3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for this audiobook ARC.

Anne is a Korean American actress who became famous after starring in K-dramas but has now returned to the US and is considering giving Hollywood a go instead. She had originally moved to Korea at 21 to act to help her father avoid bankruptcy, dropping out of college and breaking up with her then boyfriend, with whom she was deeply in love.

Upon returning to the US, she unexpectedly bumps into her ex, Frederick, who is harboring a lot of anger and blame toward her. He’s a firefighting captain and, of course, is good friends with her cousin’s fiancé, so they are constantly being thrust together (including both being in the wedding party). They’re both still desperately in love with each other, but are stubborn and in denial. Tensions escalate throughout the story as we gain more details about what led to their split and find out if Frederick can move forgive Anne.

I really wanted to love this book, but it didn’t quite do it for me. I found the characters to be extremely frustrating and didn’t feel like I had enough background to really understand why they were so obsessed with each other. The whole thing was a little too slow burn and I just wanted them to communicate. I think maybe the author could have used some more humor or something to offset the waiting and pining. I also think that the ending kind of wrapped up a bit abruptly compared to the amount of time spent in the build up.

I did love the dynamic of Anne and her cousins though. They were really wholesome. It was nice to see Anne go from being the person who had to do everything for everyone to learning to take up space. I appreciated her cousins for reinforcing that Anne didn’t have to do everything by herself.

As my first Net Galley review, yikes, I'm sorry.
I wanted to DNF this so bad but I wanted to try to give it a fair review. The premise of the story caught my attention but that's where it stopped. I felt like I was listening to a bad k-drama.
Maybe it's just me but I could not stand the amount of yearning for what was a 6 month long relationship 10 years ago... neither of them tried to reconnect with each other if they really felt THAT strongly for one another?
The whole story just felt all over the place

This is the kind of reboot where I’m not sure why it needed to happen? Like I am all for a kdrama spin on Persuasion, but this feels less interesting than many actual kdramas I have watched. Not my cup of tea.

Jane Austen retelling with a K-Drama twist 😊

Readers who love the following will enjoy Give Me A Reason:
🥧 Second Chance Romance
🔥 Jane Austen Retelling (Persuasion)
🥧 Yearning
🔥 Angst
🥧 Spice
🔥 It was always you vibes
🥧 Swoony love letters written by him
🔥 Dual POV

Anne Lee has just returned home to the US after a decade-long acting career in Korea. Reconnecting with her family and friends who she left behind, the last person she expects to see on her reunion tour is her one and only love, Frederick Nam.

Now a fire station captain, Frederick is more than the 19 y.o. man left heartbroken by Anne’s departure. Seeing her again causes past insecurities to resurface and the realization that he may not be over her.

I love when classics are modernized and I thought Jayci Lee did a fantastic job with Persuasion not in just drawing parallels to story itself, but giving us more from the POV of the man scorned. I lived for the possessive moments that overtook both Anne and Frederick as they tried to figure out what they wanted to be to one another in the present.

There are a lot of characters in this book and Michelle H. Lee did a great job with the narration. I would have loved to experience full dual narration with Greg Chun. He read the letters Frederick had written Anne during the book and it was such a delicious tease!

Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for the ALC!

I enjoyed this audio-book for the most part, though it is a bit too smutty for my taste.
I'm also not a huge fan of the misunderstanding/miscommunication troupes, so many issues could be solved if people would just Talk to each other! All in all, the book was fairly well written, and I would read more of this authors works

Force proximity and lovers firefighter in a K drama star I thought it was absolutely adorable sweet spicy everything you want like a little romcom. It’s a great palate cleanser and just overall good story. The narrators did fantastic.

I really wanted to enjoy this audiobook but I just could not get into it. The narration just this not capture my attention or keep my interest. The premise of the story sounds so interesting to me that I think I’m going to give it another chance but in print.

I really enjoyed this story and the writing! It’s my first Jayci Lee and it’s an 8.9 out of 10, 4.5 stars! I think the Narrator Michelle H. Lee did an absolutely amazing job giving life to all the characters! She kept me engaged and sympathetic and I wanted her to keep going! It was an interesting choice to have Greg Chun read Frederick’s letters.

This book really captured the essence of Jane Austen’s Persuasion and added modernity within its confines (Austen-esque confines). While extremely romantic and overall satisfying we can all agree that Austen’s Misunderstanding trope is one of our most disliked tropes in our fast and over-sharing culture. Also, aren’t most sage advice given to new and flourishing couples to “communicate” and not go to bed angry? Neither things that our lovers practiced in this book.

With all of that said, Jayci Lee just proved with her own romantic writing prowess the magic of Austen’s romances. I found myself craving more and needing more of this story similar to our FMC and MMC’s craving of each other!

While I found Frederick’s inaction and hesitant nature extremely annoying, his intensity and fervent love was to die for! Similarly, Anne’s over-altruistic-ness and self-doubt made me incandescent with rage but I can also recognize it’s a pot and kettle situation. I also very naturally think that I don’t deserve anything and familial sacrifice has to go above all else. But this can only mean that when we love, it’s deeply, fatefully, and absolutely without condition. And what an amazing thing to see on the page!

Anne’s characterization was definitely so very clear and I can more than empathize with her nature to ignore her needs and to let the insecurities rise to the surface because inconveniencing anyone is a fate worse than death (I also pick the aisle seats so I don’t need to ask anyone to get up for me). I only wish growth was easier for her to contend with and that we were able to see that more. Meaning, she did mention wanting to learn to take up space and live for herself and while professionally she was able to do this, she did not quite learn to do it personally until the end.

In any case, this was all utterly enjoyable, steamy and the pining will ALWAYS be the best part and Jayci Lee did it so so well!!

Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio for this ALC!

So, to start off this review, I think it’s important to share that I didn’t know much anything about Persuasion before diving in. However, I’m always interested in retellings, so that was initially something that drew me into this book.

I wish that this book would have been more of a dual narration. I think that Michelle H. Lee did a wonderful job, but I feel that Greg Chun was underutilized. I think that the fact the book is written in third person made it more challenging to do a dual narration, but the perspectives clearly shift. I just would’ve liked to see more of an even split throughout the book.

Throughout reading, I often found myself frustrated because I felt like I didn’t have enough information about the characters. I felt sympathy toward them and their situation, but the miscommunication was so intense that it felt like I was being miscommunicated with as the reader. I just wanted to have a stronger connection to Anne and Frederick and their backstory. Their backstory never feels FULLY fleshed out and it feels like they never fully solve some of the issues (like can we please know more about Frederick’s early life?).

Overall, if you’re someone who is interested in Jane Austen retellings, I think you may get a lot more out of this book. I’m open to reading more by Jayci Lee, I just think that this book in particular wasn’t by cup of tea.

Anne has always put others before herself, until a chance encounter forces her to confront a past she thought she'd left behind. Suddenly, she's grappling with feelings that never truly faded, caught between the life she's built and the emotions she can't escape.

The slow burn, tension, push and pull draws you in and leaves you wanting so much more. You can feel their quiet longing in every unspoken word, that fragile hope of something old becoming new again, mixed with the fear of getting hurt all over. It had me on the edge of my seat the whole time.

A beautifully written exploration of second chances. An absolute delight of a read.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan audio for allowing me to listen and review this book. This book is definitely a 3/5 stars. It was a very fast listen and I really enjoyed the narrators. There were parts that lacked and it was such a short story that I think more should have been added, just to out as much as possible in such a short book. I did like both MMC and FMC and it definitely was a cute little second chance romance

This is a slow-burn, modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion—but with K-drama flair, a firefighter love interest, and all the emotional repression you could want in a second-chance romance. Anne Lee walked away from the love of her life, Frederick Nam, a decade ago to save her family from financial ruin. Now she’s a K-drama star back in LA… and guess who’s the groomsman in the same wedding she’s in? Yep. The firefighter ex she never stopped loving.

Jayci Lee’s writing is soft, almost restrained, but emotionally loaded. The tension doesn’t explode—it simmers. Every conversation, every awkward silence, every little act of care is heavy with unspoken feelings. It’s quiet romance, but charged. You feel the history between Anne and Frederick in every scene. That said…

I really struggled with the miscommunication trope here. Anne and Frederick both clearly still love each other, but so much of their pain could’ve been resolved with one honest conversation. It made the pacing feel slow at times—and not in the good, tension-building way. On top of that, I found myself wishing hard for dual POV. There were multiple scenes where I was halfway through a paragraph wondering, “Wait… is this her thought or his?” With such emotionally complex characters, I wanted to be in both of their heads.

Still, if you’re into yearning, regrets, emotional caretaking masked as indifference, and weddings that force you to deal with your feelings in formalwear… this book delivers. It’s a quiet romance with big feelings. And that ending? A perfect payoff for all the emotional slow burn. 🫶

This was inspired by Jane Austen's Persuasion which I have not read. I am a sucker for second chance romance and this was set with feeling of a K-drama with Anne, a semi famous Korean actress who is back in LA to help her dad. She meets Frederick again, each other's first love with their friends getting married.

I liked seeing the strong friend group and the complexity of family dynamics played such a big part to their past relationship.

There is a lot of miscommunication in the story which isn't my favorite. I do appreciate the dual POV but wanted more from Frederick's pov.

Michelle H Lee and Greg Chun did a good job on the narration and kept me interested.

Thank you @smpromance @macmillan.audio for a copy of the book.

Let’s begin this with addressing the audiobook narrators!! Standing ovation please and thank you. Their voices caught me in a trance and I listened to nothing but this audiobook until finished.

Now on to the book itself!! I’m an absolute sucker for second chances. I think seeing the raw emotion and reactions (usually stemming from jealousy or yearning) that I just become a puddle on the floor. I teared up several times as paths were continually crossed, that I stopped wiping them away.

This modern retelling of Persuasion reflected the familial and friendship dynamics in a delicious dramatic fashion.

p.s Fredrick is a penguin & I cannot be convinced otherwise…

Pub Date July 29 2025

Thanks so much to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for providing this audiobook arc!

review posted to NetGalley & Goodreads

Thank you Netgalley and MacMillan Audio for the Advanced Listeners Copy of this book!

I loved that this story revolved around Korean dramas and retold Persuasion by Jane Austen. I unfortunately have not read Persuasion so I cannot compare the retelling to it.

Miscommunication is not typically a trope I enjoy but this story was cute!

Anne’s character being famous but insecure was such an interesting part of her character!

The narrators Michelle Lee and Greg Chun did a perfect job bringing these characters to life which I think can be hard in a third person POV. I would have preferred Greg having a larger role though!

The narrators were great. They did a great job of breathing emotion and interest into the narrative. However, the content did not stand out. I think Korean culture has a lot of facets that lend themselves to a Persuasian retelling. But the Kdrama actress plot line was a little underwhelming. The angst of it all still felt unlikely for a modern-day telling. I will admit that I have not read the original Persuasian by Jane Austen, so there is a chance that this is all necessary to be a more faithful retelling. Overall, it was fine. It scratches a romantic itch with Asian representation.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this one early.

I both listened to and read this one in parts so I can say that I enjoyed the narrators voices. I also really enjoyed reading the ebook as well so I can’t really say which I enjoyed more. This one didn’t have a clear winner as far as medium goes so I’d recommend whichever you prefer as a reader because I liked both equally.

I really enjoyed this book. I’ll be honest and admit that the miscommunication trope is not my favorite and it was sprinkled all throughout the plot of this story but there were a lot of elements that I loved.

I thought the modernization of Persuasion as well as the Korean / Korean American themes woven into this version were really well done. The author does a great job of translating regency era problems to modern times through cultural expectations that are still present in modern day.

I hope that this is the beginning of a series and that some of the other characters will get Austen retellings as well because I’d also really love to see that.

Overall, a really solid romance that Jane Austen fans will be sure to enjoy.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Simple one liner: Modern Jane Austen X K-drama that is very focused on open door romance scenes.

The FMC and MMC come back into each others' orbit after a life shattering heart break. She comes back to the US after choosing to be an K Drama actress to financially support her family after her mother's death. He becomes a handsome firefighter. They reunite because their friends and family are coming together for a wedding, and they are a part of the wedding party. Will these two finally make up and sex up after 10 years of being apart? Or will they wind up with other potential partners?

There was too much miscommunication in this story for me to find it enjoyable. I was taken aback as well by the rather in your face explicit sex scenes. It was unexpected as I assumed it would be a demure story, similar to Kdramas. Alas, it was not. Was this a good mindless romance? Yes. Would I have gotten this book for myself? No. Would I recommend this to others who enjoy this type of book? Yes.

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity in exchange for an honest review.

I will post to socials.

Give Me a Reason is Persuasion meets K-Dramas. This second chance romance is filled with longing and hijinks. The internal drama reads a lot younger than the late 20s/early 30s the characters are supposed to be, but it’s still a lot of fun. Is the drama over the top at times? Sure, but again, this is giving love to K-dramas and with that context it makes it a lot more fun.


Michelle Lee does an outstanding job narrating a large cast of characters. Her voice is filled with warmth and kept me engaged, giving each character their own distinctive voice. Greg Chun has a smaller role limited to reading old letters from the MMC and I really loved this choice as it made the media stand out more in the audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review!

Retellings are hard. Persuasions the classic second chance romance this was inspired by is particularly hard. I thought some of the choices were a little too literal for a modern adaptation. I was also really hoping for some K-drama and a look into Anne's career. The action is a little slow, at least 50% of it is Fredrick and Anne staring longingly at each other and not talking.

Michelle H. Lee carries the audio by doing the bulk of the narration. She's very well paced and lends emotional range. Greg Chun really stands out as the voice to Fredrick's letters from the past.