MY BRILLIANT AI BOYFRIEND

A scientist finds herself drawn to two surprising men: One is a poet and the other is her own AI invention—in a human body he created himself.

Competing for a prestigious and lucrative prize is a huge opportunity for AI architect Ava Green, but living in a (definitely haunted) castle—even one near her Yorkshire home—for three weeks alongside the other nominees means a lot more socializing with new people than neurodivergent Ava is typically comfortable with. She gets off to a bad start with American single dad Forrest Faulkner, who’s hoping to win so he can expand his arts teaching to more young people, and she becomes extra awkward around Hal Babbage, another contestant, who looks just like the fantasy man of her dreams. At least Ava has her best friend, Rani Shah, by her side, and she can always retreat to her lab to continue working on FreeThought, a new eco-friendly AI that doesn’t use stolen data to learn. She unexpectedly grows closer to Forrest, her initial nemesis, but when her AI reveals he crafted Hal as a body for himself just to ask her out on a date, Ava finds herself in a complicated love triangle. This completely zany book juggles numerous plot threads and mostly succeeds due to Ava’s humorous first-person narrative, which helps ground all the over-the-top elements with real emotion. Nothing about the science or the competition feels remotely plausible, but readers who can suspend their disbelief will find a lot of fun in these pages. Forrest’s romantic interest in Ava feels under-explained, but their interactions are entertaining and adorable, especially when his daughter is involved. There may be an element of arts-versus-science in the competition, but this story is a celebration of both, as well as a tender look at humanity and love.

The endearing heroine is the beating heart of this quirky, outlandish, earnestly optimistic romance.