Reviews with content warning for Panic attacks/disorders - Booked on a Feeling

Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

Booked on a Feeling by Jayci Lee

17 reviews

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.

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arthur_ant18's review

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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.

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kbairbooks's review against another edition

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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!

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duckyreads's review against another edition

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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.

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readwithkayy's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-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? Yes

3.0

With Booked on a Feeling, we get a sweet friends-to-lovers story about Jack and Lizzy, who have been best friends since they were kids. After Lizzy suffers burnout at her job, she uproots her life for a 3-week break in Jack's hometown. I appreciated the conversations surrounding Jack and Lizzy's feelings of obligation to their parents, as well as the way that their transition from friendship to relationship felt realistically tentative. I also thought the ending felt unique with a cool resolution! It did feel slightly predictable and I wish we had learned a little bit more about Jack and Lizzy individually, as well as their friendship prior to them becoming romantic. Since we are thrown into the story with little more than the information that they are BFFs and Jack has loved her for years, we don't really feel connected to them as friends first. Overall, I thought it was cute and easy read!

*Thank you to St. Martin's Press & NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for a review!

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onemorepagecrew's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-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? No

5.0

This book was just about perfect as a charming friends to romance story. I adored the shy and sometimes awkward characters, the plot line, the way the romance developed… everything. The story centers on Lizzy and Jack who have been best friends since childhood but live in different cities. When Lizzy’s career as a corporate attorney causes a panic attack, she takes a three week break from work and rents a place in Jack’s small town. To add to the charm, the apartment she rents is above a bookstore and she gets to live out her childhood dream of helping to revamp it in her spare time. While Lizzy is in town, there is a slow and flirtatious build where they are both nervously realizing the depth of their feelings. The reader gets to see both of their perspectives which adds to the cuteness.

The romance itself was written so well I could picture their facial expressions and the town they lived in (please make this a movie). Their families and friends were lovable side characters (please please make a book for each sibling) and the bookstore setting was just too much for this book lover – I was smitten. I sincerely hope that there is more to come for these characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my review - I really enjoyed reading it!

Content Warnings

bookwormbullet's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted relaxing 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

3.5

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