Book Blitz: Booked on a Feeling by Jayci Lee

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Booked on a Feeling

(A Sweet Mess #3)

by Jayci Lee

Jayci Lee's romcom Booked on a Feeling features an overachieving lawyer. A failing bookstore. A childhood friend. And the chance of a lifetime…

Lizzy "Overachiever" Chung, Esq. has her life mapped out neatly:
* Become a lawyer. Check.
* Join a prestigious law firm. Check.
* Make partner. In progress.

If all goes to plan, she will check off that last box in a couple years, make her parents proud, and live a successful, fulfilled life in L.A. What was not in her plans was passing out from a panic attack during a pivotal moment in her career. A few deep breaths and a four hour drive later, Lizzy is in Weldon for three weeks to shed the burnout and figure out what went wrong. And what better place to recharge than the small California town where she spent her childhood summers with her best friend, Jack Park.

Jack Park didn't expect to see Lizzy back in Weldon, but now he's got three weeks to spend with the girl of his dreams. Except she doesn't know of his decades-long crush on her--and he intends to keep it that way. She's a high-powered attorney who lives in L.A. and he's a bookkeeper at his family's brewery who never left his hometown. He can't risk their friendship on a long shot. Can he? When Lizzy decides that the local bookstore needs a little revamp, of course, Jack is going to help her bring it back to life. But the more time they spend together, the harder it becomes to ignore there might be more than just friendship among the dusty shelves and books...

Sometimes the path to the rest of your life has been in front of you all along.

Lizzy Chung has had really high expectations placed upon herself from her mother and from herself. She has checked off a lot of successful endeavors, even becoming senior counsel in her law firm. But a panic attack in the courtroom has her heading to her hometown to decompress for a bit.

Here she starts hanging out more with her friend Jack Park, who has secretly had a crush on her forever.

While this book had potential and I did enjoy aspects of it, I couldn’t bring myself to fully immerse myself in the book and half-heartedly read/skimmed the latter half of the book. The pacing felt a bit off for me and jumpy at times, and often taking a long time to get there.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Booked on a Feeling is the first book I read in this series, and it can be read as a standalone. It was sweet and for the most part enjoyable, but I felt like it missed something. The characters were good, especially the side characters, but there were times when the main characters felt forced or overly repetitive. There were also times when I felt the story dragged on. That said the development of the plot was great and so was the growth you saw in the characters themselves. 3.5 stars.

Book Blitz and Review: THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN CUBA by Chanel Cleeton

At the end of the nineteenth century, three revolutionary women fight for freedom in New York Times bestselling author Chanel Cleeton's captivating new novel inspired by real-life events and the true story of a legendary Cuban woman--Evangelina Cisneros--who changed the course of history.

A feud rages in Gilded Age New York City between newspaper tycoons William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. When Grace Harrington lands a job at Hearst's newspaper in 1896, she’s caught in a cutthroat world where one scoop can make or break your career, but it’s a story emerging from Cuba that changes her life.

Unjustly imprisoned in a notorious Havana women's jail, eighteen-year-old Evangelina Cisneros dreams of a Cuba free from Spanish oppression. When Hearst learns of her plight and splashes her image on the front page of his paper, proclaiming her, "The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba," she becomes a rallying cry for American intervention in the battle for Cuban independence.

With the help of Marina Perez, a courier secretly working for the Cuban revolutionaries in Havana, Grace and Hearst's staff attempt to free Evangelina. But when Cuban civilians are forced into reconcentration camps and the explosion of the USS Maine propels the United States and Spain toward war, the three women must risk everything in their fight for freedom.

“I’m here for a job if you have one. As a reporter. I’ve spent the last few years writing for smaller papers, getting experience where I could.” I gesture to the leather folio in my lap. “I’ve brought samples of my work if you’d like to look at them. They’re not necessarily the kinds of stories I want to cover, but they’re a start.”

“Why do you wish to work here, Miss Harrington?” Pulitzer asks, making no move to take the folio from me.

“Because of the stories you cover, the impact you have. The World has one of the largest circulations in the world.”

Indeed, Mr. Pulitzer has just slashed the World’s price to one cent, saying he prefers power to profits, circulation the measure by which success is currently judged.

“You have the opportunity to reach readers, to bring about change, to help people who desperately need assistance,” I add. “I’ve admired the work you’ve done for years. You’ve long set the tone the rest of the New York newspaper industry follows. You’ve filled a gap in the news, given a voice to people who wouldn’t have otherwise had one. I’ve read the articles you wrote when you were a reporter yourself in St. Louis, and I admire the manner in which you address society’s ills. You’ve revolutionized the newspaper. I want to be part of that.”

“That’s all fine and good, but why should I hire you? What would you bring to the World that someone else wouldn’t?”

“My gender, for one. A woman knows what it’s like to be pushed to society’s margins. There are some who might argue that a woman cannot do this job as effectively as a man. They would be wrong. Nellie Bly has proven that. You did, too, when you hired her.”

“And what do you know of Nellie Bly?”

“You gave her a chance when others wouldn’t.”

“Cockerill gave her a chance,” he replies, referring to his editor.

“With all due respect, Mr. Pulitzer, we both know this is your paper. You saw something in Nellie Bly. And now she’s gone, and you need another reporter who can take on the kinds of stories she did and can go places your male journalists can’t. What she accomplished at the Women’s Lunatic Asylum”—the words “lunatic asylum” fall distastefully from my mouth—“on Blackwell’s Island, going undercover like that, was nothing short of extraordinary. Those women’s lives have been changed because of Miss Bly’s courage and her daring. Those placards out there, the philosophy with which you run your newsroom—I promise to uphold it every single day I work for you.”

Pulitzer leans back in his chair. “You’re plucky like Bly, I’ll give you that.”

“I am.”

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Once again, I'm transported back in time and place. This author has the magic that makes you feel as if you are actually there. This book follows two stories, and it is based on true events. Add this to your must read list today!

Chanel Cleeton is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick Next Year in Havana, When We Left Cuba, The Last Train to Key West, and The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba. ... Chanel also received her Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law.