DNF. The main characters were extremely immature and annoying. I also really didn't like the writing style and how every little movement the characters did were documented by the paragraph. Thank you for the opportunity.

Booked on a Feeling by Jayci Lee, book three in the Sweet Mess series, is a sweet friends to lovers romance. Lizzy Chung had her entire life planned out; she would make her parents proud, be successful, and live happily ever after. At least that was the plan. But plans go awry, and after a panic attack in court, she jumps in her car and heads to Weldon where she spent her childhood summers with her best friend, Jack Park. Jack has crushed on Lizzy for so long that he is thrilled to spend three weeks with her. When Lizzy needs his help saving the local bookstore, he agrees and their journey together begins. Soon, they move from friends to lovers along with some personal growth. They are both at a professional crossroads, with decisions needing to be made, affecting family expectations as well as personal relationships. Together, Lizzy and Jack work to find solutions to these decisions, helping each other deal with Lizzy’s anxiety and Jack’s feelings of unworthiness. This only leads them to growth, life-changing decisions, and a happy future together. I highly recommend A Booked on a Feeling to other readers.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

So, this book was just not for me. 🫠

What Worked:
- The cover is cute.
- The IDEA is cute.

Areas for Improvement:
- Who EDITED this?! There were so many issues with the storyline. How did Jack and Lizzy actually meet? Did I miss that somewhere? So she says her and her family moved to LA from Korea when she was little. Jack has always lived in this small town 4 hours away. How have they known each other and been so close since they were ten? There were random mentions of her visiting him as kids, but then she makes a comment as an adult that she doesn’t know where things are or how they work in this small town, like she’d never been there. Also, she mentions that before she starts high school her parents moved back to Korea but she stayed in the US to complete her education. How? Who did she stay with? Was that how she met Jack? But they’d have been older than 10. I just 🤯. It’s hard to support this friends to lovers relationship when we don’t have a solid understanding of their friendship.
- Also, the dialogue was so awkward and too proper, people don’t sound like that when they talk.
- There was so much repetition of why they couldn’t be together, how they felt, etc.
- The story just fell flat. Which is a bummer, because overall it’s a cute idea if it had been drafted and put together better. Maybe the final story is better edited? I read the ARC so maybe some of this was fixed.
- Also the epilogue was just ridiculous and unnecessary.

Overall, like I said, this book just wasn’t for me, which is disappointing cause I love friends to lovers rom-coms.

This came out last week, but it took me forever to finish it because I just couldn’t get into the story. 😕

This one was such an experience! As someone who watches k-dramas for some reason this one just felt like I was watching one! Before I dive more into this review I do want to thank Netgalley and St. Martins Press for this opportunity!

Now back to Booked on a Feeling haha. From the romance to the progression I just felt super comfortable reading this 🥰 it was a change of pace but a good kind!

I wanted to be friends with Lizzy Chung if only to be able to complete to do lists haha it just feels so rewarding when you’re able to just mark something as done :) so I definitely understood her excitement! It was the way Jack did little things for her here and there that made this a TRUE friends to lovers.

What I mean by that is that they were friends for 20 years before their romance FINALLY happened and in those two decades jack park got to know her the most. Knowing the things she liked or disliked, her little quirks and even things that stressed her out so when he would do things even before her even asking really showed that he was always attentive of her in the best way 😍❤️

It was dual pov so I really enjoyed having both sides of the story but because it was third person it was a bit hard to stay focused BUUUUUT that is just me! I know there’s people that love third person pov, sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t it just depends so if you are one that loves third person then this won’t be a big deal at all and you’ll love this!

My favorite part about this book was all the bookish references and the fact that it was set in a bookstore. The romance seemed a little disjointed to me. Jack has been secretly in love with Lizzy for 20 years and she has had no inkling of his true feelings. When she takes a hiatus from work and visits him in his hometown, his feelings, or at least his attraction to her comes out in the open. It seemed to me that Lizzy jumped full force into this and was all about exploring the attraction, which all of a sudden she has too. When she wanted to go full throttle, he was pressing the brakes. He said he wanted to take things slow and do things right, but it seemed like they were never on the same page with their relationship and life goals. They were at opposite ends of the spectrum until it was all wrapped up and they weren’t anymore. I guess I would have liked to see a little more development between Lizzy and Jack and maybe a little more with the conflict resolution as well.

The book starts with Lizzy who is a lawyer, having a panic attack on one of her cases. So she decides to take a few weeks off and go visit her best friend, Jack, in a town called Weldon. Firstly, when the book starts, I felt like I was already behind. Like the two characters are not only best friends already, but each one is already in love with the other. Maybe it's just me but I just feel like I couldn't grasp their connection since it was already there. Secondly, the ending was kind of a let down. (Spoilers) I mean they have one fight (again after being friends for two decades) and then they don't speak to each other for two months AND they just immediately break up? It just felt very sudden and just kind of thrown in there. The middle seemed like a lot of fluff, but I did enjoy reading some of their interactions.

Such a heartfelt, sweet romance with lovely characters warming your heart! It’s a great example of feel good reading!

Sometimes it can be hard to find a romance that has the romance, but also substance. Plus, tension and very relatable characters. This book had all of that. Lizzy's battle with anxiety brought mental health a very necessary and relatable spotlight. I appreciated Jack's ambitions to dream and the fact he gave Lizzy space when she needed it to find herself and her dreams. I thought tye story also highlighted well the added pressures that can be put upon children by their parents, to succeed. But also that what they assume isn't always what you get and people can surprise you. Success may not be what you think their standards are. Add in the slow burn sizzle between these two, a bookstore, and a brewery and I just wish I was actually in Weldon watching this love story unfold. Drinking tea at the bookstore by day, having a beer by night.

I wanted so much to like this one - a rom-com with books involved? Sign me up! While I related to the FMC’s anxiety and journey in finding happiness career-wise, overall it fell flat for me and I just wasn’t invested in the characters. However, if you enjoy a sweet friends to lovers story, this one might be worth checking out.

I love a pink book cover and this one has an absolutely darling cover. This is the third book in the A Sweet Mess series, of which I have read the second book, but any of the three can can be read as a standalone. In this friends-to-lovers romance, best friends Jack and Lizzy explore their feelings for one another while Lizzy is on leave after an intense court case. While in town Lizzy helps out at the local book shop she is renting a room from and discovers she loves it a lot more than being a lawyer.

I liked this book but didn’t love it. I enjoyed the book while actively reading it, but when I put it down I wasn’t instantly pulled back to it, which is likely why it took so long for me to finish a 300 page book. I really love the Korean-American representation in the whole series. While the cultural aspects of the book were not at the forefront of the story, I liked the subtle references to tradition.

I liked both Jack and Lizzy. I appreciated Lizzy’s struggle with anxiety and how it was depicted in the book. I didn’t love her sudden change in careers. I get it, being a lawyer is hard, but usually you figure out the field isn’t for you during the three years of law school. I get that her job was causing her anxiety, but it felt like a rash decision without a plan that was never really resolved on the page. I really liked Jack, but felt like despite the book being dual POV, I never got enough of him and his motivations as the book was so focused on Lizzy’s journey. Overall this was a fine 3 star book, but not one that I’m going to return to again and again.

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

3.5 stars = Good+

Hallmark movie feel with lovely bookstore bits and some identity/self-discovery pieces. Nice chemistry between the main characters. Enjoyable contemporary romance (Language, sex)

Read/Listen If You Like:
❤️ Reading Diversely
❤️ Second Chance Romance
❤️ Childhood Friends to Lovers
❤️ Small Town Vibes
❤️ Finding Your Happy

Book Review:
For the plot/book content this one gives you a high achiever burning out and running away from her work and responsibilities to try to find her happiness after winning a trial and having no joy come of that win.

When she returns to the small town that she grew up in she starts to find her happy working in a bookstore and helping to get it fixed up and to a point to thrive instead of surviving. As she is doing this, she is reconnected with her childhood friend and they teeter between the will they - won’t they get together that comes with weighing the pros and cons of exploring more with a strong friendship first and foremost.

While teetering they lack communication skills that ultimately gives some miscommunication trope vibes that leaves you wondering- is it worth the risk to attempt to be more than friends and take a risk on love?

You will have to read to find out is what will be the reason for her happy and will she find in a small town?

I was so excited to be approved for this ARC, and so disappointed by the actual execution. Books about books? Yes please! Golden retriever love interest? Yes please! Bland, boring dialogue; over-description; and absolutely no surprises to be found anywhere? No, thank you :( I will give Jayci Lee another try, but this was not the one for me.

Childhood friends to lovers is always a fun combo especially when one of the characters is a clear overachiever. That being said the real shining glory of this is the setting, not the characters.

BOOKED ON A FEELING – Jayci Lee
St. Martin’s Griffin
ISBN: 978-1250621146
July 26, 2022
Contemporary Romance

Weldon, California – Present Day

High-powered Los Angeles attorney Lizzy Chung appears to have it all. She has worked hard to achieve her proudest goal, being named a partner in the firm where she works. But a panic attack while in a courtroom has her decide to take a month off and return to her hometown of Weldon, where her best friend, Jack Park, lives with his family. Lizzy rents an apartment above a bookstore, which intrigues her because she’s a big romance reader. She’s soon helping the owner, Shannon, in sprucing up the bookstore to help bring in business. She even enlists Jack’s help, which means that she gets to spend more time with her best friend.

Jack has had a crush on Lizzy since they were ten years old, but she’s never looked his way. He’s glad that she’s in town visiting and they are getting to do things together, but he’s hoping their friendship develops into something more. Jack is well aware that Lizzy’s life is in Los Angeles, while he’s stuck as the bookkeeper of his family’s brewery. However, he’s hopeful he can change his address by getting a job in Lizzy’s neck of the woods. But as they spend more time together, and start a romantic relationship, Lizzy begins to wonder if Los Angeles is really home for her.

It's a romance for best friends in BOOKED ON A FEELING, the latest by Jayci Lee. Friends since childhood, Lizzy and Jack can just about tell each other whatever they’re thinking, but he hasn’t told her that he’s in love with her. Lizzy thought being an attorney was what she wanted, but it turns out that it’s what her parents wanted for her. Lizzy is content spending time reading a romance and hanging out with friends. She can’t do things like this in her current high-stress job. After passing out during a panic attack in court, Lizzy finally reassesses her life and decides to step away for a month.

Jack feels like the third wheel at the brewery. Anyone can do the bookkeeping, so he’s looking for a change in scenery, all the way to Los Angeles. Of course, Lizzy being there was the big allure but now she’s in Weldon and he’s enjoying their time together. The chemistry between Lizzy and Jack starts off with them bantering, and soon, their feelings for each other turn romantic. Jack will do whatever Lizzy asks him to do, but if she turns her back on him after their fling is over, how will he react? Jack and Lizzy make a nice couple, but readers will wonder what will happen if their romance goes off the rails. Meanwhile, Lizzy is enjoying her temporary job at the bookstore. Are career changes in store for both?

BOOKED ON A FEELING is an enjoyably breezy tale with loads of fun and plenty of sexy banter. Will Jack get the job and the woman he wants with them living happily ever after in Los Angeles? Or will Jack and Lizzy both find their plans turned upside down? Enjoy the fun and pick up a copy of BOOKED ON A FEELING.

Patti Fischer

This was a cute childhood friends to lovers romance. And most of it takes place in a bookstore so what’s not to love?

Lizzie Chung is on the partner track at her LA law firm. But when she has a panic attack in the middle of her first trial, she takes a leave of absence to focus on her health. She heads back to her hometown where she starts spending more time with her best friend Jack Park who is working at his family’s brewery.

Lizzie and Jack had great chemistry and I appreciated Jack’s pining. I struggled a bit with the middle of the book where it felt like nothing was really happening. And then the conflict is entirely miscommunication which isn’t my favorite. I just wanted these two adults to talk to each other! Overall I’d give this 3.5 stars.

Content warnings: Panic attacks and anxiety; challenging parents for the FMC.

Thanks to SMP Romance and NetGalley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

"She didn't have much time to read for fun, but when she did, she always turned to her favorite genre- romance. Sure, it was a nice escape, but it was more than that. Those stories healed something inside her and made her feel less alone.”

Ugh, this quote is exactly why I love romance books. Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

📚Summary📚
Lizzy is a lawyer in a big firm in LA. She just won her first trial, but feels nothing. Just burned out. She decides to take some time off to recharge and goes to Weldon, the small town where her best friend of 20 years, Jack lives and works at the family brewery. Jack feels like the brewery is his family's dream, not his and wants more for his career.
Jack has had feelings for Lizzy for the duration of their friendship. When she comes to Weldon for 3 weeks, he's worried about hiding his feelings for her. But the more time they spend together, both Lizzy and Jack notice a different vibe in their relationship. Are they willing to risk their friendship for a shot at happiness? And what about their careers?

📚Review📚
This was a cute read. The beginning was setting the background of both Lizzy and Jack, so it started off a bit slow. Once Lizzy got to Weldon and the tension and attraction between Lizzy and Jack came to the forefront, it picked up a bit. Until they got together, their inner monologues were a little repetitive. I appreciated the anxiety representation. I loved Jack's relationship with his family, and I wish there may have been more closure in Lizzy's with her parents, and maybe some more insight into her relationship with her father since her mother's was so tense. Overall, it was a great summer romance and the bookworm in me loves a love story with a heavily featured independent bookshop!

I don't think the author quite understands what makes romance interesting. There is no question of the couple ending up together; they're both POV characters. The solutions to their "problems" are obvious, to both the reader and the characters, and easily achieved. The third act drama is very contrived and relies on the two lying and being wilfully ignorant. The "misunderstanding" could be cleared up with a single text.

Because there is no drama, huge chunks of the book are devoted to describing food, talking about food, thinking about food, eating food. There were more dinner scenes than romance scenes.

<spoiler>Lizzy is a lawyer who doesn't like being a lawyer. In the second chapter we learn her favorite bookstore is up for sale. Now, one might suspect she'd quit her job and purchase the bookstore, and the story would progress from there. Perhaps that's not the most realistic or responsible thing, but people make reckless decisions all the time, and this is fiction. No, instead of buying the bookstore at the beginning, and maybe meeting someone to rival the main love interest, she takes a trip and spend her vacation time volunteering at another bookstore.

Her and Jack, her childhood best friend who has been in love with her for twenty years, eventually start dating. There is never any question about that outcome. All the sexy scenes fade to black, much like my vision while reading this. Then, in the very last chapter, we are finally told Lizzy buys the bookstore, surprising absolutely no one. We don't get to see her work on it, or grappble with the pressures of being a small business owner. All that potentially interesting and stressful stuff happens off screen. Everything is just swell at the end. </spoiler>

I've been trying to come up with the right word for this book. Boring, uneventful, predictable, sedate. There are plenty of ways to introduce drama (I kept hoping Jack would meet with tragedy), but the author ignores them for blander fare. It's the literary equivalent of taking Ambien. If you want to slip into a coma and can't afford drugs, I'd recommend this.

Oh the pining!

Jack has loved Lizzy for twenty years, but has been resigned to be her best friend. When Lizzy wins her first trial, she realizes how much she dislikes her life and runs to Jack. Staying in his hometown, seeing him everyday, she quickly sees him in a new light.

I love pining. The emotional pining and sexual tension was so good. And it didn't patter out when they got together!

When the eventual third act breakup hits, Lizzy and Jack realize they need to focus on their inner problems and insecurities. By learning about their inner selfs, what they truly want and what they are worth, they can come back together as two complete individuals better with each other.

I'm excited to read the first two books in the series now!

Read for: friends to lovers (omg they were so IN LOVE with each other, Asian representation, anxiety representation, and a sweet romance

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

4.5 stars
1 spicy

3 stars

You can read all of my reviews at Nerd Girl Loves Books.

This was a cute contemporary romantic comedy set in a small town north of Los Angeles. Lizzy Chung is an overachiever. She's an attorney at a high powered law firm on the partner track. But when she faints during her opening statement, she realizes she needs a break. She goes back to the small town where she spent her summers with her best friend Jack to unwind and figure out what went wrong.

Jack Park works as a bookkeeper for his family business, but he's got ambitions of his own. He is excited to see his life-long crush Lizzy back in town, although he doesn't know how he'll keep his crush a secret for the three weeks she'll be in town. When she decides to help the local bookstore owner revamp her shop, Jack volunteers to help. And of course, in true rom-com fashion, sparks fly.

I liked the chemistry between Lizzy and Park, although it was a long time coming. The book had a much slower pace than I care for and could have been shorter without missing any of the story. Neither character had much growth until the last couple of chapters so it felt rushed. I'm also not a big fan of the "miscommunication" trope, and although it was minor here compared to other books, I just didn't care for it. However, I did enjoy the "boy falls in love first" and "friends to lovers" tropes that center the book. The book is very chaste, with a couple mentions of sex but not much more. Overall, it's a cute book.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press. All opinions are my own.