Ahh it was a good read but not exactly my cup of tea. The book had texts as images which was annoying to read in ebook tbh.

I enjoyed reading this, it was a bit slow missing the tension that comes with a slow burn. But it had a great friends to lovers vibe. I liked the characters and the plot. I haven't read a book with someone who starts sexting after losing their job so it peaked my curiosity to read more.

Text Appeal’s premise had the potential to make an incredibly fun and flirty new favourite for me. I jumped in and was immediately excited by the progressive main character, LGBTQ+ inclusivity, and feminist and sex-positive themes. I was excited for a steamy friends-to-lover story. Unfortunately, I found the entire book to be…lukewarm at best. While there definitely were some playful and funny moments, they were hardly of equal measure to the many moments that left me feeling annoyed and uncomfortable. There was just far too much cringe and not enough of the empowerment that was promised.

This book had so many things I’d usually love:
• Woman in STEM rep
• Friends-to-lovers trope
• Strong female friendships
• Sex positivity
• An epistolary format
• LGBTQ+ rep

I expected a steamy rom-com and what I got was… not that in the slightest. Most of the issues I had with the book centre around the MC, Lark, and her inability to make decisions for herself. Her need for constant nudges and reassurance from others was exhausting - and her reliance on her best friend Teagan was near insufferable. Lark seemed to be incredibly judgy about Teagan’s job but her lack of decision-making basically sees her do whatever Teagan suggest, even when it seems completely out of character. So much so that Teagan basically coerces her into taking up sex work? It felt so implausible that Lark would take the job let alone excel at it since she hardly showed any interest in learning how to get good at it outside of copying scripts from her friends. She seemed to have a near-non-existent understanding of sex and didn’t seem remotely interested in learning. I mean 50% of the way through she’s supposed to be making a ‘comfortable’ amount of money through this and she’s flabbergasted when her friend suggests she watches p*rn??? How does that make sense? She was judgemental as hell and that didn’t really seem to change. It just wasn’t believable that she somehow ended up paying her rent through sexting. It was so cringe-worthy and not at all hot.

In terms of the romance, I didn’t feel a smidge of chemistry between Toby and Lark. We’re supposed to believe they have this years-long connection but it was a case of us being told and not shown this through mentions of cute moments from their past. There was little of this connection within the timeline of the book itself and I just couldn’t get invested. They were only partially believable as best friends but even less so as lovers. It was sweet in theory but I found the execution of mutual pining to be lacklustre at best. I mean.. he walked in on her little solo and it wasn’t hot, just awkward. Even when they did get together I was underwhelmed. Speaking of underwhelming… the reveal. We all saw it coming. I love a good You’ve-Got-Mail-esque storyline but this just dragged on unnecessarily. Oh, and then it got much, much worse as we learned more.

I think overall my biggest issue with this book, in the end, is the fact that it promises feminism and empowerment and it doesn’t really deliver. Yes, it features women openly discussing their sex lives. But there’s a lot in this book that negates the concept of feminism. Firstly, I was not a fan of the portrayal of workplace sexism. In a rush to set the story up, it was all ancient stereotypes and frat boy talk on steroids - a very cheesy and garish portrayal of misogyny and I felt that in an attempt to cover such a complex topic in a rush, the portrayal ends up feeling reductive. Such misogyny tends to be insidious and underhanded and the men at Lark’s workplace felt like the most obnoxious caricatures of sexism. To me, this portrayal felt disingenuous and counter-productive to the story’s message. Additionally, while there was mention of women’s sex toy parties and sexual liberation, it felt like there was far too much in the book that was the antithesis of feminist messaging. For instance, Lark’s constant painting of Toby’s ex-girlfriend as a villain for keeping the friends apart. I get that it happens, but it was mentioned far too many times. After the fifth mention, it felt icky. Lark gave me serious pick-me-girl vibes by trying to show that she was ‘not like other girls’ with her constant mentions of her own ‘nerdy banter.’ Also more importantly, I felt the ickiest about the implication that turning to sex work was Lark’s rock bottom. It left a very bad taste in my mouth. The way she spoke about it didn’t feel empowering or like a very positive portrayal to me. Paired this with the third-act reveal i.e. Teagan’s basically facilitating an online sexual relationship between Toby and Lark without Lark's consent??? I felt violated on Lark’s behalf.

For a book that literally teases ‘sex appeal’ on the cover… it just didn’t do it for me.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I'd probably actually give it a solid 2.5 stars if I were honest. I mean when we throw out Firefly references, you have my heart. Literally talking about the Hero of Canton, my brain has not stopped singing that song! I love the nerdy references of too soon cancelled, amazing, sci-fi show! Coming out of my fandom crush here, overall I was a little disappointed. The writing is there Ms. Roberts did a good job building the scene, but it kind of dragged out a bit too much.

Let's start with being a woman in STEM, specifically designing and coding, though I myself am not a in this field, I do have female friends that are. This whole scenario feels like someone guessing what it may be like working in this field based on old TV shows or books. Though life is not as easy as a man it isn't this blatantly this sexist. For a story that wants to empower women it is certainty missing the mark.

Sexting to make money, I get it, gotta make rent when you can't find a job because your vagina got in the way of finding your dream job. The whole sexting thing also felt like it was dragging. Yes it's a fun exciting world and it helps our main character develop confidence BUT there's a line where it stops being a plot device and becomes extra padding that's not needed.

There is so much manipulation in this story, so much. By pretty much everyone. We don't know boundaries, honesty, integrity, etc. It just doesn't exist in this world. Which again, moving the story forward. The whole twist was obvious from moment one. Like no surprise at all 0% surprise for anyone except the MC.

So, what did I even like about the story you may be wondering? I did like the overall relationship of Lark and Toby. I did, I think they are sweet and neither of them have the self confidence to move their relationship forward. They have a cute and really honest friendship. I actually liked our toxic Teegan character. She seems really interesting and I would totally read a story about her. She has more life and angst and charisma than all the other characters combined. She stole all her scenes. I think this was probably the authors fav. character too (IMO).

This is a debut, so I'm hoping there is more to come from the author, there is potential here that just needs some fine tuning. I mean do what you love right, that seems to be a big message in this book, that I agree with. Sometimes it's hard and not everyone is going to like it, but who cares it's all about what makes us happy.

While this was a tad predictable, I have thoughts and feelings about it.
Teagan - aka the best friend - part of me loved her and part of me was exhausted by her. But all of me loved her when she told Lark about who Teagan was and wasn't.
Lark is quick to blame Teagan when things go wrong, but no one forced Lark to participate. The work thing was a genuine accident, on both parts, and forced Lark's hand but in a good way.
Lark seems like a very exhausting friend and I'm not sure I could put up with her.
Toby...I don't know if readers get to know him enough for him to be Lark's love interest.
I enjoyed this more foe Lark coming out of her shell than the romance aspect.
I received a copy via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

I really wanted to be a fan of Text Appeal, but something about it just never really clicked for me. As much as I love romance, this happens often enough, and I don't think it has to reflect on the book. The characters didn't do much for me, but I hope other readers enjoy it.

Very hot characters. I think it was a good read after a crazy work day. Keeps you engaged and lets the mind relax and dive into the story.

In "Text Appeal", by Amber Roberts, Lark is frustrated with her job and her dating life. Everyone seems to be passing her by, and she just can't have any success. Along the way, Lark's best female friend and best male friend hatch up a plan to give Lark a new job and new relationship. I thought the idea was original but not very believable. I also didn't think Lark and Toby had much chemistry.

I really wanted to like this book more than I did, but I found myself flipping through just to finish it. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Thank you netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately I could not get into this novel. The protagonist is quirky but it felt like a long monologue of her miserable life. She hates her job and can't keep a man. Her phone number is posted online without her consent and jerks text her looking for a quick bang. She can't catch a break. There is zero chemistry between her and Toby. Just not what I was looking for in a romance novel.

I thoroughly enjoyed "Text Appeal" by Amber Roberts. A sweet, enjoyable rom-com that will be a great addition to any romance lovers shelf!

I did not like this book at all. DNF.
One star.

***********************I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest opinion**************************

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!