Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC! This was a sweet, friends for lovers rom com. It was enjoyable to read but I felt like I needed more between the main characters. Overall sweet, fun read and it involves a bookstore! 3.5 stars

sighs. sighs aggressively loud. sighs because the premise of this book gave me false high expectations. believe me, nobody wanted to like this more than i did. SIGHS.

booked on a feeling follows lizzy, our protagonist who after having a panic attack during an important meeting in her career, takes some time to figure out why and what she wants in life. to do this, she journeys to where she spent her childhood summers, in hopes of gaining some perspective and resetting. the catch? she used to spend her summers with her best friend jack. and better yet? jack is still there, as a bookkeeper for a family business. the two meet again and decide to help spruce up their local bookstore. as they spend time together, feelings grow, and they move past friendship into something more.

from that description, you're probably thinking OMG this sounds amazing. and it does. but it fell flat for me, which is pretty unfortunate. i think my biggest issue was with the writer's style of writing. this read like a bad wattpad book written in 2014. the word choice and sentence structure didn't really match the vibe of the story, which made it extremely difficult to finish. from the description, i would gather that lizzy and jack are well-rounded and deep individuals, but this is really missed on when we see their actions and learn more about them in the book. i am a huge fan of the friends to lovers trope (AND miscommunication, it's a toxic trait of mine), but this just did not work for me. i'm sure other readers will enjoy this more than i did, but it was frustrating to be let down as much as i was. 2/5 stars.

thank you netgalley and st. martin's press for an e-arc in exchange for an honest opinion. all thoughts are my own.

Great sweet romance. The characters could have been a little more fleshed out though. Loved the backdrop of Weldon.

Booked on a Feeling by Jayci Lee is every bookworm’s dream - fall in love with your best friend while in a bookstore. Lizzy needs a break from her law career so she takes refuge in her best friend’s hometown and decides to help out at the local bookstore too. She learns about herself and her feelings for her best friend, Jack, along the way.

What I liked: Obviously the book connection was my favourite part. I also dream about running away to a bookstore so Lizzy was relatable in this regard. As well, I am a sucker for, ‘he has secretly been in love with his best friend since they were kids,’ trope.

What could be better: I felt the sparks in this book but it just never really caught fire for me. That is to say, it was fine. I never felt fully connected to the characters or their relationship.

Overall, this was a three out of five stars read for me. It was fine and I enjoyed it enough but it won’t be memorable to me by the end of the year. You might like this book if you want to read about job/identity crises and friends-to-lovers.

*Please note that the ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Lizzy Chung is on path to make partner at work, so all should be right with the world. So why is she having panic attacks in the courtroom, seeking refuge in a bookstore, and asking to an extended lead be from work? Thankfully she has her best friend Jack Park to turn to while she tries to figure things out.

Jack wants nothing more than to be there for Lizzy in any way she needs. After years of unrequited adoration, he wants to take advantage of her leave to see what life could bring. But are their differences to large? And can they overcome misunderstandings, both large and small?

Thanks to NetGallery for the digital advance copy.

I'm a sucker for a bookstore-centered romance, so I knew I had to read this as soon as I heard about it. I haven't read the earlier books in the series, but this was still a fun read and I didn't feel like I was 'missing out' on anything. I didn't fully love the central character, but I think that's because I related a bit too much to her anxiety (ha). Overall, this was a sweet romcom.

Lizzy and Jack have been best friends for years… but their feelings are much stronger than they think. This cute romance is set in my favourite place — a bookshop. Nothing says love like “You’ve Got Mail” vibes.

I love the friendship that Jack and Lizzy have together, but as their feelings burst out, things get awkward. Or as my teenager would say… “CRINGEY.” The dialogue they share is a bit choppy and I would have loved to have had more conversation and growth happen. I didn’t realize that this was book three in a series, so maybe I have missed some of the character development from the previous books.

Of all the characters in the book, i was most drawn to Shannon. I would love to hear more about her backstory and how she ended up in Weldon.

I loved the end — I honestly didn’t see that coming together in a way that honored both characters.

Overall, I would give it a 3.5⭐️ It was an easy, feel good read.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for this ARC.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4631402855

Lizzy just won her first case as a lawyer. She should be proud. She should be excited. Instead, she's anxious, and in need of a break from her high-stress career. So she takes a few weeks off work to visit her best friend, Jack. The owner of the apartment she's renting also owns the bookstore downstairs, and Lizzy volunteers to help her get it organized and spruced up. Before her mother set her on the path to being a lawyer, Lizzy wanted to own a bookstore, and she falls in love with the experience.
Jack, always up for spending more time with Lizzy, volunteers his time, as well. It quickly becomes apparent to him that he can't avoid the crush he's had for the past two decades, but he doesn't want to risk jeopardizing their friendship. He juggles working at his family's brewery, volunteering at the bookstore, and applying for jobs in L.A. so he can finally find a career he's passionate about.
When they finally acknowledge the spark between them, they decide to take things slow-- which is not what either really wants, but it's all in the name of preserving their friendship.

Booked on a Feeling is sweet, and funny, and a great look into what life can be like when you start chasing your own dreams, instead of the ones laid out for you.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley & St. Martin’s Press!

Lizzy has her whole future planned out but when she wins her first case she doesn't feel the excitement she thought she would. A panic attack leads her to take a leave of absence from work and she flees the city to the small town of her childhood. Her best friend Jack still lives in the town of Weldon and they pick right back up like they had never been apart. The longer Lizzy stays, the more she realizes her plan may have been all wrong.

Booked on a Feeling is a sweet twist on a friends to lovers romance. I appreciate the cultural elements that the author has included. Family obligation is shown in two different lights. Lizzy just wants her parents to be proud of her accomplishments even if it means pursuing a career that she does not enjoy. Jack helps out with his family’s business as much as he can but doesn’t further himself towards what he may want in the future.

I do feel like the ending was rushed a little but overall a solid storyline. While Booked on a Feeling is the third book in the “A Sweet Mess” series, I had no problem reading it as a stand-alone.

This is the first book that I have read from author Jayci Lee but I really enjoy her style of writing. I plan to add the other two books from the series to my TBR list.

I received this novel as an advanced reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This is a cute, light, sweet bread. The chemistry between the characters is great and I like how Lizzy seems like a real person dealing with her anxiety and making smart decisions about her future. I also like how even though they really loved each other they are not willing to sacrifice their personal goals, rather to find a way to make it all fit together. I recommend this as a fun and quick read.

Booked on a felling definitely booked all my feelings because this was a really cute and an enjoyable read for me.

When I requested an eARC of “Booked on a Feeling” by Jayci Lee, I didn’t know that it was the third book in a series. Luckily, this book can be read as a stand-alone. Although I probably missed some minor details from the previous books in this series, it didn’t affect my overall feeling about this book.

Pluses:
Korean food - I’ll admit that I’m not a huge fan of Korean food, but the wonderful descriptions had me thinking about giving Korean food another try (my child will be so pleased).
Jack’s parents - I’m a sucker for any Mum who is willing to have a known family friend literally stay at their house for an extended period of time - and welcome the person in as family.
Bookstores - A number of our local independent bookstores closed due to COVID, so reading about enjoyable little bookstores was very enjoyable.
A quick read - I read this in a few hours and it, mostly, held my attention.

With all those pluses, this was not the book for me. I am not a fan of the miscommunication trope. While I do like “friends to lover” tropes, this didn’t quite work for me and I’m not sure if it was due to the miscommunication trope or that the main characters seemed to be a bit flat. Sometimes jumping into the middle of a series means that one has missed some build-up from the previous books - so that might’ve happened here. I’m going to give this book three stars - kinda down the middle of the road - as it was better than “okay,” but I probably won’t go back and read the previous books.

Lizzy is used to checking boxes off her to do-lists, she's an overachieving, highly motivated, young professional well on her way to accomplishing all of her life goals.

And she's completely burnt out.

She decides to take a break from her life to reevaluate and search for what truly brings her joy. Jack has been her best friend for two decades. He's also been in love with her for almost as long. When Lizzy "vacations" to Jack's town they begin spending more time together. Jack is trying to smother his feelings for Lizzy, but she just may have started to open her eyes to what could be...

I loved the representation in this - Lizzy is Korean and there are many references (And even detailed explanations) of traditional foods and recipes. I love that Lizzy stayed true to her heritage and her culture even though she had been living a largely Americanized life.

Overall it was a fast, cute read. Nothing too heavy or deep as far as subject matter. A nice friends to lovers romance that leaves you with warm fuzzy feelings. .

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.