There are so many things that drew me into this book. Obvs, I love STEM representation in romance and really appreciate characters who are career-focused. Samiah is the best of the best at her company and she is very aware of how much she can help young Black kids get an introduction into STEM fields. Ok, now Daniel. I love a broody, alpha, damaged hero but sometimes you just need a well-adjusted hero! Daniels is allll cinnamon roll. He was caring and considerate of Samiah and her goals. But Daniel has a secret and it could make or break their relationship.

Samiah has a good job with a tech firm in Austin. Her love life however, is not as good. She discovers via twitter that her new boyfriend also has 2 other women. The 3 women confront him and they become a viral sensation. A true friendship is born between Samiah, Londa and Taylor. They support each other. Samiah develops an office romance with the new guy at work. But Daniel has secrets. He also has a job to complete that this job involves deceiving Samiah. Bad guys are exposed, secrets are revealed and Samiah takes steps to advance her dreams. There could have been more groveling. Danial was forgiven too quickly. 4 stars for the female friendships. A copy of this book was provided by NetGalley for review.

Contains: tech geeks, strong female friendships and intrigue.

Awwww!
I just finished The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon and I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!
It was my first Farrah Rochon and probably won't be my last! ;)
This book is the story of Samiah (a strong, independent, intelligent and gorgeous woman) and Daniel (handsome, kinda mysterious and charming as hell!).
Awwwww! It's such a woooooooonderful book about strong women, friendship, love, selfcare and suspense! Ha! Such a wonderful storyline!It was the right book I needed at the moment!
I can't stop swooning and smiling right now!
Thank you Farrah Rochon! ♡♡♡

Good read!! Samiah & Daniel’s story was refreshing and well written. After being cat-fished and creating a pact to ward off men, Samiah is conflicted at what to do with the attraction to Daniel but she let’s go and let love set in. I would recommend this read to any avid romance reader!!

A cute and quirky office romance with solid female friendships, a sexy book boyfriend deep undercover, and a sizzling relationship with great tension and banter. A refreshing and trendy tech-infuzed read.!

Blurb: When Samiah discovers her boy friend is cheating on her and several other women to boot, not all is doomed. She develops a deep friendship with two of the other girls who got dooped.

The friendship develops into “The Boyfriend Project,“ a plan where the three friends try to focus on themselves instead of on a relatioship.

What Samiah doesn’t expect is a blossoming friendship with her new cute co-worker Daniel. The two are instantly drawn to each other, and even though neither one of them has time for a relationship, they can’t seem to stay away from each other.

This was such a pleasurable read! Daniel was tender and thoughtful, while Samiah was the very definition of what I look for in a female lead. Rochon created some kick ass female characters who are intelligent, kind, and supportive of one another!

It was empowering to watch these three women lean on each other and I also like how the author shed shed some light on the struggles of black women in the work force. The ending is hilarious and I’m really hoping we get Taylor’s story next. This was a total delight!

The Boyfriend Project has the ideal mix of fun, friends, and romance that make for a perfect summer read.

When Samiah Brooks’ boyfriend cancels dinner at the last minute, she plays it cool. She knows what it’s like to have to work late and besides, he’s taking her to a fantastic club later that night. As she’s perfecting her smoky-eye in anticipation of their rendezvous, her sister begins reading live tweets of a girl named Taylor about her date from hell. Taylor’s acerbic wit makes the tweets prime entertainment, but her descriptions of her companions’ car, home and habits have an eerie familiarity. By the time Taylor describes her date’s favorite dish Samiah’s not laughing. That meal can only be found at one local eatery- and given the other information the lady has tweeted, the man on that date can only be Samiah’s boyfriend. Samiah is all about confronting her problems and fortunately, the restaurant is right down the street. Her arrival is a welcome distraction for Taylor and as the two bond over their hatred of “Craig” (probably not his real name) they are joined by London, a third lady being catfished by the liar currently choking on his sushi roll. Luckily, the guy has excellent taste in women and Samiah and the two other ‘girlfriends’ have a great time taking the jerk down a peg in public. The three leave together, headed for the club Samiah had planned to visit with “Craig” later.

They never make it. Instead, they wind up having drinks at Samiah’s house and creating “a pact to spend the next six months investing in themselves. No men and no dating.” Naturally, that’s the cue for Daniel Collins to enter Samiah’s life.

Daniel is used to the whole first-day-at-work experience. As an undercover agent for FinCen (Financial Intelligence Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Treasury Department) his job is to infiltrate suspect corporations and figure out how they are committing their dirty deeds. Trendsetters, a snazzy tech company, is the latest of his assignments. His plan is simple; be an outstanding employee, and crack their security system so he can discover who in the firm is laundering money. He hadn’t counted on Samiah, though. Her fame via a viral video of her confrontation with “Craig” is the talk of the office during Daniel’s first hour there, and when he meets the lady in person he realizes that his usual policy of maintaining a polite distance from his coworkers is definitely not doable in this instance. He is completely fascinated by Samiah and wants as much time with her as he can get.

Samiah and Daniel’s relationship is a complicated dance from the beginning. She has just had a very public fall-out with a man who was lying to her, and Daniel is in no position to be honest with her. Someone at the company is working with some very dangerous people and it’s extremely important to shut them down as soon as possible. While Daniel believes Samiah is not involved, one person working with FinCen on the issue has already been hurt, and he won’t tell her who he is just to have her become the next victim.

Samiah doesn’t want a rebound relationship. She hadn’t been serious with “Craig” but she had been hurt by what he’d done. She also wants to be true to her new friends, and their pact. Her successful career has left her little time for girlfriends and she realizes this is a massive need in her life, which means her relationship with her recently acquired besties is a priority. She also takes to heart one of the key ideas in the pact: investing in herself. She’s wanted to create an app for years but hasn’t taken the time to do any serious work on it. However, doing that and hanging out with her friends won’t leave her much time to develop a relationship with Daniel.

Which leads me to one of the things I love most about Ms. Rochon’s novels: the way she is able to deliver a realistic romance. Samiah and Daniel are fully fleshed-out human beings and in the 21st century that means they are busy people. They are essentially working two jobs, and in addition to that, they have family and friends who matter to them, so they have to make time for their relationship when they can. This means they start out simply, by getting to know each other at theTrendsetters coffee bar and over lunches. I also appreciated that during this office romance they spent lots of their time actually working. The story emphasizes how hard Samiah had to strive just to get where she is, the setbacks she’s had along the way and the responsibility she feels as a black woman to excel in an industry that is predominantly male and white.

Daniel has also worked hard to get where he is and is concerned about how dating someone at the company he’s investigating will affect his position. He’s too strongly attracted to Samiah to walk away from her but his job is not conducive to romance. The best case scenario is that things work out both with his case and Samiah, but since he won’t be assigned locally again, that will mean a long distance relationship. I felt his anxiety over these issues was very realistic and I enjoyed the way the author addresses them in the story.

I always think of Farrah Rochon’s books as being romances about grownups because of how maturely her leads handle their affairs. Samiah and Daniel are human beings who have reached a good place in their lives and are ready to share that spot with someone special. They are able to (shocker!) talk through their issues and reach an acceptable compromise. The melodrama is kept to a minimum, allowing the passionate love story to shine on center stage.

While that was a big plus for most of the tale, my one quibble with the narrative is that Samiah is a tad too mature, forgiving and understanding when the whole denouement and resolution regarding the money laundering comes about. Daniel takes a step which has consequences for her and she is a lot more understanding about that than most people would be. I also wasn’t as convinced as he was that the action was necessary. That is just a small foible in another wise stellar work, though.

The author does a nice job of creating a great secondary cast in Taylor and London. Like Samiah, they are strong, independent women but they differ enough from her to provide a nice contrast. I liked them both, which is a good thing since I am pretty sure we will be reading their stories soon. This novel ends with a cliffhanger for one of them, so I’m looking forward to seeing how that’s resolved.

Relatable characters, solid writing and a charming love story make The Boyfriend Project one of the best romances I’ve read this year and I strongly recommend it to anyone who enjoys contemporary romance novels.

If you want a fun romance that will make you laugh while also tackling the challenges women (and especially women of color) face working in the tech industry, then you should really check out The Boyfriend Project! I ended up loving this one. I'm guessing it's going to be a series too and the premise is a fun one. Three women are catfished by the same guy and publicly shame him, with the video going viral. A new friendship is born and I'm guessing later books will follow each of their stories.

Samiah Brooks is a smart and talented woman working in tech, with dreams of creating her own app. Danial Collins is an attractive new co-worker who is half-Black, half-Korean, but with a secret agenda. Sparks fly and you get a fun, funny, and sweet romance. Samiah is determined and Daniel is supportive rather than controlling. But this also addresses the misogyny and racism that tend to exist together in these male-dominated fields. I thought this was just really well-executed and if you like Alyssa Cole's brand of steamy romance with substantive themes, you should definitely check out The Boyfriend Project as well. I received an advance copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own.

This was more of a struggle to get through than I thought it would be. The premise is great, but, I don't know, something about the writing style didn't work for me. For example, the two main characters meet, then a couple chapters later, we learn they've apparently established a coffee ritual, meeting, chatting, and flirting in the kitchen/coffee area at work. We don't see that...we're just told that...it seemed weird to me. It also seemed to drag quite a bit, so I found reading it to be a chore. With that being said, I love the representation/diversity in the book and the fact that this book is about a woman (and a woman of color, no less) in STEM.

I had such a good time with ‘The Boyfriend Project‘ from that attention-grabbing beginning right up until the final page I was hooked on this one. Samiah’s story hits right in the heart and the giggle zone as one three-timing ex gets exactly what he most righteously deserved, and three women find themselves as new best friends with a common cause and goals. I will admit there was some mental fist-pumping going on at my end when a disastrous date video turned into so much more for one sleazy, cheating, loser of a jerk.

There are several things about Samiah, London, and Taylor that I enjoyed. Probably most was the fact that they were all taking no crap, strong women who were not afraid to take down a jerk for all the world to see. No hiding in the shadows for these ladies, they dealt with the problem and moved on. They bonded over the event, didn’t place blame on each other – they knew who was the villain in this situation. They made the choice to focus on themselves with a newly built support system in place and friends at their backs as they put the attention on their own needs and not romance. I liked Samiah, London, and Taylor for different reasons but I liked their strength, their determination, and their belief in themselves which turned easily into belief in each other no matter what comes.

Fate always seems to have a curveball to pitch when we least expect it, and that particular curveball for Samiah was Daniel. She was done with romance for at least six months but this guy clicked all the right checkmark boxes for Samiah. And she was tempted for certain. Trouble was that Daniel isn’t exactly what he’s showing fellow employees right now. Sure, he’s good at his job, a basically nice guy, but he’s also undercover and won’t risk blowing his cover. Watching Daniel and Samiah dance around the friendship, the office romance, the not dating and the undercover lie was a journey well worth taking.

Saying much more would involve spoilers so I’ll simply say that if you love a really good Romantic Comedy, if seeing the perfect revenge play out before your eyes always give you a thrill, if you just love a good love story with people who feel real and are acting in a believable fashion are your Romance reading requirements then you’re gonna love ‘The Boyfriend Project‘. Now comes the wait for the next title in this series, and I’ll be keeping an eye out for that for certain.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from Forever (Grand Central Publishing) via NetGalley. That does not change what I think of this story. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*

I was really looking forward to The Boyfriend Project, but unfortunately it fell flat for me. I found the writing to be pretty basic and the dialogue, particularly between Samiah and Daniel, was very clunky. The pacing of the romance, which arguably is the most important aspect of a romance novel, didn't flow naturally. I did really like both Samiah and Daniel, however.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for my free e-copy.

This book was just not for me. I have so many complaints and not much good to highlight today. I'm so bummed because, this book got so much positive press and I've seen a lot of people love it! But the hype is not real.

Samiah works for a powerful tech company called Trendsetters in Austin. After a terrible encounter with a scamming ex that goes viral, Samiah finds herself with two new best friends and a pact that will keep her out of the dating world and focused on her career goals.

At the same time, Daniel shows up at Trendsetters on a mission. He's undercover to seek out money launderers at the company, not to make friends. But he can't seem to resist Samiah...

I really loved the topics addressed in this book (women in stem, women of color in stem, privilege in the industry) and I think there's really great foundations for complexity and tackling big problems through a fun romance and strong relationships - but it falls terribly flat. Here's why.

My first complaint with this book is how agonizingly slowwwww it was to get into. I had a whole week to read this and, after reading the first five chapters or so, I put it off until Monday night and read a whole different book. I was actually dreading it, despite all the positive reviews of this novel that popped up in my feeds all week. Eventually, the plot does pick up, but I never shook that initial feeling of resistance.

Next, the writing and dialogue were not the best. I associate that top quality writing with the best of the best of the genre, because the authors that can truly express feelings in dialogue have the best handle on human and romantic relationships. They can write something complex and real, and it improves the book tenfold. This book seriously lacked that, which made me wonder how it's getting the attention it is. The dialogue between Daniel and Samiah, and even with other supporting characters like Samiah's new friends, was robotic and forced. It was meant to carry too much weight for the plot instead of setting the scene for easy, comfortable relationships. I couldn't settle in this book.

Another bizarre quirk I picked up on was how often the characters talked out loud to themselves. Of course, we all do it! I'm not denying that I don't sit in my car and talk myself through my road rage or how to pull into a parking space, or even trying to remember things in the grocery store! But in this book it happened often enough that I noticed it and made a note of it, so. It was clearly awkward.

Something else I couldn't shake? The plot similarity to The Right Swipe. Alisha Rai's novel also centers on a woman of color creating an app in the tech world, then being sabotaged by her own deals with herself. While some key points were different (particularly their SO's careers and plots) the plot was similar enough to notice. I'm sure we'll be seeing more and more romances taking place in tech giants, but hopefully they have a bit more originality.

I think that about covers it. I feel bad highlighting so much of the bad here, but I really didn't enjoy this read. Towards the end it picked up, but I don't think I would recommend this one. It lacked that something special and it made for a very long Monday.

I received a copy of The Boyfriend Project by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Rochon's book will be released June 9, 2020.

I really enjoyed this book from start to finish. I absolutely loved the main characters and the storyline. I thought the writing was great and it gave me all the feels at the end. I highly recommend checking this one out!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first book from Farrah Rochon and I definitely enjoyed her writing.
Samiah is a talented employee at a unicorn tech company - as a driven young Black woman, she is given support to succeed and grow while also recognizing that she needs to pave the way for others to follow in her footsteps. She also has a dream of developing her own app, which will connect users looking for platonic friendships with activities to bond over. Samiah meets Taylor and London at the start of the book when she finds out the man she has been seeing is on a date with someone else, and he has been stringing each of them along. The girls become friends and continue to meet up. They pledge to focus on themselves and not look for love for six months, so naturally Samiah meets Daniel at her work he tests her resolve when they hit it off right away.
I enjoyed the priority and appreciation given to Samiah’s friendship with Taylor and London for most of the book. For Samiah and Daniel I thought there was
great character and relationship development. Both spoke authentically about their cultural identities and how they fight or beat societal expectations.
I enjoyed their attraction and banter, their respectful communication and appreciation, and that the conflicts were realistic. Daniel was very swoon worthy as a hero - sexy, smart, considerate, and emotionally intelligent. The sex scenes were open door but not very detailed.
I liked the work details - supportive bosses, interesting projects, dream work environment. As a woman in tech myself, I love reading about a woman in tech. I also appreciated the trio of friends and their consideration of competing goals/dreams.
Honestly, there was an ongoing element of suspense which could have been exciting but ended up feeling odd since we were not given enough detail to wonder whodunnit or how it happened. The book overall felt a bit long.
A definite winner for me, I am excited to read the next in this series and to get into this author’s backlist!

I LOVED this book! This was not just a romcom but a great women’s fiction with some suspenseful elements thrown in. The subplots made this such a wonderful read.

The first chapter opened up with an epic scene in a popular restaurant in Austin. Three strong women victimized by a catfishing scheme were all caught in a video posted in social media that went viral over night. Samia, Taylor and London formed an instant friendship #squadgoals and vowed to take care of themselves first with no men and no dating for the next six months. How amazing it was to read that these women lifted each other up and became their own support group.

Samia takes this time to focus on developing her “Just Friends” app until Daniel Collins, a new colleague who is half black half Korean shows up where the attraction was undeniable. Daniel’s character as an undercover agent working in Samia’s company Was a very interesting subplot that I also enjoyed.

I enjoyed reading this book and listening to the audio as well. I thought that Samia was an amazing protagonist and I am looking forward to reading Taylor’s story in the next novel.

The Boyfriend Project really brought the comedy I look for in a romantic-comedy! I had a great time reading it. I think my favorite part about the story is the beautiful friendship that is formed between Samiah, London, and Taylor. It just included lots of female empowerment and it was such a joy to read. This book has something for every style of romance reader: steam, comedy, and cuteness. I will recommend this book to all my friends!

When three women discover they've all been duped by the same man, they do the sensible thing and become great friends! Samiah, London and Taylor bond over their viral debacle and make a pact to give up dating for the next 6 months to focus on themselves.

Of course, that's the exact moment that Samiah meets her newest co-worker, Daniel Collins. He's gorgeous, smart and totally in to her but is he just a little too good to be true?

I really enjoyed the strong female lead who was working a successful career in STEM and pushing herself to further her own dream of building an app based off a unique idea she has. I also appreciated the awareness this book brought to women (especially BIPOC) working in STEM fields and the obstacles they have to overcome to get there.

I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't a greater focus on Samiah's relationship with Taylor and London. That was initially what drew me to this story. It seemed like a little bit of an afterthought. I hope the two follow up books will dive deeper into their friendship.

Steam and language are not my favorites so that took away from the story for me. Steam especially seems to make audiobooks a bit awkward. Totally personal preference though.

If you are looking for an own-voices read with a strong female lead, check this one out!

Thanks to NetGalley, Forever Pub, Libro.FM and Hachette Audio for this ARC/ALC.

This was my first book by Farrah Rochon and won't be my last. I really enjoyed this book! I loved the strong friendship with Samiah, Taylor and London after finding out they were each dating the same man. Each woman was strong and beautifully written - friendship goals! I also loved Daniel, he was very sensitive and charismatic. I love the dynamic between Samiah and Daniel. Would highly recommend! Looking forward to diving in Miss Rochon's backlist!

I love a book with a cast of smart, strong female characters and this book delivered just that.

While getting ready for a night out with her current boyfriend Samiah Brooks finds out via an online tweet that he has been cheating on her. In a quest to confront and DUMP him, Samiah heads to the restaurant in which she knows that he has taken his current date. Samiah immediately befriends two of his other girlfriends, Taylor, and London. The women vow to meet up every week to check in on each other. They also vow to remain single to work on themselves for six months.

Will Samiah be able to resist sexy Daniel who has just started at her company? Wink, wink…..

I really loved this book. I loved the cast of characters so much and really appreciated the authors depiction of being female and black working in a tech world. Where this book at times reminded me of The Central Park Pact series, I was able to relate to the characters on a whole different level. The romance is a slow burn but worth the wait. I am already looking forward to book two!

Big thank you to NetGalley, Forever, and Farrah Rochon for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. I have already persuaded others to pick it up. 😊

A great read from a new to me author! Thoroughly enjoyed Samiah and Daniel’s story! The Boyfriend Project features smart and engaging prose. Samiah and Daniel were such a treat. Definitely looking forward to reading more about this circle of friends!

Here’s what I enjoyed most and some amazing things you can expect from The Boyfriend Project:

Unexpected friendships - the way these characters come together was quite entertaining! Completely unexpected and so much fun.

Great secondary characters - I adore Samiah’s relationship with her sister and the way the Squad comes together.

Strong and inspiring heroine - it’s always amazing to see characters who look like me doing big things. These women are strong, accomplished, and have a tenacity that’s enviable. It was such a pleasure getting to know them.

Super smart and engaging prose - I was completely impressed by this new to me author.


Overall, this was a winner! I’m super excited to read the other stories in this series! I’m really digging these ladies and want to see them each find their own HEA. Recommended!

I’ve had a lot of issues with reading contemporary romance lately due to, well, *gestures at the world*, but this book sucked me right in. It’s a sexy and funny workplace romance, with a Black heroine and a half-Black, half-Korean hero, and the cat-fishing friend group was an incredible hook.

“Happiness had not been part of the equation when she’d made her plans. The concept was too vague for her to fully grasp it. She felt safer, more in control, when dealing in absolutes. True happiness—whatever that meant—would follow once she finally achieved these concrete items she’d set out to attain.”


For the most part, Samiah is firmly in control of her life. She’s already got the awesome job, downtown condo, and full package Mustang GTE, so the only thing left on her checklist is the man to share her life with. Too bad Austin seems to only have cheating scum – but at least her latest dating failure netted her two new friends, London and Taylor. The three of them pledge to focus less on dating on more on their own happiness, and for Samiah that means finally working on her app prototype. If only she didn’t immediately run into Daniel, the new hire at Trendsetters, who seems to meet every item on “get a man” checklist. But what she doesn’t know is that he’s actually a Treasury Department agent trying to unravel a money laundering scheme featuring the company’s software. Daniel’s used to rolling in to a company, uncovering the bad guys, and then rolling out, no complications or regrets. But from their first meeting, neither Samiah nor Daniel can deny their attraction to each other. Is their relationship worth Samiah putting her dreams on hold, and can it survive Daniel’s lie?

Samiah is, frankly, the definition of life goals. She’s smart, confident, knows her worth, and I would love to go out for a drink with her. I liked that the author didn’t shy away from the realities of being a woman in tech, especially as a Black woman. When Daniel tries to reassure her that she doesn’t have to have everything perfect with her app as it’s just a demo, she reminds him that no, she has to be perfect and better and more, or else she and every other black woman after her will be judged for her imperfections. The secondary characters were amazing, especially London and Taylor. Their meetings and conversations were the highlight of the book for me, and frankly I wanted more of them. In terms of non-supportive female characters, I cackled out loud at Samiah’s coworker Keighleigh (that NAME, y’all) and appreciated how Samiah handled that relationship. I also liked that the book repeatedly emphasized happiness over career ambitions for multiple characters. I know it’s a romance, and yes, it’s great to see characters be able to have it all, but in this case, it was more interesting to watch each character explore the pros and cons of their decisions.

“You’ll see how you like those jogs along the river when the thermometer is nearing three digits.”
“Aw, don’t tell me that.” Daniel groaned. “Just the other day I had to stop in the middle of my run and peel my shirt off.”
Her gaze dropped to his chest. “That must have been nice.” Her horrified eyes shot back up to his face, wide with dismay. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?”


The book is definitely funny and sexy, but I felt like the romance part got shortchanged. Everything happens over the period of a few months while both characters are focused on both their work for Trendsetters and their external projects (Samiah’s app and Daniel’s, uh, actual job). Even during the time they’re spending together physically, they’re still spending the majority of it working. There’s also a confusing time jump of a few weeks during which they go from “ok, let’s date” to actually spending a couple nights a week with each other, and it felt like a missed opportunity for building their relationship.

“It was difficult to grasp just how freeing it felt to tell her truth without fear of being branded a complainer or excuse-maker or any of the other labels people slapped on her when she tried to explain the pressure she’d been under to perform.”


Daniel never really quite meshed as a character for me. He’s sweet, yes, and definitely a cinnamon roll. But the two main character traits I got about him are that he was so supportive of her, from checking in how she felt to giving her foot massages and that he felt guilty about lying to her. It’s all in relation to her, though. It didn’t seem like there was anything else to him besides what he was to her. I also didn’t feel like Daniel groveled enough to make up for his actions during the dark moment. After repeatedly refusing to hear Daniel’s apologies, Samiah basically forgives him with little effort on his part, and while her thought process for why she did that was clear, it just felt too easy for something that could’ve had serious repercussions for her. The epilogue was a little weird, too, as it wasn’t the airtight HEA I expected, but then throughout the book Samiah proved over and over that she moves at her own pace.

Overall, this is funny and sexy, even if I wasn’t sold on the romance, so this is a 3.5 star read for me. Based on the end of the book, I’m guessing Taylor’s story is next, and I will definitely be picking it up.

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.