Quirky, heartfelt, and cute sci-fi. I suspect the audio version will be excellent. A recommended purchase for most general fiction collections.

I gave this book a 3, it's a 3 1/2.  It was a cute book and an easy read.  It's sweet story about Jarod the robot who suddenly experiences sadness and discovers overtime that he has emotions and goes on to create a life for himself and fulfill his dreams.  He lives his home and starts a new life.

The summary sounded great, but I couldn't get past more than the first two pages because of all! the! exclamation! points! Probably doesn't help that my favorite future bot is Murderbot, so...

An interesting premise that could have been a good short story. The writing is repetitive and bogged down in too many details. The one thing I enjoyed were the pop culture referrences.

I tried to get through this one but I couldn't.

The concept was really cool, but the way the way the robot talked and attempted to use slang but just ended up being repetitive was too much. "I cannot!" "10/10" "Ha" and more.

I get that it was a robot talking, but I think this book could have been so much better if the robot actually talked instead of sounding so repetitive.

Sorry, I tried.

An amazing debut novel by Simon Stephenson. Futuristic tale of a very human looking robot developing emotions by watching old movies. It was satirical, laugh out loud funny, and presented an interesting perspective (the robot's) of the human condition. I couldn't put it down. And highly recommend it.

Wacky tale of a bot who begins to have human feelings and aspirations.  Jared, a bot dentist, wants to become a famous screen writer and sets off to Los Angeles to achieve his goal.  Funny and poignant in strange ways.

Humans!
I cannot!

This book is set in the future, after the "Great Crash" where life as we currently know it, ended. Elon Musk has incinerated the moon and driverless Ubers are the main mode of transportation. Bots, who are basically humans, but are programed for certain tasks and jobs, and hard wired to approach everything from a cost benefit analysis perspective. Jared, a bot who is programmed to be a dentist is surprised when his human friend diagnoses him with depression. It's surprising because he's not supposed to have feelings! This sets him off on a journey of self discovery and he realizes that maybe bots aren't as unfeeling as one might think... 

This is a heartwarming story from a very logical and practical point of view of the human experience. The crazy things we do that don't make sense logically. How we are when we're angry, in love etc. 

I found the narrator a bit monotonous, which makes sense since he's a bot. But it did make it a little bit harder to stay interested. I might have enjoyed it a bit more if I was into sci-fi. 

Thank you to Harlequin and NetGalley for the free eGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

Set my Heart to Five by Simon Stephenson is a debut novel centered around Jared, a dentist robot who was designed to experience no feelings. Soon Jared discovers he can experience a full range of emotions and goes to LA to discover himself and write a screenplay about robots. I found this premise very unique and Jared was an endearing character. However, I sometimes found the pacing to be slow at times and a bit repetitive because of the dialogue. I found the commentary about the world astute and would greatly benefit from a shorter novel. The author's writing is creative and unique so I will keep a lookout for his future novels!

Many thanks to the publisher Hanover Square Press and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

In a future world where humans have destroyed the moon, everybody takes driverless ubers, and bots have taken over the jobs humans don't want to do, such as dentist, there's a humanoid bot named Jared who just so happens to be a dentist. Oh, and he also starts to have feelings. 

Jared is the main character in Simon Stephenson's Set My Heart to Five, a charming story that combines a first-person narrative with screenplay-style interludes. 

Spurred on by a fellow doctor friend and a newfound love of old movies, Jared escapes his routine bot life and a summons to be wiped, and heads to California to make a movie sympathetic to bots. At least that's his goal. He manages to attend a screenwriting class where he wows the teacher and producer with his script. He also falls in love with his female co-worker. 

But bots are not allowed to have feelings, and movies that show bots in a good light are not well-received, so what can Jared do?

This book is about more than bot prejudice. It uses bots to point out the absurdity of humans and how we fear whatever is different without giving it a chance.

Set My Heart to Five is a very original and humorous story set in the future about Jared, a dentist robot. We see the world and humanity through Jared's eyes and observations; naive and strictly logical, humans baffle and confuse him.

Jared thinks he is malfunctioning. When a soft and hard reset both fail to solve his issue, he seeks counseling because that is what humans do when they have a problem. Ha! And he would really like to fix the problem so he doesn't have to turn himself in to the Robot Bureau to be destroyed. To his dismay, he learns that he is starting to experience feelings, an entirely unexpected situation, because bots are not programmed to have any feelings.

I give this book high marks for originality, but there are things that took away from my enjoyment of the read. For a 'bot with no emotions, Jared is quite excitable from page one with exclamation points EVERYWHERE. (Are there any left?) That just didn't ring true to me. Also, as he developed emotions, I expected to see more growth in his observations and a more natural flow to his commentary, but they pretty much held to the same format throughout the book. I also found the book to be overlong.

This is a debut novel,and an impressive one. I will definitely be watching this author in the future.

My thanks to NetGalley and Hanover Square Press for allowing me to read a copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions stated here are my own.

Very difficult read.  Unrelatable characters, just didn't flow.

Really wanted to love this book - but "I Cannot!"

This was a tough read.  In fact, it was such a difficult read that it stalled my entire reading flow for a week.  I thought the premise of the book was fantastic and was excited to start it, but after I did the writing was so stilted and  repetitive that it struggled to keep my interest for very long.   The story certainly picked up about halfway through and was much more engaging.  Overall, it is not a title that I will be quick to recommend to my library patrons.

Set My Heart to Five: A Novel by Simon Stephenson | Sep 1, 2020 | Hanover Square Press

What you should know about Jared:

Jared is a bot, which you can think of as a replicant, humaniform droid, synthetic person, or whatever.
He's also a dentist. Because when bots were created and laws were enacted to close most professions to them, somebody forgot to include dentistry, possibly on purpose.
His favorite exclamation of surprise/bamboozlement/disbelief is: I cannot!

I cannot!

Set My Heart to Five is the heartwarming story of how a bot built with no feelings discovers that he has a full set, and sets out to save the world. Or maybe write a screenplay that will teach humans that bots aren't evil soulless machines they should hate and fear. Fans of Murderbot will love it Fans of Douglas Adams will love it. Fans of Issac Asimov's robot stories will be bamboozled, but they'll still love it.

But wait, there's more. Not only do you get a grand tour of every human emotion possible as Jared decodes them on the handy Feelings Wheel the kindly blowhard Dr. Goldblatt gives him, plus a few in German that didn't make the list but should have, you also get a masterclass in the film as Jared follows his doctor's orders and watches old films to explore his feelings. If you're not careful you may learn something about films. Or humans, or life.

Having feelings is definitely a bot-erasure level malfunction. Running away and passing yourself off as a human is more of an incineration level event. But don't worry. As Jared learns, "Getting incinerated isn't all that painful. It's the horrible experiments they do to you just before it that hurt."

What are the chances that Jared can achieve his impossible goals? Impossible! No rational bot would even try. What Jared discovers is how emotions let humans take on the impossible, and why it's not irrational at all.

I cannot!

Set My Heart to Five is a thought-provoking exploration of one bot's search for self-actualization that would have made Douglas Adams proud. It's Simon Stephenson's debut novel (because his first book, Let Not The Waves Of The Sea was a memoir and doesn't count). He was born in Scotland, loves movies (except horror), and is a screenwriter in LA. Highly Recommended.

I received an electronic ARC from Hanover Square Press through NetGalley.
Told from the perspective of a robot who has begun to develop human emotions. Jared is programmed to be a dentist and becomes friends with a human doctor who shares the office building. Dr. Glundenstein identifies the emotions Jared is feeling (depression). Jared flees Michigan and assumes a new identity in California. Readers see a love story develop and end, as well as seeing how the story came about. Jared is writing his own story to be shared by the doctor.
The writing style was frustrating to read though true to the parameters set up for how robots would write. The plot was overlong and rehashed several points far too often. Though an interesting premise, it was too long and rambling to work.

I wanted to love this book so much. I just did not get drawn in- it felt repetitive and while there was growth of Jared I didn’t think that it was what I was looking for. I do think that it’s well written but the story just did not grab me as I’d hoped.


I received a copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review via NetGalley.

Jared is a bot who is discovering human emotions.   He compares himself to his forefather, a toaster (which you see pictured on the cover),  "I can no more feel than a toaster!  Ha!" 
   That word "Ha!" is used frequently.  In fact, most of the book is repetitivie.    I should add a few exclamation marks!  Because Jared relishes in exclamation marks!   Tiresome! Ha!
    Thanks to Netgalley for permitting me to read this book.

Thank you, NetGalley, for this ARC in exchange for review.

It was slow-going for me to get into this book. Right away we know Jared is a dentist bot, programmed to be logical and without feeling. Through a fellow doctor, Jared discovers he has "feelings" and goes on the epic road trip to discover more.

With intentions to get to LA and become a screenwriter, Jared encounters a multitude of humans - capable of betrayal, rudeness, superiority and helpfulness. But humans hate bots. What happens when Jared falls in love with a co-worker?

Jared's style of speaking can be irritating, but I understand it's purpose. The book was a light read and a respite from the heaviness of the world right now.

Jared is a normal dentist in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Normal, in 2053, means that he is a bot: a genetically engineered human with a biological computer for a brain. Bots serve in a wide variety of occupations, as long as the occupations don’t require feelings, empathy, or creativity, traits that have been programmed out of bots. When Jared goes to see an old movie on the advice of an acquaintance, he begins to discover that he is in fact capable of feeling, dreaming, and irrationality. The rest of the story follows Jared’s attempts to realize his dreams, fall in love, and make the world a safer and better place for bots everywhere, inspired by the golden rules of filmmaking. 

I was very engaged with the story at the beginning of the novel. Jared’s bamboozlement (one of his favorite words) with humanity is humorous and endearing. Unfortunately, even as Jared does grow and learn, his constant state of surprise and incredulity does not change. This turned the book from consistently humorous to tedious with occasional moments of humor. It’s still a good story, with echoes of dystopian novels, but I think it could have been accomplished more effectively had it been shorter. There’s plenty of content for book groups to discuss, and movie fans may find the game of “guess the movie” entertaining, if a bit easy. A read worth considering if you’re a big fan of quirky sci-fi. 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review via NetGalley.

I'm not going to finish this book.  I made it to 18%.  It's an interesting premise, but it's supposed to be set 50 yrs in the future, but seems like more.  Most of the book, so far, is the inner monologue of a bot, and there- are alot of exclamation points.  The point of the book is that the bots don't have feelings, and this bot develops feelings, but he's describing likes and dislikes before the big development.  Also, it says bots don't have feelings more than once, but as soon as he inexplicably heads impossible feelings, they're forbidden instead.  I'm going to buy it for the library bc I think there- will be an interest in it, and my nit-picking is bc it isn't to my taste.