➽ Office romance
➽ Forbidden romance
➽ Slow burn
➽ Witty banter

➽ Daniel. Our perfect hero that knows exactly what to say and when to say it. I found him TOO perfect. He has no flaws. He'd make a pimple look beautiful. 10/10 swoon worthy, friends
➽ Samiah. Intelligent, ambitious, and strong. Can she be my role model? I loved how she fought for more representation of women of color in STEM careers.

➽ I loved all the undercover stuff *cue Mission Impossible music*. I was not expecting that and it was such a nice twist!
➽ Personally, I thought there was too many details on Daniel and Samiah's projects at work. I found myself skimming the pages.
➽ Definitely a fun read with a mix of social issues that we see in today's society

A great twist of women sharing the same relationship angst and swear off men and relationships for a period of six months. Then fate intervenes. Rochon has woven a wonderfully written tale that blends romance, humor, suspense, honor, friendship, and a twist of karma all in one.”
Naleighna Kai
USA TODAY Bestselling Author

This was one the books that I was looking forwards to the most this year and sadly it ended up disappointing me. I really didn't care for characters at all and what was going on with them. There was times I thought about DNFing because it was taking me forever to get through it and I wish I did.

I did like the friendships between the girls, but that was about it really.

"The Boyfriend Project" follows Samiah, a brilliant app designer, and Daniel, a secret operative at her workplace. The story starts out with a bang when Samiah goes viral after confronting a guy who has been catfishing her. Suddenly thrust into the spotlight and having to take a look at how, and who, she spends her time with Samiah and her new best friends make a pact to focus on themselves. Unfortunately for Samiah, Daniel proves too tempting. But he has a secret of his own.

While the book was fun, flirty, and had a killer strong female at it's helm I just couldn't get into the storyline. I loved Daniel and Samiah together but their dates and interactions were just not there for me.

Samiah, a young professional living in the hot (as in temperature AND hustle) city of Austin, Texas, catches wind that someone is live-tweeting a horrible date that sounds awfully familiar. It turns out, the guy she’s had a few dates with is having a few dates with some other women as well. And when Samiah and one other woman this sleezeball has gamed show up at the restaurant at which he’s having a date with the live-tweeting third woman to confront him, it’s all caught on camera. The resulting video of the three ladies telling him off goes viral.

There’s one positive from this altercation: the three women bond over this shared experience and become friends. They meet up regularly and decide that, instead of heading back to the dating apps, they’ll instead focus on their own goals and shelve a romantic life for the time being.

That all goes out the window when a new guy starts at Samiah’s company. He’s handsome and they have a great rapport, but little does she know that he, too, has a side of his life that he’s hiding from her. Only with this guy, Daniel, it’s not other women he’s keeping under wraps.

I noticed right away that the writing style was a little too casual for my liking; it never really took the stance of authority. And while I like Samiah’s character and how talented and career-oriented she is, it’s very confusing that she makes a pact with her friends to put her love life to the side and then immediately disregards it when a cute guy starts working in her office. She’s obviously a strong woman who can stick to goals given how together she has her life, so how does she not even try to resist the temptation to get involved with Daniel?

I didn’t hate this book by any means, but once the instalove started happening, I simply wasn’t interested anymore.

I feel like this was a really fun book that was not at all served well by it's description. I kept waiting for it to be a revenge story like the description seemed to pitch it, but that's not this book at all. If you were looking for the book similar John Tucker Must Die, keep looking. But if you want a romcom featuring a group of fun and strong women that takes a frank look at racism in our society, particularly the hardships faced by black women in the workplace, this is great! Overall, a book I really enjoyed but it desperately needs a new synopsis!

Dating in this generation isn’t always easy! This book has humor, girl power and romance with a strong amazing female lead. Love the fierce fight the lead character has. Bringing light to the diversity and issues in the workplace for both women and ethic cultures. This was a fun read with lots of heart!

The Boyfriend Project is a strong read that focuses on a black woman taking control of her life and dealing with the pressure of being a black woman in a tech world. Samira strives to be perfect and takes on more of her share in order to pave the way for her and future black tech employees. When she walks into an embarrassing encounter with her current boyfriend on a date with another woman, her view of how she wants life and how society pressures her actions in life come into conflict. As she plots out ways to take hold of what she wants in life a steamy romance pops up, just as she's sworn off men.

What’s a girl to do when she finds out the man she’s been seeing is seeing 2 other women at the same time? Samiah Isn’t exactly the cry in the corner over a no good man type. Instead she becomes besties with the two other women as they bond and commiserate over the lack luster dating scene. Together they decide that taking time away from dating is a great way for them to focus on their individual goals and quit wasting their time in undeserving men. Naturally after swearing off men Samiah would happen to find a man that she likes. My favorite part of the book was the friendship she developed with Taylor and London because it really is hard to make new friends as adults. It’s nice that they all knew exactly who to blame for their meeting and didn’t do anything ridiculous like blame each other or fight with each other. Yeah there was romance and some other things too but I like a good friendship story too. My first read from this author but definitely won’t be my last.

The Boyfriend Project was one of my most highly-anticipated books of 2020 and I'm thrilled to say it exceeded my expectations. What started with a date gone horribly wrong, ends up leading to some of the best girl gangs I've read about in a long time. The romance was amazing, too. I just loved Samiah and Daniel.

With great characters, a simmering slow burn and enviable friendships, The Boyfriend Project ticked so many of my boxes. It balanced romance, career and friendship storylines in a way that was very relatable and honest. Samiah was the star of the book for me. She's the kind of heroine I love reading about — strong, driven and damn good at what she does. I especially appreciated the focus on what it means to be a woman — especially a woman of color — in a STEM field. 

I place a high value on honesty in relationships — even the ones I read about in books — so the lie by omission trope doesn't always work for me, but it did here. It's not as though Daniel truly had much of a choice. His job required him to be dishonest. Did that cause some trouble in the budding romance between Samiah and Daniel? Sure. But they were a strong couple and I believed they'd give me that HEA I needed. (Not-really-spoiler alert: they did.) 

The Boyfriend Project was my first Farrah Rochon book, but I can assure you it will not be my last. Since finishing it, I've purchased quite a few of her backlist titles. I just have to decide where to start. Of course, I'm also super anxious for the next books in this series. I can't wait to see what she does with London and Taylor and their stories. I am ready! 

Favorite Quotes:

If sexy and adorable had a baby together, the result would be Daniel Collins.

The premise of this book was great. I loved the woman pulling together to figure out the jerk that was stringing all them along. Rather than the stereotypical cat fight, I love that they banded together and created an app.I loved Samiah confidence and STEM field character. Those aren’t represented enough. Daniel was funny and sweet.

The Boyfriend Project is now on shelves and you won't want to miss out on this contemporary office romance. The story kicks off with a viral tweet that leads Samiah to the discovery that her boyfriend has been seeing other women. The women involved become fast friends, and provide Samiah with the support she needs to start actively going after her dreams. The three swear off men while they focus on their own goals, but Samiah soon finds herself drawn to her very cute new coworker.

Samiah isn't sure about entering into an office romance, but Daniel is keeping a secret, one that means a romance between them is technically forbidden. I loved reading along as they fought their feelings and finally gave in, and especially appreciated the way female friendship is a vital part of this story.

Samiah is paving the way in the Tech industry. She is successful, independent, fierce, and being cat-fished by her loser boyfriend. Will she find love with the help of her two new friends? The Boyfriend Project is a fast-paced, slow-burn romance that will have readers laughing out loud. Rochon expertly describes the sexual tension between Samiah and Daniel. Slowly working toward the exquisite release when they finally collide. Romance is not the only theme in this book, mystery and attempted murder give the plot anticipation that makes the romance feel real and tangible. Rochon lays out Daniel's assignment perfectly to how Samiah interacts with him professionally and personally. This helps to make both characters relatable and have a deeper substance than just their romance together. Rochon does not shy away from tackling gender and racial bias but uses authentic emotion to flesh these topics out in the story.

The Boyfriend Project 💙

Who’s in need of a good BIPOC romance read?!
This book is adorable and hysterical and such a cute romance reads.
It was a combination of John Tucker Must Die mixed with The Other Woman mixed with a nice mystery to tie it all together!
I loved the flow of this book and the banter between all the characters, I just wish that it had lasted longer!
The characters were so well developed and the steam level was 🔥🔥🔥 that I just didn’t want it to end. I felt like I could have read at least another 100 more pages by this author!
I also really loved how much the main male character understood or at least made a huge effort to try and understand the main characters struggles.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What are some of your favorite BIPOC romance reads?!

This is what a mature romance looks like, inside and out. Samiah is a strong-self-motivated woman with a career she loves. Daniel is a sweet, gentle warrior who protects and serves. Without giving too much away, these two individuals are wonderfully written and maintain a sense of trust throughout their relationship. Between a lot of stress and little bit of potential danger from their respective jobs, Samiah and Daniel pursue one of the healthiest romances I have ever seen written in fiction.

I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the excellent female friendship between Samiah, London, and Taylor. Their friendship began with a sleezeball and strengthened into a sisterhood. Everyone should read this book.

Samiah is a strong, multi-faceted heroine that is easy to admire and easier to root for. Her unexpected friendships with London and Taylor had to be my favorite part of the book. Unfortunately, the writing and pacing fell flat to me, but this is still a great, empowering read!

So... this book. I went into it thinking I would really love it, but, unfortunately, it just fell a little flat for me.

Thanks so much to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book for an honest review, as always, all opinions are my own.

This book follows Samiah Brooks, who, after being catfished and going viral, decides to focus more on developing her friendship app, and less on finding the perfect - or even a decent - man. Which sounds like a great plan, until Daniel Collins walks in one morning as the new R&D hire. Both Daniel and Samiah are smitten, but Samiah tries to stay focused on her work and her app, while Daniel may just be too good to be true, despite his less-than-professional feelings for his new coworker.

The plot of this book was easy enough to follow, we find out fairly early on why Daniel has become a member of the company and why a relationship with Samiah would be a bad idea. I was able to see where things would go fairly easily from the beginning, and while some may enjoy such predictability, I was hoping for something else to excite me.

The dynamic between Samiah and Daniel was perhaps my biggest roadblock in loving this book. I just really had a hard time reading the supposed chemistry between them. They seemed like they would be really good friends, but I struggled when they pushed the relationship beyond that. I'm not sure if it's just me or what but the chemistry between them was lacking for me.

Part of that lack of chemistry, I think, was because we didn't really see a lot about Samiah and Daniel's personal lives. Now, I didn't need a whole tragic backstory, but the few subtle references weren't enough for me to really become invested in the characters themselves, much less together. We get glimpses of Samiah and her sister, but even with that dynamic, I felt like I missed a book before this one about their relationship and her sister/brother-in-law's story. Taylor and London, the two other women who are catfished with Samiah also make steady appearances throughout the book, but I felt no real attachment to them either.

Now, there were some moments I did really enjoy - the discussions of double standards, racialization, patriarchy, women in STEM - these are all very important topics discussed throughout the book. However, they weren't enough to make up for other problems I had with the book on a larger scale.

Overall, this wasn't a bad book, just one that I didn't love.

I adored Daniel and Samiah. He was such a nurturing boyfriend with his random foot massages, pep talks, and ability to cook Korean meals. I loved Samiah's description of the difficulties of being underestimated as a Black woman in tech. I didn't find their instalove very compelling, and I didn't like the hero's deception and lies to the heroine.

Finding out on Twitter that your boyfriend is also dating two other women is the start to this wonderful book. Well written, funny, sexy and smart - I can’t wait for the next books in the series. You won’t be disappointed in this book!

The Boyfriend Project is the first book a new series by Farrah Rochon. After discovering that her boyfriend of five months has also been dating at least two other women, Samiah and her new best friends swear off men to take time to focus on themselves. This is, of course, promptly tested by the introduction of a gorgeous man, who appears as a new hire at Trendsetters, Samiahs workplace. Like other reviewers, I loved the building of the relationship between the women and I was very intrigued by the crime being investigated. Rochon handles racism and sexism with a deft hand, adding a bit of seriousness to this otherwise lighthearted story. I look forward to revisiting these women in upcoming books.