takes some time off and goes to the small town of Weldon, where her best friend Jack lives. While there they reconnect and their friendship has the potential of becoming something more.

I found this book fun and the story cute. However, I found the believability, especially around how Lizzie acted at times, a little off. Their romance often seemed a little juvenile at times - more YA than adult. Otherwise, it was still a solid romcom and a good, quick read!

3.5/5 and thanks to NetGalley, Jayci Lee, and St. Martin's Griffen for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Booked on a Feeling was a sweet and heartwarming romcom with a best friends to lovers trope! The story centers around Lizzy and her finding what makers her happy after winning her first case as an attorney, along the way she visits Weldon where her best friend jack lives. This book has all the feels🫶
Thank you #netgally for sending me a arc for a review!

This book was adorable! Although this is a romance book, there are so many other important aspects to it that I loved. I was able to relate to Lizzy’s struggle with doing what other’s expected of her versus what she wants to do for herself. I appreciated the awareness it brought to people who are burnt out and the importance of taking time to relax and recharge. I did feel like it dragged a bit in the middle and I got a little bored. Overall, this was a sweet story and a bit of a love letter to book lovers who have dreams to own a bookstore. The Asian representation was amazing as well!

Booked on a Feeling is an incredibly sweet friends to lovers romance. However, I could not get behind the relationship. The book itself read very YA in the scenarios between the couple, and it was hard to grasp why she had the meltdown and left her work when she came off as being such a strong character.

While I did finish, it took me a lot of weeks of putting it down and picking it back up. I found it hard to connect to the characters or root for their relationship.

Cute, but generic. I enjoyed the story but it felt like a lot of other books. Thanks for the chance to read and review.

A fun romantic read can be found in Booked on a Feeling. Lizzie is a successful attorney, but is having a physical and mental breakdown. Returning to the town where her best friend lives, Lizzie hopes to rest and recover during the three weeks. But her best friend, Jack, and his family have other ideas. Following a fairly classic and simple romance formula, Lizzie and Jack are best friends, have a series of close encounters, have a falling out, and eventually find each other. While the formula is often trite, I did enjoy the romance and funny encounters between the two. Jack, in my opinion, was a more believable and likable character, but the story does help the reader learn why Lizzie was so compulsive.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me the privilege of reading Booked on a Feeling. All opinions offered are my own.

Loved the title, and loved the story just as much! Moving to a small town and fixing up a bookstore is the absolute dream. It’s renovations and books combined, my two favorite things. Those scenes were my favorites!

Jack and Lizzy’s romance was so sweet. I love decades-long secret pining, especially when the friendship is just as fun to read as the romance.

The one thing that felt a little awkward was the jump between Lizzy working so hard to make partner, winning her first case, should be feeling great–and then deciding to leave it behind. I’m no stranger to feeling burnt out at work and longing for a simpler job, but the pacing there felt off.

I had no idea this was a part of a series until I went to mark it as read on Goodreads. I was wondering why the epilogue suddenly made it seem like we knew who Tara and Seth were more than in passing, so that answers that question. I’m excited to read the previous books now!

I really loved this book! I’m a sucker for friends to lovers but I really enjoyed this book. I loved the bookstore concept and really liked hearing about all the different family members. It makes me want to read more from this author. It was really good and I can’t wait for more!

It’s been a while since I’ve read a really heart warming and gooey centered romance novel and booked on a feeling was so much more! Very often in our 20’s, have so many people asked the same question: am I pursuing a career that I’m at least 50% interested in or passionate about? Even if the responses vary, I’ve witnessed so many times a person being unhappy because of their career choice. When they were starting with this as their career option, it seemed right but somehow in the years between that started to become the center of much of their displeasure and struggling with finding happiness or feeling content in their life.
Booked on a feeling does revolve around thai major theme. A friends-to-lovers story surrounding this theme talks about so many aspects that I appreciated. Lizzy is an attorney and is guaranteed to be made a partner at a top law firm in few years. But little does she realize that the core reason for her panic attacks or unhappiness stem from her job. On the other hand, Jack, Lizzy’s best friend since they were ten is handling accounts of his family owned brewery. In need of finding his passion and helping out his family business, he somehow always chooses his passion the least. To add, he’s loved Lizzy since they were ten. When Lizzy finally decides to take an impromptu three week vacation to Jack’s hometown, fire sparks between them and the rest is history. But through this love story developing, both of them are finding themselves and that’s what made me love the story. Realistic and yet capable of making your heart melt, Lizzy and Jack’s love story involves both of them figuring their true selves out and how they both motivate each other to come to reality with this true. As a bonus a very important chunk of the story revolves around bookstores and that made my heart grow a size more! It emphasizes on the importance and the uniqueness independent bookstores bring, the reasons why people read romance (which is not always because they want to read a love story) and what it means to be a bookstore owner.
Sometimes the path to the rest of your life has been in front of you all along! The epilogue was the sweetest bit ever and I’m thankful to the author that she included this snippet because the story feels whole to me with that bonus chapter!
Thank you netgalley and St. Martin’s press for giving me an ARC copy of this!

This book was a cute romance read! If you’re a fan of fluffy romances that just feel comforting and easy to follow, then Jayci Lee’s books are perfect for you. I think my biggest issue with this book was the lack of direction with the plot. And sometimes it felt as if there wasn’t a plot at all while reading. The friends to lovers romance was easily my favorite part, Jack and Lizzy were made for each other and I loved seeing their friendship bloom into more. Though I wasn’t a fan of the storyline, I did thoroughly enjoy the romance and small town setting, making this book overall a cute summer read!

Link to my instagram review is attached below.

I thought this book was really cute. It had so many thinks to love like all the commentary on romance & tropes. I also love any book that has realustic anxiety representation.