I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of Booked on a Feeling by Jayci Lee. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley and St Martins Press for providing an ARC to review.

Jayci Lee's romcom Booked on a Feeling features an overachieving lawyer. A failing bookstore. A childhood friend. And the chance of a lifetime.

I'm really excited to see more representation coming to romance novels. I was especially excited to read a romance novel where two Korean Americans were the OTP (One True Pairing). Book on a Feeling brought all the swoony feels wrapped in a strong narrative. It was the perfect combo of adults finding a new direction in work and a new shift from friends to romance. The two changes in our lead's lives worked seamlessly to bring us a fun and romantic story. Booked on a Feeling was my first book by this author, but hopefully, it will not be my last.

This was the definition of a feel good book! There is not such more to say other than feel good with the sweetest characters! I feel like I just got a hug in the best way possible. I thought it was so comforting and amazing. Everyone needs a book like this in their lives. Loved it.

I am genuinely in love with this book. Everything about it was completely perfect. The characters had such amazing chemistry and the balance of supporting characters to main characters was fantastic. I was cheering the entire time for Lizzy and Jack and was so happy that their story reflected that of two 30-year olds. They felt like real mature characters who had their live together and had just been waiting for each other the entire time. I loved how they both came into their feelings for each other and how they had their own struggles. It was perfection and I literally did not put it down.

On a side note - the transition into chapter 24 was weak and could use work. It felt disjoined and I had to reread it to make sure I was following correctly.

This one just wasn't for me. . I started losing interest around 40% in, but I kept reading because I wanted to see how things turned out. I also struggled with the fact that both Lizzy and Jack had the whole "this isn't my dream, it's yours" conversations... I couldn't really find a way to connect with the characters. Aside from Lizzy's love of book and making list, I just felt kind of meh towards the characters. The writing was good, The story itself just wasn't my cup of tea.

This was a great romance read - friends to lovers, bookstore romance, and great food. Lizzy, a lawyer in LA, needs a break and spends time in the small town (renting a studio above a bookstore!) where her best friend Jack lives. Jack, who has loved her for 20 years but hasn't told her. I appreciated the dual-POVs here to get some insight into each of their thoughts and feelings as their friendship evolved. Some family dynamics, late 20s/early 30s angst of figuring out your life, and more. Good Korean food, sweets, and local beer also - do not read on an empty stomach! I also appreciated the realistic description of anxiety and it not being the headline of who Lizzy is. Thank you to netgalley for access to this eARC.

I didn’t finish Booked on a Feeling. The writing style wasn’t for me, and I was unable to connect with the characters and the story. It all felt very one dimensional with no real growth or complexity from any of the characters. I was hopeful going into it, and I’m sure other readers will love it. It just wasn’t for me.

Overall Rating - ⭐⭐⭐
Spice - 🌶️🌶️
Character Development - Steady through out, big developments in last 20% ish.
Tropes - Friends to Lovers, Third Act Breakup, Pregnancy Epilogue
Representation - Asian (Korean), Anxiety disorder

Plot; The plot of this book is simple and sweet. Two childhood friends, one goes on vacation where the other is, and they spend their time getting a bookstore back on its feet. It is really cute all the way through, and while it doesn't deviate from that plot line a lot, aside from a few dates, it isn't boring or repetitive. The bookstore setting has a lot of energy and feeling at every turn. The plot is definitely romance driven. I like how the progression of the relationship and the bookstore side by side, it's almost like they reflect each other.

Characters; There's only about three characters that have any real umpth to them, but all the characters including the side characters are all very different. You don't get to really see much about Jack's family, and the other people are all kind of in and out, but because of how focused this plot is on the romance, you don't really notice too much. Now the two love interests are very well done, albeit obsessed. Jack specifically is basically driven exclusively by his love for Lizzy for a good chunk of this book. I am really happy he eventually has some growth and does stuff for himself too. I much prefered reading the parts in Lizzy's POV, because she felt like she had more on the line for more of the book than just the romance, and therefore slightly less obsessive. Either way, both eventually had amazing character growth, and I think the conflict and resolution are very reflective of how actual relationships turn out sometimes.

Romance; The romance was nice. It was kind of cute with both of them thinking the other wasn't ready and and , while you the reader know they're having the same thoughts. That happens pretty often, but not enough for me to be annoyed by it. In terms of the spice, very yes. I like that the characters experience a lot of sexual tension and feeling outside of just sex itself. This book doesn't shy away from characters having visual turn ons (toolbelt 😉), and these don't go away after they have sex, which makes them more realistic and makes them easier to identify with. The sex is not quite fade to black, but it does stop being descriptive right before penetration. I do think it's a good tease book.

Writing; The writing for this book felt different to me than other romance books. This one felt a lot more personal, and it was written more about feeling than action. Most of the writing that isn't dialog describes events, foods, etc by how the character feels about them. A lot of the non dialog is also thoughts generally. It felt like being really in the characters heads instead of just watching their story. I also love that the author didn't shy away from words and phrases that some people might not understand, like Korean food names, lawyer jargon, and the like. I really enjoyed the writing in this book.

Extra Thoughts; I enjoyed this book a lot! It feels like a much more person romance book than most typical ones to me, and that was a nice change of pace. I LOVED the writing about food in this book. You can tell the author has a great relationship with their food based on how they talk about it in this book, and food is a love language in this book and I am here for it. I'm giving it a 3 because it didn't wow me, or make me feel the need to read it all in one go, but I did really enjoy it and would likely recommend it to someone if they were looking for a cozy romance read.

4.5 stars

I really enjoyed this story! It had the classic big city lawyer and small town vacation/time-off dynamic, but added on top of the fact that it was a friends to lovers story really was the icing on the cake here because Lizzy and Jack had amazing chemistry and I loved reading about them falling in love. And with everything sort of centered around a bookstore? It was a great read

Booked on a Feeling, overall, is a cute story. I like that Lizzy and Jack are such good friends and have an amazing relationship. However, the story was very predicatible. In addition to that, there were times that the characters seemed very immature.
The descriptions of the book stores were wonderful. The food descriptions...wow! The book made me hungry!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

this book is the reason i live for friends to lovers. the mutual pining, the tension, all of it was *chef's kiss*

lizzy and jack are such faves. i see myself a lot in lizzy, and i think i still have to do some of the soul-searching that lizzy had to do as well. i just want to give jack a hug,, i'm so proud of him. both of them have very complete character arcs, lizzy trying to find herself & what she wanted from her career and her life rather than simply living for her mother's expectations and jack finally going after what he wanted and his own dreams.

and the two of them together...SWOON. so much chemistry. they fit together so well. no one loves lizzy like jack does and no one loves jack like lizzy does! they win!

heartwarming book <33 perfect for a book lover w the amount of time they spend in a bookstore lol

I am a sucker for a bookstore romance. Throw in a childhood friends to lovers trope and I am totally on board. The relationship of the main couple was sweet and realistic. Their friendship was true, while their romance seemed a bit rushed, it wasn’t distracting. The author wrote burnout and moments of insecurity in your own path in a way that was incredibly relatable. I appreciated how these characters wanted to be together but didn’t want all their choices to be based on the other person. The trusted in themselves and their friendship that they would find their way to each other. And it was nice to see that relationship unfold and grow in a way that felt mostly natural.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.
This was my first Jayci Lee book, and I have to say that while I wasn't blown away, it met my expectations and I was very satisfied with it. There are no major twists or turns, and you can pretty much figure out the entire endgame from the first few chapters, but it's still mostly an enjoyable read.
BEWARE: they spend pages and pages talking about delicious food, so if you're reading it on an empty stomach...you will regret it.

This book was not what I wanted it to be. The main female character doesn’t work. She’s a workaholic lawyer who, on a whim, decides to take a month off and stay in the same town as her best friend without telling him. Then you have the best friend who only thinks about the fact that he loves Lizzy but needs to get over her to save their friendship. The internal monologue of both characters was weak and ultimately childish. They both agree (at one point) to give a romantic relationship a chance and then spend the entire time not allowing themselves to actually have an adult relationship. If I had a nickel for everytime Jack talked about getting over Lizzy I’d be rich. Very repetitive and immature. You’ve got childhood best friends turned lovers with the communication trope woven throughout. I really did have high hopes but was ultimately let down.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, the author, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book for my honest review.

I first want to thank the publishers and Netgally for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC!

5/5 stars all the way. I absolutely loved this wholesome friends to lovers book. Lizzy is an LA attorney that needs to go back to her home town at a panic attack to relax and in the process connects with her childhood best friend Jack.

Their goofy, but extremely loving relationship was by far my favorite part of this book. I also really enjoyed the discussion of mental health, following your dreams, and having passion in the workplace.

If you want a sweet romance that will make you laugh out louche this book is perfect for you! Please make sure you pre-order this book as it comes out soon and I promise you won’t want to miss it!

I really wanted to love this book because the premise sounded like the type of love story any book lover would want to read. I almost DNF the book but I'm glad I decided to stick with it because despite the slow start it was a cute and easy read perfect for a summer beach read. I found myself wanting to know more of how Lizzie and Jack's friendship began because I felt like it was important to setting up the story and rooting for them to be a couple. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

Okay to start off, this book was very cute. It was in general good and a basic romance book with most things a romance book should have. But I don’t think there was anything in this book that revolutionized the romance genre, or that made an impact on me… it was at times boring and there wasn’t anything happening a lot of the time. There was never really a solid reason for them not to get together and i didnt like the fact that miscommunication and assumptions about what the other person was thinking was the whole basis of this book.

That being said, the parts where the characters did let themselves go and do romantic things with each other were so cute. I loved the setting and the representation of burnout. Of course, I also loved the fact that the author included books/bookstores as a huge aspect!!!!

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

If I’m being honest, about 30% of the way through the book, Booked on a Feeling, I considered not finishing. I felt like it was starting too slow and I wasn’t finding the connection to the characters I was hoping for. With that being said, I’m glad I continued on. I loved the ending, and I love a good friends to lovers storyline. The relationship between Lizzy and Jack is adorable and playful. Both of the characters grew on me! It was a very cute and quick read!

Thank you to St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for sending me an eARC of this book! I was super excited about the premise - a workaholic lawyer takes a break to recharge in this cute town, revamping a bookstore in the process. However, it just did not land. Before I get into the main reasons I didn't like this, there was this one moment that was just so strange to me. The main character Lizzy is eating a PB&J, and she for some reason thinks it a good idea to describe the snack with really flowery language. It was so weird. Now, my main gripe is that there was absolutely zero chemistry between Lizzy and love interest Jack, despite the fact he's supposed to have been in love with her for twenty years. I felt like they were horny for each other the whole first half of the book, while acting like the other would never feel the same way. And then they just are having sex for the rest of the book. Not a win.

This book was super cute and had everything that I normally look for in a contemporary romance book - loveable characters, an adorable setting, and a dual POV so I could see both Jack and Lizzy's thoughts and feelings. Which was a great way of seeing the mutual pining that they were going through and that I loved so much.

One thing that I wish there was more of was talk about Jack's family; I really enjoyed the small interactions that I could see, and I liked the idea that they ran a family business and were very family oriented, but I just wish that some of them were more dynamic or that there was a little bit more of them.

I also found the act three break up to be frustrating; I know that it's a staple of the genre, but if Jack and Lizzy had simply communicated even a little bit about their feelings, that wouldn't have happened. Their lack of communication in that sense made me question their emotional maturity and readiness for a real relationship.

Overall, it was a very cute read and I had an enjoyable time reading this book! Definitely recommend it to anyone who loves books and the romance genre!

(3.5 stars rounded up)

This book was so good and cute. I had not read the two previous books as this is the third one in the Sweet Mess series. I don't feel like I needed to read the first two books in this series to enjoy and understand this book. Each of the books in this series follows a different couple, and while it would have been nice to understand the stories of the other couples, I don't feel like I was missing too much.

This book follows two childhood best friends, Lizzy and Jack. Lizzy is the serious one of the two, she has had a plan her whole life, and she is doing everything she can to accomplish her goals in the timeframe she wants. Unfortunately, the stress gets to Lizzy, and she passes out while working due to burnout. Jack has stayed living in his hometown, working at his family's business feeling very underwhelmed with what he has accomplished. Lizzy decides that she needs a break; she takes three weeks off work and rents an apartment in the town Jack lives in but doesn't tell him. One day while on his morning run, Jack runs into Lizzy and learns that she is staying for three weeks, and they make plans to spend time together. Lizzy doesn't know that Jack has been in love with her since they were kids and has never said anything. As the two spend more time together, their relationship grows, and they each determine what they want in life.

I thought this book was adorable; I loved the banter with Jack and Lizzy; you could tell that they had been friends for years. I loved seeing how their feelings started to grow, but neither wanted to say anything and risk ending their friendship. Jack and Lizzy are exactly what I would want from a friends-to-lovers rom-com. If that is a trope you enjoy, I would highly recommend picking this book up.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Griffin for allowing me to read and review this book before publishing.