DNF @ 42%

I thought a lot of the sexting was funny, but I didn't feel any connect to Lark or Toby. Their few interactions at this point in the book have not shown that they have any interest in each other.

This book was a bit difficult to rate because there were things I enjoyed and things I really disliked. I did like that we got to see a woman in STEM, and how rampant misogyny is in that field. Readers also were given insight to a female sex worker's daily life and what she has to deal with during client interaction (spoiler: men are pigs). Those aspects of the story were unique and fun.

However, the main plot of this story, the romance, fell a little flat. The two characters didn't seem especially enamored with one another until late in the book. Apparently they've had feelings for one another for a while, but that didn't really come through. The romance was bland and uninteresting, for the most part. The other factor that I heavily disliked (maybe even hated?) was the best friend, Teagan. She was unbearable. Full stop. Throughout the story, she was condescending and tried way too hard to be "quirkyyyyy" and "not like other girls" and "blunt/honest" when really she just came across as annoying and an asshole. And I really did not like how, during one of the climactic scenes, Teagan turned everything around and made it seem like SHE was the victim and that she had it so hard, etc. etc. I'm sorry, but I did not feel sympathy for her at all because of her behavior towards pretty much everyone throughout this book.

Thanks to NetGalley & Alcove press for the eARC. Being behind on book reviews, I decided to buy the audiobook with one of my credits.

Text Appeal
By Amber Roberts

Narrated by C.J. Bloom

New Release (August 8th)! Available now in all forms!!

Story Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ 3.5/5
Audiobook Rating: 🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧 (0-5)
Overall Rating: 4.25/5
Steam: My notes don’t say, yikes. I think 🔥🔥🔥 or 4 (0-5) I usually bump up for self-pleasure.

What I’m Starry-Eyed Over:
🤩 C.J. Bloom saved me on this one. I’m behind on ARC reads and stressed and exhausted from the start of the school year, so physically reading books has been a struggle. Audiobook for the win.
🤩 Laugh-out-loud funny and all the smirks you can imagine.
🤩 Adorable and fun friends-to-lovers.
🤩 The blurb, or just know it’s good romcom fun.
🤩 Bisexual MC representation & ARO side character.
🤩 All the texting fun.
🤩 The steam—how much they enjoy each other.
🤩 The self-pleasure representation.

What I’m Wishing/Dizzy About:
💫 Comic Sans ribbing—my youngest kid does that, and I love comic sans. 
💫 The secrets. I still love Toby and Lark. Just be ready.
💫 I wish there was steam at the end with the cuteness and sweetness.

When Harry met Sally for the digital age!! This friends to lovers, secret identity sexting romance sees two besties falling in love when one starts an online sex work job and the other slides into her DMs anonymously.

Full of heart, humor and all sorts of millennial angst, this was perfect for fans of You've got mail with great bisexual rep, and aspec side character rep. It was also good on audio read by CJ Bloom - a fav narrator! I love how strong the romance debuts have been this year! Amber Roberts' Text Appeal will definitely be a standout for me.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review! I will be first in line for whatever this author writes next. Recommended for anyone who loved You, again by Kate Goldbeck.

Interesting concept in a rom com. Heroine gets laid off, decides to try her hand at “Sexting” for money, similar to an Only Fans account. Her long time best friend and secret crush decides to make a move and she has to decide which route to take.
Something I didn’t love about the book is that there’s very explicit scenes involving banter and dialogue but when it comes to our couple, it’s pg-13.

Thank you to Netgalley and Amber Roberts for providing me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I couldn’t actually read the text bubbles on my kindle which wasn’t ideal for a book called Text Appeal.
The story was ok and I can’t not, not finish a book so I finished but not my favorite!

Thank you to NetGalley, Alcove Press, and Amber Roberts for providing me with an eARC of this book. This is my honest review.
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I’m always down for a STEM romance. One that was shrouded in sex positivity sounded like an immediate yes. Unfortunately Text Appeal wasn't exactly what I thought it'd be.
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For a book whose premise (and title) hinge on the texting aspect, I feel like it took forever to reach the sexting portion of this story. And even when we did, it felt a bit anticlimactic. I expected more deep dives into the Lark's experience as a sex worker, but the snippets we got were more for comedic purposes than anything else.
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On top of that, Lark and her friends were hard to invest in. I don't know how else to phrase it other than everyone in this book felt like an approximation of a person instead of an actual person. All of the friendly dialogue and history was there, but it didn't quite hit the mark it was supposed to. Even the romance between Lark and Toby felt lackluster. It felt a bit like running through the motions of a rom-com without any of the romance.
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I did appreciate seeing an aromantic character. I'm pretty sure this is the first book I've read where being aro was discussed. Funnily enough, I also enjoyed Lark's conversations with CosmicKismet. Ironic considering the You've Got Mail of it all.
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I wanted to love this book desperately. While I'm sure that there are several people who'll enjoy this book, it simply wasn't for me.
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Text Appeal is available for purchase now in ebook, paperback, and audiobook format.

I liked the idea of this book but I couldn't get into it. The characters lacked a lot of chemistry and the relationship just wasn't believable. I also couldn't STAND Teagan. I think she was meant to help move the story along, but I just found her obnoxious and a pretty shitty friend.

I was given an ARC by NetGalley and Alcove Press. All opinions are my own.

It’s not often that a book ends up in my DNF shelf on Goodreads- actually there’s only 1 other on there, but that’s where this one lives now. I just couldn’t. I wanted to like it. I thought the premise was good and it had such potential but I just couldn’t force myself to finish it. I’ve slogged through some books and this one… well I just couldn’t. Maybe it gets better at the end? I don’t know but 44% of the way in I just couldn’t do it anymore. I’m not even sure I can pinpoint my issues except to say I found the narrators voice (the main character) unlikable. I kept thinking something must be about to happen! And then, it didn’t. I just wanted it to end and just kept going.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

This was just not for me. I really struggled to finish it, as I couldn't connect to the characters or the plotline.

Text Appeal was a fun story about Toby and Lark who were long time friends and both secretly wanted more. I thought the set up moved a little slow but the ending was good and I ended up really rooting for them to work everything out.

This was a first time read for me by this author. The story was entertaining and unique and was a fun and enjoyable read. The characters were well-developed and interesting and I enjoyed getting to know them and following their story. The story was creatively written and very entertaining. A charming story with fun, humor, romance and also a little vulnerability, which definitely brought a sense of realness to it. I would definitely like to read more by this author. Overall, this was an enjoyable and entertaining book and I am glad to have had the opportunity to read it.
I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

3.5 stars.
I liked it and thought it was a fun time. It gave sexy You've Got Mail vibes. It wasn't the most amazing book ever, but I enjoyed it for what it was.

Lark falls into sexting as a job after she loses her programming job where she was the only woman. Then she starts getting closer to her friend Toby, while trying to hide her new job.

Thanks to Netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I…. This one’s just a no from me 😅😅😅 I just can’t with the secret identity betrayal trope…. It upsets me on a visceral level and I can’t sign off on them riding off into the sunset like nothing happened lol sorry

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

When Lark found herself without a job, her friend suggested she try this new sexting app…get paid to have sext conversations with strangers! But as embarrassing and funny as that seemed, she didn’t know how to tell Toby, her best friend and longtime crush. As they became closer it became even harder to hide her secret. Would he approve, or would it scare him away just as they seemed to be making progress?

This book was cute and funny, albeit predictable. The banter between the friends and relations was funny and a little steamy. Toby sounds like an adorable boy-next-door kind of guy that I really wanted to root for.

The STEM connection was a small part of it, unlike Ali Hazelwood’s STEMinist style. Lark wanted to break through barriers, but found herself blocked and knocked down at every turn. To have to turn to a sex-work side of web development seemed like it was less of a positive thing and more like that’s all she could do, not the more serious stuff. Although I see the side of the sex-positivity too, that Lark was free to write, work, and make money off of her own sexuality, I think the bigger part of that was learning about herself, not promoting the empowerment of sex work in itself.

I would recommend this one to anyone looking for a cute, sex-positive romcom, with lots of open conversations and LGBTQ+ themes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

DNF % 60 percent.

I am so sad about this book. I love a good epistolary novel, but this just did not work for me at all. I had no connection to any of the characters, in fact I disliked nearly all of them. The couple had no chemistry.

I will not be posting on my socials, since I did not finish.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Lark gets unfairly fired from her job, that is when she begins sexting online to pay the bills.

She likes it more than she originally thought.

Lark has a crush on her best friend (Toby) for years.

This is a friends to lovers slow burn.

It does not really have a lot of romance but a lot of character development.

***DNF at 33%***

when I read the synopsis for the book I was really HYPPED bc I love a sex positive story with a side of pen pals but I am sorry the execution for this was not it AT ALL. I didn’t like the writing and it made the story unbearable to follow, too much pop references, info dump and the narrative ellipses were not done fluidly

the main character was quite the pick me vibes, with a touch of Im a good girl and don’t want to get it dirty, which I didn’t enjoyed.

I wanted to finish the book bc the plot got my interest but after a while I couldn’t stand the writing no more, it felt like readin gibberish

Thank you so much for my eARC.

This book is definitely not one that I would usually pick up, but I am so glad that I requested it, as it was the perfect, easy read for summer, and has some hilarious bits woven in throughout.

I loved the concept of it and thought it did a great job of putting a positive spin on the sex worker industry, rather than shaming and degrading them. I loved the main character and her complete innocence at the beginning, but I thought it was great how her character developed throughout the book.

This book brings a lot to the table with strong friendships, cute dates, blossoming romances and funny sexting, but not forgetting: strong female characters!

I loved it! It's a great romcom and I really recommend it to anyone who is a lover of that genre.

Rating: 3/5 ⭐️

Publication Date: August 8thst 2023

Author: Amber Roberts

Review: This book was just fine for me .. I did struggle through a lot of it and I think besides a women in stem it just didn’t click with me. I usually am all for the enemies to lovers my go too but this just didn’t spark my interest. I felt myself going down a hole while reading this.

I knew I didn’t want to DNF it I just also didn’t want to finish it if that makes sense

Thank you to the publisher the eARC in exchange for an honest review #NetGalley #bookstagram #kindle #kindleedition #eread