Booked on a Feeling is a hilarious and relatable slow-burning friends to lovers story. The characters are lovable and the banter between them genuinely transforms into brilliant chemistry.

Deeper than just a romance, the familiarity of stress over expectations from family and society shines and the message of working hard to check the boxes, doesn’t automatically equate to happiness is close to home. Definitely a book to pick up when you need a relatable, feel-good romance that focuses on relationships and finding your own happiness.

Booked on a Feeling is a cute friends-to-lovers novel. Lizzy is feeling overwhelmed and full of anxiety as a lawyer on the partner track and her best friend, Jack, is feeling lost and bored at his family’s brewery. He’s also been in love with Lizzy since they were kids.

Lizzy takes a 3 week break to visit Jack in his hometown and due to restlessness, takes on fixing up the local bookstore too. Slowly after spending so much time together, their chemistry sparks and they start dating.

The guy falling first is something that I love and Jack was no different. He was so cute and endearing and just seeing how he was with Lizzy made my inner girl swoon. Lizzy was, of course, clueless until she wasn’t.

I also loved the Korean family dynamic of the book and the tie-ins with language and food. I thought Jack’s family was a great addition and I didn’t realize that this book was the third in a series. You definitely don’t need to read the first two if you don’t want to.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC.

I loved heading back to Weldon. I was concerned how this would pan out initially due to the beach beginning.

I'm pleased to say that I "cannonballs" 😉 straight in and loved it. I especially enjoyed that the main characters were so driven by their passion to be themselves. That was refreshing

This is the third book connecting this town but it can definitely be read as a standalone.

Thank you St Martin's Press for the advanced copy.

Release date: July 26, 2022

Disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of Booked on a Feeling ebook from NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

Lizzie has the high profile LA Lawyer career she has worked so hard for and won her first case as lead counsel. So why isn’t she happier? Or excited as she expected to be? Even after the big win her anxiety continues to creep in…..

Deciding she needs a break, Lizzie heads to a small town outside of LA where her best friend Jack lives. Having known each other since they were 10, Lizzie expects to fall back into their easy friendship while she takes some time to determine what she really wants out of her career.

Things heat up in this friends to lovers romance story. I loved both Lizzie and Jack’s characters. I often find friends to lover/enemy to lover stories can have too many roadblocks and restarts but not in this case. The story moved along and built up the relationship perfectly! I highly recommend adding Booked on a Feeling to your summer tbr!

#NetGalley #Jaycilee #bookedonafeeling

Jack and Lizzy have been friends forever and Jack has always had a crush on Lizzy. Now that Lizzy is in his hometown while she is on a little vacation from her job, Jack needs to decide if now is the time to take a risk to get Lizzy to fall for him or if he should try to move on and keep his feelings hidden. As their relationship begins to shift, they are both trying to make tough decisions regarding their career paths that could impact their relationship. The author does a fantastic job creating tension and getting you fully invested in their romance and wanting them to succeed. I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait to read more by this author!

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC of Booked on a Feeling by Jayci Lee. I love stories that center around the love of books and bookstores. When you tie a romance in, it's even better!
Lizzy and Jack have been best friends since they were ten years old. Lizzy has always been pressured to do as her mother wishes so is an attorney in LA on track to be partner. Ever since becoming an attorney her anxiety has been hard to control. She has to do exercises, therapy and take medication to control it. But sometimes even that isn't enough. After passing out at her first trial, she realizes she needs a break. She goes to Weldon, four hours away, where Jack does the bookkeeping and is a part-time server at his family's brewery. Lizzy stays in an apartment above a bookstore and being who she is, decides to volunteer her time, during the three weeks she is there to help the struggling bookstore get on track. One thing leads to another and what started as a three week break from a stressful job ends up changing both Jack and Lizzy's futures forever.

3.5 stars
I liked this one, in the series, the best so far. Any book about the love of books catches my attention right away and the friends to lovers was not annoyingly unrequited for the whole book, which I appreciated. This ended up being middle of the road for me because the writing is easy but not captivating enough for me to be invested in the characters or their love story and this isn't a clean book.

I recommend to anyone who wants to read a quick and easy sweet friends to lovers romance read.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced copy in return of an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Griffin for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

Jayci Lee looked into my childhood (and parts of my adulthood), pulled out all of my hopes and dreams, and turned it into the love story I didn't know I needed until I was reading it. To then find out it is the third in a set, but is solidly a standalone, just gives me all of the warm fuzzy feelings that I want from an adult contemporary romance. I mean, can I just be Lizzy when I grow up? We can ignore the fact that we are the same age, and that I also have a law degree from a CA law school (though I purposefully didn't take the CA bar because I already knew I didn't want to be a CA lawyer) - just let me be her. We have so much in common and if I can't be her I want to be her friend.

This follows Lizzy Chung as she goes through an identity crisis after finding an incredibly happy moment to everyone else to be super lackluster (which is a total mood), so she goes to a small town where her childhood best friend Jack Park lives to 1) find out what she wants to do with her life, and 2) take a break . We get alternating points of view between the total sweetheart who is just too hard on himself that is Jack and the neurotic type-A personality that is Lizzy, and it had all of the tropes you would want in a book like this play out in the best way.

I had such a hard time putting this book down, and it had the best HEA/HFN ending - because everything was realistic. There is something so satisfying about a deeply realistic book that is romantic and sweet. It had a bit of spice, by my standards, though it is fade to black more than some super detailed scenes in other books, and I think that made it better. And the best/worst part is that now I want to buy and renovate a bookstore even more than I already did. Read this book.

Booked on a Feeling is a rom-com that is sweet and spicy.

As I am sure many of you know, I am a sucker for any romance that takes place in a bookstore, which meant I was thrilled to get a copy of Booked on a Feeling. Overall this book is a fun, and fast rom-com read. Perfect for reading on your porch on a summer evening. The story doesn’t break any romance moulds, you know how the story will unfold and end, but I still enjoyed the ride. The characters are fun and delightful. They all have different passions, whether it be books, beer, baking, or family. You could feel their excitement leap from the pages. I loved Lizzy and her obsession with lists and checking things off lists (something I love doing myself). She is a smart and kind person who doesn’t know if she wants to be a lawyer. I loved going on this mini vacation with her and watching as she helped revamp a local bookstore.

Romance readers who love friends to lovers tropes will adore Jack and Lizzy’s relationship. These two have been friends for roughly 20 years, and both just have the cutest friendship. Jack has been secretly in love with Lizzy since they were kids and hasn’t said anything to her because he is afraid it will ruin their friendship, and he also believes that he isn’t good enough for Lizzy. During her stay in Weldon, Lizzy starts to notice Jack not as a friend but as a hot guy with whom she wants to kiss and have sex. I rather enjoyed their relationship. These two are a lot of fun, and their banters are super witty. Jayci did a great job building that sexual tension between these two and getting her readers all hot and bothered. Lizzy and Jack’s relationship isn’t smooth sailing; they both have insecurities and are unsure how this new romance will unfold between them.

The only thing that threw me through a loop was internal dialogue and some of Jack and Lizzy’s conversations. I tended to get a teenager vibe from those parts of the book. If it wasn’t for the fact that they said they were 30 years old, I would have pegged them as late teens-early twenty years. It felt like I was reading a YA and not an adult book.

If you are looking for a fun easy-breezy rom-com to read this summer, then you should check out Booked on a Feeling.

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

You ever have someone make you your favorite dinner and it just is eh? Like it should be great, but just doesn't meet expectations. That's how I felt about this book.

Lizzy and Jack were super sweet and I mean, I guess I can see the friends to lovers but eh. That's how I felt the whole time.

The logic and thought process for both characters needed major work, I found their reasoning and excuses to be pretty eh.

I feel like I'm using eh too much but that's just how it felt. I struggled to get through this book.

Maybe if you need a good transition from young adults books to romance this will be a good read?

I loved this friends to lovers romance!!! It was both believable and perfectly paced.

Jack has been pining for Lizzy for years, and is getting ready to uproot his comfortable life in their hometown so he can be closer to her.

Lizzy thinks she’s happy in her job as an up and coming associate at her law firm, and she’s on the path to make partner in record time. She thinks she’s happy but her nerves are always on edge, she has no time for a social life because she’s always burning the midnight oil for her clients, and she can’t remember the last time she was able to unwind. Pushing away her panic attacks has become a way of life. Lizzy’s brain decides enough is enough and lands her in the hospital. She takes a much needed vacation and decides to return to her home town. She starts tackling the trauma of her past and her relationship with her overbearing mother. She starts realizing that the choices she made were because of pressure from her mother, not because she wanted them.

She rents a room over a struggling bookstore and starts regularly hanging out with her childhood best friend. The more time they spend together, the more she notices how he’s always listened to her, always supported her and always been there for her. She notices how beautiful his eyes are, wonders about his kiss and wants to ogle his muscles.

Moving out of the friend zone is scary for both of them. Jack has his own feelings of insecurity and inadequacy to deal with because he feels like his skills are underutilized at the family brewery. Lizzy has nightmares about the stress of her old life, but doesn’t know where to turn if she doesn’t go back to it.

When the two of them start meeting for morning runs and upscaling the book shop to give it more curb appeal, they realize maybe they need each other to move on. That maybe they are meant to brave the world together.

Pick up this lovely romance if you are looking for a slow-burn that delivers all of the feels and steam!

A huge thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Booked On A Feeling by Jayci Lee is such a great rom com! I loved the main characters from the first page and friends to lovers is my all time favorite trope. Lizzy and Jack are loveable characters with interesting personal storylines. The second they introduced Weldon and the bookstore, I was sold! This is a fave star sweet romance full of all the things that make my heart smile.

Booked on a Feeling was a delightfully light-hearted book, perfect for a feel-good summer read. Good characters can make or break a book for me and I am happy to say that I absolutely adored Lizzy and Jack. Their chemistry and the building tension had me totally emotionally invested in the two of them.

Lizzy’s inner monologue impressed me with the representation of her anxiety. It painted her in a very realistic light despite the book’s light tone. Jack’s inner monologue on the other hand could be annoying at times, but I liked that it showed his insecurities. It made him feel believable as a character. When the two of them were together or with other people, they were the perfect combination of witty and charismatic. Turning the page and finding new scenes with unbelievably cute or hilariously awkward moments was wonderful.

I appreciated that the tone of the book seemed to reflect the emotional states of both Lizzy and Jack’s points of view. As they each started to become more conscious of their own dreams and desires, the tone seemed to relax into a natural ebb and flow. The fact that a majority of the book took place in a bookstore may have influenced my opinion in the matter. Bookstores automatically help me relax and unwind and the author perfectly captured that effect.

As much as I loved this book, I kept thinking about how I wanted more, especially once I got to the final conflict. It felt rushed and I didn’t feel satisfied with the believability of the conflict in the first place.

Overall, this was a super cute romance that made my heart happy while I was sitting on the deck with a nice glass of iced tea.

⅘ stars

3 🌶🌶🌶

Thank you to netgalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Jayci Lee’s 3rd book in the “A Sweet Mess” series is another fun and delightful romcom in the small town of Weldon. It can easily be read as a standalone and the storyline with a little backstory doesn’t cause any confusion.

In love with his best friend, Lizzy Chung, since they were 10-years-old, Jack Park is sort of stuck in a rut at his family brewery where he is the key “numbers” guy, but he yearns for more. Meanwhile, Lizzy is at the top of her game after winning her first case where she was the lead lawyer. However, burnt out and in much need of an escape, she returns to Weldon for some soul-searching and relaxation. Will their attraction to each other be perfect timing? Or will their desire for different career paths make them clash?

Lizzy finds herself renting a room above a bookstore where she also volunteers to help fix it up, for being surrounded by books has always been her happy place. Whether she’s doing her morning jogs with Jack, or oogling at him with a tool’s belt, Lizzy can’t help but have the feels for her bestie. They know each other inside out, so when they try to go beyond the rules of friendship, no one is at all surprised.

I adored the friendship to lovers story between Jack and Hannah, albeit it’s quite the slow burn. There are plenty of steamy fade-to-black scenes, but it’s clear that their history and genuine friendship contribute to their HEA. The bookstore element, delicious Korean dishes, and the steamy scenes were all ingredients to a lovely, cozy romance read.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for an advanced copy.

Lizzy has just won a big case, one that will guarantee her a shot a partner in her law firm. The thing is Lizzy doesn't feel happy about it, she's frustrated and burned out. Needing some space, she leaves the office and heads to her favorite spot to relax and unwind, Hideaway Bookstore. Later that night she makes a decision to take some time off and re-evaluate her goals. She's going toLizzy and Jack have been friends for a very long time. Jack's come to realize he wants more from her but at the same time doesn't want to mess up their friendship. He knows he's been avoiding her, but that's all about to change.

Lizzy finds a studio apartment to rent for a few weeks. It's perfect and it's over the Sparrow Bookstore. The next thing she does is bump into Jack while he's on his way home from his morning run. He's more than a little surprised. His family business is such that he has plenty of time he can spend with Lizzy, and he decides to do just that.

The bookstore becomes a focal point for Lizzy's time off. Shannon the owner and also her landlord has to-do lists and if there's one thing Lizzy loves it's lists.

I love the sense of family in this small town of Weldon, although Lizzy's parents no longer live in the US, the friends they made here are lasting and extend to Lizzy. Especially Jack's parents and siblings.

As this relationship grows so does friendship and Lizzy makes some decisions as does Jack. It's really a shame they didn't confide in each other before they made them.

There's laughter, tears, disappointment, romance and so much more in this book. I really need to go back and read the other books in this series.

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

I enjoyed this cute little rom-com, but not as much as I expected to for a book that has the "friends-to-lovers" trope, a romance trope I personally like. I loved the AAPI representation and Korean culture represented through the food, culture, and formalities, the mental health representation with Lizzy and her anxiety, and Jack and Lizzy's struggles to do something they want to do vs. what their family expects of them and these were all aspects of the story that I believe Jayci Lee did well.

Ironically, the part of the story that I didn't like the most WAS how the friends-to-lovers relationship played out. The first 30% of the book started off slow, with Lizzy at her law job and deciding to take a vacation to visit Jack, the next 50-60% was Jack and Lizzy agreeing to take things slowly, but then 5-6 smut scenes later you realize that was thrown all out the window. The last 10-20% was actual plot again. Don't get me wrong, smut scenes are expected in most romance books these days, no matter if it's a fantasy romance or a light-hearted rom-com, but some of the lines made me uncomfortable (I did NOT need to know that Lizzy wanted to rub up against Jack and purr like a cat. Like, really, I could've gone my entire life not reading that line and I would be fine).

This was a very cute read! It was a little slow moving in the start, but then the pace picked up. I loved that they were renovating a bookstore, because *books*! Lizzy and Jack were very cute together and I especially liked Jack’s ‘options’ at the beginning and how he dealt with his crush on Lizzy.

I wanted to like this book I really did.
Asian American rep
Bookstores
Friends to lovers
Male pining
It sounded good on paper, but my main problem with it was I didn’t feel any chemistry between Jack and Lizzie. And they had an issue where they relied too heavily on telling us they felt chemistry instead of making the reader feel it and those scenes felt stifled like they had no space to breathe and they immediately moved on to another thing that was supposed to prove they had chemistry.
Spoiler
And the big 80% breakup was just a classic case of the characters being just way too stupid.
I’m starting to think I only like friends to lovers like 15% of the time. And if you feel the same way then this book isn’t one of the 15%. It falls into many of the common pitfalls of friends to lovers, the development of feelings happening before the book, the chemistry relying on that history that you didn’t get enough of to feel so it seems forced and told rather than felt, the miscommunication, the obliviousness to the point where it’s painful.

63/100
Characters: 64/100
Plot: 62/100

3.5 stars

Lizzy Chung has had really high expectations placed upon herself from her mother and from herself. She has checked off a lot of successful endeavors, even becoming senior counsel in her law firm. But a panic attack in the courtroom has her heading to her hometown to decompress for a bit.

Here she starts hanging out more with her friend Jack Park, who has secretly had a crush on her forever.

While this book had potential and I did enjoy aspects of it, I couldn’t bring myself to fully immerse myself in the book and half-heartedly read/skimmed the latter half of the book. The pacing felt a bit off for me and jumpy at times, and often taking a long time to get there.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you to St, Martin’s press & Netgalley for this eArc!

St. Martin's Press books have a chokehold on me. This one was no different. I enjoyed the premise of achieving great things but reevaluating whether those things make you truly happy. And then having the courage to change it.

Jack and Lizzy are your typical friends to lovers trope BUT that isn't what my personal draw was to this book. It was the growth of Lizzy as a person. The way she acknowledge, understood and tackled the expectations and even her own anxiety made me so happy. Will be picking up a physical copy!