Wow, this was not at all when I thought it was going to be and honestly, I was a little skeptical getting into it but once it took off, it really took off. It was really very good. Very suspenseful and a new twist on the AI/synth story

4.5 Stars

What are the chances I read two books around The Bachelor like shows in a month span and love them both when I avoid that show in real life? In the case of Made for You, throw in AI and murder and I’ll devour it in a day.

Told between past and present, we follow Julia, a Synth (synthetic woman), who was designed to compete on The Proposal to win Josh’s heart. Fifteen months later, Julia and Josh are married with a baby when Josh goes missing and Julia races against time to find out the truth as the local sheriff hone in on her as the main suspect.

There’s twists, red-herrings, oddball characters, and a few moments that make you think, but all of this combines in a way that makes you turn the pages and keeps you guessing. I did feel the ending and ultimate reveals were a little rushed, but overall an amazing sci-fi mystery.

Oh wow, I wasn’t expecting any of these punches. Oddly satisfying. Now I need to go watch the bachelor.
Though I had a few issues with the plot and really disliked the backstory of Indiana land, I had a blast reading this book. I could NOT put it down.
There were moments that didn’t make sense but it was such a fun read that I will definitely be recommending it!

Science Fiction Mystery Thriller about a synthetic woman's world's shattered when the husband she met on a reality TV show goes missing and she becomes the prime suspect.

1/5 stars: This is Satterthwaite's Science Fiction Mystery Thriller and features a synthetic woman and new mother who's rocky life is shattered when the husband she met on reality TV disappears and she's forced to find out what happened after she becomes the main suspect. Told in dual timelines, Satterthwaite's writing and character work are nicely done. Unfortunately, this just wasn't a book for me; leading me to DNF it at 22%.

I received this eARC thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing, MIRA in exchange for an honest review. Publishing dates are subject to change.

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Bachelor meets AI, one of the best compelling and riveting books I read in 2024.

⭐️ ⭐️⭐️ 3.8 Sensational Synthetic Stars

If you’re looking for an entertaining romance mystery with a unique storyline that is thought provoking and unique then look no further Made For You is your next read !!

“Hi, my name is Julia. I’m a Synth . And I’m here to find love …❤️”

Read this if you like :
🤖 First person narrative
🤖 Dual Timeline
🤖 Reality TV
🤖 AI
🤖 Thought provoking reads

Ok where are all my Bachelor Reality TV lovers at ?? Made For You is literally written for you !!

Julia is the first Synth to be able to have babies and is a guest contestant on the show The Proposal and she was designed to attract Bachelor Josh with hopes she would end up as his wife .

This twisty far fetched novel explores the AI world and often has a creepy factor with neighbour Bob and just the fact that even though this is fiction , with all the new AI technology today it seems at times it could be possible 🤷🏻‍♀️😳

In present time we find Julia with a baby and Josh is now missing ….and Julia has been accused of murder 🔪!!

This is a fast read that will take you on a crazy ride so buckle up tight for this one and you won’t believe the ending !!

Thank you NetGalley ,Harlequin Trade Publishing and Jenna Satterthwaite for this unique fun digital ARC!

Respectfully Another Read by Angie

This is without a doubt going to be in my top 5 books of 2024. Even just 20% into Made for You, I knew it would be a five star read, and I haven't been this excited to recommend a book in so long! I loved the way this story was told- with the "then" vs "now" flashbacks, which, by the end, have an even starker contrast. All of the reveals had me gasping and reeling in shock! The last 30% especially was gripping. I think the reality dating show premise in the beginning of the book is perfect for inviting the reader into the fun, juicy world of TV romance, but things change very quickly. I also loved how the author presented so many interesting questions in this book. When you're literally invented for a purpose regarding a man, what does that make you as a woman? Just knowing what Julia's true programming was for is enough to make the title mean so much more now. What I thought was especially brilliant was how "then" Julia and "now" Julia are so wildly different towards the end. I can barely articulate how engrossed I was in this story; it's truly all-consuming. By the end, there's almost a parallel universe aspect to the "then" and "now" storylines. The final moments are so satisfying and I was really content with where everything ended up. I just think this book was completely incredible. I read it in basically two sittings, and just thinking about it during the day made me giddy. I paused for a few days around the 50% mark, and I loved it so much then, but I had NO IDEA how much better it would get, which is insane to me. I am absolutely going to be raving about this everywhere! Thank you so much for the e-ARC.

This was a clever mystery with a Sci Fi core. Imagine "The Bachelor" if one of the contestants was a synthetic robot that was created for the main person on the show.

This story is told from the perspective of the main female character, Julia. The book starts with Julia waking up groggy from a night with too much wine and a big fight with her husband, Josh. When he doesn't respond to her texts, she starts to get worried. He said he was going camping, but usually he would have checked in by now. Is he leaving her?

Julia isn't sure what to think and when the cops find evidence of foul play, she is the prime suspect. Can she figure out who killed Josh before she's convicted of his murder? Who else might have wanted him dead?

Thanks to netgalley for an ARC to review. I enjoyed it!

Interesting
I must not have read the description very well. When I started reading this and learned the main character is basically a robot, I groaned. That just isn't my cup of tea, unless it is written by someone like Stephen King. But, I stuck with it and actually enjoyed the book. Some parts were not very realistic. There are two companies making "Synths". One has made twins and another made Julia. The twins cost millions of dollars and were made to marry wealthy brothers. Julia was made to attract the contestant on what is basically "The Bachelor". These synthetic people act and feel like humans, including their ability to give birth and nurse their children. It seemed like there should be a lot of less-developed people before these three nailed their human-likeness. Also, the man behind Julia drove a beat up car and didn't seem to have much money. Where did the money to build Julia come from, and why did he/how was he able to basically give her away for free?

But, the plot was good and it made me consider some legal and ethical questions that hopefully won't need to be answered in my lifetime, but will certainly come up in a few decades.

This is my favorite book of the year so far!! I loved the idea of a synth, I love the Bachelor so those vibes were welcomed. I could not get enough of this one!!

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review. Made for You was fun to read and I absolutely loved it! I look forward to reading more from this author.

Made For You was auch an interesting book. We alternate between past and present chapters. In the past chapters,Julia, a synth, is created specifically for a reality TV bachelor, and she is a contestant on the show where she aims to win his heart. In the present, she's married her bachelor, has a young baby, and her husband goes missing. It was a mash up of a thriller, a mystery and a romance. This one is right on point with recent popular tropes: books set in reality TV shows and Bots/AI protagonists. I personally did not enjoy one of the twists, but other than that, this book was a fun read.

At 400 pages this was a fast and riveting read. The premise is intriguing and I was fully immersed and engaged into the story line immediately.

It’s about a synth with the ability to mimic human traits such as feeling pain and bearing children. She was specifically created to be the perfect contestant and match for Josh to star on the latest reality show much like The Bachelor. It’s told in past and present timelines in first person POV through the eyes of the synth, Julia.

It would have been a solid five stars for me but I had to dock one for its length. The story was a bit drawn out towards the end and the telling of Deborah’s backstory felt loosely opened-ended.
However the main issue for me is Julia’s attempt to soften the blows by over-rationalizing Josh’s actions. Although I can relate to some of Julia’s sad sentiments I’m not a fan of weak FMCs. I do like her motherly dedication and strong bond with Annaliegh but cannot justify Andy’s fate.

As a fictional debut, I enjoyed the author’s spin on a speculative future using synths and the ethics regarding them. Overall it was an easy to read page-turner with the right amount of suspense to keep me engaged. I look forward to what Jenna writes next!


Thank you HTP and MIRA for my digital readers copy of this book.

Wow. I absolutely loved this book! I’ve read two books about a girl going on a reality dating show recently. This one blows the other one out of the water, because it is totally original. Not only is this book unique because the main character is a synth, it was a new look at robots living among us in general. Julia, the main character, is the first of a new generation of synthetic women, and she’s even able to have children. She eats and sleeps and cries like us. She wins the heart of the man she’s after on the reality show, but shortly after they’re married he goes missing. She’s in a small Indiana town where bots aren’t exactly welcomed. With a sheriff snooping around, she’s on a race against time to find out what really happened to her husband before she’s arrested, or worse.

I’ve never read a book like this. A futuristic bachelor with a twist. I not only loved reading this, I was able to talk about the premise with my teens at dinner and they were actually interested 🤣. Is this what the future will look like? I was surprised to find myself rooting for a character who is not a human, but I was rooting for her. At times I wished there was a little more light in this dark tale, but overall I really enjoyed it!

Okay, this vastly exceeded my expectations. I am a devoted Bachelor watcher and reader of all books that involve a bachelor-type show, and this… might actually be the best one I’ve read? Maybe because it isn’t a romance, but using a robot woman whose life literally started the day she went on the bachelor (called “the proposal” in the book) turned out to be a really great lens for examining the power dynamics and emotional manipulation that take place on the show. I also felt like the other contestants were a lot more fleshed out than in other bachelor-show books.
Moving on to the plot: this was a totally bonkers ride with “WTF” moments at every turn. I don’t even want to give any detail about it because it’s honestly such an experience, which is kind of impressive given how many domestic thrillers have flooded the market since Gone Girl was published.
Finally, the aspect that boosted this from 4 stars to 5 for me was how feministly empowering it felt. The vibe kind of reminded me of Jane Doe by Victoria Helen Stone, a book I adored. Julia’s arc is ultimately about agency and about accepting the parts of yourself that make you unpalatable to others - and realizing the strength of those parts.

The Bachelor 🤝 Ex Machina

Julia is a synthetic human, otherwise known as a Synth. She was designed by WekTech to participate on the hit reality dating show, The Proposal. The novel follows two timelines. The first Julia’s experience on the show trying to get the bachelor, Josh, to choose her. The other is present day, where Julia is married to Josh and has a daughter with him. Julia’s life should be perfect, but her marriage is already being tested and the townsfolk loudly discriminate against Synths. When Josh goes missing and then is determined murdered, the police see it as a way to finally get rid of Julia. In order to protect her baby and her own freedom, Julia has to figure out who actually killed her husband before the police pin it on her.

Firstly, this would make an excellent TV show or movie. Secondly, this book is absolutely amazing. I couldn’t stop thinking about it when I wasn’t reading it, and when I was reading I was completely enraptured in the story. Not only does it pose high-brow intellectual questions and philosophical debates, but it does so in a way that’s extremely entertaining. Satterthwaite expertly peels back the layers of the plot through switching back and forth between the past and the present timelines. The reader’s feelings about every character in this novel change so many times. It’s a wild ride and shows how well this author is at developing her characters. The ending was perfect and I genuinely had no idea where this was going to go at any point. At the end of the novel, there are discussion questions that I would normally ignore, but I took the time to read them and they are incredibly thought-provoking. This would be a great book club read.

I hope I sold you to read this book, because you will not regret it if you do!

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A tense and twist-filled read. Julia is only the third synthetic woman in the US and the first to be made to compete on a reality dating show. Julia automatically gains a million social media followers after her debut but not everyone is comfortable with “Synths” becoming part of society. All Julia wants to do is love Josh but when he disappears, she must learn to think for herself…

I had no idea how the story would unfold as we get to know Julia and I was enthralled. The story moves back and forth from the present to Julia’s time on reality TV. The novel poses intriguing questions about technology, autonomy, agency, women’s rights and doesn’t necessarily explore them thoroughly and some of the characters are not fully fleshed out. Still, this is an entertaining read with a creative plot.

Thank you to Harlequin and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

If you are a fan of the television show "The Bachelor" and/or "The Bachelorette," and you are intrigued by our new AI world, then you are going to love this book.

Made For You by Jenna Satterthwaite was such a fun book to read. She mixes pop culture with the future of AI, and then included the components of a good mystery. What first caught my eye was the cover of the book. Wow. The colors and images made me want to read the book right away.

Let's just admit that the future of AI is fun, scary, overwhelming, shocking, and exciting all at the same time. Now what if people were created as AI humans, known as Synths, and could be produced specifically for another human being? Josh, a mortal human being, was the bachelor on the show "The Proposal." Julia was a synth created specifically for Josh. Will he choose her? She looks human, can have a baby, and thinks and feels just like a human, but she was created right before the show. She doesn't have a family or memories to back on, nor can she cause harm to other humans.

Can a Synth be accused of murder if she is programmed to not hurt other humans?

This book was funny, mysterious, but what I liked most of all was that it made me think. What will AI be like in the future? Would you befriend a Synth? Should they be treated like everyone else?

I gave this book five stars because it is a book that I will remember for a while. This is my true test of a five star book. It wasn't deep, but it was fun to think about when I finished reading it.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and MIRA Books for my free copy. This is my honest review.

I would recommend Made for You for anyone looking for an interesting premise that makes you think about what it means to be a woman. For example, Julia is marketed as being the first Synth to have the ability to reproduce, which makes her an "upgrade" from previous Synths (all who are, interestingly, female and also programmed for men). The beginning and the middle of the book moved slowly due to the repetition and lack of character development. I also felt that a lot of the content in the reality tv timeline didn't contribute much to climax, which is a big miss in a mystery/thriller for me. I was underwhelmed by the ending of the book, as it was slightly predictable and had conflicting messaging.

Thank you NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, & MIRA for the ARC copy of this book.