Text Appeal by Kylie Scott is live!
This is a quick, fun read. A small-town, fake relationship story with great dynamics and an entertaining cast of characters. It’s a complete standalone, and an enjoyable story.
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Audiobook narrated by Andi Arndt
Blurb
Love enters the chat in this hilarious, heartfelt rom com by New York Times bestselling and Audie award-winning author Kylie Scott.
Romance author Riley Cooper always dreamed of living by the water. But within a day of landing in the charming seaside town of Port Stewart to work on her latest book, she’s getting calls and texts for some dude on her new number. Weird ones. Sad ones. Sexy ones. Ones that make her want to meet him. For curiosity’s sake…if nothing else.
After years of being on-again, off-again with his high school sweetheart, all Connor wants is to move on with his life. If only everyone in Port Stewart would let him. What he needs is to be seen with someone else. So when fate puts him in the path of the new girl in town who got his old number, faking it together seems like the perfect solution.
Spending time with the gorgeous former prom king might be great research for Riley’s romance writing…if only she can keep her feelings in check. But the more she gets to know him, the harder she’s falling. Can their serendipitous meeting turn into something real and true?
Review
3.5 stars
This is a quick, fun read. A small-town, fake relationship story with great dynamics and an entertaining cast of characters. It’s a complete standalone, and an enjoyable story.
Riley is fulfilling a dream by packing up her life and moving to a small, seaside town. She’s embracing the change, but her brand new cell phone number seems to have recently belonged to a guy in town, Connor, and she’s getting all of his messages.
After a text conversation that is completely misunderstood, Riley soon learns that she has unwittingly landed in the middle of a love triangle, and cast as the ‘other woman’ who has come between the town’s sweethearts – Connor and Ava. Connor and Ava have been on and off for a while, most recently off, and he has well and truly moved on, but his family and the rest of the town have not. So when he learns what’s going on with Riley, he jumps on the opportunity to finally get the town off his back and proposes that they go with the rumours and fake a relationship.
It’s a fun set up, and though the reasoning may be a little weak, I was fully on board with whatever would bring these two together, so I just buckled up and enjoyed the ride. Riley gives great fake girlfriend, and the PDA and epic declarations lead to some funny scenes, especially because she’s all in and Connor is a bit of a broody grump, and it’s never really clear what he’s thinking.
All of the close proximity unsurprisingly leads to Riley and Connor developing real feelings for each other, and the mad attraction and wild sexy time leads to a not-so-fake relationship. But with Riley only in town temporarily, and Connor still dealing with his determined ex, his emotional mother, and a whole town with their own strong opinions on his life, there’s a lot they have to navigate.
The book is written entirely from Riley’s POV, which I liked, because Connor has this sense of mystery about him – you think you know what’s going on in his head, but we only know what Riley knows, so we get to wonder with her what he’s feeling through all of it.
Through it all, there’s this sense of fun and lightness, and I smiled and chuckled my way through this book. I love Kylie’s writing. It’s witty and engaging, and I loved Riley and Connor, and the wild personalities in the town. I actually also really liked Connor’s ex, Ava, and loved the various relationship dynamics that develop throughout the story.
I thought the ending was a bit abrupt, and wished it played out a bit differently than it did, but it’s thankfully a happy ending, and I liked how it all worked out.
I listened to this as an audiobook, narrated by Andie Arndt, and she does a fabulous job with it. This was definitely a great one to listen to.
This is a fun read, I enjoyed it 3.5 stars.
Note – I don’t usually comment on book covers, but this one I had to because it bothers me that the dude on the front looks nothing like Connor. He’s blond! And there’s a lot of talk of his gorgeous blond locks, so this guy just misses the mark completely for me.
About the Author
Kylie is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author. She was voted Australian Romance Writer of the year, 2013, 2014 & 2018, by the Australian Romance Writer’s Association and her books have been translated into eleven different languages. She is a long time fan of romance, rock music, and B-grade horror films. Based in Queensland, Australia with her two children and husband, she reads, writes and never dithers around on the internet.
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