by Jayci Lee
ASIN/ISBN: 9781250621146
Publication: July 26, 2022
Series: A Sweet Mess #3

**I received a copy of the book through NetGalley. I voluntarily read and reviewed it. All opinions are my own.**

Booked on a Feeling is a sweet best friends to lovers romance.  Jack and Lizzy have been best friends since they were ten, but he’s secretly harbored feelings for her as long as they’ve known each remember.  Just as he is trying to figure out the next steps in his life, Lizzy decides to take a three week vacation to Weldon.  Because of the long distance, he’s been able to hide his feelings, but with Lizzy so close, it may no longer be possible.

Lee does a great job of creating Jack’s inner turmoil.  He’s in love with Lizzy but he’s sure she doesn’t feel the same way.  As much as he wants more with her, he’s also scared about what it may mean for their friendship. After all, having her as a friend is better than not having her at all.  His anxiety over losing his best friend but also wanting to take the next step forward feels insurmountable because Lee has him constantly ruminating on it. I thought this was done really well and made it all too relatable.

Lizzy is Jack’s opposite and is not afraid to say or go after what she wants. She wanted to be partner? She’s on the path to be one in a few years. She needed a vacation? She booked it and took it right away. Lizzy is a doer–checking off to-do lists are her thing. While Jack takes being thoughtful and taking things slow to the extreme, Lizzy more than makes up for it by jumping all in. This was a nice change of dynamics with Lizzy always ready for more from their relationship while Jack remains concerned about the aftermath if it doesn’t work out.

The romantic tension isn’t all that is affecting their relationship. Each is also dealing with trying to reevaluate their professional lives. Lizzy is in Weldon after burning out from work. Jack has long been a part of the family brewery but it was never his dream. Now he has an opportunity to do more than just be the family’s bookkeeper. One of the hardest parts of reading the book was their lack of communicating their worries to each other. They’re best friends and yet so much of their struggles remained hidden from each other. I really wished they had talked more and communication ultimately becomes one of their biggest obstacles.

I generally liked the pace at the beginning but then I started to get as frustrated as Lizzy when there was hardly movement in the romance. There were stolen glances and touching, but it kept going back to neither willing to say much about it–this goes for a little more than half the book. There was some tension, but it never built up to a point that made me want to implode in good way.

While there are some spicy scenes, Jack and Lizzy’s story remains just a sweet romance. It never fully becomes what I hoped it would be because they remain so hesitant about a full fledge relationship throughout the entire book that it even made me hesitant about them being together.