You have a problem. Your younger sister is getting married, and you have no date for the occasion. Your mother is the wedding planner, so you know everything about the wedding day will have to be absolutely perfect, including your date. You tried a blind date, but it was disastrous. Like, the kind of horror story that will get shared on social media over and over. So what do you do?
If you’re an engineer for Automated Human Industries (AHI) who is currently tasked with creating a caregiver robot that the company can sell to investors, you can just pilfer some spare parts from work and build yourself a date. And that’s exactly what Kelly Suttle did for her sister Clara’s wedding. Using all her research for her caregiver bot (Confibot), Kelly put together a tall, handsome, intelligent date whose blue eyes shimmer like the ocean.
Ethan is the perfect guy. Kelly snuck him out of AHI and into her apartment, and she spends the first week or so with him, trying to help him be smoother in social situations. At first, his conversation is stilted and literal, but she suggests he do some research on humor, and the more Ethan learns, the more his communication becomes thoughtful, subtle, and funny.
But there’s a problem, which Kelly doesn’t see until she starts introducing Ethan to her family and friends. He’s too perfect. Kelly worried that people would be able to tell he’s a robot, but he has learned to mimic human behavior so closely that almost no one figures it out. But he’s specially attuned to Kelly and her thoughts and desires and needs. He makes tiny adjustments to his behavior to make her life easier, more relaxed, happier. And Kelly gets used to it. Ethan was supposed to just be a wedding date, but as time goes on, Kelly finds herself actually falling for him.
As Kelly tries harder to keep Ethan’s secret, she finds herself distancing herself from friends and family. Her work starts to suffer. And while she knows that there will come a time when she will have to disassemble him, she finds herself choosing over and over to keep him just as he is.
Is it possible to find love with. a robot? Or is that just a fantasy Kelly’s created to keep herself from a human relationship?
The Plus One by Sarah Archer is a funny, compelling look at love in a world where technology is becoming more and more human. There are moments of The Plus One that feel like a pretty typical romcom, but there are also moments where it goes deeper and asks bigger questions about what makes someone human, what makes a relationship, and how love asks us to sacrifice. Kelly’s journey is the story of a strong, smart woman who loses and them finds her way by being a smart, strong woman. Be prepared to laugh and to think, and maybe to start to think about how you’d go about making your perfect man too.
Galleys for The Plus One were provided by G.P. Putnam’s Sons through Edelweiss, with many thanks.