The Plus One

By: Sarah Archer

Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang

Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2019 Sarah Archer (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“From robots to weddings, The Plus One made me laugh, cry, and wonder what dating would be like after I’ve already created the perfect man. Simply unputdownable!” (Renee Carlino, USA Today best-selling author of Blind Kiss)

“Readers who think they don't like romance and those who think they don't like science fiction may be astonished to discover themselves loving the combination in Archer's irresistible, unputdownable, comic, debut romance novel.” (Booklist, starred review)

“In her debut novel, Archer concocts an endearingly unlucky-at-love heroine...A fun story that will appeal to geeks and beachgoers alike.” (Kirkus Reviews)

Fun story with lots of laughs and raw emotions.

I really enjoyed this book. It offered plenty of laughs along with tender emotional moments. Definitely recommend this one for anyone looking to switch things up. The narrator did a great job delivering the characters as well.

Particular main character, may not be likeable

I did not find the main character likable most of the book. Her decisions were frustrating at times. It was fine but did not love it.

Loved It!

Very much enjoyed; richly well-written; cool ending; and audio performace great! ThankYou SarahArcher & LaurenFortgang!

Delightful First Novel

This snapshot of a woman turning thirty as she solves family, romantic and professional conundrums via revealing inner dialogue and, occasionally, truly shocking behavior demonstrate Archer's applied creativity as well as that of her heroine Kelly. Archer's background clearly prepared her to write for carefully targeted audiences of young, tech savvy professional women. However, grandmothers of these amazing young women will likely enjoy The Plus One as an entertaining and fairly accurate portrait of their own twigs. Although the essence of this story isn't new, the perspective through the emotions subtly leads the reader into an emersion experience of social awkwardness and the stark-raving terror of being human of the current era. This novel is well worth the listen and Sarah Archer is a novelist on the rise.

Seriously? A logical person thinks and speaks logically , as a rule, typically.

I’m sorry, and I am aware that this book is a work of fiction, but please keep the characters within their personality and character traits. And what is with the foul language? These characters are supposed to have more rounded vocabularies than the profane words express.