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The A.I. Who Loved Me

Alyssa Cole,

Regina Hall (Narrator)

Start date: January 1, 2021

Finish date: January 30, 2021

Discussion: HEA Club

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HEA Club

July 2024: In Other Lands
By Kevin · 2 posts · 97 views

last updated Jul 31, 2024 09:13AM

May 2024: Forged by Magic
By Kevin · 1 post · 56 views

last updated Apr 30, 2024 12:57PM

What Members Thought

Dec 04, 2019 Ashley marked it as to-read-romance

omg what is this

6 likes · Like · see review

Jan 31, 2021 Ale rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, contemporary-author, dystopian-future, american-authors, female-author, romance, kindle, published-in-2010s, novellas, r-fantasy-bingo-2020

Read as part of the r/fantasy Book Bingo Challenge 2020 for the "Romantic fantasy / paranormal romance" category. Hard Mode for this square is to read the HEA club pick for the month.

I initially intended to read and review The Cybernetic Tea Shop for this square, but then life got in the way and I didn't participate in time. I managed to do it for this one, though once again I find myself in the unenviable position of not liking the book all that much. I admittedly didn't listen to this on a Read as part of the r/fantasy Book Bingo Challenge 2020 for the "Romantic fantasy / paranormal romance" category. Hard Mode for this square is to read the HEA club pick for the month.

I initially intended to read and review The Cybernetic Tea Shop for this square, but then life got in the way and I didn't participate in time. I managed to do it for this one, though once again I find myself in the unenviable position of not liking the book all that much. I admittedly didn't listen to this on audiobook and perhaps that coloured my final rating for it - apparently it was originally written as an Audible Original so perhaps it does work better in that format!

The story follows Trinity Jordan, who following an incident of sorts, stops working for the Hive (basically a dystopian government agency in the US that controls pretty much everything) and spends most of her days in her apartment, as a driver of driverless cars. That is, until she meets Li Wei, the hot new neighbour who's apparently also recovering from an accident. Except Li Wei is a biosynthetic human, and he needs to quickly learn how to pass for a human, which is where Trinity steps in. The attraction seems to be mutual, but what's hiding behind Li Wei? And can he actually achieve the most human trait of all and fall in love?

There are some genuine good parts here: the interracial relationship for starters, and having a black female protagonist is great! The setup initially feels very slice of life, with moments where Trinity and Li Wei spend a lot of time together, as she helps him achieve personhood. I loved the apartment complex A.I. Penny, who genuinely comes across as more human than Li Wei at times - she's compassionate, sassy and really fun to read on the page. The friendship between Yuna, Ru and Trinity is also great to see, not least because there is no cattiness there, no vying for Li Wei's affection, nothing of the sort; they genuinely care about each other and have each other's back. Some of the humour in the book is also great, it's actually funny and I had a few moment where I found myself giggling. The sex is actually well written and pretty steamy too, which isn't something to sneeze at! I've read enough romance novels where this wasn't the case.

But the bad really outweighed the good for me. For one, the initial relationship has a weird power dynamic: before Trinity knows that Li Wei is an A.I., she thinks of him as creepy, but somehow excuses his behaviour and words because he happens to be really hot. Now, I don't think Cole intended for this to come across as dodgy, but it reads like so much red pill ideology ("Never take no for an answer") that it left me feeling really skeevy. I couldn't get on board with that really. The other issue is that as Trinity is teaching Li Wei how to appear more human, there is this strange power dynamic where she almost is a mentor - the romance feels a bit much there, though I will say that Cole tries to address this somewhat, so it's not all left hanging. But my main gripe with the story is the way the last 10% or so plays out, where (view spoiler) this wasn't what I expected. The tonal shift isn't brilliant and the epilogue is merely okay (though yes, of course, it's HEA because this is still a romance). I was fully on board with this being a cutesy romance, the social commentary on the surveillance state just does nothing for me. Also, (view spoiler)

I have a feeling this might just have been me. A lot of others in the reddit thread were more warmly predisposed towards it and for example one of my Goodreads friends had much nicer things to say about it. It won't put me off Cole's writing by any means and I would definitely be up for reading more HEA picks in future. I hope in this case, it really was me and not the book itself! ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Feb 11, 2024 Lindsay rated it liked it · review of another edition

The audiobook decreased my enjoyment a bit because the narrator would change too often and I would get pulled out of the story.

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Jan 04, 2021 Erin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own, nook, science-fiction, romance

That was a super fun read! I enjoyed the romance aspect, but was really surprised how I was even more invested in the non mystery storylines than I was in the romance part, which is usually backwards of how romance reading goes for me. The mystery had me hooked and definitely kept me guessing. And I was impressed with how fleshed out the stories felt given the shorter length of this novella.

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Aug 05, 2021 Chelsea rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, black-sff, romance, black-authors

For me, romance books either fall flat on the romance or on the extra plot and scenery dressing (or both). At first, this futuristic sci fi romance succeeded at both. You've got an evil corporate company doing something shady, a physically and emotionally wounded protag whose background is a mystery, and a hot new A.I. neighbor who is learning how to interact in a world of humans. But as enjoyable as the first half is, the books doesn't shine in the end. The mysteries revealed just didn't do it ...more

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