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How to Build a Boyfriend from Scratch by Sarah Archer - Book Review



Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

For Kelly, dating is extremely hard. She’s incredibly socially awkward and the men she seems to attract have no real interest in her career as a robotics engineer.


With her perfect sister getting married the pressure is on Kelly to find a date to the wedding. With everyone on her case about being single Kelly decides to take the matter into her own hands and uses her skills to create Ethan, a gorgeous, intelligent robot that makes Kelly feel confident in herself.


The plan is to de-activate Ethan after the wedding, but Kelly finds herself struggling to let go of the one thing that makes her feel happy, that listens to her and truly understands her when her family don’t. Ethan is the perfect man and Kelly doesn’t know how to hit the off switch.


I see a lot of myself in Kelly, minus the whole being a genius thing, and I completely understand how hard it is to date when you are socially awkward. Add on the fact that she’s basically ignored by her parents and sister who honestly don’t care for what Kelly does and seem to want to take control of aspects of her life that benefit them.


I would have liked to have seen more of Ethan and how he was slowly evolving and in part believing he was human. I was desperate to see more of Ethan’s struggles and for me it felt like it was all brushed under the rug.


While it was a good, relaxing read about a woman learning to find herself I found myself struggling to fully immerse myself in the story that Sarah Archer has created. This book is a lot different to most contemporary books I’ve read and I will admit the idea of a robot boyfriend was hard for my mind to comprehend.


Although I didn’t get on with this book I will definitely be looking out for more of Archer’s work as I did really enjoy her writing style and humour.


Rating: 2.5 stars

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