I wanted to love this!! STEM, friends to lovers... All the makings of a brilliant book. I unfortunately just couldn't really get into it - I struggled a bit with the characters and forming an attachment to them.

The sexting was a fun addition to the book, but it felt a bit immature.

I think with a bit of fine tuning this book could be great, it definitely has the potential.

I didnt really feel like i got into this book as much as i had wanted to, but it was an ok read.

thanks to netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review

I was super excited for this one. I thought it was going to be really interesting. I just found it forgettable. Nothing stood out to me and I just didn’t want to continue with it. It’s unfortunate because I just felt like I was reading to get it over with

Big thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC copy of this book to go through and provide my personal review on.
Just my take though, the storyline felt a little unexciting and somewhat lackluster. It was a bit of a challenge for me to remain captivated and I found myself forcing the progress. The interactions between Lark and Toby fell short in creating that spark you'd expect. All in all, their story's pace felt a bit too fast, and that added to the overall rushed feeling of the book. This was a letdown because I was really hoping for something more from the book, seeing it had some good potential.
Teagan, the friend, was also a bit overbearing for my liking. Despite her intentions being sound, I found her constantly getting on my nerves.
Ideally, I wanted to really like this book, but unfortunately, it didn't quite hit the mark for me. My expectations of a romance-packed narrative just didn't align with the actual content.

After losing her job, Lark needs an income, so is talked in to a certain job by her best friend. As she starts to reconnect with the friend Toby, will it lead to more, or will her online work lead to it falling apart before it even began. A fun read.

A really great and fun read. I loved the characters and the story. Will look out for more from this author.

I was immediately drawn to this book by the cover, text style and title.

I struggled to ‘get into’ the story, but persevered. Overall it was a good storyline - the potential of the story really appealed to me and kept me going to finish the book.

Unfortunately, the book just didn’t grab me enough to have me fully engaged. I didn’t entirely connect with the characters which didn’t help.

I think this has the potential to be a great book, it might just need a little tinkering to really bring the characters to life.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for my advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review 📚

Friends to lovers? Slow burn? MC is a genius with STEM but she's sexting to make money on the side? Check, check, check!

I loved the humour in this book. Larks awkward situations & cringy af sextcapades totally won me over here. I feel like she evolved a ton as the book went on (not just in her sexting skills), and I love a book with character developmenttt.

I liked her & Toby together well enough, they were sweet, and I got the whole right person wrong time element, but I feel like I could've been far more invested in them at the same time, which let this down a little.

The friendships in this book were also a high point, I loved how sex positive everything is too, with decent representation.

Overall this was a fun read and a decent debut from Amber Roberts, I'm excited to see what she does next! 🥰

Thanks to NetGalley and Dialogue Books for giving me this ARC in return of a fair review!

This fell flat for me...

I wanted to like this one. Text Appeal had all of the elements for a good romance (it sounded like it would have a similar vibe to The Nanny by Lana Ferguson), but it just didn't work. The characters felt very one-dimensional and I missed the chemistry between the couple. They did feel more like friends than boyfriend and girlfriend to me. Lark, our main character, and her best friend Teagan's relationship could have been better explored, and her other friends were just used as devices in the novel.

Thank you Renegade Books/Dialogue Books for this ARC!

Dnf’d at 42%. Usually in books I appreciate being shown something and not told, but I lost all interest after the third conversation she was having with some sleezy guy who wasn't reading the rules on her bio. I was so bored of most of the story and hated how she wasn't calling out her best friend Teagan for the bad friend behaviour (and the one time she did call her out, she then let it slide)

I love the cover of it book!! It’s bright and fresh!!! This story is such a cute friends to lovers trope and I loved it!

The story was a little too slow of pace for me but I still really enjoyed it! Lark is such a fun character, I adored her. The build of Lark and Toby’s relationship is fun to follow along.

The spice in the books was the best little sprinkle. Sometimes my spicy meter needs just a fun little romance with a dusting

Thank you Netgally for the ARC. I honestly thought this would be a book I enjoyed. A job about a woman in STEM that is sex positive. Hell yeah.

More like a hell no. I honestly could not stand the characters in this book. For me there was not one member of the ‘cast’ that did it for me. Lark was as personality devoid FMC who depended on everyone else and couldn’t make a decision to save her life. But then magically knows everything and makes all the right decisions. Toby might as well have not been there for all the good he brought to the story and the girl friends were just meh.

Everyone just felt two dimensional and I honestly couldn’t route for any of them, which I need in order to love a book.

And then the plot, she loses her job for showing a dick pic (which could have been avoided had she checked her phone first), loses her job and suddenly becomes this sex positive woman despite constantly banging on about the fact that she doesn’t have any experience. In walks Toby pretending to be one of her clients on the sexting app she starts working on which was so bloody obvious I was ready to put the book (well, kindle) down at this point. But I persevered and they get together in real life.

Lark spends about 50% of the novel going on about how it will never happen and then it does and I honestly could not have cared. Then surprise surprise, she finds out about the shocking betrayal set up by Tegan and Toby and gives up on both of them.

She acts like a petulant child and doesn’t even try to sort it out. It’s all their fault and she is having none of it. Then we come to ending when things are resolved and she’s in love and has her pals again.

If it wasn’t for the fact that I cannot DNF a book, I would have given up on this so early on.

"Text Appeal" an "okay" book, I didn't find anything extraordinary or innovative, I even dare to say it was predictable. But in general, I didn't like it or dislike it.

The reading was a little difficult for me, I found it a little repetitive and slow, it seemed like I read a lot but the story didn't advance at all. As for the plot twist, I guessed it almost at the beginning.

This is a book that talks about sexuality, misogyny on Steam and a bit of female empowerment.

About the characters, I honestly wish they had been a little more developed, as well as their relationships with each other, I felt that everything is very superficial and there were no flaws and traumas reflected in the characters.

I liked the development of self-confidence that Lark developed throughout the book. But I have to admit that nothing else grabbed me, I didn't really like the romance between the main couple, I didn't feel the chemistry between her and Toby.

I wish the STEAM part had been expanded a bit more. Like the sexuality of the protagonist which is mentioned if I'm not mistaken once and is never relevant to the story again.

I was really looking forward to reading this book but, unfortunately, was unable to due to a formatting error.

Rating is based on the blurb.

Book Review 📚

Text Appeal by Amber Roberts - 3.5/5 ⭐

A slow burn romance with friends-to-loves kind of vibes. Story follows a woman who loses her job and starts a side hussle (no spoilers) to earn some extra cash. I won't lie - the cover alone sold me on the book, I'm a very "judge a book by a cover" kind of person. I do it way to often but if I like it, I want it 😂

Firstly, there's a great dynamic between the group of friends and they're honestly all fantastic, they really made the story what it is. I actually prefered the friends relationships over the "boyfriends" relationship. It's the kind of friendships you can only hope to have one day! I think Amber done an amazing job in portraying Lark - she's a likable character and very well rounded. Everything within the story just kind of fits and makes sense? There's nothing that feels pushed or even put of place.

Although I haven't given it 4 stars I would still say it's a good book and definitely worth the buy if you enjoy a slow burn romance 💒

Thank you to NetGalley and Dialogue Books for allowing me to read this ARC - this is an HONEST review from my own personal opinion.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.
I have to say that I enjoyed reading this book. I loved the nerdy references in this book, especially the Firefly one. The writing was good and fast-paced. Our MC Lark is a nerdy girl who's working as a coder. But then she's accidentally projecting the unwanted picture of a guy's dick onto a screen. And then loses her job. So she has to find a new one and her friend suggests sexting. Lark follows her advice and suddenly has to figure out how to sext. While also trying to find out what she really feels for her other best friend Toby.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Text Appeal is an enjoyable read - however the narration gets lost at times. The main character conflicts herself throughout. There was times when more dialogue/explanation of feelings would have made a big difference to the novel.