Lizzy is a people pleaser. She’s trying super hard to please her mom with her career even though it’s not really what she wants. Jack is the in the same predicament. They’re besties since they were young. (Loved this!) I loved the bookish nods in this book. Lizzy has a TBR like mine. LOL

Overall, a super cute and funny little rom com!

This book had the perfect combo of friends to lovers trope with a partial setting in a bookstore and I still couldn't get into it. I don't know what it was, but I just didn't like any of the characters. I flew through the book in just a day or two, but that's only because I was on vacation and was trying to sit and relax, and I also didn't feel like deciding on what other book to read. I've enjoyed the other books by this author, but this one was a bit of a dud for me. However, I still feel like this would be a book enjoyed by plenty of people, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.

Cute rom-com about best friends Lizzy and Jack. Liz is a lawyer working toward partner. Living out her mother’s wish in LA. Jack is the book keeper at his family’s brewery. Lizzy decides she needs break from LA and practicing law and heads to small town Weldon where Jack lives.
Friends to lovers type romance with minimal drama.

This is my first book by Jayci Lee, and I am a fan. I love how the author described the MCs. The characters were very sweet and well flushed out. I completely relate to Lizzy because the pressure of being a lawyer is very very intense. I think Jayci describes this very well; specifically, when Lizzy has a panic attack at court. Being a lawyer can be very stressful; on top of that, Lizzy was trying to make her mom proud. That's a lot of pressure. I feel like Jayci is writing about my life. LOL.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Jayci Lee has a hit on her hands with this romantic comedy “Booked On a Feeling”. This book is a friends to lovers romantic comedy that deals with families, panic attacks, anxiety and life pressure. Lizzy and Jack have been friends for 20 years and are a cute couple. Lizzy is a high powered attorney living in LA and Jack works at the family brewery as a bookkeeper. Jack has had a crush on Lizzie for sometime and never told her and according to Jack he plans to keep it a secret. Now that Lizzie is in Weldon for three weeks to shed the burnout and figure out somethings in her life can she make a go of it. Jack is wondering whether or not he should make his feelings known to Lizzy or just forget about them. While Lizzy is in Weldon she revamps a bookstore and it seems to be helping Lizzy. I love the interaction and camaraderie between the two. Jack knew what Lizzy needed and was there for her. These two are great together.

I received an ARC via NetGalley and St. Martin Press and I am leaving my review voluntarily. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin Press.

This book was so sweet! It's honestly the perfect example of a feel-good romance. There are definitely times when I'm not in the mood for a romance that has more sweet romantical elements, but this definitely came at the right time. I loved Jack. I found his character very enduring. He was sweet and supportive and just so darn lovable. I mean the fact that he's been in love with Lizzy since he was a kid is just so sweet. Friends to lovers romances always have this really lovely way of showing you how deep the relationship between the characters goes, even if they have been separated there is this added layer of knowledge of each other's pasts that I feel adds such a fun element to romance books and this one was no exception. Also, this came at such a fun time for me as I just started working in a bookstore so the vibes were so great for me.

I liked Lizzy's character a lot as well. I feel like she was very relatable and honestly just the fact that it depicts the strains that women go through in this incredibly stressful work environment. The fact that Lizzy's healing through all of this is done very well too is a major plus for me. Overall, I thought it was sweet and wonderful and definitely something I'd recommend to someone who is looking for a feel-good romance.

Super cute read! It's flirty, steamy, fun, and about books. It makes for a fantastic beach read that will have you swooning and cheering for these BFFs to become something more!

If you’re a lover a short romance reads that keep it light and easy, this is the book for you. That’s not my style at all, this book was not the one for me from start to finish. Honestly I sped through the last 40% because I knew what was coming. What I did appreciate was all the Korean culture the author added in and I loved seeing her love for food come through on the pages. Thanks NetGalley for giving me this ARC in return for an honest review.

3.5 Stars
This book has been by far my favorite in the series thus far. It was the first one that I really felt the emotional connection as strongly as the physical one between the MCs. The friends-to-lovers really worked in this situation. It was nice to get glimpses of the continuing stories of the previous MCs from the other two books as well. My favorite part of this book was probably all of the bookstore and reading love that it showed. Another plus is the anxiety rep that was shown with the FMC. I still find these books to be too wordy, and at times too repetitive. Some things get overly hammered home. And the wordiness just slows the plot and the books down unnecessarily.

Was provided a copy of this book by Net Galley in exchange for a review

Where to begin? You ever read the back of a book and just vibe with the description, like it mentions all your favorite tropes, you can already picture in your head where the story is going, and you think yes this is the one? Well, that's how I felt reading this book. It just didn't connect. I felt like the book wanted to be a loving tribute to Asian culture which is lovely and admirable but often came off sounding like a Koren take out menu. The stakes were also rather low as these two characters as these two people were already so engrained in each others lives that the idea of "what if we date and it doesn't work out" seems a little silly since they had managed to foster a multidecade friendship just fine.

All and all, the book for me was just ok for me, I do think there is an audience for this one out there it just wasn't necessarily for me.

Booked on a Feeling Review
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Jayci Lee for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Lizzy Chung livers her life through To-Do Lists. She’s always ready to check the next thing off.

Become a lawyer - done.
Become a partner at a law firm - in progress.
Make her parents proud - to be determined.
Live happily ever after - we shall see.

After a crippling panic attack in the middle of opening statements Lizzy abandons her responsibilities in favor of a spontaneous trip to Weldon where she spent her summers.

Jack Park - Lizzy’s childhood best friend - spends his days (and nights) slinging beers at his family’s brewery and making sure bills and paid. But while his siblings have adopted the brewery dream, Jack dreams of doing something, well, more.

When Lizzy shows up in Weldon for a three week vacation Jack finds himself facing two truths: 1. He’s got it BAD for Lizzy and has for years. 2. He wants to make a career change. So when Lizzy asks him to help restore a local bookstore he can’t say no!

This story begs the question: when you have feelings for your childhood best friend do you risk telling them and potentially ruin years of friendship? Or do you keep the feelings to yourself?

I truly enjoyed reading this story, although I felt it wasn’t quite four star worthy.

While I fell in love with Jack and Lizzy, I found myself wondering what their childhood looked like. I felt like there wasn’t a lot of background given on each character - just the bare minimum. I would have loved to understand more of the parental pressures that both of them faced, especially since a lot of it seemed centered around their cultures.

I really appreciated the multicultural aspect of the story but found myself needing to research a lot of the terms used as there wasn’t a lot of context.

While advertised as an adult romance this did read to me as more young adult. The chemistry between the two was hinted at but ended in closed-door scenes that felt incredibly forced.

The story itself is adorable and it’s a quick read but I’ve personally read some romance books I’ve enjoyed more!

I have a few questions for this book. Such as the two main characters are supposed to have been best friends since childhood, but it is very clear that Lizzy isn't from Weldon. It does make some passing mention that she would go there in the summer? It never states how they became friends or how they stayed friends growing up in different places. It just seemed a little odd and a tad too unbelievable. I also found it to be really hard to believe that Lizzy had absolutely no clue what she wanted to do with her life. It was outrageously obvious and for her being such a smart person it didn't make sense that it took her so long to figure out. I can't say I could really understand why Jack had such a difficult time with talking to his family since they always were really supportive. Overall, the chemistry between her and Jack was really great. I loved their love story and how they were together. I just didn't really like their individual side stories. I would rate it more of a 2 1/2 stars.

It’s a good romance and nice chemistry between them. Also loved the history the two MCs had along with the setting.

Thank you to St. Martins Press for the early reading copy of Booked on a Feeling. My review contains my own thoughts and opinions.

Booked on a Feeling was a very cute friends-to-lovers, second chance romance that also focused on finding yourself and what makes you truly happy. I enjoyed this read but would have loved to see more depth to the main characters. Overall, a warm and fuzzy book about being you and falling in love with your best friend.

This book was so cute! I got a little nervous in the beginning with Lizzy almost passing out giving her opening at court. The friends to lovers isn't something I generally would pick but Jack and lizzie's story had me hooked once it the ball was rolling! I wish it had been a little bit faster but overall it was a good read!

One of my absolute favorite reads of the summer! The best friends turned lovers trope is at the top of my list. Lizzy was very relatable, as was Jack (in the friend zone and then the lover zone)!
-Dual POV
-Charming characters
-Best friends to lovers
-Mutual pining
-Spice
-HEA <3

This book follows Lizzy Chung a prestigious lawyer in the heart of busy and bustling Los Angeles. She decided she needs a break after the crazy amounts of stress start getting to her! Therefore she travels to her childhood comfort place Weldon to try to relax and unwind. There she runs back into her childhood best friend Jack Park! Jack is feeling stuck in Weldon working for his family’s brewery! He wasn’t expecting Lizzy to walk back into his life and Weldon! Maybe this relationship is just what each of them needed 😍

I definitely recommend this book! It gives small town romance vibes! It gives sweet Hallmark with some added spice vibes 🔥🔥 Really enjoyed the banter between Lizzy and Jack! Who doesn’t dream about a get away with your best friend and a bookstore??

A huge thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this ARC and to @authorjaycilee for writing such a great one 😍

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

Contemporary romance author Jayci Lee has just come out with Booked on a Feeling, her standalone follow-up to A Sweet Mess and The Dating Dare (while characters from the previous books do appear in this one, it isn't necessary to read them ahead of Booked on a Feeling). It takes you into the life of Los Angeles-based lawyer Lizzie Chung as she's heading down the road toward making partner and pleasing the wishes of her parents (particularly her mom), but not without experiencing some exhaustion and anxiety with her job. Her burnout worsens so much, in fact, that she ends up having a panic attack and fainting in court. Realizing just how crucial it is that she takes time to unwind and figure out what her next step is, she flies off for a three-week trip to Weldon, where she'd grown up as a kid with her best friend of twenty years Jack Park. Unbeknownst to her, he's been pining after her all this time but has chosen to keep it hidden in order to preserve their friendship. What will happen, however, once Lizzy suddenly starts to catch her own feelings for Jack?

**Trigger Warning** Readers, please beware this book's depiction of on-page panic attacks, a dysfunctional mother-daughter dynamic, and minor bits of body shaming.

As of late, I've realized that I'm becoming a fan of the friends-to-lovers trope, although it will never knock fake dating and enemies-to-lovers off their top spots on my Favorite Rom-Com Tropes list. A major element that prevents me from sending an overwhelming amount of adoration towards friends-to-lovers is the way in which it's often used for M/F relationships, as if such platonic dynamics must eventually reward the men with romantic and sexual reciprocation from the women. When the friends-to-lovers trope is set up in a contrived fashion, it further detracts from my ability to root for the romance to work out. And I have to admit it felt like that throughout the first act of Booked on a Feeling. While it was logical for Jack to experience such intense feelings for Lizzy because he's spent the past two decades harboring them for her, it didn't come off like that for Lizzy, who has viewed him as nothing more than her closest buddy all this time. But then she starts abruptly noticing just how sexy he is, especially when he's wearing a tool belt, and it all leaves you feeling like she went from zero to sixty in three seconds. The fact that both of them could act and talk like cringey teenagers sometimes in spite of being full-grown adults isn't great, either.

At least the book improves once the relationship follows a much more natural and heartwarming flow in the second and third acts, with some nice steam making its debut towards the story's latter half as the culmination for the heavy flirting that the two MCs have been tossing back and forth. In addition, I appreciate how the book focuses on each of their personal lives. You've got Lizzy, who's trying to come up with a resolution for her career and avoid falling into the trap of needing to meet her mom's impossibly high expectations of her. Oh, and she's also volunteering at the floundering bookstore beneath the studio apartment she's renting, determined to save it from shutting down—a subplot with which I very much connected. As for Jack, he's contending with insecurity over how much he really contributes as bookkeeper for his family's microbrewery and anxiety over whether he should accept an entry-level analyst position in L.A. should the potential employer decide to hire him. Sure, their arcs might be predictable, particularly Lizzy's, but they helped me bond with the MCs nonetheless.

Booked on a Feeling may not have blown my socks off, what with the forced nature of Lizzy and Jack's dynamic in the beginning and their capability for immaturity, but it's an overall sweet romance that I'm glad I consumed. I've already followed Tara and Seth's fake dating journey in The Dating Dare, and I'd still like to read about the one-night-stand and rivals-to-lovers mischief between Aubrey and Landon in A Sweet Mess.

{2.5 ☆} I would just like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this advanced reads’ copy.

Despite instantly clicking with the cover and the title, this book unfortunately just wasn’t for me.

While reading Booked on a Feeling, I found myself to be bored a lot of the time. The story was slow and didn’t have much going for it and the characters weren’t as well developed as I’d have wanted them to be (if that makes any sense).

This book isn’t my favourite but at the same time it’s not worst thing I’ve read so that’s something… :) Even if this book wasn’t necessarily for me, I still recommend it because it’s possible you might have a different opinion and end up really liking it.

Happy release day Booked on a Feeling!!

Booked on a Feeling is friends to lovers romance that easy to read. Jack and Lizzy have been friends for a very long time, and Jack has loved her since the age of 10. The ever questionable do I ruin my friendship and make a move for more played out with both characters in the story. The bookish elements made this a fun read, especially with all the bookstore antics. I especially enjoyed when Lizzy broke down the romance section of the bookstore for a strategy to win Jack affections back.

Thank you St. Martins Press for the gifted copy of this novel is e-book format.