I have only read one other Farrah Rochon book (A Perfect Holiday fling) so I've been meaning to get to her other stuff for a while. However, when I heard about this one I had to request an ARC. I went into this wondering if I would like it based on some mixed reviews but I did like a lot!

The friendship between Samiah, Taylor and London got as much spotlight as the romance to me, and while I never felt like the romance was totally overshadowed, i do feel like the books skipped ahead on some parts of Daniel and Samiah's relationship. Where it said some weeks had passed as they decided to do this thing. Yes, we got to see them together but I would have liked to see the progression some more during those weeks.

also, i know nothing about coding and app creations and all that stuff Samiah and Daniel were into but it wasn't too jargon heavy so it left me more intrigued than confused. And the company they both worked at!! That place sounds amaziiiing and I'm jealous my company doesnt have such a work environment

I also enjoyed how Daniel is basically struggling with getting his job done and falling for Samiah. Of course that opens up an entire can of worms since he's lying to her from the start but we are never left to doubt that he's eaten up inside about it. At one point he even tries to stop the relationship before he gets in too deep. But lol so much for that.

I think Daniel did what he needed to to stop some bad guys and it wasn't unrealistic for Samiah to come to that conclusion to after everything went down. She was entitled to feeling hurt about all this because she didn't know he was a federal agent. I will say though, using Taylor and saying she had an emergency when she didn't did rub me wrong. Like maybeeee don't add another lie on top of all the others you had to tell??

and o m g what the hell has Taylor gotten herself into! That ending was wiiiild. and i'm more than looking towards Taylor's book now.

Samiah is unfortunately dealing with going viral when she finds out that her boyfriend has been playing her with two other women and pretty much tore him a new one. The three women instead of turning one one another decided to make a pack for no dating for six months to give themselves to better themselves without the distraction. Unfortunately now is not a good time because the new guy Daniel have such chemistry and its hard to deny. Maybe she finally some a guy she can trust.

I loved reading a good workplace romance and this was pretty great for that. I loved that Samiah was such a strong character. When her boyfriend was cheating on her she wasn't going to let that fly and keep quiet women did what she had to do. But what I really loved that there wasn't catty-ness between the women they all were fooled by the three timing jerk and didn't let it bring themselves down. I loved seeing that friendship and support the women had for eachother. Funnily enough while I love romances I loved seeing that friendship between the ladies more. I loved the romance and being that we get dual point of view I thought it was interesting seeing how things were from both sides. That whole thing with Daniel, I couldn't wait to see what would become of it. When things are all out in the open how will things turn out in the end. Always such a great book I really enjoyed it, I pretty much spent my whole day binge reading it and it was a time well spend! I just noticed that there is possibly a chance that there might be another book in the works and I really hope it's Taylor! I really want to know her story because with how this book ended I gotta know.

5/5 stars!

Thank you so much NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for this E-Arc!

This book was amazing! I loved everything about it, from the characters who were so smart and lovable, to the plot, to the writing. Everything! If you love romance, then I really recommend picking up this book!

Thank you for reading,
Caden

This was my first read from Farrah Rochon, and it was a real charming intro to Farrah as an author- her voice was sharp, clever, and I LOVED her portrayal of female friendship!! TBH the friendships were probs my favorite part of this one :) I love a book where women encourage & support each other, and the way Taylor, London, and Samia meet is just delicious- I CACKLED through the whole intro scene!!

Here’s the scoop: Samia’s getting ready for dinner with her white bread (aka BLAND wheres the flavor???) boyfriend Craig when he cancels last minute. She’s about to resign herself to a movie night with her sister when a viral tweet thread from a girl on the *worst* date reveals that CRAIG TOOK ANOTHER GIRL TO THEIR DINNER RESERVATION!!! Samia storms to the restaurant to find that Craig’s hasn’t just been two- timing her, but that she’s one of *three* women he’s been playing. The women utterly *roast* him before leaving to have a grand time, become the best of friends, and go viral in the meantime #queenmoves

The next morning the trio realizes they’ve been sidlineing their dreams to settle for mediocre men, and thus the Boyfriend Project begins- invest time you WOULD be spending in a significant other in *yourself* instead. Make your goals happen now, and secure that bag! Of course, then there's this new guy Daniel at work, and sticking to the Boyfriend Project gets a little tricky….

I loved so much about this book- its sexy, its smart, and the female friendships were just *everything*. Samia’s ambition is awesome & compelling and you just root hard for her the whole time. While the HEA felt a little rushed in the end, I really liked everything else about this book and I’m looking forward to other books in the series- hovers around a 3.5 star for me, but the female friendship and the incredible intro bumps it up to a 4

Thank you so much to Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review!

The Boyfriend Project is a breath of fresh air and an opportunity to gain some insight into what black women (and other women of color) experience in the professional workspace. While there is an element of romance in the book (and I thoroughly enjoyed that aspect), my biggest takeaway from the experience is the glimpse I got of the burden and responsibility women like Samiah feel and that is invaluable in the climate that we're in as a society right now. I also enjoyed the emphasis on platonic female relationships, work/life balance, and the different definitions of success. If you enjoyed Lauren Layne's Central Park Pact series, I highly recommend The Boyfriend Project and I hope that Farrah Rochon plans on making it a trilogy as well because I really want Taylor and London's stories as well! 4 out of 5 wine glasses.

I really liked that the girls-Samiah, London, and Taylor became such fast friends after that stupid jerk Craig led them all on. And so funny how it all came out on Twitter.
I really loved the showcasing of Samiah as a strong young, Black woman in a technology field. It's sad that she had to bust her butt so much to get the recognition that a young, White male would get workout working as hard. It's a very sad really but I loved seeing her thrive in her field!
Daniel is a really good guy at heart. I didn't totally agree with them jumping into the relationship without Daniel telling her the truth of his actual job.

This is the story of Samiah, an intelligent woman working in the tech world, her journey of self-discovery, and realization that life cannot be shrunk down to bulletpoints on a checklist. This story begins with Samiah finding out (through Twitter) that her soon-to-be-ex is cheating on her with not one, but TWO different women (London and Taylor). All three women collide when they converge on this man, resulting in a lifelong friendship and becoming the next big social media phenomenon.
These three women are brilliant, fiercely independent, and can hold their own against the best of the opposite sex in their respective fields, however, they are lonely (which is how Mr. Cheater came to be in their lives). Due to this disaster which has now made them viral, they decide to forego looking for Mr. Right and focus on improving themselves during a 6-month period.
Enter Daniel, the new employee (with the cutest dimples) who joins the same company Samiah works for. Upon meeting in each other, it is undeniable that the chemistry is there, but Samiah promised that men were off the table for the foreseeable future, and Daniel might have a couple of things which he is keeping hidden as well.

This was such a fantastic and hilarious story of Samiah trying to juggle her life as she breaks out of her shell and deviates from her very planned life. She takes risks by finally taking the chance on a project which brings her passion, opens herself to building lifelong friendships, and takes the leap in finding the one person who will love her for who she is.

I loved seeing Samiah's character development throughout the entire novel, and appreciated the element of mystery that Farrah integrated with Daniel's character. My favorite aspect was the way Farrah wrote the friendship between Samiah, London, and Taylor. It was nice to see women boosting each other up instead of being catty and tearing each other down.

This was a fantastic novel, and cannot wait to see what Farrah Rochon will bring us next. (I'm secretly hoping she makes this the start of a series so we can continue with London and Taylor.)

4.5 stars. This was great! I loved Samiah - she's smart, a great friend and leader, and she knows her own value. Such a terrific character. The chemistry with Daniel is fantastic, and the pacing of the romance was perfect.

I enjoyed the added layer of mystery with the case Daniel is working on. It's not a mystery in the sense that the reader can piece together anything or try to discern the culprit. It's just an extra piece of the story that I really enjoyed.

The epilogue wraps up Samiah and Daniel's story well while teeing up what seems to be the next book in the series. And I am here for it. This was terrific. Fans of other tech-related romances (The Right Swipe, Can't Escape Love) should not miss this one! (Language, sex)

DNF - 40% read.

Unfortunately this just wasn’t for me!

After reading the synopsis I was expecting to read something similar to the movie John Tucker Must Die. I was excited to read it and couldn’t wait to get started. The opening chapter was fun and Samiah seemed to be a bad ass but as the pages rolled on I found her a bit meh!

I like that as a love interest Daniel has a lot of depth but I found the idea of him being undercover a little dull. I struggled through the parts where his ‘operation’ was discussed, at times I got lost in the narrative. This definitely isn’t a flaw with the writing it says more about my own personal interests and tech knowledge.

I can’t really comment on the other characters in this book as they made minimal appearance in the parts I read.

Not for me this time!

The Boyfriend Project was just the rom-com that I needed. This story was smart, witty and cute. I found the characters to be relatable and well developed. Although this is a rom-com, this was also a great women’s fiction with a hint of a thriller storyline. I just absolutely loved this book, the friendship between the three women was great and it I can’t wait for the next book to be published. It is refreshing to read a novel about strong, smart and independent women.

The story centers on a brilliant, take-no-nonsense woman who finds out her boyfriend has been cheating on her and confronts him in a pretty badass way. She and the other women bond over the experience and make a pact to stay away from men and focus on themselves...but then Samiah’s tech company hires a hot new guy that’s also super smart and pretty lovely, but hiding a secret of his own. Conflict!

I really liked the female relationships in this book—Samiah’s friendships with Taylor and London, and her relationship with her sister are enviable. The book lost me a few times with descriptions of tech work, and I never got as invested in Daniel and Samiah as I did about Samiah and her relationships with the women in her life. But, I really loved and related to the commentary throughout the book about workplace dynamics and being a person of color in majority-white industries and workplaces.

I LOVE the opening chapters to The Boyfriend Project, and the bomb friendship that develops between Samiah, London, and Taylor. Unfortunately, the growing friendship between these three jilted women is way more interesting than the romance between Samiah and Daniel. Which if this is "chick lit" with a romance side plot is fine, but for a book being billed as a romance I expect to actually care more about the romance part of the plot.

I have to wonder if I'd have read this differently if I wasn't reading it in May/June 2020 where the entire US is standing up in protest over police brutality and #BlackLivesMatter. There were several instances where Samiah is explaining to Daniel what she deals with as a Black woman in a male-dominated career (technology, programming, computer science) and multiple times where Samiah is treated in a way that made me yell at the book "they'd never treat her that way if she wasn't a Black woman!!" One thing that really endeared Daniel to me is a moment where he tells Samiah that she doesn't have to be perfect, nobody expects that and she explains that yes, she does need to be perfect. She needs to always be exceeding requirements because if she fails that's all the excuse some people need not to hire a Black woman again, that people expect her to not know about techy stuff because she's a woman and she's Black. And Daniel, bless his heart, listens to her, takes in what she's saying, processes it, and accepts it for the truth. HALLELUJAH. He even further extrapolates that as a part Asian man he benefits from the flip side of that same bias because because expect him to be smart and good at math.

There are also a lot of cute moments/banter between Samiah and Daniel, what with Trendsetters having all these competitions and fabulous massages and ice cream sundae prizes. While there's plenty of longing glances and will-they/won't-they here, I struggled with how in-their-heads our two MCs are. There's a lot of internal debate and thought processes going on in this book, and I struggled to really connect with the romantic leads. I didn't care much about the romance between Samiah and Daniel beyond how they basically want to devour each other, and while I love a mistaken/secret identity trope I really didn't care for how this one was resolved.

This is the first book in The Boyfriend Project series and can be read as a stand alone. If I read the rest of the series it will definitely because I adore the friendship between Samiah, Taylor, and London and want more of these very different women growing their friendship and building better lives for themselves.

4⭐️.
Tropes: workplace; deception (he’s an agent)

Q: when you get mad, do you really lay into someone or do you cry? Or both/neither?

In Farrah Rochon’s The Boyfriend Project, Samiah Brooks and two other women become viral celebrities after the man she’s dating turns out to be dating them all. They resolve to focus on themselves for six months, which as we all know means she will soon find the love of her life.

Samiah’s “love” is Daniel Collins, a “nice guy” who *is* nice and also an agent trying to uncover who at her company is up to nefarious deeds. He can’t reveal who he really is and as they both fall deeper, that becomes more and more of an *uh oh.

Like others have said, the romance between Samiah and Daniel is sweet and sexy and it’s so exciting to see a Black STEM heroine getting her HEA. I love how Samiah opens up to Daniel about the challenges of being a Black woman in her field, especially when, as she says, her name is Samiah and not the “nonethnic name” someone might assume it to be when they see S. Brooks.

My biggest issue with the book is the deception plot itself. Farrah builds up Daniel’s self-torment and moral dilemma so beautifully that I was kinda taken aback by what happened (and how), especially given how much Samiah’s talked to Daniel about how important her job is. The grovel feels so good in some ways and a little insufficient to me in one regard—but honestly, that might be a me thing.

All things considered, I really enjoyed this take on a STEM heroine who’s kicking butt and taking names, about to set the tech world on fire (how many cliches can I use here?), and living her best margarita and friend life. (The answer is three).

The Boyfriend Project is available now. Thanks to Forever Pub, Grand Central Pub, and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

The Boyfriend Project is the perfect romance story to read while drinking. It’s fun, light-hearted romance with a twist of drama.

Samiah is a tough cookie. But I love this tough cookie. She is strong and independent yet she has her vulnerable moments especially finding out about being played. But she can get over it, she got this. And she will end up with some new gals.

But life is going to get more complicated for Samish. She finds herself being attracted to one of her new co-worker, Daniels. He is definitely different than she expected. He is sweet and kind yet very smart about his trades. He makes it very tempting to pursue office romance but she needs to tread lightly.

Review: Wonderful read! I loved the protagonist, Samiah! And the strong female friendships! It was refreshing to read a multicultural romance book with black and biracial characters. The vibrant writing brought the book and Austin backdrop to life. It also made me hungry 😋. I hope this is the start of a new series. I think this would make a spectacular movie!

Summary: After learning her cheating boyfriend has two other girlfriends, Samiah decides to focus on herself and her passions with the support of her ex’s girlfriends. But when a mysterious and charming new coworker, Daniel, joins her company, Samiah, she might have to make an exception to her newly imposed “no dating” rule.

I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was fantastic!
My first time reading Author Farrah Rochon and I am now a fan.

Samiah and Daniel's story was well written. They are terrific characters.
I liked the build up of their story. Was full of emotions and a good amount of self empowerment within themselves and knowing what they are worth to others.

Was a nice fresh take on a woman of color who works in technology in IT with her male counterparts. I liked that we see Samiah show that she can do the same as the men and that she stands up for herself.

Great story and I look forward to the next book on other characters she introduced in this book.

5 🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒popped!

The Boyfriend Project was an excellent read. Three woman meet after figuring out they are dating the same guy. That bond turns into some seriously fabulous female friendship. I’m pretty sure we are getting the stories of the other two women. I always love a book that has a big friendship theme.

The hunky hero meets the heroine undercover as a financial crimes agent. He knows he shouldn’t fall for her, but does anyway. I enjoyed both their POVs. Being a Black female in technology not being easy is touched upon. I only have good things to say about The Boyfriend Project. I’m so looking forward to the next book.


I voluntarily read an early copy.

STEM, Programming, and Catfishing – Oh My!

Rochon’s first book in a new series, The Boyfriend Project immediately grabbed my attention when it was put on pre-order and I knew I had to review. I preface this review with the fact that this is my first Rochon book, I officially popped that cherry and I am glad I did.

Rehash of our plot – Samiah Brooks, finds herself in a disaster viral moment when her would be boyfriend is dating two other women. She confronts this king cat fisher and befriends his other dates. I loved how these women bonded and found each other during a crisis. This mess leads all three women vowing to put off finding a boyfriend for six months to focus on themselves (a great idea). Cue the entrance of one Daniel Collins, ex-marine and new employee at Samiah’s workplace. The attraction is immediate and the coming together is the slowest burn of 2020. Daniel has a secret though and keeping it could ruin the tentative trust he’s found with Samiah.

First, let’s talk about real in romance. A lot of folks don’t like it, and nothing against wanting to fully embrace the fantasy. For me, I find that while I enjoy stepping away from reality, I also find something fulfilling in contemporary romance that draws from the real-world issues and actionable items taking place and shows me and other readers something new. Rochon tackles the challenges faced by women of color in STEM fields through our main heroine Samiah. All her internal and external goals come from past wounds around discrimination and sheer determination to succeed not only for herself but for the ones who come after. Her wounds make her vulnerable to insecurities that people will think she’s not enough and in pursuit of perfectionism which was easy to relate to.

These real-world elements coupled with the grown-up way in which Samiah and Daniel handle their relationship is what made this book good. Daniel’s ability to listen and be empathetic, to not mansplain, and to defend Samiah in a few key moments without stealing her thunder also endeared me to the hero. For all his secrets, Daniel is a super good guy. The best, outside of the lying and hiding things, and he shows it with his smarts, his caring nature and his ability to think for others, not just himself.

What didn’t work for me? The fact the hero and heroine had barely spent more than five minutes together by chapter seven. It jarred me out of the story multiple times with me wondering when these two would finally have some forced proximity. The other thing is the slow, slow, slow burn. Some people love it. I found with this story I didn’t. But, after many hours of soul searching, I realize the reality of the slow burn fit these characters and their situations, they never broke character to fit a cookie cutter type of storytelling. This book breaks out of a mold, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Overall, this is a great summer romance that touches on timely matters and infuses them with romance and how things should happen. A hero who doesn’t mansplain, but listens. A heroine who finds her own empowerment to take risks and chances on dreams. Rochon is leading the way to a new type of romance, one that informs as much as it inspires. I’ll be waiting for the next book in this series with eagerness.

~ Landra

What a fun book this was! There were so many things to love about it- the themes of privilege and discrimination in the workplace, women (Black women in particular) in STEM, a mixed race male lead. I loved the friendship between the three girls and loved that that was a focus of the book. Samiah was such a great heroine - I want to be her best friend! - and Daniel was pretty perfect. I really loved how they were both so unapologetically ambitious in their careers. The only part of this book I didn’t love was the romance. I just didn’t feel a lot of chemistry between them, even though I loved them as individual characters. The story also dragged a little for me towards the end. But overall I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it! I’m looking forward to reading more by this author (and hoping for a sequel with Taylor and London)!

Thank you to Libro.fm, Forever Publishing / Hachette for gifting me a review audio copy of The Boyfriend Project. You're gonna wanna grab yourself a copy!

Not only is this a sexy, feel-good read but it also talks about racial prejudices, friendship, and self-worth.

After a live-tweeted date debacle, our leading lady Samiah meets and befriends two other women, Taylor and London, and the three of them form a #squadgoals pact to put their own dreams first and not let men or dating interfere.

Of course, it’s not going to be all smooth sailing. Samiah meets the oh-so-hot Daniel Collins at work and their chemistry is pretty undeniable.

I won’t ruin all the twists and turns, and subterfuge that you’re going to want to read for yourself, but I will say this book was an absolute joy. The characters were wonderful, the dialogue was witty and often hilarious, and there are some strong supporting characters too, in Taylor and London (who I believe are going to get their own books...insert squeal of delight here).

The narration of the audiobook is also fantastic, thanks to Je Nie Fleming.