The Roxy Letters is a peppy, entertaining novel with the hook of our protagonist Roxy writing letters to her ex-boyfriend. I found the letter-writing device a little trite, but this isn't a typical style of book for me. It's a love story, for entertainment; a little humorous, a little sexy. What you might call a summer read.

The Roxy Letters didn't have enough meat for me, so I put it down. Just depends on what type of books you lean towards. Want a little something fun to take your mind off things--this is your next novel!

Letters composed of run on sentences, which in turn lead to overly long, and seriously dull letters to her ex boyfriend, in which she muses about the trials and tribulations of her unfulfilled life. this wasn't the right book for me.

This big was a big sigh from me. It was mildly entertaining and elicited a chuckle a couple times. But this book was a mess. The main character is self centered, privileged, entitled, and childish. Through the first half of the book I thought that maybe I’m just too old for this book. I thought it was something I may have possibly enjoyed a decade ago, when I was in a different stage of my life. After finishing the book, it’s not the age difference that made Roxy and the story annoying—it was just Roxy and story *are* annoying af.
The book tries very hard to appear “woke” and throws out feminist buzz words in an over the top cringey way, while really it is a story about a privileged white woman acting a fool and never facing real consequences and still coming out okay. The whole plot reeks of white privilege and white feminism.
I’m not going to list all the instances that the pseudo-woke white vegan feminism was raging, but the ones that stood out to me the most:
Her interaction with police.
Her experience in jail.
Her experience w the justice system as a whole really: police jail attorney judge PO
The ovulation calendar thing?? That was just fucking weird.
Constantly fucking up, even getting arrested and still ending up rewarded (new job). Her old boss may be an ass, but maybe he has a reason for so much resentment.
Fucking up constantly at her old job—even poisoning her manager—and getting her job back over and over.
Getting that new job by the CEO of the same company of old job where she continually fucked up.
Her language and attitude towards people living with addiction.
I’m not even going to touch the veganism and how it relates to white supremacy. This book has taken too much of my time. But I did laugh hard at praising Whole Foods for having small business roots and how it’ll never be like the “behemoths like amazon or google” when Amazon owns Whole Foods. Was that an oversight? A willing bend of the truth? Either way, it got a chuckle from me.

A couple times Roxy did acknowledge her privilege and how in certain situations she was/would fair much better given her circumstances and how many others have it worse. But that’s it. It was a mere acknowledgement.
In the end, after all her white girk fuckery (I say this as a white girl), she still gets her rewards, waxes poetic about all she’s learned about herself and life and the world and people, and gets to brag about how due to her privilege (although she doesn’t acknowledge it this time) she was able to make a difference and do some good in the world (for puppies. Because we know that white women care about animals more than people. No sarcasm).

I did not intend this review to be this long and the longer I write the more I’m annoyed with this book. Despite my obvious disdain for the main character and her vapid story, it held my attention. Maybe that was more out of train-wreck curiosity than actually being gripped, but it kept me reading.

Final thoughts: this was NOT like Bridget Jones’ Diary. False marketing.

1.5 stars rounded up to 2 only for the 2 chuckles it got from me.

This book is chock full of funny incidents, girl power, and schadenfreude. Roxy is a directionless vegan, nearing 30, and working at Whole Foods in Austin, Texas. She lives with her diabetic wiener dog Roscoe, and a testy cat Charlize Theron. This book is all about Roxie's misadventures in Austin: going to an OM workshop, protesting outside a corporate Lululemon (complete with Burlesque dancers), and befriending Artemis Starla: a worker bee at the Lululemon store where Roxie is protesting. However alluring, even Artemis has her secrets. This novel is very Eleanor Oliphant meets Bridget Jones meets Sex and the City. It's a great rom-com and girl power-Esque novel.
Filled with new-agey "Keep Austin Weird" vibes, this book is sure to make your summer that much brighter.

Thank you for the advanced copy!
I started reading The Roxy Letters a few months ago, but found it very slow.
I picked it back up this week and finished it rather quickly. I ended up really enjoying it!
I didn’t relate to Roxy very much, but I appreciated her character.
I loved the side characters and found them very appealing.
All together this book was pretty good!

I was hoping to like this one, because part of me related to the main character, but the other part of me found her to be a bit whiny, superfucial, and just straight up obnoxious. I actually preferred the character of Everett, but unfortunately due to the way this book was written, you don't really get to know him. The style of this book was unique - all unsent letters written by Roxy to her roommate/ex-boyfriend Everett - but ultimately I wasn't a fan. I can see why others would enjoy this one, but at the end of the day, it just wasn't my cup of tea.

Did not love felt like it was all over the place was surprised about all the hype I don’t think I would recommend it

Decided to take a stroll through Whole Foods in case I might catch a glimpse of Roxy from The Roxy Letters! The Roxy Letters by Mary Pauline Lowry is part Bridget Jones, part Queenie, part The Flatshare...all combined! Roxy works at the deli counter at Whole Foods and is flirting with a guy from Whole Foods’ Beer Alley, has only a few dollars in her bank account, a diabetic dog who needs frequent vet care, and not a lot of direction as a college graduate with an art degree. This book is a light read about a young woman who is trying to get her act together... but doesn’t seem to be having much luck. I had no idea where the story was heading and although the story is a tad slow, it did have many redeeming qualities and giggles throughout.

Roxy loved kombucha and that alone convinced me to try it even though I had no idea what I was drinking!

Thanks to NetGalley and to Simon & Schuster for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

This was a good read. Roxy comes across a little selfish. Her discontent with Lululemon is a tad bit over the top. It's a cute read but there were some times where Roxy just seemed a bit self involved and all over the place. It was hard to feel empathy for Roxy,

A Love Letter to Austin, TX
There’s an adjustment period to the epistolary nature of this novel told through the letters our 28-year Whole Foods deli worker/illustrator with drawer’s block writes to her ex-boyfriend/newly installed house mate Everett, but once the story gets moving, it’s a drinky date with girlfriends sort of good time. Roxy loves her diabetic wiener dog Roscoe and cat named Charlize Theron, but otherwise her life is a bit of a shit storm: estranged from her old college gal pals, unhappily not over another ex-boyfriend who has gone on to get married and have triplets, her ambitious work wife has moved on up leaving her lonely and feeling stuck behind the deli counter, she owes her parents much money for vet bills, and a crush on the cute skater in the WF beer alley has yet to result in any meaningful dates. But then she meets a mysterious blast of bright energy named Artemis Starla who inspires her to take chances and make moves so it’s a story of Roxy getting into her own, plus love story when she also meets a drummer with tattoos, natch.

Wendy Ward
http://wendyrward.tumblr.com/

This was pretty fun and hilarious book that was great summer reading. I thought Roxy was a hoot! I did find some of her thoughts/actions a little ridiculous but overall I enjoyed this book.

The format of this story is all letters written to her ex/roommate about her daily escapades. Some of the letters were funny, some over the top, some too much to read as they dragged on. The main character struggles to find her place and what she wants to really do, once she gets on a path the story presented some interesting characters. Not a story I would want to read again but millennials would enjoy it.

The Roxy Letters by Mary Pauline Lowry is a story about a young adult, written in letter form, from Roxy to her ex-boyfriend Everett. I found the storylines odd and I thought Roxy came off as really entitled; honestly, she annoyed me. I also found the format frustrating, too. I wanted to like it as a refreshing change, but there was just something about it that I couldn't get past. Thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this! Rich and interesting characters, evocative and sensual, and funny to boot. Thank you Netgalley for the pleasure of reading the ARC!

Written entirely in letters, Mary Pauline Lowry’s THE ROXY LETTERS is a humorous, deliciously messy look at the life of Roxy, a lovelorn activist who is ready for her life to begin --- whether the world is ready for her or not.

When we meet the titular Roxy, she has just made a huge decision by allowing her feckless ex-boyfriend, Everett, to rent her spare bedroom. She begins his rental period by writing him a letter of ground rules, namely that he must accept that they will never again enter a romantic relationship and that he must get a job. Though Roxy’s first letter is mostly a list of do’s and don’ts, Lowry manages to reveal a lot about her personality in only a few pages: she is a bit kooky, a little self-centered and very, very stuck.

As Roxy continues to leave letters for the hapless, still somehow mostly unemployed Everett, we learn a lot about her. She is envious of her college girlfriends, who have all ascended to office jobs and quiet stability, but she still has the soul of an artist --- despite the fact that her last major breakup stunted her will to create. She is also an avid vegetarian and an activist dead set on making sure that her beloved town of Austin, Texas, does not become gentrified. She works at Whole Foods and has just watched her best friend get promoted to the seemingly mythological fifth floor, and she is starting to worry that she will never realize her full --- or even her half --- potential. In sum, she is an every millennial: full of dreams and ambitions, morals and campaigns, yet is completely frozen in place and, with the reemergence of Everett into her life, possibly regressing.

When a new Lululemon --- a brand, in Roxy’s own words, “destined to sell overpriced workout gear to trophy wives whose sole job is to attend Pure Barre and keep it tight” --- opens in a local spot previously occupied by her favorite video rental store, she becomes incensed and, with the help of a new friend, decides to finally take control of her life. At the same time, her letters to Everett become less about his sloppiness and flaws as a renter and more about the ins and outs of her life --- from her failed flirtations with a sexy coworker, to her insecurities about making new friends, and even about how she looks in her new godforsaken Lululemons. And reader, it is a trip.

Because the book is composed entirely in letters, there is a lot of “telling, not showing,” which normally would render a novel a complete fail. Yet Lowry exceeds at giving her readers just enough nuance and depth to create a fully realized portrait of Roxy, even when she is not entirely honest in her correspondences. Roxy is equal parts funny and irritating, and you will laugh just as frequently at you will roll your eyes at her. But she is definitely unique, and THE ROXY LETTERS is an intriguing addition to the realm of 20-something literature that will appeal to millennials and older readers alike.

What makes it shine is Roxy’s wit and sense of humor. She compares the surge of Starbucks stores to the “spread of an STD in a nursing home,” and her often ridiculous and sometimes desperate reminders to Everett not to fall in love with her read like a teenager’s diary, in all of the best, cringeworthy ways. Roxy is her own worst enemy, and Lowry excels at highlighting not only the best parts of her, but how she often stands in the way of her own success, all without judgment or rebuke.

That said, I can see how Roxy could be grating on many readers, and I, too, found her unbearably vapid at times. Whenever she announces a new cause --- veganism, anti-corporatism, etc. --- she immediately underscores her own enthusiasm by journeying into the dark side and eating a wheel of cheese or rocking a new pair of Lululemons. Still, I found it impossible to break away from her and her letters. Roxy is the worst in all of us: worried about the future of consumerism, yet desperate to receive our Amazon Prime purchases in exactly two days; critical of the corporatization of beloved chains and yet unwilling to shop elsewhere, fearing the loss of convenience.

Roxy is not the lovable Bridget Jones or the controversial Bernadette of WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE. She is entirely original and completely in ownership of her own flaws and shortcomings, which may deter some readers for being just a little too real. In exposing her protagonist so clearly on the page, Lowry has given us someone to love and to hate, a plethora of witty new phrases to use, and, above all, a laugh-out-loud trek into the mind of a millennial everywoman (who looks amazing in a pair of Lululemons).

A quick, quirky read. Reminded me a lot of Eleanor Oliphant. There is a certain obliviousness to both characters. I liked the format once I got used to it. I've seen it compared heavily to Bridget Jones but it wasn't nearly as funny which was disappointing.

Reading this book, I decided that readers were either going to love this book or not get into it at all. Unfortunately, I was in the "don't love it" category. The main character, Roxy, writes letters to everyone and is very long-winded. She's also brutally honest, to the point of what I considered overexposure (her vibrator?).
Read it, it was just ok although funny in places.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Omg why did it take me so long to write this review! I can’t believe I haven’t done it yet because I ADORED this book and I adored Roxy. She’s still living with her ex because she needs help paying the mortgage. She lives in one of those small towns, filled with Mom and Pop shops and get this A Whole Foods (before it became the sensation it is now). She occasionally dapples as being a vegan, but she is as snarky as can be and I mean that in a good way! Her journey was such a fantastic breath of fresh air!
Thank you so much to NetGalley for the arc!

This is a Bridget Jones Diary like story, if Bridget Jones were about 10 years younger, a vegan and lived in the US instead of the UK. Rosy is 28, is completely stalled in her artistic pursuits and works at a dead end job at the local Whole Goods in Austin,TX. A chronically lonely young woman, who is financially challenged, Roxy invites her ex boyfriend,Everett, to stay in her spare room in exchange for rent. She starts writing a diary of sorts in the form of letters to Everett. Initially, many of her letter detail her frustrations with Everett as a roommate. As the story goes on she chronicles her various life struggles and triumphs. At first she does come off as a bit high strung and petty. Things do improve for her over time as she finally learns how to grow up a little bit. For that the story gets better as it goes on. Roxy genuinely blossoms from a floundering child-adult to a strong, well adjusted young woman. At times her trials and tribulations can be quite funny. In general this should appeal to fans of Bridget Jones. Review posted to Goodreads, Facebook, LibraryThing, and Amazon

I needed a fun, quick read to distract me during quarantine and "The Roxy Letters" was the perfect book! Told through letters from Roxy to her good-for-nothing ex who owes her rent, it's funny and heartwarming and you can't help but fall in love with Roxy. If you liked Bridget Jones or Where'd You Go, Bernadette, you'll love this book too.

Thanks to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster and the author for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.