And Then There Was You

Have you ever wondered how a love triangle involving two humans and an AI android would play out? It’s kind of fascinating, actually!

Chloe Fairway had big dreams for a future in acting, riding on the successful college collaborations with her best friends Sean, Akiko and John. Instead, she’s a thirty-one-year old personal assistant at a small movie studio, living with her parents and struggling to write screenplays that she can never seem to finish.

When a college reunion is announced, Chloe can’t bear to be seen as a failure. She’s also unsure how to face Sean, whose desire to be more than friends wasn’t well received and caused them to drift apart. He’s now a successful director and all her other peers seem to have found success as well. How can the girl voted “Most Likely to Succeed” face them?

A solution to her predicament presents itself when she runs into an old work acquaintance who suggests Chloe try a very hush hush dating service she swears will change her life.

Enter Perfect Partners. A 42-page questionnaire and one signed Non-Disclosure Agreement later, and Chloe has her plus one for the reunion and maybe beyond? She has a two-month free trial period to figure that out. The catch is that her perfect match “Rob” isn’t exactly  … conventional … as men go.

One thing this reunion will make her question is: does she want “perfect” or does she want “real”?

I’ll leave the rest for you to discover. Personally, I really liked this. I thought it was an intriguing premise, and I enjoyed watching Chloe navigate her identity away from who she thinks she should’ve been versus being at peace with the person she is. This book also solidified every reason I never go to reunions!

I thought this would be a second-chance romance, and it kind of was but not in the way I was expecting, which was a nice surprise! The chemistry between Chloe and the one who wins her heart (I’m being vague on purpose) was very sweet and better than what I could’ve imagined. 

This was an immersion read with my digital ARC and the audio from my library, and I’m so glad I waited for the audio. Kerry Gilbert did a wonderful job with the narration and even brought the non-human element to life, which helped in a story like this. I highly recommend the audio.

I know some readers struggled with this - maybe because it’s not Cousens’ typical book. The addition of sci-fi elements may have been a step too far for some. Personally, I admire her for trying something different. Her author’s note made me very sympathetic to her experience writing this! I’ll just say that if you love her writing, as I do, I think you’ll still very much find her in these pages!

★★★★ 

Thanks to G.P. Putnam’s Sons, NetGalley and author Sophie Cousens for this DRC to honestly review and to my library/Libby for the audio. It’s available now.