Cover Image: The Roxy Letters

The Roxy Letters

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Member Reviews

This book is written in a series of letters to an ex which are many times not even given to the recipient. It took me awhile to get used to this form. I think it might have been better to have been in the form of a journal. Once you get over the form of the book and start following the characters I think it does a good job. You start seeing the world through Roxy’s eyes. I love the setting of Austin especially through someone who’s really not that old but is not appreciative of the changes to her hometown. I also like she has a cat and a dog. The dog is a wiener dog my favorite. I understand her antics with the dog since I have one myself. The Roxy Letters will take you on a wild crazy ride that will make you laugh and shake your head in wonder.

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The format of this book was not my favorite - it is entirely told in letters from Roxy to her ex-boyfriend/current roommate. I've seen comparisons to Where'd You Go, Bernadette, but I completely disagree. Bernadette was a well written story about a relatable and quirky woman, whereas Roxy was just an unbelievable mess.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

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This book of letters was a fun read. It wasn’t written how I was expecting and though it would be boring, but was pleasantly surprised.

Roux uses the letters as a way of communication between herself and her roommate but continues to write the letters to him even after he moves out. These letters provide a lot of insight into her thought process and life.

I’ve often heard writing letters is very therapeutic when trying to work your brain and emotions through some tough times.

Grab this book and go on a journey with Roxy as she navigates her life one letter at a time.

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I heard quite a few great reviews of this novel and I had to wonder if I am in the minority of readers who didn't enjoy this novel. I think the premise sold the book but I was bored with the execution. Could possibly be my age but this was not the story for me. I found the main character lackluster at best.

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Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book.

If I could describe the main character of this book in one word the word I would choose is "annoying". In short, Roxy needs a therapist. Throughout the book, Roxy writes letters to her ex-boyfriend who moves in with her but then moves out. She continues to write him letters despite this fact. Roxy complains about her job but in the same breath complains about money. She asks her parents for money and then turns around and spends $200 on art supplies. She then gets arrested and throws all her vegan morals and values out without thought. Her dialogue is overall frustrating.

Roxy's best friends though- I love them! I would have much rather read a book about Artemis and her multiple personas than Roxy ramble on and on about how her life is unfair.

I enjoyed the structure of the book- the letter style made for a quick read. My issue is with the main character.

Also, in the first section of the book, there is a discrepancy in events. Roxy goes to her boss' office who has every intention on firing her. He wants her to stay for the day because 2 of her coworkers had called out. She goes back to the deli counter and the 2 coworkers that had called out are magically there....

IDK. Not my cup of tea and definitely struggled to feel sympathetic toward Roxy and her lifestyle.

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Unfortunately I did not enjoy this book. I didn’t think the characters were as well developed as I would have hoped. I love the sense of place, and it was funny, but overall not my favorite. Thank you for allowing me the chance to review this book!

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Bridget Jones penned a diary; Roxy writes letters. Specifically: she writes letters to her hapless, rent-avoidant ex-boyfriend—and current roommate—Everett. This charming and funny twenty-something is under-employed (and under-romanced), and she’s decidedly fed up with the indignities she endures as a deli maid at Whole Foods (the original), and the dismaying speed at which her beloved Austin is becoming corporatized. When a new Lululemon pops up at the intersection of Sixth and Lamar where the old Waterloo Video used to be, Roxy can stay silent no longer.

I think this book worked at times and failed at times. the concept was good and the way it was executed was not bad- Roxy got annoying at times and played into every female stereotype. but an enjoyable read

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I was fortunate enough to win a digital ARC of THE ROXY LETTERS through a Shelf Awareness giveaway! It's not often that you see books featuring vegan protagonists, and I'm really looking forward to learning more about Roxy. Thanks for the early look!

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Roxy lives in Austin in 2012 amidst the change from the music-loving hippie culture to the influx of health conscience techies and wannabe rock stars. She is having trouble finding herself and finding enough cash to pay the rent from just her deli counter job at Whole Foods so she invites her ex-boyfriend to live in her spare room. She hardly ever sees him and begins to write letters to him letting him know what she is up to and dispensing her quirky philosophy on life plus sex,drugs and rock and roll. This is an absolute must-read if you: A. love the weirdness of Austin, B. if you think Sarah Bird's early books are the funniest thing you have ever read and C. you just need a reason to laugh at the absurdity of life. Irreverent, bawdy and so true of Austin. My thanks to the publisher for the belly laughs and the advance copy.

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Simon and Schuster sent me this uncorrected galley of The Roxy Letters by Mary Pauline Lowry in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly, it was a 5 out of 5 stars for me. I loved the style of the book. Roxy is a flawed, love-able, passionate over-sharer. She has let her ex-boyfriend-turned-close-friend, Everett, move into her house to help pay the mortgage. Everett is a bit of a slacker, a hippy, and doesn’t use a cell phone so Roxy leaves him letters, partly to keep him informed on her daily life (and grievances towards living with him) and partly as a therapeutic release for herself. Through her letters, we learn about her sex life and relationships, her desires and plans to topple the corporations taking over her beloved neighborhood in Texas, her (sometimes failed) veganism, and money issues stemming from being underemployed and overqualified as a Whole Foods employee.

Something about this book and Roxy reminded me of an adult version of Georgia from Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging. I mean that in the best way, it was one of my favorite series when I was younger. Roxy is earnest, charming, smart, talented… and an absolute chaotic mess at times. She has hilarious encounters with men that will leave you laughing and cringing. In her letters, she’s constantly detailing her crazy antics. A feud with her boss, Dirty Steve, featuring laxative brownies. An ongoing battle between herself and her neighbor, Captain Tweaker, involving a meth van in front of his house. Taking on Lululemon using her artistic abilities to create protest signs. An immediate regret after venturing into OMing (meditation featuring clitoral stimulation). Lots of laughs and fun in this book.

Roxy’s voice really makes this book, she’s full of passion in every regard of her life. Her messiness makes her more of a realistic character. She’s also a woman’s woman, a tarot card lover, lover of the goddess Venus. She has two female friends, Annie and Artemis, that are complete contrast to one another while still encouraging her to make the most of her life. Together, they face Roxy’s problems and get into a bit of trouble while doing it. There’s a few men that come in and out of Roxy’s life that are wholly entertaining, as well. I loved that all of these characters have their flaws: alcoholism, addiction, mental illness, chronic unemployment, simple irresponsibility.

This was a completely delightful read. If you’re looking for a lighthearted book filled with laughs, this is your book! The Roxy Letters will be released on April 7th, 2020. Thanks Simon and Schuster and Mary Pauline Lowry for the opportunity to read and review this!

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Roxy is a deli maid at the original Whole Foods in Austin. She is bored with her life, her house mate (ex-boyfriend) has moved out and she barely has enough to pay her bills. She is furious that a Lululemon story has replaced the local movie theater and decides to organize a protest march. Now the fun begins. The letters are sad, funny, sexy and sometimes too raunchy. The characters are great.

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I was hoping this would be like Bridget Jones or Where'd You Go Bernadette?, charming and lovely. However, I spent majority of the time being entirely annoyed by the main character. She only talks about being vegan, her hatred of Lululemon, or how she hasn't had a partner in a year. I found myself not caring to continue the book by 30% complete.

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Ohhhh Roxy, how you annoyed me in the beginning of this book! I almost didn’t finish, but something inside kept telling me to keep going. I’m so glad I did because I ended up loving this cute, quirky read.

The story is told in a series of letters from Roxy to her ex-boyfriend/kinda roommate Everett. This style of writing can be a little tough for me sometimes, and it took awhile for me to get in the groove with it.

Roxy, Roxy, Roxy. Our annoying (adult) kid sister narrator. The kind of girl who measures time in solstices, who calls girls grrls, who prays to the goddess, and who is a vegan but will probably (definitely) not turn down that wheel of Brie you just brought in, thanks. She’s the kind of girl dedicated to keeping Austin weird. And I grew to absolutely love her, despite my initial misgivings.

This book is rich with a cast of wholly unique characters that were written incredibly well. I loved Artemis, Annie, Nadia....all of them. Even Dirty Steve had his moments.

If you are easily embarrassed by A LOT of masturbation talk and scenes (I swear to god, they are hilarious and perfectly weird enough to fit in just right) then this might not be the book for you. I do think everyone should at least give Roxy a shot though. She won my heart.

A huge thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy in exchange for my honest review. I will definitely be posting this review on Instagram closer to pub date.

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Twenty-something Roxy is a sometimes vegan living in Austin, Texas with a messy love life and a job behind the Whole Foods deli counter that barely covers her mortgage.
Struggling financially, she makes the decision to allow her ex-boyfriend Everett to move in and pay rent.

Through a series of letters that Roxy writes to the mostly absent Everett to whine about his late rent and (for reasons unknown) keep him updated on her daily life, readers learn of Roxy's cringe-worthy attempts at romance, her hatred for Lululemon and her meth cooking neighbors, and annoyance that Everett appears to have joined some sort of sex cult.

Does this sound eccentric and charming?  Like a rom-com you'd like to watch with girlfriends?  Yes, that's what I thought, too. But the delivery was absolutely annoying in my opinion.  This character is writing long letters to her ex-boyfriend (who is never around and is obviously using her for a cheap place to stay) explaining her embarrassing sexual encounters, crush on a drummer, new friendships, and plot to take down Lululemon.  It's trying too hard to be funny and relatable.

It was cringe-inducing by the 10% mark and as I approached 30% it had turned into a hate read so I admittedly gave up at the half-way mark.  I just didn't care to know any more about Roxy or what happened to her or why in the hell she was still writing letters to her ex.

I think my dislike for the book is a combination of things, including the format and the attempt to make Roxy a flawed but relatable character.  I love a charmingly quirky character but didn't find that in Roxy unfortunately.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.  The Roxy Letters is scheduled for release on April 7, 2020.

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I started this book last year but didn’t finish it until this week. It sounded interesting - Bridget Jones penned a diary; Roxy writes letters. I love Bridget Jones and the cover looked interesting so I thought I would give it a whirl.
Roxy is a late 20s woman in Austin, Texas stuck working as a deli maid at Whole Foods. Her life is a dead end. She lives with her loser ex-boyfriend (to whom all these letters are penned) and a dog and cat. Right off the bat, I hated her. She was annoying and uninteresting. I didn’t care about the crush she had on the guy in the beer department. She was so immature and so millennial- in 2012. One of her best friends gets a job at WF corporate and then she meets this quirky, free spirited girl who sleeps with whomever she pleases and lives a wild life Roxy wants to emulate. I put the book down after 30 pages. I didn’t think I could keep going. I came back to it a month later and forced myself to keep reading. Another 40 pages in and it finally hit its groove. I still didn’t like her or the ridiculous of the OM thing, and there were too many “meet cute” encounters with Texas but I finished it. I did like the idea of the whole book being written in letters but they were so narcissistic. Would I recommend? Meh. But I did receive an advance from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review.

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This book is basically the lifestyle amd life of a typical Millennial. The narrator, Roxy, writes letter to her ex but it's more of a "Dear Diary" type of situation since she never puts them in the mail nor gives them to the dude. After getting through the first few weird chapters of her writing these letters, the story does get better but the book overall is not for me. Roxy is vegan and wants you to know it. She also works at Whole Foods in Austin.....I can't make this up, folks. She wants to "Keep Austin Weird" and she's mad at all "the man" for all the corporate powerhouses and wants everyone to shop local and be cool like her. Like I said, total millennial B.S.. with her "I can't even"'s and "giiiirrrrl" , etc. Terrible read and also makes me sad for the future generations being just like this or worse.

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While I was excited to get this ARC, once I had it.....I wasn't thrilled. I just can't like or empathize with Roxy. I can't even finish the book. I was turned off by her whiny-ness and her living situation. Her openness and seemingly lack of personal care and judgments just made me roll my eyes. I just did not connect with Roxy at all. I wish I could have read more, perhaps I'm being really unfair in my assessment when I've just gotten through a portion of the book, but I cannot go on and finish it.

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I was so looking forward to this book as I've seen it all over social media. This lived up to expectations, and went beyond. The character keeps you guessing and laughing. It was written in such a unique way that was really enticing, and easy to read.

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Received as an ARC from netgalley from my honest opinion and review. Loved the style of this book and how it was written as if she was writing everything as a letter. This book was hilarious, great characters and many plot twists. Could not stop reading! Definitely a must read book! Look forward to reading more from this author.

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Starting this book, I was a little iffy of the format. The story is told through letters Roxy writes to her ex-boyfriend. However, I got used to this and I grew to enjoy the funky way we learn about Roxy’s life. This book was a quick read and kept me entertained through all of the wild moments. Roxy was hilarious. The situations she found herself in, the way she reacted to things, her thoughts about people. I was literally laughing at loud at many different parts.

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