Thank you NetGalley and Alcove Press for providing me with an eARC of Text Appeal in return for my honest opinion.

I really wanted to like this book. I liked the concept and I do feel that the story started out ok, but somewhere along the way it became cringy and hard to read. There were several times where the cringe became almost too much and I just wanted to DOF, but I pushed through to finish. I kinda wish I hadn’t… Even the ending wasn’t satisfying, it felt rushed and extremely cringy. I liked the side characters, but I found it hard to like the main characters Lark and Toby and felt that they lacked serious chemistry. I also feel like there was no character development, especially for Lark.

Unfortunately overall this book just fell flat for me.

This was a very cute, easy to read romance novel. The character growth was nice and the plot was easy to follow. I will say that I did see right through the plot around 50% of the way and knew exactly what was going to happen, but I enjoyed it enough to see it through. This book is also very sex worker and sex positive and I really appreciate that in a book in a time where many people make a living doing sex work such as sexting and such. It is also very self observant; Lark understands the privilege she has as a white woman and does comment on how her life has benefited from that. She isn't naive to that aspect of her life and the situation she is in. I was a bit let down when the sexting scenes were steamier than the actual intimate scenes with the characters but that isn't the biggest deal in the world. While at first I found Lark to be a bit too stubborn, her character growth throughout proves she is human and learning from her mistakes. Would definitely recommend to my friends and look forward to more books by this author!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and Amber Roberts for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

The concept for this novel definitely intrigued me! I’ve really enjoyed women in STEM novels in the past so couldn’t wait to give this a go.

While I did enjoy the story, it was predictable. From the moment that Lark went hiking with Toby, I knew he was CosmicKismet.

Overall, an enjoyable read but it did get boring at times

"Text Appeal" is a cute friends-to-lovers novel with a realistic view of a long time friendship and the consequences that might appear if a not-reciprocrate-crush gets out.
The characters are funny, realistic and interesting,
It's just sad that many things happen off-book and are only mentioned much later, even with little activities that could have been written in a little sequence, so the reader has a better view of the timestamps... it's sometimes a little bit confusing.
Personally, i liked that there's no spice, because recently there are so many novels with so much of it, that it's quite refreshing to have such scenes that fade to black.

I adored this premise and was so excited for a romance about sex work! but sadly, this book left me cold. The heroine, Lark, is reacting to life and basically just does what her friend tells her to do when she starts sexting for a living. The ridiculousness of this being a) how sex work works and b) that she would be able to earn a living while doing it badly and hating it kinda killed the mood for me. She's prudish and cringy about sexuality and while that might work as a PERSONA it wouldn't work in reality. She'd last 1 day. But at least there's a romance right? Well in THEORY there is a romance but I couldn't feel a single droplet of chemistry between her and the hero. I kept waiting for it to unfold and it never did.

The "everyday life before the adventure begins" part of the book goes on way too long. Why is she even at this job that has nothing to do with the story for what feels like an eternity? I kept thinking something was going to happen with her boss or a coworker but nope, that's just a random 30% of the book for no reason. This could've been one chapter.

Her best friend that gets her into sex work is also callous and annoying and put her in actual danger by giving her number to some rando as a ... joke? I'm sorry, it's time to instantly break up with this friend but then again Lark doesn't really make smart decisions for the most part.

I wanted a sexy fun book about hidden identities for a sex worker and sadly, this was a swing and a miss for me.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I wanted to like this one so much based on the blurb. And the cover! So cute. Unfortunately it fell completely flat for me. It was incredibly slow to start. It took almost a quarter of the book for her to get fired and be the catalyst. The characters were not likeable and there was zero chemistry between the leads. I mostly skimmed after reading almost half, because nothing was happening. Sorry. Just wasn’t for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for an arc of this book. Below is my honest review.

I am always willing to read a book starring a female MC who works in STEM. So, I jumped on board with Text Appeal. Unfortunately, I am a very character driven reader and in this book, I didn’t really mesh with any of the MCs or the plot. This book just wasn’t for me, however, I do want to give points for representation. I’m sure there are readers out there who will like Text Appeal and I hope they find the book and enjoy it.

Unfortunately the tiny sizing of the texts in this story were really hard to read in Kindle format even when I increased my font. Given the focus on texts in this story it was hard to get past a few chapters. Thank you for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I did enjoy this book but I felt like it dragged on a bit and that caused me to lose interest. I love the friends to lovers trope and girls in STEM! Overall a good read!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

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.

Thank you to Alcove Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars

* arc review * So I have to say, how the book is advertised and the cover are spot on because I was immediately interested. I love books with texts and emails oddly enough. So I was really exited to read this. However, I was expecting way more, especially spice. The fact that Lark is so uncomfortable with *exting just made the book drag along. I would have have loved to see Lark really own what she was doing, rather than hide it and give such such a meh responses. Toby and Lark lacked in chemistry for me. I loved the concept of the book, I just it had gone in a different direction. Thank you netgalley & the publisher for the chance to read it!

This was not for me, I could not relate with the characters and I ended up not finishing it. The story was a bit dry, I tried twice to keep on reading, but it did not work.

Thank You to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the opportunity to read and review this book in advance.

I really wanted to like this book. The cover and description seemed right up my alley and when I initially dove in, the humor had me satisfied. However, the book dragged. And dragged. And dragged some more. The first half of the book was a lot of nothing. No forward motion, no attempts at making any of the characters likable and then all of a sudden, 70% the book, everything started to happen. I'd say there was no build up but I'm guessing the 70% of nothing before that was supposed to be the build up. Big disappointment.

After some encouragement from one of her best friends, Lark takes up sexting to pay the bills after loosing her job in stem. At the same time her long time secret crush/ best friend Toby, admits he has feelings for her.


I spent half of this book on the floor laughing and the other half cringing. It was tres spicy but some of the conversations and the clients Lark encountered were just toooo cringe for me.

I loved the relationship between Lark and her 3 female best friends as well as her relationship and friendship with Toby.

A five-star read with text appeal. I enjoyed this one, but I would check the reviews before picking the next one, as this was a great overall story, but it did waver at mid-point. It just got a little repetitive for me, but then it soon picked up and had me roaring again. Lark was adorable for most of the story, but she did need to listen to herself and grow a pair, the way she wouldn’t stand up for herself, or admit to what she was doing. I did see the twist coming, but I adored it, and it made me smile so I didn’t mind. This is light and fluffy, but it also has undercurrents and they don’t always flow smoothly, but they do add a lot, but they did get a little granting when they were aimed at Larks confidence. Do give this a try and give it a read as there are so many characters that will sweep you up.

I wanted to love this one, the premise and overall vibe seemed exactly like something that I would love. Unfortunately, it fell a little flat for me. I found it hard to root for the characters in the end. I did DNF this one at about 50% but the plot felt stale after a while.

Teegan, who works in tech is completely looked over due to being a female and after an incident at work she is fired and turns to sexting as a way to pay her bills for the time. All the while she is nursing a forever crush on her best friend Toby and there are just overall no sparks from the beginning with them it seems. In doing so she is trying to keep her job under wraps from Toby.

Overall this one just wasn't for me but it is an extremely sex and LGBTQ+ positive book which I love

I flew through this book, it was so easy to pick up & I was intrigued to find out what was going to happen! I figured out pretty early doors who cosmickimt was, I did think it was abit of an over react in the end, but I was happy with the outcome!

3 ⭐️ This book started so strong, but by the 50% mark I was underwhelmed and hoping it would end already.

Lark is working in tech, and as many women in STEM, she’s underappreciated, passed up for promotions and barely listened to during meetings. Her friends are supportive enough and although they have very different lives, they all find time to be there for each other, especially her bffs: Teagan and Toby. Toby’s just broke up with his girlfriend, who made him abandon his friendship with Lark. Now that they’re trying to get their friendship back to what it used to be, old feelings and curiosity are coming back up. When an incident at work gets Lark fired, Teagan suggest that Lark could get into sex work -and most specifically, into an app where people can sext for money.

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. And don’t get me wrong, I think complaining is healthy and essential to understand one’s frustrations with life – sometimes it’s necessary to put into words what is wrong in order to make things right. Still, Lark was in constant need of reassurance from everyone but herself, and the spicy moments and themes here, especially taking into account that the book's title is “Text Appeal”, left a lot to be desired. The ending, too, was rushed and the third act conflict problems were resolved and forgiven entirely too easily.

To be honest, I would've given this book a 2.5, but I think a bisexual heroine w/ a lesbian, aro bff deserves the extra 0.5 stars. Still, the pros don’t really outweigh the cons in this one and, in my opinion, I don’t know if I’d recommend this book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️/ 5
🌶️.5 /5

*Thank you so much Net Galley for the eARC!* This review has been uploaded to Goodreads.

Honestly, I wanted this book mainly because of the intriguing plot and the amazing cover art, but actually reading the story, I just had a hard time connecting with it. Lark was a mess of a character. She was written as aloof, who couldn’t get her life together. She got herself into a situation she didn’t want nor an understanding about. She seemed too naive to be working at her current job. The Lark I had envisioned in my mind didn’t not match the one that was written in these pages.

The characters did not feel as if they were developing throughout the story. It felt as if there could be more to tell, but the author never dove deeper than the surface. Though there were some funny scenes and the sext were the best part of the book, it was hard to truly enjoy it has a whole when I couldn’t get behind the characters or their romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for this ARC

Thank you Netgalley for an arc copy to review.

Lark loses her job when an unsolicited ick pic ends up on screen during a presentation. Needing money and having no luck finding a new job, her friend suggests a job ..."texting". Lark has always been a little awkward in the bedroom so the idea seems beyond outrageous, until she tries it and an income starts coming her way. The process starts making her more comfortable with herself and her own wants. There is one thing she's wanted since they met, her best friend and fellow nerd Toby. He seems interested, but they both have things they aren't telling the other and the relationship they are building could take the hit.

I really enjoyed parts of this book but it just didn't hit the right buttons for me. I just didn't like the characters for a chunk of the book. I think others would love it, the characters just didn't call to me in this one.

Release date is Aug 8 2023