142whoopingllamas's review
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders
chloelj27's review against another edition
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Booked on a Feeling initially grabbed my attention from the synopsis and apart from reading that, I went in blind as I hadn’t heard anything else about it.
One thing that deserves a special mention is the anxiety representation in this book. As someone who has suffered with anxiety all her life, I understood that tight feeling in your chest and how awful panic attacks can be. I was so proud of Lizzy realising her triggers and changing things in her life to help bring her happiness and peace.
I related to both Jack and Lizzy in parts, and loved their friendship. It was definitely a typical, teasing type of friendship which was cute and funny. I loved Lizzy being a book lover and there were moments where I truly related to all the quotes about being a reader. While I adored them as friends, I found it hard to connect with their romance - something was lacking for me. I think I didn’t connect to the main characters all that well and so that could also be a contributor of why I didn’t feel the romance. Despite them being 30 years old, it sometimes felt a bit high school.
I liked the idea of the plot (it reminded me a little of Book Lovers) and it made me realise that even though you’re 30, it doesn’t mean you know what you want in life for yourself. It gave me that sense of comfort to know that’s ok. I also loved the Korean representation from both main characters and showing two different families. I would have liked to know a bit more about their childhood - how did they meet, who did Lizzy stay with once her family went back to Seoul. I know they’re little things, but those would help be connect a bit more with the characters I think.
Overall, this was a cute read, but there was parts that lacked for me and so I couldn’t fully invest in the story.
One thing that deserves a special mention is the anxiety representation in this book. As someone who has suffered with anxiety all her life, I understood that tight feeling in your chest and how awful panic attacks can be. I was so proud of Lizzy realising her triggers and changing things in her life to help bring her happiness and peace.
I related to both Jack and Lizzy in parts, and loved their friendship. It was definitely a typical, teasing type of friendship which was cute and funny. I loved Lizzy being a book lover and there were moments where I truly related to all the quotes about being a reader. While I adored them as friends, I found it hard to connect with their romance - something was lacking for me. I think I didn’t connect to the main characters all that well and so that could also be a contributor of why I didn’t feel the romance. Despite them being 30 years old, it sometimes felt a bit high school.
I liked the idea of the plot (it reminded me a little of Book Lovers) and it made me realise that even though you’re 30, it doesn’t mean you know what you want in life for yourself. It gave me that sense of comfort to know that’s ok. I also loved the Korean representation from both main characters and showing two different families. I would have liked to know a bit more about their childhood - how did they meet, who did Lizzy stay with once her family went back to Seoul. I know they’re little things, but those would help be connect a bit more with the characters I think.
Overall, this was a cute read, but there was parts that lacked for me and so I couldn’t fully invest in the story.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Cursing, Sexual content, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Pregnancy
amberinpieces's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, and Cursing
Minor: Classism, Pregnancy, Medical content, and Toxic relationship
thisreadingcorner's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Too much telling not enough showing in the writing style of this book. I don’t think this author is for me, but I’m always tempted by the covers.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Sexual content
zanazy's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Cute, easy read. Lizzy is your stereotypical Korean daughter pushed into law by her immigrant parents and clearly had a tiger mom. Jack needs a flaw too so he’s the I love my family and will help the family business even if it means I don’t find what I truly want to do. They’ve known each other since they were 10 and are bff. So of course Jack has carried this unrequited crush on Lizzy forever but never told her. She’s apparently oblivious to it until she decides to take a long vacation from work to recharge and sees him without a shirt while surprising him during his AM run. Jack is too perfect and Lizzy is too much of a stereotype in so many areas, it hurts the story. All other supporting characters are just there… nothing interesting. My favorite parts, the cooking by Jack, his mom, and even Lizzy… that’s about it. The ending is completely predictable and unlike other modern romance trope books, there really isn’t a villain or huge climax/problem. The whole thing left much to be desired.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol and Panic attacks/disorders
hellowildflower's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Panic attacks/disorders
happily_undignified's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Booked On A Feeling by Jayci Lee is such a great rom com! I loved the main characters from the first page and friends to lovers is my all time favorite trope. Lizzy and Jack are loveable characters with interesting personal storylines. The second they introduced Weldon and the bookstore, I was sold! This is a fave star sweet romance full of all the things that make my heart smile.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders
arthur_ant18's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review!
Contemporary romance author Jayci Lee has just come out with Booked on a Feeling, her standalone follow-up to A Sweet Mess and The Dating Dare (while characters from the previous books do appear in this one, it isn't necessary to read them ahead of Booked on a Feeling). It takes you into the life of Los Angeles-based lawyer Lizzie Chung as she's heading down the road toward making partner and pleasing the wishes of her parents (particularly her mom), but not without experiencing some exhaustion and anxiety with her job. Her burnout worsens so much, in fact, that she ends up having a panic attack and fainting in court. Realizing just how crucial it is that she takes time to unwind and figure out what her next step is, she flies off for a three-week trip to Weldon, where she'd grown up as a kid with her best friend of twenty years Jack Park. Unbeknownst to her, he's been pining after her all this time but has chosen to keep it hidden in order to preserve their friendship. What will happen, however, once Lizzy suddenly starts to catch her own feelings for Jack?
**Trigger Warning** Readers, please beware this book's depiction of on-page panic attacks, a dysfunctional mother-daughter dynamic, and minor bits of body shaming.
As of late, I've realized that I'm becoming a fan of the friends-to-lovers trope, although it will never knock fake dating and enemies-to-lovers off their top spots on my Favorite Rom-Com Tropes list. A major element that prevents me from sending an overwhelming amount of adoration towards friends-to-lovers is the way in which it's often used for M/F relationships, as if such platonic dynamics must eventually reward the men with romantic and sexual reciprocation from the women. When the friends-to-lovers trope is set up in a contrived fashion, it further detracts from my ability to root for the romance to work out. And I have to admit it felt like that throughout the first act of Booked on a Feeling. While it was logical for Jack to experience such intense feelings for Lizzy because he's spent the past two decades harboring them for her, it didn't come off like that for Lizzy, who has viewed him as nothing more than her closest buddy all this time. But then she starts abruptly noticing just how sexy he is, especially when he's wearing a tool belt, and it all leaves you feeling like she went from zero to sixty in three seconds. The fact that both of them could act and talk like cringey teenagers sometimes in spite of being full-grown adults isn't great, either.
At least the book improves once the relationship follows a much more natural and heartwarming flow in the second and third acts, with some nice steam making its debut towards the story's latter half as the culmination for the heavy flirting that the two MCs have been tossing back and forth. In addition, I appreciate how the book focuses on each of their personal lives. You've got Lizzy, who's trying to come up with a resolution for her career and avoid falling into the trap of needing to meet her mom's impossibly high expectations of her. Oh, and she's also volunteering at the floundering bookstore beneath the studio apartment she's renting, determined to save it from shutting down—a subplot with which I very much connected. As for Jack, he's contending with insecurity over how much he really contributes as bookkeeper for his family's microbrewery and anxiety over whether he should accept an entry-level analyst position in L.A. should the potential employer decide to hire him. Sure, their arcs might be predictable, particularly Lizzy's, but they helped me bond with the MCs nonetheless.
Booked on a Feeling may not have blown my socks off, what with the forced nature of Lizzy and Jack's dynamic in the beginning and their capability for immaturity, but it's an overall sweet romance that I'm glad I consumed. I've already followed Tara and Seth's fake dating journey in The Dating Dare, and I'd still like to read about the one-night-stand and rivals-to-lovers mischief between Aubrey and Landon in A Sweet Mess.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Sexual content
Minor: Body shaming
kbairbooks's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
3.5 stars.
I was given an ARC of this book by the publisher on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, so here goes!
I enjoyed this book! It didn’t move very quickly, most of the time, for me but that was okay because there were so many components to the story I enjoyed. I loved the bookstore(s), I loved the side characters, I loved the character growth, and the desire not only to be a happier and more fulfilled person individually, but also to grow within their relationship. I enjoyed the friends to lovers trope and the addition of the bakery. Something’s I didn’t care for as much were how repetitive the main characters were about the length of their friendship, Lizzie’s rather toddler-ish immediate reactions to things, and Jacks absolute fascination with her (it was just a bit over the top at times for me). But this was a sweet, happy, and lovely summer read for me. Brava!
I was given an ARC of this book by the publisher on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, so here goes!
I enjoyed this book! It didn’t move very quickly, most of the time, for me but that was okay because there were so many components to the story I enjoyed. I loved the bookstore(s), I loved the side characters, I loved the character growth, and the desire not only to be a happier and more fulfilled person individually, but also to grow within their relationship. I enjoyed the friends to lovers trope and the addition of the bakery. Something’s I didn’t care for as much were how repetitive the main characters were about the length of their friendship, Lizzie’s rather toddler-ish immediate reactions to things, and Jacks absolute fascination with her (it was just a bit over the top at times for me). But this was a sweet, happy, and lovely summer read for me. Brava!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Pregnancy
duckyreads's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.5
Booked on a Feeling follows Lizzy Chung and Jack Park, two best friends that have known and loved each other for 20 years. After Lizzy wins her first trial at a prestigious law firm, she expected relief and happiness, but instead, she was overwhelmed with anxiety. After accepting that her mind and body need a break, she leaves LA and attempts to unwind in Weldon with her childhood friend Jack and his family. While in Weldon, Lizzy has the opportunity to revamp a bookstore to help keep her mind off her lawyer job.
I read Booked on a Feeling through the audiobook and enjoyed the narrator and her tone with both characters as the story has a dual POV. Both characters are Korean-American, and aspects of distinct cultural experiences displayed throughout the story. This is especially evident with the delicious food eaten throughout the story and interactions with older community members. One of my favorite aspects of friends to lovers is the existing trust that shines when the couple gets together. I wished there were more flashbacks of their friendship and how they maintained it over the years as they grew and had different professional and personal experiences, especially with it being long-distance. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a sweet romance that tackles parental approval, self-esteem, perfectionism, friendship, and overworking in the hopes of getting validation.
Thank you to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for an audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I read Booked on a Feeling through the audiobook and enjoyed the narrator and her tone with both characters as the story has a dual POV. Both characters are Korean-American, and aspects of distinct cultural experiences displayed throughout the story. This is especially evident with the delicious food eaten throughout the story and interactions with older community members. One of my favorite aspects of friends to lovers is the existing trust that shines when the couple gets together. I wished there were more flashbacks of their friendship and how they maintained it over the years as they grew and had different professional and personal experiences, especially with it being long-distance. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a sweet romance that tackles parental approval, self-esteem, perfectionism, friendship, and overworking in the hopes of getting validation.
Thank you to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for an audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders