I am always there for book themed books and especially for rom-coms so I was beyond excited for this one. Unfortunately the execution felt a little flat for me. I had a very hard time getting into this book and then staying engaged when I did finally start to get into it. Lizzy and Jack are best friends living a few hours apart. Lizzie is a lawyer on track to make partner who has just won her first trial. Jack works for his family’s business but dreams of seeing what else he could do with his skills with numbers and finances. Both of them have hidden attraction towards the other and like most friends to lovers no insight about how the other truly feels. I did like the cultural references and the interactions between Lizzy and Jack’s family. Both Lizzie and Jack had good potential as characters but I felt like Jack especially needed more fleshing out.

Thank you to Netgalley, Jayci Lee, and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
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BOOK REVIEW: Booked on a Feeling by Jayci Lee
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Rating: 3/5 stars
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This book was a friends-to-lovers, small town romance. I love small town romances, but friends to lovers isn't something I'm a fan of. One of the reasons I wasn't a fan of friends to lovers in this book was because I felt like we started off the book with both characters secretly pining for each other. I feel ike friends to lovers workss better when at least one of the characters is unaware of their feelings for the other. It just made me wonder why the two characters were putting it off and weren't toegther already.
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Another thing I found confusing in this book was the POV would change once in a while in the middle of the chapter without it being marked. It was usually fairly easy to figure out the POV chnaged within a paragraph of the change, but I would have rather had the section separated or marked. This could just be because I had an adavcned copy though that hasn't finsihed the editing process because some part sof the book where the POV changed it was marked or separated.
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With that being said, there were some things I really enjoyed about this book. I loved the small town shops in the book. We saw a hardware store, Jack's family brewery, and the book shop Lizzy is helping restore to name a few. These shops were adorable and I could read about them all day long. I enjoyed reading about the diverse characters. Lastly, I enjoyed that this book didn't end in the typical way where the big city lawyer moves to the small town. Instead this ended with both MC's moving to LA in the end with Jack and Lizzy getting new jobs.
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Overall, this a was a cute, feel-good rmance book. If friends to lovers is your thing, I reccomend you try this book out.

Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for an arc of Booked on a feeling by Jayci Lee. This novel publishes on July 26.
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I love a friends to lovers story and this one started off pretty strongly for me! I loved Lizzy and Jack and was really rooting for them throughout the novel. I found that there wasn’t a lot of background information on their friendship so even though they had been friends for so long, at times it felt a bit insta-lovey. There was more ‘telling’ about their friendship and relationship and I wanted to ‘see’ it more. There was quite a bit of miscommunication or lack of communicating that I found frustrating and this lead to the pacing of the novel being a bit slow for me.
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I did enjoy that there was quite a bit of character growth and self discovery for both Lizzy and Jack. There was also a good portion of the novel set in a bookstore which was fun!
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Overall I enjoyed this one! Pick this one up if you enjoy friends to lovers, books where the characters love books and self discovery and growth.

Content: panic attacks, anxiety

Friends to lovers is such an amazing trope and Jayci Lee executed it perfectly! I truly enjoyed the entirety of Jack and Lizzy’s story! I would recommend this to anyone who needs an heartwarming easy read! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Thank you so much for allowing me to read and review your titles. I really not the opportunity!


I do appreciate it and continue to review books that I get the chance to read.
Thanks again!

Booked on the feeling was such a cute easy read. Though I’m not a big fan of third-person pov I was able to get through it lol. I very much appreciated how anxiety, as well as fear, self-growth/understanding yourself, was represented in the book. Elizabeth (Lizzy) Chung was somewhat relatable for me I think she had this idea of what being a lawyer was going to be for her, what would please others rather than herself yet was faced with the reality of what the career really was and it wasn’t what she wanted. Jack Parker was such a sweet gentleman in love with Lizzy yet not sure if he should tell her or just try and forget about it because being best friends with her meant a lot to him. I enjoyed the bookish topics involved! One thing I didn’t care about was when starting the book I felt there wasn’t much background to the characters & the relationship. I was kinda thrown into it which sometimes works but for this book, it didn’t flow for me. Overall I think it was a cute read with issues many can relate to! Thank You NetGalley & St. Martin’s Press for the chance to read and give an honest review of the book!
3/⭐️

Booked on a Feeling follows Lizzy, a new lawyer trying to reach her career goals in a big city. Things are starting to look up for her at her law firm until she passes out at a trail hearing. After the fiasco, she spends several days in a small town where her best friend lives. During her time there she realizes there may be a spark between her and her best friend, Jack. Interestingly, Jack has had a crush on Lizzy since childhood but has been fearful of ruining the long-standing friendship

This novel is an interesting take on the friends- to-lovers contemporary romance. The writing style is very lighthearted and I would recommend this book to any reader who enjoys feel-good romance stories.

4/5 Stars!

This was a tough read-it felt like it needed some show, don’t tell-I was just being told. Series of events instead of being part of a story.

It's less of.. hating the book as it is hating the characters... which is kinda like hating the book.

Hate is a strong word in this case, because I wasn't mad I was more of just annoyed. Best friends for 20 years, but long distance best friends. He's been inlove with her this whole time but when she takes time of work to spend in their hometown and realizes she has feelings for him too, he get awkward. They'd go from flirting to him LITERALLY RUNNING away? They'd go from kissing to her meantioning more and he shuts down. Every advanced she made he shut down, but then he was the first one to get flirty again. Even when they were about to be intimate for the first time he's almost trying to talk her out of it. There's so much time wasted they could have been enjoying before she has to go back to work. Despite what he keeps repeating to themselves, everything already changed when they mutually verbalize there was feelings for eachother, WHY WASTED THE TIME YOU HAVE. You're never going back to just friends at that point, so be romantic.

Redeeming about this book was actually the last couple chapters and then epilouge. The realization about her career and the connection that brings them into the same place. The call backs from the first chapter that i was thinking about the whole time like "Why meantion that if it wasn't gonna happen." I also love when bookish characters talk about their relationships in book tropes and start to realize their mistakes because they've read it in a book before.

Overall, I wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to recommend this, but I wouldn't discouraged anyone from reading either? Kinda a middle ground.

Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher, St. Martin's Press for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for letting me review this book. I thought it was really fun and a quick read and I didn't feel like I was missing anything having not read the other books in the series

Rating: 4 ⭐️

Lizzy is working her way up to partner at a law firm in Los Angeles as planned and life is seemingly good….Until she has a panic attack during her opening statement of a trial. After winning the trial she can’t shake the feeling that something isn’t right. Why isn’t she happy? She decides to take a spur of the moment three week vacation to regroup and heads to her childhood best friend Jack’s town to surprise him.

Unbeknownst to Lizzy, Jack has had a crush on her since childhood. On this trip she starts to see him in ways she hadn’t thought of before. After the back and forth flirty moments and knowing from both POV that they have romantic feelings for the other, we finally get our moment sealed with a kiss! The romantic chemistry is so strong between these two characters you can feel it! Their playful banter is so cute you’ll probably find yourself laughing more than once.

While in the small town visiting, Lizzy finds herself volunteering to help reorganize the local bookstore and befriending the owner and cons Jack into helping them out too. In this she comes to realize maybe everything she’d been working so hard for was only her mother’s dream and it was okay to change her path to be what she’s always dreamed. But what will it take to make that happen? And what about Jack?

There’s growth in both main characters, self discovery, heartbreak, second chance love and a lot of steamy moments!

Friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes and this one definitely hits the spot!

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this early digital copy in exchange for my thoughts.

I have been wanting to read this book since I finished The Dating Dare so when I got the eARC I actually jumped up and down!

Booked on a Feeling is a fun, easy-read romantic read that I enjoyed a great deal.

The chemistry between our two protagonists Jack and Lizzy is off the charts!
One of the things I can always count on in a Lee book is exceptional storytelling.
The characters are always well defined and realistic
It was addictive and I fell head over heels in love with Seth almost immediately! 

One of the things I can always count on in a Lee book is exceptional storytelling.
The story enveloped me from page one and I could not get enough of it.
The storyline had me hooked from the beginning, the characters were so likeable and I loved being in their heads, and I absolutely loved the romance between Lizzy and Jack.

A fun, smart, heartfelt romcom! This book was such a delight to read, featuring a well-rounded cast of characters who are impossible not to fall for.
I genuinely enjoyed every second of it. It was so beautiful and entertaining, I completely lost track of time while reading it.

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Griffin,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

*ARC Review*
Booked On A Feeling, by Jayci Lee
⭐⭐⭐💫/5
Pub Date: 7/26

This cute romcom follows Lizzy, a burnt out lawyer, and Jack, her childhood best friend, as they reconnect while she takes some much-needed time off from work. Jack's had feelings for her since they were ten, and now that they're spending more time together as adults, he's terrified of jeopardizing their friendship by confessing his feelings.

I was drawn to this one by its animated cover and adorable title! And I was glad I picked it because the story itself was cute too! It had one of my favorite tropes (friends-to-lovers) and the characters were all likeable. The story had relatable topics like feeling burnt out at work and feeling pressure to meet parents' high expectations, as well as mental health representation with one of the main characters struggling with anxiety.The plot was a bit predictable but still cute, and I found the writing to be a little repetitive. I also wasn't crazy about the main conflict, but that might be on me because what happened was one of my pet peeves. But if you enjoy light, cozy romcoms I definitely recommend checking this one out when it's available in July!

Read if you love:
💗 Friends to lovers
💗 Dual POV
💗 Small town vibes
💗 Stories about finding your calling and following your heart
💗 Books about people who love books! (I actually read this back to back with Book Lovers and I could see a few similarities)

lizzyjack were so cute and they really served that friend to lovers trope and they get three stars for that!!
the book lacked in something tho because it felt like the characters had no actual development and it was pretty two dimensional. i think it really depends on your personal opinion on this one

4.5/5 Stars

What I liked about this story the most was the opening chapter because of how it set up Lizzy and Jack's characters. It allowed a glimpse into their individual characteristics and preexisting relationship. I also enjoyed the combination of the childhood friends to loves trope as well as the guy falls first trope. Lizzy was such a great and relatable character especially because of her obsession with to-do lists. From the beginning, there was clear chemistry because of how well Lizzy and Jack were already connected. As the plot progressed, there was clear tension that could be felt between them as well as the tension that was building from the secrets they were keeping from eachother.

I really enjoyed this book more thanI thought I would. It was a slow burn that gave all the feels. Also as a book lover it just was really a good book for me! I look forward to more from this author.

This book is the third in a series, with the main characters of the first two books featured as side/background characters, but you can definitely read this as a stand alone novel and not feel like you’re missing anything. I do recommend reading the other two in the “Sweet Mess” series as they were also very enjoyable. This is a cute, easy to read romance. I love a good friends to lovers romance and I also love books about books and this delivered both.  I loved following along with the way the bookstore was transforming. I loved the very real look at anxiety and mental health and how much it can change based on your situations. Their chemistry with each other is so cute, and they both compliment each other so well. It does have a little bit of spice in the book. I would give it about 2 in terms of spice. It's more of a fluffy,slow-burn than a steamy type of book.I liked the dual POV format for rom-coms. Those are my favorite types of romances to read because you get the perspective of both people in the relationship.  I feel that this makes the book a better read. As Lizzy's feelings grow stronger, the book gets much better. I was a little bored in the beginning but after that first kiss it was all over from there and I was binge reading. I also liked the exploration of different family dynamics and the emphasis on following your dreams and not someone else’s dreams for you. I enjoyed seeing Lizzy and Jack both come to terms with who they were as individuals and what they wanted for themselves.  Who doesn't love books about books?  I would’ve loved an epilogue or another chapter to wrap up the story more but overall it was a very enjoyable read! Thank you to author Jayci Lee, St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley, Jayci Lee, and St. Martin’s Press for an eARC of Booked on a Feeling!

Lizzy is a successful attorney and is well on her way to making partner in the next two years. Her best friend, Jack, lives 4 hours away in a small town called Weldon. When he comes to watch Lizzy give her opening statement, she is ecstatic. After winning the trial, Lizzy decides to take some time off from work.

Lizzy takes a 3-week vacation in Weldon. Little does she know that Jack has been in love with her for 20 years. Lizzy begins to question her feelings for Jack and her sense of belonging in her career. Does she go back to LA and continue to work toward partner? Or does she find her new dream?

I absolutely adored this book. I loved the bookstore aspect, the friends to lovers trope, and the second-chance trope. Lizzy and Jack had me cackling, and their chemistry was INTENSE! I wish there would’ve been just a little more spice, though. Overall, highly recommend if you love a cozy romance!

i loved this story! such a great journey of finding yourself and figuring out what makes you happy. i loved Lizzy and Jacks relationship and friendship. It was beautiful how cautious they were making that transition. I also loved the bookstore vibes. Overall, such a great story.

I will never get sick of reading romance novels about characters who also love reading romance novels. Gold medal trope.

Mild spice, small town, local business in need of rescue, unfulfilling big city profession…I wouldn’t be surprised if the Hallmark movie was already in production.

“Sure it (romance) was a nice escape, but it was more than that. These stories healed something in her and made her feel less alone.”

Thank you St Martins Press and Jayci Lee for the e-ARC!

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5