THE DATING GAME

Three college freshmen strike gold with their successful dating app created for a class project, but will they stay united when business and romance mix?

Sara, Braden, and Roberto meet in a competitive entrepreneurship course at the fictional Warren University in Silicon Valley, California. When their famous venture capitalist professor challenges them to pitch a winning product idea—or fail the class—they knock out the competition with Perfect10, a dating app in which users rank one another based on desirability. Sara, a whip-smart Midwestern blonde, has already developed a flourishing software system; Braden, a privileged social climber, is set on establishing his own legacy apart from his father; and Roberto is Latinx on scholarship from Oakland with a Spanish-speaking father and deported mother in Mexico. Sara and Braden are presumed white. In Roache’s (Frat Girl, 2018) sophomore effort, multiple voices rotate narration of each chapter. As the trio faces difficult decisions that illuminate their individual values about greed and profit, this had the potential to be a timely story about ethical entrepreneurship in the tech industry. However, the overarching and predictable romance plot dilutes the impact. Sara’s voice is the strongest, with perceptive insights on roommates and love, but Robbie’s story frustratingly lacks depth; his chapters often serve as a vehicle for dialogue between Braden and Sara. An author’s note about undocumented immigrants is a blithe period at the end of a thin story.

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