This is the first actual romance novel I’ve ever read - stuff like Kushiel’s Dart doesn’t actually count, as romance is its own genre. I read it specifically for Bingo, and picked this one because I am trying to do Hard Mode for as many books as I can and it’s the /r/Fantasy HEA (“Happily Ever After”) Book of the Month. I enjoyed it much more than I expected to, I’m happy to say.
(The sound you just heard is my dad experiencing an uncontrollable urge to scoff.)
This story is cute and fun. It’s set in a dystopian future, starring Trinity Jordan, an employee of a megacorporation that is the de facto United States government. She’s been recovering from a traumatic incident of some sort - we’re kept vague on the details - when she finds out that her elderly neighbor (also an employee of the megacorp) now has her nephew Li Wei living with her. Her distractingly hot, yet extremely socially awkward, nephew.
As we quickly learn (and the title tells us) he’s actually a biosynthetic AI. Things proceed from there, with Li Wei getting to know Trinity and romance blossoming. As I said, it’s cute and fun. Some suspension of disbelief is required. There’s a major twist that caught me totally by surprise, but looking back I’m kicking myself for not seeing something or other coming (the best kind of twist, in other words). And we get a happy ending (it is the “Happily Ever After” book club, after all).
My only complaint about the book is from the earlier sections, when Li Wei’s social interactions were still very, very awkward. There is moment after moment when he does something and Trinity has thoughts along the lines of “he’s so creepy … but so *hot*.” It kept putting me in mind of the Red Pill/Men’s Rights crowd and the tired notion they push that creepy behavior is ok if the creep is attractive, because after all females are shallow creatures who only care about looks, wealth, and status (/s, in case it wasn’t clear). Certainly not what the author was thinking about, but still. On a not-unrelated note, I give Cole serious props for addressing the problematic nature of a romance blossoming out of the sort of mentor/protégé relationship Li Wei and Trinity have, as she’s coaching him to act more human.
This was an Audible production originally, so I decided to listen to it rather than read it - a first for me. Up until now, I’ve used audiobooks exclusively for rereads. But this worked well on audio. They had a full cast narration, which included Mindy Kaling (obviously a good thing).
I give it a solid 4 stars overall. It wasn’t my favorite book ever, and I don’t expect to read much more romance (the sound you just heard was Dad sighing in relief), but I enjoyed this one.
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