I'm not usually a friends-to-lovers fan, especially when one friend has been harboring a crush for YEARS. So I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I loved the balance between Lizzie and Jack. Jack is a PERFECT book boyfriend. He's supportive, loving, and a calming, touchstone presence for our lovely heroine, Lizzie.
Lizzie's story of stress and burnout and needing to be home and also needing a project is so relatable to me (and I think a lot of career-women).
The bookstore setting is also SO WONDERFUL AND CUTE AND DREAMY!! I LOVED every second they spent there.
I think my only gripes with this book is the friends to lovers aspect. I would have liked to see this done with new lovers getting to know each other, and having that spark and banter.
Otherwise, it's enjoyable, with amazing, deep characters and a charming setting.

Absolutely adored this friends to lovers story!

Lizzy and Jack are the type of character duo that make someone just want to squeal with delight. As friends, they are precious, and the pining they do for one another makes a reader want to just shove them in a room together until they admit their feelings. As a couple, they seem to bring out the best in each other.

Jack gives off the type of vibes that people think of when they mention a "book boyfriend." He's supportive, he's described as handsome and athletic, he cares about his family, and he's all around a funny and caring person to Lizzy and everyone he interacts with. It was no surprise that Lizzy fell in love with him because, while reading this book, I fell in love with him too!

Lizzy's issues are touched on in a way that makes them very prevalent to her character growth, but doesn't seem like this ridiculously impossible thing to overcome. She's an attorney who is struggling with the feeling of stress and burn out. As an attorney myself, I identified all too well with Lizzy's struggle. And, as most people know, it isn't something that a quick fix can be applied to. Lizzy has to learn that in the story and find the solution that works best for her. Watching her do that while enjoying her bookish nerd indulgence was delightful.

Overall, this was a great friends to lovers book and anyone considering giving this book a try should do so!

A cute contemporary romance that is also funny. This book gave me what I needed and it definitely gave me all the feels. The author included Korean culture from a perspective of one who immigrated to the country and another who was born here. You learn so much about expectations and not letting family down but you also learn about doing what makes you happy and follow your dreams. Although the characters frustrated me on “I don’t want them to think I love them which I do” but in the end it turned out perfect. I’m so glad I was able to read this book and I would surely recommend it!

Lizzy and Jack have been best friends for years. After Lizzy realizes she needs a break from her life, she decides to visit the small town that Jack is from. During Lizzy’s vacation, she decides to help out at a book store. Very quickly, Jack and Lizzy go from best friends to lovers. Unfortunately, there was something missing in this book for me. There was no spark or banter between Jack and Lizzy and I felt very bored while reading.

⭐⭐⭐
Booked on a Feeling, Jayci Lee
July 26, 2022, St. Martin's Press

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

Booked on a Feeling is the third book in a series, but totally works as a standalone. This romance is a classic best friends to lovers trope, but with the love of books thrown in. What's not to love!? I read this book on a quick getaway with my daughter and her friend and it was perfect for keeping one eye on them in the pool.

Lizzy and Jack have been friends since they were 10. He's carried a torch for 20 years, she has no idea. Lizzy and Jack are both unhappy in their careers -- her as a lawyer and him in his family business -- and have three short weeks to see if there's any chance for them to be more than friends. Of course there are ups and downs, but the power of love always wins out.

#BookedonaFeelingJayciLee #NetGalley @authorjaycilee @netgalley #arc #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #summeread #beachread #poolread #chicklit #romance

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Stars!!!! Best friends to lovers trope >>> I loved this book. It was a
pretty fast read. I loved Lizzy and Jack so much. There wasn't too much spicy but UGH I could feel the chemistry between these 2 characters.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Ok this was such an awesome read. I loved that the heroine was a trial attorney because I want to go to law school and I have definitely thought about being a trial attorney. Her fainting during court made my anxiety spike for her because I totally understood the anxiety of public speaking but I couldn't begin to understand how it must have felt in court.
I love that Jack has always crushed on Lizzy. It makes me feel fuzzy on the inside.
Most of all though, I loved learning about Lizzy's self-discovery. I'm going into my fourth year of college and a lot of other pre-law students around me seem to be moving at a much faster pace than I am and I put so much pressure on myself to keep up. Sometimes it's easy to forget about what actually makes me happy. I spend every day stressing about grades and class work and feeling so much anxiety about my future that I forget to truly live. It was nice to see Lizzy come to that realization.
For most law students, once you begin law school, there isn't much of a break for the next 15 years. We clearly see the impact of that on Lizzy as she is forced to take a step back and realize how much she is missing out on.
Yes, we have ourcertain obligations to our parents for success, but they do not override our obligations to ourselves for health, happiness, and love. Sometimes our parents' obligations are forced on us so strongly, they become ingrained into who we are and it is so easy to forget our obligations to ourselves.
Great read!

Lizzy and Jack have been best friends for a long time. They've never crossed the line towards dating, but they've definitely thought about it. When Lizzy takes an extended break from work and life, she hads to Jack's small town and begins to figure out what she wants in life. With distance no longer between them, Jack and Lizzy begin to explore taking their friendship to the next level,

I wanted to love this book. I felt like it hit the right points in some areas, Asian-American protagonists that I could relate to. Lizzy, a book lover, realizing that her career-driven life wasn't for her. A right amount of steam. This book really could have worked for me, but I thouht the pacing was off.

There was conflict and a lot of room for character development, but the plot moved quickly so that things were resolved without much explanantion. I was missing some relationship development and conversations with side characters (e.g. Lizzy's mom) to really make this work for me.

If you want a fun friends-to-lovers romance that features a POC book lover, this could definitely be for you. Just know that the plot will jump quickly.

This book was freaking adorable! It took me a while to get used to the narration style but after a few chapters I was okay with it. The book starts really slow, in the first 3 chapters I was questioning myself if I should keep going, but once Lizzy gets to Weldon and gets to interact more with Jack, I was hooked. I loved how at the end they both realized that a person needs to think about what they want and who they are by themselves before adding someone to the equation. The spicy scenes were well written, not too raunchy and cringe. There were a lot swoony and funny moments. Definitely worth the read, I really enjoyed it!

Lizzy is on her way to making partner at her LA firm until a panic attack during an opening statement makes her take a real, off-work vacation. She decides to take three weeks and venture to where her best friend, Jack, lives and works for his family brewery. Jack has had a crush on Lizzy for years, but never will act on it since she is his best friend. Now that Lizzy is in town and she's no longer hours away what will that mean? Lizzy's escape from her high pressure job is escaping to bookstores to read her favorite book and not being the lawyer her mother has always pushed her to be. This isa story of Lizzy realizing what she really wants in her life for her career and in love, while also learning to stand up for herself. I enjoyed this book and it is not the typical romance book I expected halfway through. I applaud the author for not sugarcoating issues like dealing with paternal pressure and overcoming anxiety. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced reader copy.

There were a lot of things I really liked about this one. The story follows Lizzy, an overachieving lawyer with anxiety and her life long best friend Jack, a brilliant business minded co owner of a brewery with confidence problems. Jack has been in love with Lizzy since they were kids but has never been able to tell her. After Lizzy wins her first major trial and fails to feel any kind of joy, she decides to take a vacation in Jacks small home town. She stays in an apartment above a small bookstore and immediately sets to helping the proprietor fix it up. In the mean time, she and Jack discover their feelings for each other are deeper than they previously realized.

Things I liked: I always like a bookish setting. I loved the representation of Korean culture, both of the author and characters. I also loved that the main character dealt with real anxiety issues in a real way.

Things I didn't like: The banter between the two main characters felt kind of immature and unrealistic to me, especially for people who have known each other for their whole lives. I also thought the way the spicy scenes were handled was a bit odd. They were written pretty explicitly (and well) but then just kind of.. cut off? It felt a little disjointed.

All in all it was a good read, but just not perfectly suited for me. I'd still recommend it to a customer or friend. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a fun read! I adored Lizzy and Jack! They were just two loveable characters that I enjoyed watching their lives come together and dreams come true. Also any book with multiple bookstores in the focus is a huge win in my book! This is a fun friends to lovers story that grabs you by the heart. I will be recommending this title.

Booked on a Feeling is a nice and easy childhood best friends-to-lovers romance read for the summer (or any time, really). It's dual POV, which is always something I look forward to. You've got lovable characters who read or love to read, and that always make me go, "OMG, me too!"

The main character Lizzie had me wanting to be like her, and I'd say that's the definition of a good character-- when I start wanting to rewire my life to match hers. Totally kidding! Kind of.

It was a bit slow paced, so keep that it mind when you pick it up, but overall it wasn't a bad read.

Overall a cute story, but the pacing could use some work. There was a lot of drag in the middle where my attention started to wane. Lizzy is a very typical high strung lawyer who after a panic attack decides to seek solace in her childhood town leading to her reuniting with jack. I loved the way this was set in a bookstore and the two of them both loved to read. I thought that added such an adorable background to the story.

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

CONTENT WARNING: anxiety, panic attack

I loved The Dating Dare, so I jumped on the chance to read this one, and it definitely didn’t disappoint. Lee has created a whole new cast of characters, and one of my favorite things about series is getting to see cameos of the characters I loved from earlier books popping in and making an appearance.

It’s hard not to love the MCs in this story. Lizzy is a focused, determined, brilliant woman who is an overachiever working hard to make her goals into reality. She also struggles with anxiety, and I loved the emphasis on her use of coping skills as well as medication to manage her anxiety. And Jack is a total cinnamon roll, stuffed into the sexiest body ever. I especially loved that they’re both book lovers, and that so much of the story takes place in a book shop.

The story spends a lot of time talking about figuring out what you really want, which is a huge decision that every one of us faces, and was so easy to identify. There’s so much pressure on us to decide what we want to do with our life right after high school, and then if you aren’t one of the lucky few, there’s this awkward period of reassessment and that’s exactly where the story was set. I could completely identify with where the characters were at, and loved that this was when the story was set. One of my favorite parts is the way that the characters gave each other space to figure out what they wanted before chasing each other down.

At parts, it felt like the story dragged and was a little repetitive, but once it got going, boy it was steamy. The connection between the characters was really good, and I loved how emotionally and sexually charged it was. There’s some mild spice in the story, and I really enjoyed their relationship developing from friends to lovers. In addition, there’s great Korean-American representation, as well as beautifully portrayal of the difficulty of being the child of immigrants, especially when Lizzy’s parents returned to Korea and she stayed in America. It added a new layer of tension to her relationship with them, placing additional stress on her relationship with them, and pressure on her to fulfill the expectation they had for her.

I’m a huge fan of Jayci Lee’s writing, and I’m even more motivated to circle back and check out A Sweet Mess, the first book in this series. This is a story about chasing your dreams, and that’s definitely something I can get down with.

It was a cute book. I really liked the characters and were pulling for them the whole time.

I felt it drag a bit in the middle, but it all worked out and had a very happy ending.

Thank you so much NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read this ARC!

Lizzy is your typical over achieving lawyer, whose major goal is to become a partner in her law firm as quickly as possible. After she has a panic attack during her first trial, she decides that she needs to take a break. She heads to the town where she spent summers with her best friend, Jack Park. Jack still lives and works in Weldon and has harbored a crush for Lizzy since they were 10 years old. Lizzy decides to help the local bookstore owner revamp her space while in Weldon and convinces Jack to help her which leads to the two of them spending a lot of time together, which makes it hard for both of them to ignore their feelings.

This one started out a bit rough for me - the writing style was a little choppy and the changing of POVs within chapters did not help the choppiness. I did like that it was dual POV, though! It added a lot to the story. I loved Jack's character - I found Lizzy a bit naiive at times. I will say that about 50% though it did get a lot better for me...up until the 3rd act breakup and sort of out of the blue time jump.

This was still a cute read! While this did have some spice, the descriptions ended during foreplay, just FYI. So if you're not into detailed sex scenes but still like romance, you might like this!

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

Booked on a Feeling by Jayci Lee is a beautiful feel-good book complete with carefully crafted characters. The passionate and quirky novel features hilarious banter that makes it fun to read. Booked on a Feeling is the third book in the A Sweet Mess series, but can be read independently.

Synopsis:
As a lawyer, Lizzy Chung feels stressed out by her high-pressure job. She takes a vacation to Weldon, her hometown. In Weldon, Lizzy spends time with her childhood best friend Jack Park. Despite being secretly in love with Lizzy for over twenty years Jack has never told her how he feels. Could Jack risk his friendship with Lizzy for love?

Booked on a Feeling is set in a bookshop. Romance and books are two of my favorite topics. Combined they make a delightful story. I was captivated by the plot after two chapters. The slow burn quickly becomes a page-turner. Romance fans won't want to miss this delicious must-read. This book contains some sexual content so check the trigger warning before starting.

Booked on a Feeling by Jayci Lee is available on July 26th. (4.5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫)

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, for allowing me to review this heartwarming novel. Jayci Lee's writing is a pleasure to read.

We all love a protective simp of a man and jack was no exception. I really enjoyed their relationship and their weirdness. This is one of my more favorite friends to lovers books I have read. I still feel like there was something missing and I believe It is missing the final impact and the emotion that makes a romance novel a complete 5 stars. Will this book be memorable among the other romance books I have read, probably not. But did I enjoy myself while reading this, I sure did!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins press for the early copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I am kind of sad that I didn't love this book more. I was really looking forward to it but it was just a basic romcom. When I say it was a basic romcom I am not saying it was a bad book; not at all! I have just read a lot of romcom lately and every time I read one, I am hoping for something new and interesting. I also think that after reading this book, I am realizing that I don't care for the friends to lover trope. It is just not my thing.

Even though this book was an average read for me, it might be your new favorite read! Definitely still give this book a try!