Hello bookish friends and Happy Friday! Today, I’ll be sharing my review for THE PLUS ONE by Sarah Archer.
A hilarious and heartwarming debut novel about a brilliant but socially inept robotics engineer who builds her own wedding date to her sister’s wedding, and learns more about love than she ever expected.
Published: July 2nd 2019
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Genre(s): Contemporary, Romance, Women’s Fiction
Format: Kindle Edition, 352 pages
AMAZON – BARNES & NOBLE – GOOGLE PLAY – KOBO
Meet Kelly. Twenty-nine, valedictorian, and a brilliant robotics engineer to boot. While her professional life is on the rise, her personal life is struggling to get off the ground.
With her sister’s wedding looming and her attempts to find a date becoming increasingly cringe-worthy, Kelly does the only logical thing: she builds her own boyfriend, if only to get her mom off her back about being perpetually single. Kelly planned to pass off her robotic masterpiece, Ethan, as her other half just until the wedding. But then she can’t resist keeping him around even after the “I do’s.”
Ethan is just too perfect–gorgeous, attentive, smart (he does have Google for a brain), all topped off by a mechanical heart endlessly devoted to her. When Kelly is with him, she becomes a more confident, spontaneous version of herself. Plus, for the first time, her mother is actually proud of her.
But as the struggle to keep Ethan’s true identity a secret threatens to detonate the career Kelly has worked so hard for, she knows she has to kiss her toy boy goodbye.
There’s just one problem: she’s falling for him.
A Lighthearted, Quirky and Fun Rom-Com
The Plus One by Sara Archer will delight sci-fi and romance fans looking for something quirky, charming, and funny.
This is one of those books that I wanted to DNF, but I didn’t because I was incredibly curious to see how the story would play out. And, I can tell you now that I’m glad I did. The story isn’t original or super exciting and there are some tidbits I didn’t like, but… I thought the story is quite entertaining, insightful and touching.
I love sci-fi and romance so I was really intrigued by this book. I didn’t love everything, but I like concept, the humor, the family drama, and the romance. There are lighthearted and amusing scenes that made me smile and some moments are wonderfully bittersweet. The romance part is definitely unrealistic, a bit awkward and weird, and a little cringy at times, but there’s something endearing about it too. The characters are all right and likable enough for me to care. Kelly frustrated me quite a bit with her unpleasant personality, but I felt for her and just wanted her to be happy. Ethan is an interesting love interest and while I’m not swooning over him, he has a few adorable moments. The conclusion is just okay for me and I wanted something MORE, but overall I feel like it’s a good ending.
A lighthearted and fun summer read, The Plus One is an enjoyable and intriguing story. While this book didn’t completely dazzle me, all in all, I’m quite satisfied with the way Archer explores the importance of self-worth, acceptance, relationships, and love. It’s an entertaining debut novel that I’m sure plenty of readers will like and enjoy.
I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Sarah Archer’s writing has been produced for Comedy Central and published in numerous literary magazines. She has worked in literary management and film and television development on projects including House, Concussion, Roots, and Girls Trip. The Plus One is her debut novel.
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Thanks for stopping by lovelies! Happy reading and as always, have a wonderful day!!
Sincerely Karen Jo 