True Life in Uncanny Valley tells a compelling and relatable coming of age tale that tackles questions around family, personal identity, and the advent of AI.

Eleanor, the protagonist, has always wanted to know her father, a tech genius who had an affair with her mother and abandoned them all years ago. When a live-in nanny position at his home becomes available, she applies, seeing it as the perfect opportunity to get close to him and to know her half-brother, Arlo. The only catch is this: she must keep her true identity a secret.

With a few white lies, Eleanor is thrust into a world of money, power, and ego, and soon finds herself caught between blurring lines of reality. Not only is her father not who she thought he would be, but the new invention he's working on could change how humans interact with technology forever. Will she be able to do the right thing? If the answer is not so simple, what will she learn about herself along the way?

I liked how this novel explored the layers of parent-child dynamics, the haunting desire that so many feel to belong, and the power of found family. Eleanor is a timely character who experiences both the pangs of adolescence as well as the impetus to grow, learning more about herself, her family, and her place in the world in the process. The ending was a tad abrupt, but I appreciated that it wasn't wrapped up in a tidy bow that resolved everything because that's not how life works. Worth a gander!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC in exchange for my review.

You already know I love a fun book more than anything, and boy lemme tell ya this book was FUN!!!!! It had mystery and drama and adventure and a deeply relatable and painfully flawed MC with a 10/10 found family dynamic and a perfect level of realistic resolution at the ending.

I really really enjoyed Eleanor’s internal struggle with figuring out who she is and how her parents play into her perception of self. I loved seeing her relationship with Aurora, her unknowing stepmom, develop. That was my favorite part of the book hands down.

I also really enjoyed the writing style of this book. It was unusual but in a really approachable way that felt like how a sixteen year old might write her story. I felt like it added a lot of depth.

ALSO THAT ENDING. There was a twist at the end that I had NO idea was coming but made me SO happy. That was so well played. Incredible.

Bottom line: yes I’m gushing I don’t care I loved this one

Very much enjoyed this timely and tender story. This is the first book I've read by Caletti, but I will be on the look out for her work from now on.

I was not expecting this YA book so be so dang good! I am a first time reader of Caletti and only requested the ARC because I thought that the premise seemed entertaining. Boy was it ever! From the characters, to the prose, to the twists and turns I didn't see coming, I could not stop reading! I'm so thrilled that a book I thought would be just a fun time between chunky fantasy novels, turned into such a relatable, entertaining and thought provoking book! I will definitely be buying a copy for each of my book buddies!

I received an Advanced Reader's Copy of this book from Netgalley. This review is honest, unbiased, and completely my own.

I am having a hard time reading this and don't think I'll be able to finish. The voice this is written in is too surface level and doesn't really speak to the situation at hand in a realistic way.

This will be one of my favorite books of the year. A prescient concept combines with sparkling prose and endearing characters for a ride to remember. With twists upon twists, this book will make it impossible to stop reading.

It all begins with a lie—a fake last name. Eleanor, the illegitimate daughter of one of the world’s biggest tech billionaires, fabricates her identity to get close to Hugo, the father she never knew. As nanny to adorable four-year-old Arlo, Eleanor gains a front-row seat to the secrets of a tech genius and his influencer wife while also navigating a potential summer romance with the intriguing teenage window washer.

However, as she uncovers the lengths Hugo will go to in the name of progress and the lives he’s willing to ruin, Eleanor is forced to question everything she thought she knew, leading to a summer she’ll never forget.

The characters—aside from Hugo—are captivatingly endearing. From four-year-old Arlo, who’s so precious you’ll want to hug him, to the enigmatic second wife, Aurora, who’s nothing like her online persona, to her eccentric fortune-teller, Leo Gemini, who exerts an outsized influence on their lives, each one brings richness and depth to the story. I became deeply invested in their lives and was genuinely sad when the book ended. I would happily spend more time with Eleanor, Aurora, and Arlo—and this story will stay with me for a long time.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"Sure, a robot can replicate our best parts - out creativity, our talents, the ability to solve the world's most difficult problems, and on and on, but maybe what makes us most human is the way we can entirely fuck things up."

Maybe this should be required reading for all the generative AI people? It shows how the upcoming generation is TERRIFIED and in awe and feeling all sorts of emotions, but the biggest emotion is human connection. Eleanor's narrative is a reminder of the importance of art, how uncomfortable it is to hold multiple truths, and that the world can feel all too big when you are learning to take it on. She's not a perfect character by any means, but she is perfect as a voice of how so many people feel about big tech and billionaires and the ever-rapid pace of life in the 2020s.

I will say: the best character in this is the relationship between Eleanor and Arlo. Every interaction between the two of them sings.

I wish that some things were explored more in depth, like Clementine's abandonment and Eleanor's non-allergies, but those things were sacrificed in favor of repeating the message again. The book can be super preachy, but let's be real: many people need the message hammered into their (human!) skull.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I will not be finishing this as there was language that I did not appreciate and the writing style of the story was extremely weird and distracting. I couldn't even get into the story because of how it was written.

I was thrilled to read this book, as I've been a fan of Deb Caletti since my early teenage years. While the smaller themes, like comics and AI, didn’t resonate with me as much, the story as a whole was another solid addition to Caletti's work. This book is perfect for a new generation of YA readers, offering much-needed stories about the power of friendship, self-love, and acceptance.

First off, who names a dog Boolean.....though that kind of grew on me by the end of this novel.

I wanted to be a bigger fan of this novel than I was. I grew up reading Deb Caletti's books and loved them. I also read some of her more recent works like Plan A. However, I felt like this novel was more of a hype grab than it needed to be. Overall, this novel could have used another round of editing to make everything more realistic and have a better flow. I spent m0st of the novel asking myself what kind of rich/important family hires a nanny without doing a background check on them first and who doesn't recognize their own children when they're right in front of them. I struggled to see past that for a large portion of the novel and I know it was supposed to be a plot twist, but it kind of ruined the fun for me.

I also didn't really like the portrayal of Eleanor's mother and sister throughout the novel. I felt like Eleanor was getting some unfair hate and was being poorly treated for trying to do something for the summer.

I felt like there were lots of unnecessary tangents, especially in the beginning, and wasn't a huge fan of the general resolution of the novel. I get that it's YA and is supposed to be mostly lighthearted, but it felt like something was missing and the plot felt rushed. I know this is the ARC and there's a chance some of that is resolved in the final version, but I can't get past the feeling that one more round of editing would make a huge difference here. However, that being said, I think if I was a teenager again and picked this novel up, I would have loved it without a second thought.

I nearly gave up on this novel as I had a difficult time relating to the main character. In the end, I liked that the characters embraced the universal truth that a person doesn't have to try to be like everyone else. It's better to just be your one true self.
High school readers will enjoy this read.

I could not love this story anymore!! Eleanor is such a fun character and I love the theme of family and nothing is as it seems. I have already recommended this to students and will absolutely be getting a copy or two for my classroom!!

There was a lot going on here. The preposterous plotlines made me roll my eyes, and Eleanor is unlikeable from the start. You're lying to your father who wants nothing to do with you, and while deceiving him you stumble across a robot-involved conspiracy? Ok.

Publication: March 18th, 2025

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is such a fun book! Elenor her famous father from afar and when her spying leads to posting a live-in nanny job for Hugo's youngest son, her half-brother, she knows she can't pass this up, she can learn more about her father and his family. with a few lies, Eleanor is put into a unfamiliar and of money ego and very well-paced book.

I think a lot of people are going to like this book, especially elementary and early middle schoolers

A true 5 star read - this book is good! I absolutely knew I’d enjoy it but it was un-put-down-able!

I enjoyed the fact that it wasn’t all happy endings in the end and it was relatable in the ways that life and circumstances happen. Sometimes we need those super happy stories that end and make us all happy and feel all heart warmed - but this story makes you think and leaves room for some growth for the characters and the plot/story.

I had started to tell a bit about the story itself but it is so much that think it’s best left to each reader to jump in with both feet and experience as you go. In my opinion from reading other reviews I expected things or to even feel a certain way that just didn’t align with how I experienced the book while reading.

Such a phenomenal book & worth the read and recommendation for sure!

True Life in Uncanny Valley by Deb Caletti is a compelling novel about self-discovery, family, and the blurred lines between reality and technology. Eleanor, the relatable protagonist, grapples with secrets about her father, Hugo, a tech genius, while stepping into her role as a nanny for her half-brother. The novel beautifully explores parent-child dynamics and the emotional power of found families. Caletti’s commentary on artificial intelligence adds a thought-provoking layer, making this a timely and heartwarming story about identity, truth, and the connections we choose.

True Life in Uncanny Valley took a little bit for me to be on board. The beginning dragged a bit, but I think it also helped to highlight the humdrum of Eleanor's life- not feeling like she fits in with her mom and sister, not knowing/having a relationship with her life, and lacking in self confidence. Eleanor's story is relatable- wanting to fit in, wanting to know someone, wanting to do the right thing- but not sure how, and even wanting to be (like) someone else. I found myself sad more for the relationship she had with her mom and sister than the one she lacked with her father. The story wasn't predictable, which is a nice change from a lot of stories out there. I do wish there was more to the ending, but I also hope there is a sequel to this book to show how Eleanor's relationship with her brother and Aurora grow, in addition to her friendships, and, hopefully, the dynamic with her mom and sister change and she can feel like she belongs.

Deb Caletti did a great job of showing how real... and creepy AI can become. I'd love to say it was futuristic, but with all the advancements being made and the interest society seems to have with pushing the boundaries. I also highlighted some of the passages in the book, as they struck and stuck with me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Gripping and thought-provoking young adult novel that delves into the complexities of identity and family secrets. The story follows Eleanor, a girl who has always watched her famous father, Hugo Harrison, from afar. When she gets the chance to work as a nanny for her half-brother, she steps into a world of wealth and deception, determined to uncover the truth about her father and herself.

Caletti’s writing is both engaging and insightful, capturing the emotional turmoil and curiosity of a girl caught between two worlds. The characters are richly developed, with Eleanor’s journey of self-discovery being particularly compelling. The plot is full of twists and turns, keeping readers hooked as Eleanor navigates a maze of lies and hidden truths.

If you enjoy stories that explore the intersection of technology, family dynamics, and personal growth, “True Life in Uncanny Valley” is a must-read.

Eleanor has been growing up with her mom and sister because her mom had them in an on-and-off affair with someone who, over the years, became this tech genius, founder of the company that offered the society several very much loved apps - social media and AI-powered stuff, lately. Eleanor is sixteen and so eager to get to know her father that she literally spends hours in a car parked across the road spying on his luxurious house. When it turns out that the family is looking for a summer nanny, she can't miss this chance to get to know her father's family.

This is a great book that raises many questions that were previously in the domain of sci-fi - but, seriously, between today's tech and the one imagined in the book there's such a small leap that I can't even call that a fantastic premise. What is real and how do we know it? (Curated social media representations, I am looking at you! - brought to a level of absurd here) What is human and don't we lose that precious humanity in striving to overcome its imperfections? (But if we are coming deeply traumatized by (narcissistic, I guess) people who reared us in childhood - do we really need that imperfectly human aspect in our lives?) And the nature of art as that human, human thing.

Eleanor is also a fan of Golden-Age comics, strives to be a comics artist herself and has an interesting critical take on her favorite superhero comics from the 1940s, Miss Fury (which I assumed, while reading, to be an invented one for the sake of this story, but a brief search proved me wrong). And that introduces a whole bunch of additional big issues to tackle: how character arcs from our favorite books can be a guiding light for us on our way but we ultimately need to break off and find an own path both in our "character dynamics" and in what we bring in to the world as creators. There's additional intertextual play: every chapter has a kind of a graphic epigraph from the Miss Fury comics, and it seems even more valuable now that I know this intertext wasn't invented for the sake of this story. Eleanor and her friends also have a book club, so some additional intertexts for the topics of interest are also quite seamlessly introduced into the story that way.

What I also really liked about this book is that it is not falling into the pitfall of many (even totally not bad otherwise) YA books that tend to overcompensate by the end of the story for what it dared to disturb in the reader. This one does not end with all dreams fulfilled and all troubles solved, which would seriously deprive the heroine of a growing-up point.

The only thing that didn't like as much is the narrator's tone in the introductory chapters and then in the very end again. I guess everyone has one of those friends who just never shut up and make simple stories they are trying to retell unbearable by going on endless tangents that seem relevant to them but you have no idea why the story derailed into this tangent again, so you are both interested to learn what actually happened to your friend in that main story and extremely annoyed by the tangents, so you have to remind them what the main story was and that you still don't know how that turned out... well, this is how Eleanor's tone in the introductory chapters felt, except for lack of the possibility to re-rail the story onto the main track by the reminder. But! I actually didn't notice this after ~25% that much, so if the first part still interests you enough, just know it will become less annoying soon and you can follow the heroine's collision course with the reality.

4,5 stars, highly recommend.

I received a free eARC of this book through NetGalley; the review above is my honest and independent opinion of it.

"True Life in Uncanny Valley" by Deb Caletti is a wild ride through the blurred lines of identity, family secrets, and the disorienting world of tech elitism. Caletti weaves a story that feels like Black Mirror meets The Parent Trap, with Eleanor caught in the middle of a twisted game of deception. I couldn't put it down—not just because of the suspense, but because Eleanor's journey hits so close to home for anyone who's ever felt like an outsider in their own life. The way Caletti explores the idea of identity in an era where everything can be curated, edited, and faked is chilling and deeply resonant. It's a sharp, thought-provoking read that makes you question not just the characters, but yourself. Perfect for anyone who loves a story with layers of intrigue, a dash of romance, and a whole lot of emotional depth.