Unfortunately, Booked on a Feeling was ultimately disappointing. I actually considered DNFing around the 20% mark, because I was flat out bored. I should have just stopped reading then. Obviously, it goes without saying that it took me quite a while to care about the characters. Lizzy and Jack were interesting for about maybe a third of the novel, and then boredom came rushing back in.

This book needs another pass by with an editor, I think. The last like five percent of the novel needs to be reworked, because all it is is the ‘narrator’ telling us what’s happened. There is little to no showing going on. It’s just and Lizzy did this, and then she did that. And then she realized this, and Jack realized that. I actually ended up skimming several pages, because I was so bored my eyes wouldn’t focus. There’s so much back-and-forth (and not in a good way) in the later half of this novel. Jack wants to move to LA, Lizzy wants to move to Weldon. They switch, and Lizzy figures out that she doesn’t want to be in Weldon without Jack, etc, etc. It’s a whole thing.

This book had the potential to be cute, but it just fell completely flat. The characters had very, very little personality. In the rare instance they DID show some sort of personality, their chemistry shone. But these scenes were few and far between, when they SHOULD have been the entire focus of the novel!

And don’t even get me started on the epilogue. A surprise-honey-I’m-pregnant epilogue? When children hadn’t been mentioned by either character in the ENTIRE novel? Pass.

I won’t be picking up any of the other books in this series, if they’re all written like this one. Two and a half stars, and that’s me being quite generous.

"Jack was her best friend. For twenty years, he'd been her confidant, her cheerleader, and her sounding board. Her anchor. He was still all those things to her, but now there was something else."

This book was very cute and fun, and both main characters were so sweet. I love stories with dual POVs and lovable characters, and Jayci Lee definitely delivered. Still, the plot was a bit too slow paced for me. The first few chapters are pretty dense and don't have a lot of relevance to the rest of the book. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a light and fluffy friends-to-lovers story.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This book was so so much fun!

I've said it before and ill say it again, childhood best friends to lovers is THE BEST trope! Take that trope but then have a small-town book store as the setting and there you go a recipe for the perfect book.

I absolutely fell in love with these characters. Jayci Lee put so much love into these characters to make them some of the sweetest characters I have ever read about. Jack was so loving, supportive, and gentle and Lizzy was smart, driven, and kind.

I love how well issues such as anxiety self growth, and familial issues were handled.
overall such a cute, fun, and quick-paced read. The romance was beautiful and the characters were amazing.

3/5 ☆

Thank you NetGalley & the publisher for the ARC!

I've been reading a lot of friends to lovers romances lately and I've grown to really appreciate them. Book on a Feeling being one of them!

The book follows Lizzy and Jack, who are childhood friends. Lizzy is an attorney out in LA while Jack runs a family business back in their home town with his siblings. Overworked and burnt out, Lizzy decides to take time off and returns home to Weldon to spend some time relaxing with Jack. Jack is over the moon that he gets to have Lizzy to himself for a month, but he also is nervous because he's been in love with her since they were 10 (give or take a few years).

Super cute and light-hearted book - I always love supporting Asian authors (especially since its AAPI heritage month). We get to see, what I think many children of immigrants go through - trying to fit in a mold your parents have sculpted out for you. Lizzy and Jack both struggle with this to the point where they feel unsatisfied with where they're at in their lives. I think this book does a really good job at displaying this dynamic and how frustrating POC parents can be in wanting the best for their children.

The biggest critique I have for this book is the ending - it felt all over the place with her moving and then moving back. Also the dialogue was eh between the characters. It felt lacking and awkward in terms of banter. The epilogue was super cute though! Overall a quick read and again, support your Asian authors!

Tropes:
-Best friends to lovers
-Small town romance
-Third POV
-MMC falls first
-Fade to black (with a few descriptions leading up to it)

Lizzy is a high-powered attorney in LA on her way to the top! Her best friends, Jack, handles all the bookkeeping for his family’s brewery in their hometown of Weldon. After suffering a panic attack in the biggest case of her career, Lizzy ends up back home trying to decompress from the stress of her job.

This is a book that involves one of my favorite things: bookstores. And Lizzy, like me, loves books and has a TBR list a mile long. When she decides to fix up the local bookstore, Jack offers to help her even though he is worried he won’t be able to hide his feelings any longer.

This is a great rom/com with a friends-to-lovers storyline. It’s an easy, light hearted read that I’m glad I picked up. Even though it’s book 3 in a series, it can definitely be a stand alone book. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this book.

I love books about books, so I was looking forward to reading this, but unfortunately this book was not for me. I'm rating this a 2.5 stars.

Booked on a Feeling follows Lizzy, a burnt out attorney in LA who feels stuck in her career, and Jack, who works for his family's business, but longs for something more. After winning her first trial, she takes a surprise vacation to Jack's hometown and volunteers to help renovate a local bookstore.

The repeated name-calling of “doofus” and “dingus” felt juvenile; I struggled to reconcile their dialogue (and sometimes inner monologue) as conversations held between two adults. While I could see the background of him pining for her, it didn’t seem as though she felt anything but lust towards him and her feelings developed out of nowhere. I wished there was an explanation of their friendship; it is not clear at all why/how they have been best friends for so long. Their relationship seemed more middle-school crush than adult relationship. Due to the lack of background on their friendship, I had a hard time being invested in their story.

I did enjoy that they each had their own character arc and defining moments of realizing their goals and what they want out of life, particularly Lizzy's path to realizing that her lifelong dreams were never really hers, but her mom's dreams. The discussion of Korean-American cultural dynamics, as well as the challenges of anxiety was well done.

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press in exchange for my honest review.

This is a great, light hearted romance with humor and two cute book stores. The romantic tension between Jack and Lizzy is palpable.

FRIENDS TO LOVERS, LET'S GO. This is the perfect, fun, cozy read for contemporary romance lovers. I want more from Jayci Lee!

went into this one blind and was happily surprised. the beginning during the trial and the panic attack was very relatable for millenials but the ensuing relationship was adorable. really.loved this one

I thought this book was really cute! Lizzie and Jack are super cute in this bookish romance. Their friendship and romance are really good in this book which made me enjoyed a lot. I’m not sure if I loved it only because I’m pretty sure boogie steam books just aren’t for me but for that aside I really did enjoy this really sweet read and I do wanna go back and read the authors other books.

As an avid romance reader, I am very picky and exigent with my reads. Booked on a Feeling has been my first 5-star rom-com of the year, and you should know that I don't give 5 stars lightly. I loved the characters and their evolution, and how they fought for their dreams regardless of what other people thought. I loved how Jack put Lizzy first and let her go so she could find herself without him influencing her decisions. I loved seeing how Sparrow grew into its potential, becoming what I could picture as my dream bookstore. All in all, this was a brilliant book, and I can't wait to see it become a favourite in BookTok.

I see this book everywhere and I love it! I want to see it even more. This book was so fun and I'm obsessed with the cover!

This book would make such a good movie! Unfortunately I did find some of the story too slow, but it was really cute! The cover and title really got my attention, and I think people who enjoyed the first two will like this one as well.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

Lizzy Chung gets things done. She makes plans and doesn’t stop until she finds success. She is so close to making partner at her law firm until she passes out from a panic attack in the middle of a trial. Lizzy knows she needs to take a step back. So she joins her childhood friend, Jack Park, in his cozy home town. Except Lizzy doesn’t know Jack has been harboring a huge crush since they were ten years old. As they work together to revitalize the town bookstore, they have to navigate complicated feelings and a whole lot of tension!

The atmosphere really did it for me for this one! A book about a book lover who spends her free time caring for bookstores…I’m in love. This friends-to-lovers romance was just plain cute. Of course, after reading it I discovered this is the third in a character series and I will definitely be going back to read the first two. This book is for anyone who loves a fluffy rom-com with good banter and dual POV!

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

I adore a good friends to lover trope even when one of the friends takes longer to read the room. I devoured this book in a day because I could not put it down. I loved the mc so much. Sometimes when it switched pov it wasn't the most organic or at a point that really made sense, like at a chapter change. But overall I loved it.

Things I loved:

❤️ Wonderful AAPI, specifically Korean rep. The centering of love shown through classic Korean dishes cooked by Jack's family was incredibly sweet.
❤️ Lizzy (obsessed with P&P) is a fellow book nerd and checklist afficionado
❤️ Jack is a precious baby angel that deserves literally all of the love
❤️ Who doesn't love a love story centered in a bookstore?
❤️ The book cover scene
❤️ This romance has the appeal of a classic Hallmark movie
❤️ Lizzy has a healthy relationship with food and sticks up for herself in conflicts with her mother. I also love that she is unapologetically herself

Things I wish I had more of:

🤷🏻‍♀️ Jack and Lizzy are super cute together. I wish I had gotten to see a little bit more of the development of Lizzy's change of feeling from friends to lovers. The switch felt a bit abrupt while Jack's felt more natural.
🤷🏻‍♀️ I really liked the pining in this book, especially with Jack, some of it just felt a little redundant and heavy handed, but it is a romance novel.
🤷🏻‍♀️ Alex and Tara are great characters and I would have loved to see more of them throughout.

Overall this was a super sweet read! Thank you again for letting me read and review this romance 😊

I. Love. Boy. Falls. First. - I read this with a friend via ARC. I also love childhood friends to lovers. This was a basic read, nothing crazy! If you're looking for a light hearted easy read try it!

Reading about books is always to cool to me. And two friend revamping a book store? YES. But i am choosing to give it 3 stars because even though the romance was sweet, as I stated above it was just basic! Nothing again the story or the author, I enjoyed myself. But I have read better books (in my opinion)! I do love how compatible Jack and Lizzy were!

2.75⭐️

Thanks you to the publisher via NetGalley and St. Martins Press for giving me an e-ARC of this book!

I went into this read with really high hopes and expectations. A romcom about a book lover? Yes. A lifelong friend-turned-lover? Yes. But sadly it did not meet the expectations I had for it.

Some things I really liked were the growth of the main characters and how they were able to find their passions and grow out of the stereotypes and labels placed on them. I also liked their banter and dynamic. However, the story itself fell kind of flat to me and the plot seemed very rushed. At times I wondered if the story would reach a climax and find some tension or pressure—but it never came. Overall it was a very easy read and I enjoyed the main characters more than anything

Lizzy is on her way to achieving the "American Dream." She immigrated with her parents while in grade school and has gone on to get a law degree. She works at a successful law firm and is on her way to being partner. During her first trial, she has a panic attack and notices how burnt out she is. She takes a few weeks off to spend time in Weldon, CA where she spent summers as a child. It just so happens that her childhood best friends, Jack Park, lives there. They spend time together and he is unaware of her crush on him and vice versa. They work together with a bookstore owner to redo her store and along they way, they find it hard to just be friends.

The story was predictable, but I loved the character development and how Lee showed that money and a fancy job are not all that make people happy.

Oh my god this was such a cute book! I absolutely loved it, I know I’m more of an enemies to lovers girl, But I loved loved loved the book!