By – Penny Reid
Fiction, romance, humor (fiction)
Series – Knitting in the City
Audiobook 11 hours (approx.)
Narrated by – Joy Nash
I’ve read this book before and will think about it time to time. Not because of the romance but because of the theme of artificial intelligence and alternatives to human companionship. This book would be great for a book club because of all the different points of views mentioned.
The knitting club/ female and male lead make the ultimate discussion group about the subject. In some of my master classes we discuss AI and it’s not nearly as interesting. Could you imagine if I used a romance book as a reference? That makes me laugh but there is plenty of material to look deeper into that could be used. The book is well researched and presented for AI and human companionship. The romance/relationship is truly just a bonus for me.
The last two hours of the book is just working on the romantic relationship. All talk of AI and the article has stopped at this point.
The problem is… this couple isn’t an easy match. A reporter and a tech guy don’t naturally complement each other. Not that they aren’t individuals over their occupations (also brought up in the book). In this instance the occupations are a big part of their personalities. It’s not that they can’t make a wonderful match it’s just that its harder to convince the reader of the match.
While I like all the issues of AI and alternatives to relationships being brought up for the female lead’s article I want my romance to be more clear.
Some of the relationship issues that are touched on in the book –
The need to be needed.
The fact that women can get stuck in their heads and not enjoy sexy time.
The issue of feeling undeserving of love.
A person being too good and therefore intimidating to date.
Needing therapy but needing to choose it themselves.
Someone or something not being broken enough to work on fixing.
I feel like all of these issues are just too much for one book. However, I forgive. While I don’t know if the romantic pairing will be a success in the long run I do love all the thought provoking topics.