This is a book I really wanted to like but unfortunately it missed the mark for me. The premise sounded great, but the plot and characters did not deliver. Lark and Toby are seriously lacking in chemistry and I didn’t find myself rooting for them or invested in their relationship. I also didn’t care for the best friend character, Teagan. The ending conflict was resolved way too quickly, it was a bit jarring. Overall I think the story had a lot of potential but I didn’t care for this book.

What this book did well was the overall sex-positive message and the Women in STEM representation in our protagonist Lark.
I also really liked the authentic feel of the text messages.

The romance in this book falls short of expectations, at times it feels more like a side plot, and I overall couldn’t bring myself to root for Lark and Toby or see their chemistry.

Book Name: Text Appeal
Series: NA
Author: Amber Roberts
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Lark is stuck in a shitty tech job where the dude-bros thrive and she’s the only female coder on staff. When a meeting goes horribly wrong she is out of a job and looking for ways to supplement her income while she looks for other work. Her friend puts her on to an app where she gets paid to sext clients and when she starts getting the hang of it and building a friendship/relationship with one of the testers, will it affect her growing relationship with long time friend, Toby?

What I liked about it:
The idea was so good. I love a tech babe who knows how to use her brains in a male dominated industry and when you have a cross section with sex work then I’m all in. There were heaps of little feminist lines about sexism, gender pay gaps, diversity in the workplace and sex positivity.

What I hoped would be better:
The chemistry between the two MCs! It just didn’t personally give me all the usual feels that I want from a romance. They were so awkward and unsure around each other that most of their early interactions had me cringing rather than cheering for them. Also, the female relationships kinda got on my nerves too. Teagan did my head in and really needed to learn some boundaries.

Thanks to #NetGallery and the publisher. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Genre: Romance
Format: Digital
POV: Single
Spice: 🌶️🌶️ /5
Age suggestion: 18+

Read if you like:
♥️ Romance
💋 Friends to Lovers
💬 Text Conversations
🌶️ Spicy Texting

This one had so much promise but ultimately didn’t work well for me. I didn’t really feel the chemistry between the characters and the pacing was slow with not a lot happening in the first half and then a lot being shoved in to get us to the HEA in the second half.

I however think a lot of people will really love the slow burn of this one where it just didn’t work for me personally.

Thanks Alcove press for my arc in exchange for my review.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I think this one didn't live up to its hype and therefore seemed less enjoyable but is a beach read if needed.

I found crush for years so sweet and swoony but the miscomunication thing was annoyed. When read Lark pov it feel like me, awkward and cant speak loud. Toby and Lark relationship is what i want, meeting the one who can connect and able to talk anything without relise time fly. I really enjoy this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for provide this book, it is pleasure to review this book.

#TextAppeal #AmberRoberts #AlcovePress #NetGalley #ARC

Friend To Lovers
Slow Burn Romance
The heroine is in STEM
The hero is an artist
Chick-lit

Lark works in tech, she's underappreciated doesn't gets the recognition she deserves, and always trying to make herself seen and recognized at work. However, when she gets the opportunity an incident occurred and led her to be fired.
Now unemployed and needing the money to provide for herself, her BFF Tegan suggests that she gets into sex work and specifically in those apps where you sext for money.
Although this thing was way out of Lark's comfort zone she agrees to it.
On the other side, there is Toby Lark's best friend between them there is a spark and feelings untold so when the chance introduces itself in the app, a lot of things are about to change.
This was a cute read about opening up exploring yourself and expanding your wings.
I liked it and I hope you will too

Thanks for @netgalley and the publisher for granting me an ARC of #TextAppeal in exchange for my honest review.

Xoxo💋

Thank you to Netgalley and Alcove Press for an ARC of this book.

I really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately, I couldn't bring myself to finish it. The writing style just wants for me and I felt that some of the themes where not well thought out.

What a fun and easy read! I can definitely see my patrons diving into this book headfirst. They will love it just as much as I did!

I have you ever really wanted to like a book, it really has all the right ingredients to be the perfect book but somewhere things just don't work out? That's this book.

The book’s premise was great. The feminist, pro LGBT+, sex-positive messages made it easy for me to immediately immerse myself into this book, the story and its protagonists. But soon the plot became stale and the progressive, forward-thinking protagonist got old and boring when she couldn’t do anything but complain.

While there were things in this book that I did enjoy, like the representation of women in STEM, queer representation, and the overall premise of the book, I just could not get into it. I DNF'd halfway through because the writing style was just not for me. It sucks because I really wanted to love this one because the premise was so interesting, but I just couldn't finish it. The writing style felt juvenile to me, and the voices of each character was so immature and strange. Again, the premise sounded amazing, and I love the women in STEM and queer rep, but everything else about this book was just not good. 2/5 stars.

A lead heroine in STEM, an artist hero, friends to lovers, and a slow burn??? The premise of this book sounded amazing but unfortunately it missed the mark for me in the romance department.

I feel like this would’ve been better categorized as women’s fiction rather than a romance. I was so much more invested in Lark’s journey and her friendship dynamics than I was in her relationship with Toby. Lark and Toby as a couple fell completely flat to me. There was no tension or pining that I love to see in the friends to lovers trope. Overall, this wasn’t a total miss for me but it’s not what I was looking for in a romance book.

With a very promising premise and interesting characters, this book would have been served by some deeper developmental editing to really make it sing. I also would have loved to see a little more introspection, and even respect for, the sex work element of the book and the clients that Lark communicates with. Overall, I enjoyed the character development and I am always enthusiastic for a friends-to-lovers trope. I look forward to trying this author again!

Good initial premise but the intervening friend came off as annoying and overbearing.

Friends to lovers

The lengths this friend had to go to just to try to get a date was not my favorite either

Text Appeal by Amber Roberts

This book had so many things going for it that I wanted to love so much, but unfortunately this just wasn’t for me. There are good components but something just wasn’t quite right.

It’s a big will they, won’t they charade throughout this book. The push & pull of the romance was a lot for me.

I loved the concept of this book. I wanted to adore the book but I struggled to connect with the main character. It took quite a bit to get to there but I did appreciate how things came together at the end.

I’m rounding this up to 3 stars.

Massive thanks to NetGalley & Alcove Press for the free arc, which I voluntarily read & reviewed.

I received a complimentary advanced reader copy via Net Galley, all views expressed are my own.

I was admittedly excited to receive a book about a nerdy girl finding love and it didn't disappoint. The protagonist Lark is a relatable and open narrator, oblivious to to her own potential and the feelings of those around her. After an unwanted aubergine picture is accidentally projected during a project meeting Lark is blamed for the transgressions of a man and pushed to make her own way in the world where she has to navigate what she really wants and how to stand up for herself. In an effort to make ends meet in the meantime her best friend encourages her to send steamy messages for money where she accidentally stumbles upon a genuine connection. But, at the same time she faces an expanding relationship with her longtime friend-crush she has to navigate her own desires, passion, and face her own rather risk-adverse nature. She has to challenge herself if she wants her own happily ever after.

I love the sex-positive presentation and the accuracy of the challenges of navigating the STEM fields as a woman who is immensely capable but looked down on because of her gender. Lark could be a little pathetic, but it was relatable, I would be pretty full of self-pity after getting fired too. The only negative I found was the rather overt manipulation coming from her proclaimed best friend - instead of open communication she went with backhanded machinations in order to get an outcome she wanted without seeming to care about the feelings or struggles of everyone involved. She was forgiven too easily for the way she was outright awful to someone she called a friend.

Overall and excellent read and a delightful and accurate look at the challenges of women being true to themselves.

A fun, nerdy romcom about a coder turned sex worker and her pining for her best friend. I loved the sex positivity of this story, as Lark learns to navigate the world of sexting. My favorite scenes were those similar to the show Sex Education as Lark learns about porn and vibrators. I enjoyed following her journey to become more confident and assertive.

Book: Text appeal by Amber Roberts
Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Publication: 8th August 2023

Right off the bat, I fell in love with lark.
She is the guys girl with her epic girlfriends;
Lark is currently down on her Lady Luck with being out of job but things are looking up in the near future with her long time crush is recently single and all.

This hilarious witty journey involves sending feet pics to sexting people… the title gives it away … doesn’t it?

A definite read if you ask me and I honestly can’t wait for all of y’all to enjoy it as much as I did.

Thank you NetGalley and Alcove press for the ARC copy.

“Lark” is quite the name for a girl with an “I’m not like other girls” job.

It started out kind of promising. Lark is a developer (she does not specify of what and I don't know anything, sorry) and her office is a total boys’ club. Super relatable, even as someone who isn’t in tech. I identified with her right away, which lasted for the first chapter or two. She has a best friend, Teagan, who is a Cool Girl™, and two other friends named Chelsea and Lucy, who are basically there for window dressing. Lucy is married with a new baby and Chelsea is writing a screenplay. And they both flirt with guys and Lark is really judgmental about Lucy doing so. That’s it.

Teagan is Really Not Like Other Girls. She is the center of attention, so *fun* (she steals a hat right off some guy’s head when we first meet her), and on top of all this she’s *gay*?? She is bossy and overbearing, but she really cares about Lark for some reason. She might have been my favourite character.

Lark has had a decade-long crush on her college friend Toby, who just broke up with his “controlling” girlfriend about a month ago. She didn’t like his friendship with Lark (I wonder why?) and so Toby stopped hanging out with her so much. So now they’re in a place to start rebuilding their friendship.

Lark is fired from her crappy job in an infuriating situation, but unfortunately there is not a lot of work for female developers in Burlington, Vermont. So after countless applications and interviews with nothing to show for it, Teagan has the bright idea that Lark should start sexting for money. So she does. Starting with sending feet pics entirely unprompted. I did like the awkwardness while she was figuring out how to be sexy, and the positivity from her friend group and lack of judgment was nice to see. It felt like a realistic picture of someone starting to venture into sex work for the first time.

Overall, I didn’t like Lark, and that really ruined the book for me. She seems great on the surface, but she is negative, sarcastic, and/or snarky about her friends and Toby in her internal monologue. She has thought her crush was unrequited for the entirety of their friendship, but now she and Toby are both single at the same time for the first time ever. Toby is clearly expressing interest, and she keeps flip-flopping from “he could never be interested in me as more than a friend” and “I can’t tell him about the sexting yet and I don’t want to start a relationship based on a lie.” Fair, but pick a reason. She creates a lot of conflict where there is none.

And then there’s the Big Conflict. I really didn’t like how she handled this. I will try to be vague:
Teagan did something bad, and Toby also did something bad. They both apologize, and Lark is having none of it. Teagan even comes out to her as aromantic and Lark is a huge B about it. Honestly for me it was pretty unforgivable, or at the very least required an apology from Lark. But Lark does not think she needs to apologize, so she doesn’t. To either of them. Who both apologize again, taking the entire burden to fix their respective relationships when Lark is the one who really caused all the problems.

Then Toby does his Big Romantic Moment and Lark minimizes it, showing total disrespect for him in the process. She does do something cool in the next scene, but at this point I was completely over her nonsense.

I think what was so frustrating about Lark is that she wants to tell us in words who she is, but it’s her throwaway lines that are actually doing that, and her words and actions contradict each other. Heavily. A few funny moments and a fairly heartwarming ending don’t make up for an awful main character.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Cute! It was cute but I really wanted more in a good way. I didn’t want this book to finish and I can’t wait for the author to write more. I am a new fab