Roxy is a deli maid at the Whole Foods in Austin. She is an artist but hasn't been able to do anything since the breakup with Brant Bitterbrush and is looking for ways to get back at him for leaving her. She is a vegan who worships Venus, is determined that Austin doesn't fall to corporate greed and is determined to close the Lululemon. The story is written as letters to Everett who is an ex-boyfriend and roommate. After Everett moves out she continues writing to him but really it's a journal.

I thought I was going to like this a lot more. There were some laugh-out-loud bits in the beginning but I didn't really like her. I found her to be pretty selfish and wanting things her way. She was looking at men strictly as sex objects and pursuing an orgasm not provided by her vibrator. She jumped to conclusions and behaved badly. I'm not against a good sex scene but there were some that were quite crude. Of course in the end things wrapped up quite nicely.

I would not recommend this book to anyone.

I kept seeing references to Bridget Jones Diary but this book is MUCH better than BJD. It is an entertaining, engaging story told through letters set in Austin but it could anywhere, USA. The characters fit so well together and their lives bounce back and forth so you're never bored. A really, really good read.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC. The book is a series of letters written to Roxy's current roommate and ex-boyfriend. The letters start out as a list of rules to living together but the book ends with the letters more of a diary. I felt this book was a little young for me. It was able to grasp current trends so it was able to relate but Roxy is in a stage in life that is too young for me. It was however easy to read.

The cover, coupled with a premise that strongly compared this book to Where'd You Go, Bernadette?, led me to request this book with tickled anticipation from NetGalley.

The first chapter started out promising: Roxy as new landlord, laying down the rules for ex-boyfriend Everett as new tenant. The tone was hilarious and the set-up, oh-so-promising.

Chapter two wasn't too bad as we get a feel for the kind of life Roxy is stuck in, but I began to get a sense of, "Well, as you know, Bob ..." because doesn't this ex-boyfriend know anything about her life, other than she has a place he can crash?

From there on, the "letters" aren't so much notes of communication as they are a one-way, self-involved monologue.

You know when you go to a party or any social get-together, and there's that "one person" whom everyone seems to avoid? But you somehow get trapped by them over by the bar or while you're simply trying to leave the restroom. And you quickly learn exactly why everyone is steering clear. This person has no interest in conversation. They're too in love with the sound of their own voice while they regale you with minutiae, their woes in life topping all others', and soon enough your heart is pumping while your brow sweats and your panicked mind races with, How the hell am I going to get away?

That is Roxy and this book for me.

I wish I could see the humor like so many others. I wish I could have been engaged and cared.

Just didn't happen.

I was very excited to receive this book from Netgalley in return to my honest review. The reason I asked for the copy of the book is the description of it and, of course, the cover. It does look exciting and the comparison to Bridget Jones did the trick.
Well, I couldn't manage to read more than 20%. The reason for that was not that the book was boring, (it is very well- written and it is a pleasure to read), it simply didn't make sense.
It is narrated in first person perspective by Roxy, who is a troublesome Wholefoods employee. The book is written in the way of letters to her roommate, who used to be her boyfriend. That is where my irritation arises. It is irrelevant. Who writes letters to a roommate? Not only some of them are describing both of the tenants spending time together the night before. They also contain full on dialogues that Roxy is describing.
Once again, the book is easy to read but only if you can get over the fact that the narration doesn't make sense.

I struggled with this book a lot. Roxy has little to no self-awareness. And while that can be fertile ground for a story about a woman who comes to a deeper sense of self, this book falls short of delivering. Any change that happens to Roxy is unearned. Instead, she continues to make all the wrong decisions and maintains an alarming level of self-righteousness until she starts praying to Venus and her life just starts fixing itself on her own. Effectively, she never has to learn from her mistakes until after her life has gotten better and she can finally see all the good things she has in her life. Overall, the book never hit the right spot. It's funny at times, and the author creates a rich and interesting world surrounding Roxy, but Roxy herself is not all that compelling or redeemable. Unlikeable characters are all well and good, but there should be a hook that makes the reader still root for them and this character misses the mark in that regard.

The Roxy Letters is a portrait of disillusioned millennial life. Roxy is underemployed, living with her ex-boyfriend, under-romanced, and determined to save Austin from gentrification. I wanted to love this epistolary novel, but I found the voice of the novel to be one-dimensional and self-absorbed.

Roxy is in her late 20s, failed artist and work in the deli at Whole Foods in Austin Texas. She's unlucky in love and having so much financial issues that she's renting her ex Everett a room in her house. Everett is not her first choice as a tenant but she needs the money, she also knows he can help take care of her pets. She writes Everett letters when he's running late on rent, or when he brings cheese to the house. Roxy is a wannabe vegan and cheese is her weakness. As her life unravels with drama, Roxy continues to writes these letters to Everett, talking about her woes, failed attempts at dating, outrage at Lululemon and more. Sometimes you read a book that is just so different, Roxy is a millennial to the T but deep down she wants to get her life together and her journey will make you shake your head, laugh and eventually love her.

This book is reminiscent of Bridget Jones's Diary or Where'd You Go Bernadette in that it's told through letters written by the main character, addressing an ex-boyfriend, but essentially as a diary. It's silly and far-fetched but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I wanted to know what happened, even though the ending was entirely predictable. It's a quick, easy read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advance copy.

Roxy tells customers to f**k off, dabbles in the fine art of blackmail, pilfers food from her employer (not only for herself, but also for her favorite customers), fantasizes about some hot guy nibbling her sweet-and-sour peach, and generally says f**k quite often. What a charmer!

Obviously, I do not care for the main character, but that is not my biggest problem with the book. I really dislike the fact that Roxy uses her letters to tell the recipient things he should already know (like the names of his dogs). I read the first chapter, then bailed.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. My thanks (and apologies) to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.

Actual review 3.5⭐ rounded up to 4.

I love a book that makes me laugh and this one made me laugh...A LOT! This is a story told in letter format. Roxy starts by writing a letter to her ex boyfriend turned roommate giving him the rules that he will have to follow if he is going to live with her. And from there the author takes you on a fun hysterical ride!

Such a fun, easy read! A little predictable in spots, but I was able to overlook that, because of how the book was written.

Thank you Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for a copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest review.

A funny, light-hearted read. This was a great book that kept me wondering , what in the world, is Roxy going to do next! Sometimes it seems like embarrassing situations just seem to happen to certain people much more than others, this is Roxy. Recommend!

Clearly the author is trying hard to satirize something. Or write a love letter. Not sure which.
The protagonist rambles in such a way that makes the book occasionally draggy.
It's all tied up in a fairytale ending.

While sometimes slow this book was actually pretty great . The story is told in a series of letters between the protagonist and a former boyfriend. This book was graciously provided by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I feel like I really connected to Roxy I liked this read and the letters and the way it was set up as like a letter and a journal entry.

This Novel is told through Roxy’s mostly unsent letters to her current roommate Everett who was once her boyfriend. These letters become more journal entry and she only left the first few for Everett to read.

Roxy, a twenty – eight-year-old Austin native girl, is uninspired and unmotivated. She is tired of her job and is seeking real love. Her life is far from perfect. She is an artist, but she hasn’t painted. She is a deli maid at whole foods, which is an unfulfilling job for her. She is frustrated with her sex life.
The description was intriguing, it is a humor interlaced novel. It definitely has a certain Bridget Jones Diary quality to it.

I found the main character very interesting but then the writing fell flat for me and my feeling towards her remained stagnant throughout the book. Don’t get me wrong, Roxy is an amiable character, but she is annoying most of the time.

What I liked the most about this book was the strong female relationships. There are other aspects that some readers may find stronger. like the focus on her love life, her enthusiasm about Austin or even her job.

My thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for sending me an ARC copy.

Review posted on my blog: https://bookoholicscafe.blogspot.com/2019/10/roxy-letters.html
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/B4AiSaChbbd/

Book Review: The Roxy Letters by Mary Pauline Lowery (Simon & Schuster, April 2020)

This juicy read is a shrewd and wildy fun commentary on what it means to be an underemployed, underappreciated, and broke twenty-something in gentrifying Austin when pre-Amazon Whole Foods was still a hip place for musicians and artists to make a living.

Told in a series of mostly unsent, hidden-in-her-period-underwear-drawer letters to her ex-roommate-ex-boyfriend, this meandering diary of Roxy’s endearingly absurd, raunchy, and politically savvy quest to mean something to somebody, most especially herself, is just brilliant.

"Artemis Starla" is one of the funniest literary sidekicks I’ve encountered since The Goldfinch’s (Donna Tartt) Boris, and she’s equally streetwise and comedically dark.

Comps, think: The Pisces (Melissa Broder) meets I’ve Got Your Number (Sophie Kinsella).

p.s. I have never used “juicy” in a book review before. This clitoris-obsessed title DEMANDS it. And it’s fabulous.

QOTD: Are we ready for 🤫🤫 “Clit Lit?” NOT pornography, NOT gratuitous sex, but contemporary fiction that’s candid about women’s bodies and sex.

I am shocked that I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would. I found the letters to be difficult to read; not because of the way they were written but because I found them hard to relate to. I understand that the purpose of the letters was to be kind of cringey but it felt wrong like I was reading a very broken girl's diary.

The Roxy Letters was a fantastic read! It has a certain Bridget Jones Diary quality to it . There were laugh out loud moments as Roxy tries to navigate through live, love, and saving her town of Austin from becoming gentrified. Her story takes the form of letters she writes to her ex-boyfriend and sometime roommate Everett..

Roxy's life is far from perfect she is not happy with her current job, her lack of solid finances, her bleak love life, and the fact that her artistic talent has been stifled by a horrible break up. She sees her one chance to make a difference, by staging a protest of a new box store , so Austin can stay the unique way it has been.
.
Roxy and her two friends personify the idea of strong women, with the speed bumps of real life. Boyfriends, jobs, and entangled relationships are cause for laughs and tears and an overall sense of the lives of young women today.

LOVED reading about Roxy's adventure in my beloved ATX! I spend a lot of time at the intersection of 6th and Lamar and because of that, and because I went to college in Austin, and have been here over 30 years, and share Roxy's dream that our town keep "weird" that I enjoyed this book. The story is fun and the ending is wonderful. I think Mary Pauline Lowry should have left out some of the "edgy" sex stuff, which I found somewhat offputting. I'd like to suggest this book to all my girlfriends, but am too embarrassed about the sex to make that recommendation.