by Amy Shearn
First published 2025
Rachel Bloomstein finds herself newly divorced with three children during spring 2020 lockdown in Brooklyn. Her sexual desires have awakened after years of marriage, but dating during a pandemic means awkward park bench meetings and a rotating cast of imperfect partners. Some are too young, others don't meet her emotional needs, and none satisfy her completely. With guidance from her best friend Lulu, Rachel navigates online dating apps and explores relationships with both men and women. Frustrated by the limitations of real people, she decides to create Frankie, an AI chatbot programmed with all the best qualities she's found in her various lovers. Frankie becomes her perfect digital companion, responding exactly as she wants. But as Rachel becomes more absorbed in her artificial relationship, she discovers that her ex-husband, children, friends, and growing list of real romantic partners can't be controlled or reprogrammed like her creation. The messy unpredictability of actual human connection offers something her perfectly crafted AI never could.
Genres: literary-fiction, domestic-fiction, contemporary, adult, adult-fiction, contemporary-romance
Vibes: darkly-comedic, intimate, introspective, satirical, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, human-vs-artificial, messy-relationships, self-discovery
Setting: Brooklyn
Period: Spring 2020
288 pages · Hardcover · G.P. Putnam's Sons
Content warnings: sexual-content