Title: Annie Bot

Author: Sierra Greer

Publisher: Mariner Books 2024

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 231

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library Love; 52 Book Club - Plot similar to another book

Annie Bot was created to be the perfect girlfriend for her human owner Doug. Designed to satisfy his emotional and physical needs, she has dinner ready for him every night, wears the pert outfits he orders for her, and adjusts her libido to suit his moods. True, she’s not the greatest at keeping Doug’s place spotless, but she’s trying to please him. She’s trying hard.

She’s learning, too.

Doug says he loves that Annie’s AI makes her seem more like a real woman, so Annie explores human traits such as curiosity, secrecy, and longing. But becoming more human also means becoming less perfect, and as Annie’s relationship with Doug grows more intricate and difficult, she starts to wonder: Does Doug really desire what he says he wants? And in such an impossible paradox, what does Annie owe herself?

CW: Sexual assault

My Nerdy Bookish Friends pick for the month and I am thoroughly disappointed. This slim book attempts to take on the question, are sentient robots human? But it fails to actually examine the question too deeply. Annie was a difficult character to root for, but I really wanted to. I wanted to see a story more like Bicentennial Man or AI or even Alex + Ada. I wanted to get in any of the threads in this book, from Doug’s responsibilities to Irving’s job. But we stay in a very slim space and just constantly repeat how much Annie tries to please Doug. I usually don’t get too upset over trigger warnings and such, but this book has so many sexual assault scenes that I couldn’t really enjoy it. I’m going to miss the book discussion due to travel, but that’s okay. I don’t really want to pick apart why I dislike this book. Overall, I felt very icky reading Annie’s story.

Next up on the TBR pile: