How to Build a Boyfriend from Scratch

by Sarah Archer

Dating is hard. Being dateless at your perfect sister's wedding is harder.

Meet Kelly. A brilliant but socially awkward robotics engineer desperately seeking a wedding date…

Meet Ethan. Intelligent, gorgeous, brings out the confidence Kelly didn’t know she had and … not technically human. (But no one needs to know that.)

With her sister’s wedding looming and everyone in the world on her case about being perpetually single, Kelly decides to take her love life into her own hands – and use her genius skills to create Ethan.

But when she can’t resist keeping her new boy toy around even after the ‘I do’s’, Kelly knows she needs to hit the off switch on this romance, fast. Only, when you’ve found (well, made) your perfect man, how do you kiss him goodbye?

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Chick Lit, Fiction, Audiobook, Adult, Science Fiction

312 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 2, 2019

About the author

Sarah Archer is a Black List Screenwriting Mini-Lab fellow who has had material produced for Comedy Central and published short stories and poetry in numerous literary magazines. After living in Los Angeles, where she worked in literary management and development on projects including House, Concussion, Roots, and Girls Trip, she currently lives in Brooklyn.

The Plus One is her debut novel

Reviews

[Toni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually had so much fun reading this book! I guess I'm only human...

There were bits that reminded me of Jane Austen's dry wit (esp. Kelly's parents) and others that were clearly uncomplicated super relaxing chick lit, and I loved this summer read for both its entertainment value and how close it made me feel to the protagonist.

Let's face it, the robot boyfriend arc is kind of predictable, it has to be, which means that you can focus on the characters, relationships and their evolution. Kelly was just brilliant in her social awkwardness and willingness to learn from the data life is stubbornly providing her with. The fact that I found her very relatable is something I'd need to reflect on :-) Priya was another great character. I was really glad that their friendship withstood the trials and tribulations of Kelly's brief and illuminating relationship with a robot.


At the heart of the novel is Kelly's journey to understand herself. Her lack of a wedding date at the ripe age of twenty nine didn't come out of blue, it was deeply rooted in her fear of getting too close to somebody, fear of ending up in a relationship where nobody talks about things that matter, fear of indifference and giving in. The way she chose to go about it was creating her ultimate version of a safety net, a boyfriend that is programmed to love her unconditionally the way she is. Eventually, she does realise love isn't love where there is no free will.

A charming debut novel and a perfect summer read. I'll be definitely looking forward to reading more books from Sarah Archer in future.

Thank you to Edelweiss and G.P.Putnam's sons for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

My reviews can also be found on:
https://readingtonic.home.blog/

[Yna from Books and Boybands · Rating 3 out of 5]

"[...]About the fact that she really did still want to find the right guy, in spite of all the bruises that come with cracking your heart from its exoskeleton. About the growing suspicion that she couldn’t find the right guy because she wasn’t the right person."

Thank you, Edelweiss and GP Putnam for the advance copy to review! This review is voluntary and opinions are fully my own.

Buy This Book 📖
📚 Series: No
📚 Genre: Sci-Fi Romance
📚 POV: Third person.
📚 Cliffhanger: No.

⚠ Content Warnings: Self Esteem Issues. Blackmail. Engineering Stereotypes.
⚠ Read if: you are fascinated with human-robot relationships.

I have just finished reading this book, and as I write this review, I still have not fully decided whether I like this read or not. It's crazy why I am at a loss to where I stand on this one.

The Plus One is the story of Kelly, a robotics engineer, who at a loss of finding a date to her sister's wedding used a prototype of her project Confibot and created Ethan, the robot. Ethan is a unique and very realistic humanoid that is programmed to give care to people (a la Baymax of Big Hero 6). He is a self-teaching robot who can adapt to the mind and behavior of his owner. Problems ensue when Kelly finds herself falling for him, and, Ethan, as he is programmed, reciprocates her feelings as well.



This book reminded me of Chobits, a Japanese manga and anime that revolves around Chi, a persocom or humanoid robot.

The story was dependent on how the reader will feel toward Ethan. I admit I like him, but I was weirded out by the sex with robots part. I mean.. you have to admit it's weird. Also, when it happened with no context, and explanations was skipped in the book, too.

It was hard to love the book because Kelly, the main character was hard to love. She comes of as unlikeable because she tends to look at herself so low, and looking at others so low, too. I hate how much she was bearing grudges to her own family and extending to a tangled web of lies.

I was a bit meh with the ending, but I guess it was a way to relay the overall message of the book.. which frankly is saying that this is not a romance. This book is about Kelly learning to love herself.

Overll, I think the book was promising, but failed to deliver likeable characters and interesting love story.

☁ THE CRITERIA ☁

🌻 Blurb:⭐⭐⭐⭐✩
🌻 Hero:⭐⭐✩✩✩
🌻 Heroine:⭐⭐✩✩✩
🌻 Support Characters:⭐⭐⭐✩✩
🌻 Writing Style:⭐⭐⭐✩✩
🌻 Character Development:⭐⭐⭐✩✩
🌻 Romance:⭐⭐⭐✩✩
🌻 Pacing:⭐⭐⭐⭐✩
🌻 Ending:⭐⭐⭐✩✩
🌻 Unputdownability:⭐⭐⭐✩✩
🌻 Book Cover:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

☁FINAL VERDICT: 3.18/5 ☁

Review also appears on my blog.

[Larry H · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, maybe 3.75?

Kelly is a robotics engineer. She's smart and ready to go places with her career, but her interpersonal skills aren't always the strongest. She winds up making a mess out of her encounters with people, even when she doesn't mean to. Even her best friend Priya thinks she's socially awkward, even though she knows Kelly means well.

"It would be so much simpler if everyone could just do what she did and suppress their emotions, stuffing them in the back of the closet, right next to the childhood traumas and the performing-in-your-third-grade-play-naked-and-then-all-your-teeth-fall-out dreams."

The problem is, Kelly's younger sister is getting married, and their mother, a wedding consultant who owns a bridal shop, is in absolute heaven as she plans and controls every aspect of the wedding. This includes ensuring Kelly has a suitable date, which is an issue of concern for her mother, because Kelly's dating history is, well, shaky.

Kelly doesn't quite understand all of the craziness surrounding her finding a wedding date. She isn't all that interested in dating anyway. But when a night of clubbing with Priya ends unsuccessfully (although she met a handsome man who introduced her to his boyfriend) and the latest blind date her mother arranged ends in disaster, Kelly decides to take matters into her own hands—literally.

Using her engineering skills and the myriad different parts in the robotics lab, Kelly builds herself a wedding date. Ethan is incredibly handsome, courteous, caring, and he grows more intelligent with each interaction. He is utterly devoted to Kelly and, strangely, she feels more comfortable around him, too. Ethan charms those around him, including Kelly's mother, and no one suspects that he isn't human.

Even though the plan is to disconnect him after her sister's wedding, Kelly realizes she enjoys being with someone and having someone care about her, even if he isn't real. As her relationship with Ethan starts to interfere with her relationships and her job, she knows she has to follow her original plan. But she doesn't count on her mother's continued pressure, and she's utterly unprepared for how she's falling for Ethan. How can she simply take him apart when she cares about him so much?

I thought this was an absolutely charming, silly, sweet book. So many of us have felt the pressures Kelly did, and although we might not have the intelligence or skills to engineer the same solution she did, I definitely identified with a lot of the emotions she felt. Sure, I had to suspend my disbelief, and I kept expecting everything to blow up, but I really enjoyed the way Sarah Archer laid this story out.

Have you ever read a book or watched a movie where you knew everything was going to go awry and you were worried about what might happen but at the same time you couldn't look away? That's exactly how I felt reading The Plus One . It almost felt like I was reading with my hands half over my eyes!

This book brought a new, fun twist to the rom-com genre and I really enjoyed it. If you can embrace the fun side of the book without delving too deeply into what's possible, you'll definitely enjoy it, too.

See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.

Check out my list of the best books I read in 2018 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2018.html.

You can follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.

[Namera [The Literary Invertebrate] · Rating 1 out of 5]

The biggest problem with this book is that it relies on the reader falling in love with Ethan, Kelly's robot lover, and so feeling the same angst as her over the impossibility of their romance.

I couldn't give less of a &*!$ about Ethan.

He just never struck me as having a real personality. He didn't have a sense of humour. He had no hobbies or interests. His entire being was literally crafted by Kelly. It felt like I was reading a romance between a mother and her son, because the author never made Ethan into a real, distinct guy.

Also, I'm not saying I want to read cyborg porn, but come on - Kelly has sex with a robot. Surely an explanation of how she made that biologically possible isn't too much to ask for. How does a robotic erection work? Did she give him semen? Can he orgasm? GIVE US THESE ANSWERS!!!

So yeah, since I never felt for Ethan at all, I couldn't comprehend how Kelly would. It just made her seem even more pathetic, desperate, and lonely than she really was. I'm not at all one to judge: I'm hardly a social butterfly. But Kelly just took it to ridiculous levels.

The blackmail plot also resolved itself far too easily. Am I really supposed to believe that somebody with such juicy information on Kelly would go away that easily?

Still, the book had a few good one-liners. Mostly from Kelly's older brother Gary, who needed a lot more page time than he got. Speaking of brothers, the family dynamics in general were awesome - I loved Archer's exploration of them, and how Kelly slowly grew into herself there. It's just a shame that she needed Ethan to help her do it.

(Random side note: you know what's weird? This is the second ARC I received in 2018 called The Plus One. Both are chick lit. Both are debut novels. Both have authors whose first names begin with S...)

ARC received in exchange for an honest review - thank you!

[Blog] - [Bookstagram]

[Bookphenomena (Micky) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 – 3 stars

This title is called The Plus One in the US but here in the UK, we like to really spell it out and to be honest, I prefer the UK title and cover. HOW TO BUILD A BOYFRIEND FROM SCRATCH was such an up and down read for me. I struggled to get through the first 20%, then it became rather interesting and from there I had wavering interest that peaked and troughed.

This book is pretty much what it says on the tin, full of quirkiness in terms of the heroine, Kelly. Ethan, said boyfriend was really interesting but he just didn’t get enough word time. I longed to get more insight into Ethan, who or what he was, how he was evolving and more than anything the dynamic between Kelly and Ethan. I just felt deflated that the focus was more often than not on Kelly, her work and infuriating family relationships.

There was some fantastic dialogue and banter between the characters, especially Ethan and Kelly when we actually saw them together and those moments were gold. It told me that this author has such potential in terms of narrative but it was inconsistent.

“Is Confibot giving you grief again?
Want me to give him a talk, mandroid to mandroid?”

“So did you see how that was supposed to be funny” she asked him as they walked to the car afterward.
“I think so,” he said. “Breasts are funny, anuses are funny, penises are funny, and testicles are funny.”

I had an issue with one throw-away comment by the mother with regards to downs syndrome which I found offensive, as the author didn’t deal with it. Therefore, she should not have written this in her narrative.

So reading my review, which to me seems full of contradictions, you can probably see how conflicted I was reading this. I loved the idea of the book, I enjoyed some of the content, there were pacing issues and I didn’t enjoy other elements. I wasn’t overly satisfied in the end.

Thank you to Harper Collins UK and netgalley for the review copy.

This review can be found on A Take From Two Cities Blog here.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Y'all need Jesus was the main though as I was reading this book - which is a lot for a non-southern atheist to feel about a story.

I was emailed by the publisher that I was pre-approved for the arc of this book, and as I was about to embark on an 8hr flight, I downloaded it. My thought process based off the cover looking like a cute rom com and my love of attending weddings sans plus ones. The lesson to read the summary first was learned from this book.
Plot twist, this is a gender flipped retelling of Weird Science (remember that pervy TV show I was likely too young to watch, which was based on a movie I've never watched, yeah). Yay? I'm thrilled feminism has evolved to allow women to design their wish fulfillment robots now. 2019, it's not just men that are creeps anymore!
Kelly is trash (newsflash everyone is socially awkward, maybe try calming down for a second and realizing you're a background player for strangers overhearing your social disasters) and Ethan is Google in physical form (to borrow from Shania, that don't impress me much - the internet was made a human right years ago so the search button is blase in the first world)
If the robot science process had been discussed like it is in Robin Sloane's Sourdough, I might've been more forgiving toward this story - but it is more like ,"I 3D printed this and clicked this button and solved everything".
The background characters are more interesting than Kelly and Ethan, which is a bold choice for a book marketed as a rom-com. I do not recommend this story, but the author does show potential.

Thank you to the publisher, via Edelweiss, for providing me with an e-arc of this novel. That did not influence my opinion in any way.

[Amina Ibrahim · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Plus One is a humorous story about a robotics engineer Kelly, who has no luck in dating. With her sister's wedding close and her mother matchmaking her with different people so she can have a date to the wedding, Kelly decides to make a robot for a boyfriend to prove to her mother that she can get a date for herself. As her personal and professional life are clashing, Kelly has to decide what she wants more, a rising career or a robotic boyfriend.
I liked the plot. The humor was just perfect. I couldn't connect with Ethan (I know he's a robot and all) but he just had no emotion, which is a vital point for me. I liked Gary (Kelly's brother) more than kelly herself. I'd love to see him as a main character.
I didn't like Kelly from the very beginning. It felt like she was arrogant being a robotics engineer and looked down on people. Though she did made herself slightly better as the story progressed, so it was not as bad.
I received an ARC from the publisher and am giving my own opinions.

[Sharon :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was cute romance / fantasy novel.

[Fernwehwelten · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mit 29 Jahren ist Kelly meilenweit davon entfernt, die Erwartungen ihrer Mutter zu erfüllen. Statt sich in einer Beziehung zu verlieren, stürzt sich die verklemmte Roboteringenieurin lieber in ihren Job. Doch als die Hochzeit ihrer jüngeren Schwester naht, erträgt Kelly die Sticheleien nicht mehr – und beschließt, ihr Glück wortwörtlich selbst in die Hand zu nehmen. Sie baut sich ihren eigenen Mister Right, der sämtliche Fragen im Keim ersticken soll. Niemals hätte Kelly damit gerechnet, dass ihre kleine, metallische Notlösung zu dem Schwarm werden könnte, nachdem sie sich insgeheim gesehnt hat…
Die Storyline, die „The Plus One – Sie baut sich Mr. Right einfach selbst“ angekündigte, weckte neben meinem bloßen Interesse auch sofort die Hoffnung auf ein Wohlfühlbuch voller humoristischer Erzählungen. Eine Basis dafür bietet das Buch auch: Es gibt verschrobene Charaktere, mehr oder minder ernstzunehmende Familiendebatten und seltsame Bekannte. Was allerdings aus der Basis des Buches gemacht wurde, konnte mich nicht überzeugen.
Am einfachsten lässt sich meine fehlende Begeisterung wohl damit begründen, dass mir sowohl Handlung als auch Charaktere stark überspitzt und unrealistisch vorkamen. Was anfangs zu einem gewissen Grad amüsant war, steigerte sich meinerseits über ein fragendes Hochziehen der Brauen zu schlussendlichem Augenrollen. Der Witz des Buches ging dadurch verloren, dass beinahe krampfhaft versucht wurde, ihn in schwindelerregende Höhen zu treiben. Ich hätte mich gefreut, wenn das Buch mit dem Charme einer Liebe gespielt hätte, wie sie offensichtlich nicht hätte sein sollen – stattdessen wäre es ein Leichtes gewesen, auch als Leser zusehends zu vergessen, dass es sich bei „Mister Right“ um einen Roboter handelt. Diese Tatsache gerät bei den Beschreibungen stark aus dem Fokus. Ich habe zwar selbst keine Ahnung von Robotern, aber manche der Möglichkeiten erschienen mir sehr weit hergeholt. Hinzu kamen schließlich noch meine Probleme mit dem Schreibstil. Besonders am Anfang wirkte er auf mich unausgereift und abgehackt, sodass ich in keinen richtigen Lesefluss kam. Leider sind es für mich somit nur 2 Sterne.

[Dani (Dani Reviews Things) · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 18%

I lost my patience with this book. The premise sounded great, and based on the cover and blurb, I thought I was in for a fun, geeky romance. It even says in the UK tag line “rom com”. But while it started funny and geeky, it got old real quick. By 18%, all we’ve had is more and more of I Can’t Even Remember Her Name being boring and annoying. Her creating an online dating profile and being completely unable to think of any interests or hobbies so making it up? Seriously? Even if someone is nerdy, they’ll have things to write about, like an interest in Marvel, Star Wars, etc. (That’s in my profile.) Hell, put down robotics if that’s what gets her engines revving. We haven’t even reached the robot boyfriend bit yet.

Which brings me on to my next thing. Actually, my main thing. Why does this book have to package itself as a nerdy romance if it’s not one? I know this is a Me problem, but the cover and blurb scream romance, but then I see in reviews (which I started reading to see if it was worth continuing) that no, this is not one. I had two guesses about how the story would go: either she’d pioneer robot-human relations (a very interesting philosophical subject), or the robot thing would be a red herring and she’d really develop something with the hot psychologist. The reviews say this book is all about self-love, though.

Which is great!!!!! I’m all for self-love!!!!!! But ugh, there’s only so much self-pitying awkwardness I can take before I need something to Happen. And so I got frustrated and bored with this protagonist and gave up. Meh.

[Mackey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part Sci-Fi, part RomCom, The Plus One is a fun, funny and endearing story about what may possibly be our near future.

I actually hesitated even calling this "sci-fi" because the reality is that AI is far to close to the reality portrayed in The Plus One. Kelly is a robotics engineer who is a genius but also a bit socially inept. When she needs a date to a wedding and cannot find one, she builds him instead. Meet Ethan, the perfect "man" for Kelly. But that is the problem, he IS the perfect man for her. She knows she cannot "keep" him, he isn't a pet, but she has developed real feeling for her AI creation. The story of Kelly and Ethan is as endearing as it is funny. I loved them BOTH and love the perfect ending even more.

[GK · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was pretty boring, I ended up skimming the last half. Not quite sure robot love stories are my cup of tea. I found the main character annoying and the “romance” just weird. Also the use of random, SAT level words that ended up having to look up definitions for felt out of place. Nothing wrong with including a variety of word choice, but some just completely interrupted the flow.

Overall, just meh.

[Ashley (wickedreads) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate this book so much. The main character is so selfish and annoying, never mind the clear consent issues with programming a sentient sex robot that has to love you.....it's really bad. I should have DNFed

CWings: Dubious consent (major), ablism, blackmail, child neglect, narcissistic parent, absentee parent

[Christina (A Reader of Fictions)]

FYI: The top shelf on GR on this book says it's a romance, but it is not a romance novel. This is a character arc story. Romance is a topic in the novel but it is not a romance novel.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway! Honestly I’d give it 3 stars but this book has such low reviews that I bumped it up. I can see some people really enjoying this while other night not. It’s a rom-com where the main character is weak and everything just somehow magically solves itself. I think this would be better as a tv special than a book

[Dianne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unless you are a huge fan of AI and/or work in Silicon Valley and in the high tech industry, this may not be the book for you. It wasn't for me.

At first, when I was reading this all I could think of was Kelly was going for something like DATA from Star Trek then we got a little on the more personal side when she decided to 'steal' her own design and make herself a plus one that somehow turned into something more. All in all, it started to seem a little creepy to me.

I could never quite get into Kelly and her many issues. They seemed so childish for someone like her.(Did she have Aspergers ?)

I had to finally put this book down at about halfway. I couldn't stand to see where this book might have been leading to and with what the synopsis said, it would have been too uncomfortable for me. Maybe someday I'll be able to pick it back up and give it a fairer read, but I think not.

*ARC supplied by the publisher.

[Kristen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was just overall a hard book for me to get into and finish. The whole book was just very bland to me. Ethan is very blah and not very likable, All of Kelly's problems are solved far too quickly and easily, and I couldn't get past the fact that she had sex with a robot. What the heck how does that even happen because I mean he's a robot. Also how not even other robotics engineers could realize that they were around a robot is beyond me.

[Mia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh, no.

I'm not even going to try to write a review. Just... a whole ass mess.

[Haley~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spoilers!

So. I gotta say I only picked up this book to read because I wanted to know when she gave the robot a dick. Because if she gave it to him when she first built him then she was planning on fucking a robot from the get go.

I actually enjoyed this book— probably not in the way the author intended though. I listened to it and Lauren Fortgang did a really good job narrating it and I think that’s part of why I actually liked Kelly. I found her socially awkward/crazy/neurotic but charming most of the time. I think the author did a good job writing out the relationships Kelly had with her different family members and Pria. But all of the Ethan stuff was just ridiculous. She was all happy she had someone to finally discuss work with— because she literally gave him google for a brain and he’s just googling everything she tells him. He’s all sensitive and listens to her and is interested in her— because she programmed him to be that way. He has no personality, although he does crack 2 whole jokes! So I don’t understand how she actually fell for the robot, except for it’s nice to have this positive presence in her life for once. I literally yelled “HE’S A ROBOT” at my audiobook multiple times. Especially when she was self conscious with him after they had sex. I think it’s unrealistic that none of her robotics engineers coworkers were even suspicious about him. And after she reveals that he’s a robot how does she not get fired?? It’s like all her coworkers just ignore the fact that she was ENGAGED to a ROBOT. And her family wasn’t that concerned about it either?? And I think that was unrealistic. But I like how having Ethan around helped her analyze her other relationships and see that it wasn’t just the other people being the issue for why she struggled with connection, she was an issue too. And she actually grew and made some changes in her relationships with other people. But she was still in love with and fucking a robot. So I just can’t with this.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off, I'm giving this 5 stars because while it is only a solid 4 stars in my opinion, there is no way it deserves the 2.76 rating it currently holds. It's a far better book than the rating indicates.

There was a lot I liked about this debut and a bit I didn't. I liked the characters, the setting, the plot, and even the ending - which made me cry. It was sweet and hopeful and inevitable, but Archer handled it with such grace that it really was perfect. I liked the way time passed in this story. Conversations between the characters were insightful and led Kelly to be appropriately introspective. It was evident to me that this happened in a near future when robotics has advanced. I could go on and on about what I did like, which is probably 90% of the book.

The bit I didn't like was the way things were overly drawn out. The whole indecisiveness of the main character Kelly went a little too long for me. I loved Ethan, but I wish he'd been more clearly defined, even exaggerated as someone who could only think of the world as it related to Kelly. And there was a slight confusion for me about Kelly having so much trouble on a project when she whipped another better one up in a weekend; in that respect Ethan should have been a lot more simple. This lent to the believability of the story overall. Kelly kept a lot to herself and that got a little frustrating, mainly because she couldn't solve the problem alone.

There's probably more I could pick at, but honestly, why? I enjoyed this book thoroughly. Great characters and an interesting plot. And there were funny little zingers popping up unexpectedly. Some of the metaphors were hilarious. I will definitely pick up more books from this author.

Lauren Fortgang is always great on any audiobook - I know I'm going to love her narration and this time was no exception. She really brought it to life.

[Anja · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ich weiss ehrlich gesagt gar nicht so richtig, wie ich dieses Buch bewerten soll. 🥲

Es war einerseits echt interessant und auch auf eine Art unterhaltsam und andererseits fand ich es zum Teil echt unangenehm beim lesen. Auch einfach die Vorstellung einen Roboter zu daten/als Freund zu haben etc.- So hä? 😂😭

Gerade weil Ethan (Der Roboter) auf Kelly's perfekten Vorstellungen eines Partners basiert, finde ich das schwierig. Das vermittelt so irgendwie auch sehr falsche Werte. Joa.

Ich hätte mir gewünscht, dass es mir besser gefällt, weil es mich echt angesprochen hatte. War nun leider doch nicht wirklich meins... 🥹✌🏼

2,5 Sterne von mir ⭐️

[DarthVixReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was very apprehensive about this book due to some reviews but when have I seriously been deterred by reviews? I do like to give a book a chance.

The story follows Kelly, a robotics engineer who is working on creating a revolutionary caregiver robot. Kelly is socially awkward which honestly...relatable. She has a tough time with relationships and when she keeps getting pushed to find a date to her sisters wedding that will impress her family she decides to build herself the perfect date. It goes better than she could have imagined and soon finds herself in way too deep.

This book suprised me and I ended up really enjoying it. It was quite funny and quirky. I literally laughed out loud many times and there were some feels, definite nervousness and some heartache. I think Kelly might come off unlikable to some but as someone who shares alot of personality traits with her, I loved her. She liked to lay on her couch in a snuggie watching Battlebots by herself on her day off...me AF. She also grows alot from beginning to end which was so heartwarming and leaves you with alot of hope. I may or may not be in the minority here but I really enjoyed this book and am so glad I stumbled across it. It was a fun, fast read. I dug it.

[Whitney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Such an underwhelming read. Kelly's mom was the worst part of the book and made it extremely difficult to enjoy when she was on the page. Her tirade to Kelly about her 'eggs' getting old and thus making it possible to have a 'downs' baby really fucking pissed me off and wasn't needed at all. Add that to the completely unrealistic aspect of the book and this easily became a dud for me.

[Vanessa (bookfairy95) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 Sterne

Ich weiß gar nicht so wirklich wo ich anfangen soll mit diesem Buch…

Roboter beziehungsweise Androiden fand ich schon immer total faszinierend, wenn sie in Science Fiction Filmen vorkamen. Deswegen wurde ich direkt neugierig als ich dieses Buch gesehen habe und wollte es unbedingt lesen. Eine Frau, die sich einen Roboter als Hochzeitsbegleitung baut und sich anschließend in ihn verliebt? Das hörte sich in meinen Augen skurril und interessant an und ich wollte unbedingt wissen wo diese Story hinführt.

Was ich jedoch nicht erwartet hätte, ist, dass mich dieses Buch und seine Geschichte so traurig stimmen würde. Die Story war nicht so süß und leicht wie ich sie erwartet hätte. Sie war schwer, emotional, traurig und stimmte mich irgendwie auch sehr nachdenklich. Besonders wegen der vielen zwischenmenschlichen Beziehungen, die hier eine sehr große Rolle spielen.

Das Buch handelt von Kelly, einer 29-jährigen Ingenieurin, die immer noch Single ist, deswegen mehr oder weniger von ihrer Mutter schlecht gemacht und unter Druck gesetzt wird und alles in ihren Beruf setzt. Freundschaften und Beziehungen sind in ihrem Leben eigentlich nicht vorhanden, sie ist kühl, verlässt sich auf ihre Logik, hat riesige Schutzmauern um sich errichtet und stößt andere immerzu von sich. Das wird in mehr als einer Szene nur zu deutlich klar und man erfährt im Laufe der Story auch warum das so ist.

Obwohl Kelly unglaublich intelligent ist - ich meine sie baut einen Androiden, der absolut menschlich wirkt und das alles mehr ode weniger mit einem Fingerschnippen!! - versteht sie Menschen nicht wirklich. Soziale Kontakte überfordern sie und sie flieht lieber als sich etwas Neuem zu stellen. Das bedeutet jedoch nicht, dass sie schüchtern ist. Sie ist keineswegs auf den Mund gefallen und auch wenn es ihr nicht gefällt im Rampenlicht zu stehen, gibt es immer wieder momente in denen ein großes Selbstvertrauen durchscheint und sie lässt sich nichts gefallen.

Der Schreibstil gibt das ganz wunderbar wieder und macht einem Kellys Gedankenwelt verständlich. Die langsame, beinahe schleichende Entwicklung, die sie im Laufe des Buches macht ist ebenfalls wirklich schön gezeigt. Immer wieder gibt es diese kleinen Momente in denen man denkt “ach es geht ja doch”.

Durch Ethan lernt sie unglaublich viel. Nicht nur über Menschen und wie sie ticken, sondern vor allem auch über sich selbst. Ethan gibt ich eine Sicherheit. Er agiert wie ein Puffer zwischen ihr und der wirklichen Welt und lässt sie mutiger werden. Weil er nicht menschlich ist oder weil sie vielleicht unwissentlich genau das gebaut hat was sie braucht - ich weiß es nicht. Jedenfalls ist diese Entwicklung faszinierend.

Und gleichzeitig hat mich gerade diese Entwicklung unglaublich traurig gemacht. Denn sich in einen Roboter verlieben? Das kann leider nicht gut gehen. Umso süßer und fürsorglicher Ethan war, umso mehr sie sich in ihn verliebt hat, desto trauriger wurde ich.

Natürlich haben die Lügen und die Beziehungen um Kelly herum nicht unbedingt zur Besserung meiner Stimmung beigetragen. Ich möchte gar nicht so viel über dieses Umfeld schreiben, denn diese Entwicklungen fand ich unglaublich interessant und haben auch sehr viel gutes mit sich gebracht. Da würde ich der Anziehung der Geschichte dann etwas wegnehmen. Aber Tatsache ist, es hat mir unglaublich gut gefallen und mich auch nachdenklich gestimmt.

Das Ende war herzzerreißend. So sehr, dass ich sogar weinen musste. Es war nicht schlecht oder unbedingt traurig, es war sogar sehr schön, aber gewissermaßen auch bittersweet. Ich für meinen Teil ahnte bereits wie es enden könnte, trotzdem hat es mich mitgerissen.

Zum Schluss möchte ich eine negative Sache nennen, durch die ich einen Stern abziehe. Kellys Mutter und wie sie ständig auf Kellys Alter rumreitete. Ständig lag sie ihr in den Ohren mit: “Du bist schon 29 und hast immer noch niemanden. Du musst jemanden finden, sonst findest du nie jemanden.” Das fand ich einfach unangebracht und überhaupt nicht schön. 29 ist noch nicht alt. Besonders wenn man noch Karriere macht.

Trotz diesem Punkt, fand ich das Buch aber doch wirklich gut!

[Meli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es fällt mir schon etwas schwer, dieses Buch zu bewerten, denn es gibt schon einiges daran, dass mir Spaß gemacht und gefallen hat. Aber dann war es mir nach einigen Nachdenken etwas zu viel, aber doch nicht genug.

Erstmal ist da Ethan, bei dem immer wieder betont wird, wie fortschrittlich er ist und das ist er auch. Es fällt aber schwer, sich vorzustellen, wie er funktioniert. Er funktioniert nicht nur perfekt, sondern noch besser, aber auf seine Extras wird gar nicht richtig eingegangen, woher die kommen und wie er generell am Laufen gehalten wird. Gerade zum Schluss hätte ich mir auch eine andere Entwicklung für ihn gewünscht, aber so wurde es noch sinnloser. Für die Geschichte muss man bei der Technik schon ein Auge zudrücken, weil das ja auch kein Science Fiction Roman ist.

Es ist auch nicht wirklich ein Liebesroman. Kelly gibt vor, dass Ethan ein Mensch ist und noch dazu ihr Freund, dann beginnt sie auch noch, sich in ihn zu verlieben. Viel mehr als die Liebesgeschichte, bei der der süße Ethan eher ein Mitläufer ist, steht Kellys eigener Charakter im Mittelpunkt. Von ihrer Familie wird sie nicht so richtig geschätzt und beachtet, was sie anscheinend dauerhaft verkorkst hat. Bei ihrer Arbeit ist Kelly erfolgreich, aber das interessiert ihre Mutter nicht, die sich mehr für das Liebesleben ihrer Töchter interessiert und lieber Hochzeiten plant.

Nachdem Kelly Ethan als ihren Freund vorstellt, findet sie sich in einer Lügenspirale wieder und lügt immer mehr, weil sie mit Ethan endlich alles erreicht, was sie alleine nicht schafft. Gleichzeitig fühlt sie sich auch ständig furchtbar deswegen, nur um direkt weiterzulügen. Es ist zwar lustig, aber auch wirklich traurig. Und dazu ist es zum Haareraufen, dabei zuzusehen, wie wenig sie von sich selbst hält und sich nur so zu helfen weiß.

Fazit
Insgesamt fand ich "The Plus One" zwar sehr süß und auch witzig, aber ich hatte eine Liebesgeschichte erwartet und das war es nicht unbedingt. Kelly hat mir leidgetan, bei Ethan war ich mir nicht sicher, was ich von ihm halten soll, obwohl ich ihn süß fand und einige Themen waren auch etwas tiefgründiger, allerdings hätte ich mir einfach mehr gewünscht!

[Yels · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

The Plus One follows Kelly, a young robotics engineer who is tired of her mother asking her if she is bringing a date to family dinner. Kelly realizes that she is expected to take a date for her sister's upcoming wedding to please her mom and to stop her mom from making comments about her eggs. Since Kelly does not want to use online dating app, her next best thing? Build a boyfriend.

I had a hard time reading this book because I could not relate to Kelly at all. She builds this hyper realistic boyfriend that fools everyone but can't seem to get her work project going (that seems easier but idk since I am not a robotics engineer). Ethan is her robot boyfriend and he is perfect. He cooks, cleans, learns to care for her feelings (yes LEARNS), and he supports her when her family is acting up. Kelly was only supposed to "date" him for a little and disassemble him after the wedding. She doesn't. Kelly is enamored with the way she is treated by her family when she is with Ethan. Kelly goes on and fakes an engagement . Her mother starts to actually want to hang out with Kelly because she finally has a man! Her robotics engineer daughter isn't enough until she has a man...fun! I felt bad for Kelly and really hated her family. Her parents were terrible and I did feel bad for the mom at one point but then that was ruined when she said that Kelly would have either a one legged child or a child with Down Syndrome if she continued putting off having kids. Statements like those really bother me and made me sad.

There was a whole mess with a colleague discovering that Kelly built Ethan and starts to blackmail her. The blackmail and the ending were really predictable but I really liked the ending. Kelly uses Ethan as her final project when she is failing horribly during her big presentation. Ethan pretty much sacrifices himself so that Kelly can succeed. There was a touching (weird but touching) moment when Kelly closes Ethan's eyes for the last time. Morbid as hell but here we are.

So Kelly does have sex with Ethan and the nosy part of me was HOW??? Did she really give him genitals because I thought he had a Ken doll sort of deal.. So is this the future of AI? Are we all a few years away from falling in love with a robot?

[claire]

I feel like there's a lot to unpack here.

Diving in, I was full aware this was a romance, and not a story about female engineers, but considering engineering is (supposed to be) a big part of Kelly's life and her character, I was still a bit disappointed how trivial it was in the book. Another thing that disappointed me is Kelly's personality. Kelly is a typical engineering stereotype: awkward, nerdy, unsociable, difficult to maintain relationships both platonic and romantic. I'm not sure if she's supposed to be quirky, or just... different, but Kelly isn't likable. On the contrary, I disliked her—which surprised me the most because I noticed that I have a soft spot for engineers (especially girls) in books and tv shows. A lot of them are among my favorite characters. And yes, some of them have stereotypical traits and behavior, and yes sometimes those stereotypes aren't negative and are actually true, but with Kelly, everything was just so over the top to the point that she started sounding like a caricature. There are also a lot of contradictory things about her that are extremely confusing. She's arrogant, but also extremely insecure. She thinks of her self highly, but also has a very low self-esteem. She's aware her social skills aren't the best and she admits it, but she also gets insulted when someone points it out. She's incredibly immature and horrible at working in groups—something that is a huge red flag, in my opinion. Gone are the days when engineers sat in their own corners, isolated from their colleagues, bosses, other employees, the customers, and the entire world. Engineers aren't required to be social butterflies, but some skills are still needed, especially if you're working in education or industry.

"Frankly, the fact that AHI had brought in the hottest psychologist in Santa Clara County to assist her on the project was just rude."

KELLY, GIRL, I'VE NEWS FOR U

Most of the engineers work in groups, and a lot of the times they collaborate and work with teams and individuals from different fields and with different areas of interest and expertise. Kelly isn't a god who knows everything. Is she really putting her own pride over the hard-earned reputation of the firm she works in?

Engineers MUST be strong team players. No one will hire you if you don't have some basic social skills and you just insist on saying "I don't understand people uwu", "DON'T SAY ANYTHING THAT ISN'T A PRAISE I'M FREAKING SENSITIVE", and "You can't challenge me, GET TF OUT. I'M ALWAYS RIGHT." like a broken record as you continue to be difficult to work with. What Kelly doesn't get is that she's a not a special snowflake and is very much replaceable.

"She needed to focus on facts, not Dr. Masden's insights."

Just because you don't like the person you're working with, or you think the other person's branch doesn't match yours in importance, doesn't mean you can dismiss their competence in their field. If an engineer is acting like a petulant child who can't put aside their stupid pride for greater good then they're not a good engineer and they don't deserve the job, no matter how brilliant they are. With engineers like Kelly, there is always a chance that they'll endanger lives, projects, and reputation.

If a professional tells you your product needs to be adapted to actually suit your customers, you don't just dismiss him by saying, "Oh, but I'M trying to build stuff here. IT IS OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE." Yes, it is, Kelly. But your goal for it is to be usable to someone. And it's your goal that your product works as intended. Otherwise, it's just a bunch of scrap metal.

"Then this guy had to come and get his big hands all over her. That is, all over the project. Insinuating that she didn't understand people. So much of why she had gone into engineering in the first place was because it didn't ask her to try to make sense of people, who let's face it, were often nonsensical anyway."

KELLY, GIRL, I'VE SOME MORE NEWS FOR U............

Customers are sometimes nonsensical and they don't even see it or want to admit it, that's true. But engineers have to try to make sense of people, especially if they work with/for customers. As mentioned above, they have to adapt whatever they're working on so that non-professionals can use it. That means understanding and predicting the way the targeted customers would use the product and ensuring that the product is safe and satisfying to use.

And honestly, if Kelly wanted to avoid people, she should have considered being isolated sheep herder in Iceland.

"Don't go out with anyone who works in robotics. He'll hack your phone while you sleep, looking for company secrets."

wHY iS eVeryone terrible? Is this a thing in the US? WTH??? I've never met anyone nearly as awful as described in this book.

Characters must be flawed, but it's a problem when they don't have one positive trait that really shines through. With her behavior, Kelly seems like a freshmen in college, not a grown woman entering her 30's.

One thing I really liked was actually seeing Kelly change and admit her mistake. However brief, it was still addressed (much to my surprise) and I really appreciate that.

I had some expectations when I picked this up, so that was probably the main problem. I also didn't see Kelly as a main character of a romance story, I saw her as a professional. I was drawn to the story at the mentions of AI and mechatronics, but most of the readers will probably choose this for the actual, marketed, plot and will probably end up enjoying it much more than I did. (Although, if they root for Ethan, I'm not sure how satisfied they will be with the ending.)

*I received a free copy of this book in an exchange for an honest review.*

[Autumn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kelly Suttle is a wiz at her job, but she’s atrocious at finding a date for her sister’s wedding. It doesn’t matter how many men that she encounters, none of them tick all the boxes. So with the date looming ever closer and nonstop interference from her well-meaning mother, she decides to take matters into her own hands.

“By your age, I was married with two kids, and a third on the way! Gary was married at twenty-seven. Your sister will be married in less than two months, and she’s only twenty-five. I’m getting worried for you. Who will take care of you when you’re old and alone?”
“Socialized medicine or the apocalypse, whichever gets there first. I can take care of myself, Mom. For someone who talks about me being twenty-nine like I’m some Bronze Age corpse fished out of a bog, you don’t seem to realize that I’m an adult.”
“All right, then, who are you bringing to the wedding?”
“I don’t know! The Jolly Fucking Green Giant!” Kelly threw her left hand up in exasperation.
“Kelly Suttle. Do you think this is all a joke?”
“I think it’s a party, not a Navy SEAL operation, and you’re taking it way too seriously.”
“Oh, so it’s just a party. The biggest day of your sister’s life and my life’s work is just a party.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“When I started in the wedding industry here, this was just another middle-class town,” Diane forged on. “Now it’s one of the most expensive zip codes in the country. Everyone expects the moon! Last week a bride demanded that I find her a dress that changed color according to her mood. I’m not Merlin. These people think that I’m a Google and they can just enter their dreams into me and I’ll spit back whatever they want—”
“I met someone,” Kelly blurted out.
“You met someone?” Diane was utterly confused. “Do you mean on LinkedIn again?”
“No, a guy. I went out tonight with Priya and met this guy and we really hit it off.” Kelly winced, biting her lip. Palliating her mother might buy her some time. Or she might have just royally screwed herself.
“You met someone!” Diane’s tone was suddenly full of sunshine. “Who? What’s he like? What’s his name?”
“His name is—” Kelly drew a panicked blank. She looked wildly around the room. A spotlighted billboard caught her eye through the window—eSan, for all your hardware cleaning needs.
“Esan. I mean, Ethan. His name is Ethan.”
“Ethan, Ethan. I like it, it’s a good name. What does he do? Where does he—”
“I really have to go, Mom, it’s been a long night.” When Kelly got off the phone, she threw her head down tiredly on her desk. If only it were so easy to create a boyfriend out of thin air.

Ethan is Kelly’s dream man brought to life. He should be. She designed him. When she goes out with him, she no longer feels inadequate or awkward. With him, she can let down her guard and just be the brilliant funny girl that she really is.

When they are out together, she can’t help but notice how people seem to be happy when he’s around. And with each passing day, she falls just a little more in love him.

But what kind of future can she really hope to have with a robot?

“So why the stars?” she asked him later that night. She would never have imagined this scenario in her quest to invent an engagement story. She saw now that the problem with all the other stories she had told was that they were about Ethan, but they hadn’t come from him.
Ethan shrugged. “It seemed appropriate. When I think of stars, I think of you.”
“Same here,” Kelly said, snuggling back against him as they lounged in bed, still watching the citrus-colored light washing over the ceiling. “You’re the one who showed them all to me.”
“Oh no.” Ethan stiffened a little, looking as if he was struggling to understand something. “It’s the opposite. Before you, I had never even seen the stars.”

The Plus One isn’t your everyday love story. It’s a search for something so utterly elusive these days – simple human connection.

Sarah Archer brilliantly captures the modern dating dilemma in all of its hysterical and brutal glory. With everything from meddling relatives, trips to Target and adventures in shapewear, she still allows her characters vulnerability shine through. And it’s Kelly’s feelings of overwhelming loneliness that touched me most of all.

I adored how Ethan introduces Kelly to the wonders of the world again. Because of him, she finally learns just how strong she really is. And that’s the best lesson of true love…

[Annabelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ich empfand "The Plus One" als eine wirklich unterhaltsame Lektüre. Das Buch hat mir den langen Weg zur Arbeit über mehrere Tage hinweg sehr erträglich gemacht. Natürlich steckt in diesem Buch sehr viel Klischée und der Plot rund um Ethan, den Roboter-Boyfriend, ist auch absolut vorherehbar. Aber gerade deswegen konnte man sich vor allem auf die einzelnen Charaktere, die zwischenmenschlichen Beziehungen und deren Entwicklung im Verlauf des Buches konzentrieren

Kelly war als Protagonistin einfach brillant. Sie gefiel mir besonders wegen ihrer sozialen Unbeholfenheit, ihrer abwehrenden Haltund und ihrer ständig grübelnen Art. Priya, ihre beste Freundin, war eine weitere großartige Figur. Es war schön die Entwicklung ihrer Freundschaft im Verlauf der "Katastrophe" rund um Ethan mit zu verfolgen.

Im Zentrum des Romans steht ganz klar Kellys Suche zu sich selbst. Ausschlaggebend für ihr Dilemma ist die fehlende Begleitung zur Hochzeit ihrer Schwester. Dabei braucht sie diese nur, weil ihre Mutter ihr sonst absolut keine Ruhe lassen wird. Sie wirft ihr ständig vor, wie alt (gerade mal 29 Jahre) und wie allein sie doch ist. Da kam Kelly ihr neues Projekt auf Arbeit gerade richtig und so entstand mir nichts, dir nichts, plötzlich ihr neuer Freund Ethan - ein Roboter. Doch wie weit kann eine Beziehung zu einem Roboter gehen? Und wie wird ihr Umfeld darauf reagieren, wenn sie es erfahren?

Fazit: Ein gelungenes Debüt und eine perfekte, leichte Lektüre, viel Charme und Humor inklusive. Ich freue mich auf jeden Fall darauf, in Zukunft weitere Bücher von Sarah Archer zu lesen.

*Ich habe das Buch als Rezensionsexemplar zur Verfügung gestellt bekommen. Vielen Dank an das Team von Randomhouse.

[Heather Button · Rating 1 out of 5]

You know what stinks? When you see a book, think the premise is just off enough that it could work, you read it, and turns out the premise is just off. Just terrible. That was The Plus One for me. I couldn’t stand it.

Kelly is a robotics engineer who can’t get a date. She’s socially inept and has one friend. Her life is work. Her mom is completely overbearing and drives her nuts. She’s one of those that only cares about her daughters getting married and Kelly is nearing 30 so she’s better get on it. So, Kelly builds a boyfriend and somehow hooks up with said boyfriend and I’m over here scratching my head trying to figure out what I just read.

Sorry if you enjoyed this and I am killing it for you. I just could not stand this. I couldn’t stand Kelly. Her dad was funny from time to time, but ultimately I was bored and over it a couple chapters in. Such a let down.