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Title details for The Plus One by Sarah Archer - Available

The Plus One

by Sarah Archer
Lauren Fortgang
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
A brilliant but socially inept robotics engineer builds her own wedding date—and learns more about love than she ever expected—in this hilarious and heartwarming debut novel.
"Prepare to fall in love!" —Aimee Agresti, author of Campaign Widows
When she couldn't find Mr. Right, she built him.
Dating is hard. Being dateless at your perfect sister's wedding is harder.
Meet Kelly. Twenty-nine, go-getter, a brilliant robotics engineer, and perpetually single. So when her younger sister's wedding looms and her attempts to find a date become increasingly cringeworthy, Kelly does the only logical thing: she builds her own boyfriend.
Ethan is perfect: gorgeous, attentive, and smart—all topped off by a mechanical heart endlessly devoted to her. Not to mention he's good with her mother. When she's with him, Kelly discovers a more confident, spontaneous version of herself—the person she'd always dreamed she could be. But as the struggle to keep Ethan's identity secret threatens to detonate her career, Kelly knows she has to kiss her perfect man good-bye.
There's just one problem: she's falling for him.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 2, 2019

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781984887863
      • File size: 253580 KB
      • Duration: 08:48:17

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 1, 2019
      Archer’s upbeat but unsatisfying debut attempts to take on 20-something Silicon Valley dating and the idea of romantic perfection. Socially awkward roboticist Kelly Suttle, pressured by her family to find an appropriate date for her sister’s wedding, steals supplies from her office to create android Ethan as a temporary boyfriend. But Ethan turns out to be gorgeous, devoted, and charming, and she becomes attached to having him in her life. Kelly, however, struggles to create a functional care assistant robot for her job, which is baffling given the effortlessness with which she manufactures Ethan. Ethan’s public mistakes are played for a quick laugh, but he doesn’t get a growth arc as a character. Archer wastes her central idea, only telling the tired story of a woman pushed by everyone to find a man already, and fails to dig into the natural humor of the uncanny valley or the absurdity of trying to live with someone perfect. An essential goodness of heart shines through, but it’s not enough to save this uneven story. Agent: Sheila Crowley, Curtis Brown (U.K.).

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Lauren Fortgang's wide range of voices perfectly portrays the formidable protagonist of this delightful story filled with thought-provoking insights on love and family. Desperate to placate her mother, who fears her daughter will be single forever, 29-year-old Kelly, an engineer, creates a robot named Ethan to accompany her to the upcoming wedding of her seemingly perfect sister. Fortgang brings out the humor in Kelly's frazzled relationship with her micromanaging, relationship-focused mother--but also the tenderness, as Kelly discovers another side of the woman who loves her. Perfect modulation for Ethan's sensitive yet robot-like voice effectively captures the paradoxes of his compassion and insight as he teaches Kelly about love. A touching story and magical performance make for a gratifying listen. M.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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