I hated Kathleen! She seemed so narrow minded, so wishy-washy, so uncertain! I'm sure it was to give her complexity, but it just made her hard to connect with for me. Yuriko was also too reserved for me to connect with, but her past made it understandable as to why she was the way she was.

I loved that the setting was in a futuristic Japan. The stories premise is about an American female named Kathleen Schmitt whose moved to Tokyo to become the project head for Personal Love Companions. PLC's are a a love robot made to match the customer's preference. She receives a model based on her preference to test and it looks just like her neighbor Yoriko. Yoriko is showing Kathleen around as she herself is an american-Japanese transplant and thinks Kathleen is a lost soul in Japan.

I think Diana Jean is a skillful writer, the story captivated me and surprised me at some turns. I enjoyed the engagement, the feeling of being in Japan and best of all the slow paced romance of the characters. They went from indifference, acquaintances, friends, and then something more. The fact that one of the character was surprised at her own feelings for a woman whose come to be her lifeline in Tokyo is refreshing and realistic as she tries to fight these feelings 1 as to not loose her new friend and 2 as it's the first time she has feelings for a woman.

Kathleen Schmitt has moved to Tokyo to become the project head for Personal Love Companions, a love robot made to match the customer's preference. She recieves her beta model for testing and it's a replica of her neighbour, Yuriko, who has been helping her settle in to Tokyo. The concept of this book was so bizarre that I was instantly hooked. There's a kind of crazy set up, where Kathleen, who has been working on the project, ends up having to do the beta test on her own. She doesn't want a robot partner, and finds the whole thing kind of weird, since she knows exactly how the thing has been programmed, but she's forced into the situation by her boss. The specifics for her robot are lifted directly from her mind using a high tech scan, but what she recieves completely surprises her.

I really liked both Kathleen and Yuriko. At first they don't get along. They work for the same company, and there's a little bit of a rivalry since Kathleen works in software and Yuriko works in hardware. Kathleen is also a bit of a bumbling foreigner, and relies on Yuriko to help her understand the transport system and read labels at the supermarket. The book is pretty slow burn, with lots of ignoring the obvious from both sides. At times I wanted to shake the two of them! But it's a really sweet story, with a bisexual awakening. We also get lots of little bits of Japanese culture, plenty of cute scenes like hanging out at an onsen, and visiting temples, and watching the fireworks. This story would make a really cute anime, I think. The characters are cute, and definitely awkward, and honestly I was rooting for them the whole way through.

I was a little confused as to when this book is set. I'm assuming a near future, because all of the technology is more advanced than what we currently have, including AI that is almost indistinguishable from an actual human. I found the concept intriguing, which is why I picked up the book, but I have to admit this isn't a future I want! I found the idea of sex doll robot girlfriends with artificial intelligence pretty creepy.. Although by the end I cared about Ai, the robot, as much as I did the human characters. And, although I'm assuming this is set in the future, there is still a very traditional Japanese approach to LGBTQ+ relationships, which I felt seemed a little old fashioned when contrasted with the new technology. I can't judge how authentically Japanese it is, because I'm not Japanese, but I would have liked to see Yuriko involved with Japanese queer culture. She seems very isolated, and I know that there is a queer community in Japan, even if it's not as visible as in America or the UK.

It's a weird concept, and I'm still not fully sold on the sex robots, but this is a really sweet story and I enjoyed reading it.

This is an intriguing story in a fun setting. I liked the real feel of Tokyo that you get. However, I struggled with really not liking Kathleen, which made the story much less enjoyable.

I thought this was going to be a f/f Absolute Boyfriend but the main character doesn't actually like her robot. It was capably written and easy to read. Major points just for that. It made me miss Japan so much. I loved reading about the food and festivals. I would've wanted more smut, less talking about feelings but that's my personal preference.

Enjoyable. Easy, light reading. I was always trying to guess what would happen next. So many possibilities with a PLC (Personal Love Companion.

Kathleen, an American programmer moves to Japan to work on the software of a new product, PLC. She is chosen to test out the new product. Confusion unfolds when a lady PLC arrives. There must be a mistake...Kathleen has only dated men. To make things even crazier the PLC looks like a woman who helped her at the train station, lives two doors down for her and works at the same company!

The most intriguing part of the book is reading the programmer’s analysis of her own software. Sometimes programs have unexpected results.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, partly because it brought back so many memories of Japan. Set in the not-to-distant future, Kathleen Schmitt moves to Japan to the head office of the company she works for after a break up with her boyfriend. She’s the project manager for personal love companions (PLC); life-sizes, humanoid robots which are almost indistinguishable from humans at first glance. The company decides to accelerate production and selects her to test out the beta companion. She thinks there must be a glitch in the system when the robot arrives and not only is it a woman but also looks exactly like the woman from the apartment down the hall. Yuriko Vellucci works for the same company but the most interaction they’ve had is when Yuriko comes to Kathleen’s assistance to clarify incidents of language and culture.

The interplay between a straight woman, a robot and a lesbian woman with Japanese heritage is very clever and very entertaining. Yuriko’s initial frustration with Kathleen gives her a little bit of an aloofness which is fitting as a counter-balance to Kathleen’s more expressive nature and body. Westerners are big people (even when they’re small) with bigger movements, louder voices and uncontrolled emotion. I loved the way this was consistently expressed through Yuriko and Kathleen. Ai (as the PLC is named) is a surprisingly well-rounded and a dominant character.

Most of the books I read are set in places that I haven’t been to, so much is left to my imagination and sourcing imagery from TV or film. Japan is a culture shock for a westerner and much of Kathleen’s difficulties and confusion I could relate to completely. I thought her impressions of what a foreigner in Japan would experience were amusing as well as pretty accurate. Yuriko is the perfect person for Kathleen to spend time with because she’s of mixed heritage and understands both sides of the problems. I loved that I’ve been to most of the places described and the memories that the descriptions brought back.

The setting gives the story a very different feel from most romances and even though it is speculative fiction by virtue of the time period and technology, it’s very plausible and current. It’s an easy four and a half stars for me.

Book received from Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

Tokyo Love by Diana Jean has been published before as I have come to understand by looking at the older reviews at Good Reads. It was a new adventure for me though. I was excited about the Artificial Intelligence angle because I love books that include robots, automatons or anything biomechanical. I was also very curious how you can work a romance into this. The author (also a first for me) did make it work.

The book is set in Japan (in some near future) and we get a lovely flavor of the country, it’s people and the culture. Especially the cultural differences Kathleen Schmitt experiences as a lonely American, living and working in Tokyo. There is not much outside of work because she doesn’t speak the language and is therefore terrified to venture out by herself. Social Isolation (very apt in these covid-19 times) is a big theme here. But it all changes when she has a chance meeting with Yuriko Velluci who also happens to work at the same company and (as it turns out later) also lives next door. Yuriko becomes her savior in more ways than one.

I thought the plc was very sophisticated and most exciting element in this story. I found Kathleen’s reticence towards interacting with Ai a bit hard to take because I really liked her. I would certainly have done way more fun stuff with her during this beta testing period. Also her denial about being bisexual persisted throughout the book and I wanted to smack her half way through. Yuriko had more patience with Kathleen than I would have had. But on the other hand insta-love would have made this whole thing unbelievable, so there’s that. It just took her annoyingly long to get to the lesbian point.

Diana Jean really scored on giving me Japan, the romance was slow and sweet, and the sci-fi element very low key (so if that’s not your bag don’t let it discourage you). The story is told by both Kathleen and Yuriko’s pov so you get pretty clear view on both women’s state of mind. Enjoyable read, but secretly I wanted something more for Ai!

f/f slow burn

Themes: Japan, Ai, I’m an alien in Tokyo, a Personal Love Companion who looks like Yuriko’s twin… oops!, straight girls falls for lesbian but is deeply in denial about her bisexuality, shrines, baths, traveling.

4 Stars

* A free copy was provided by Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

This is such a soft, sweet book and I have to admit I don't think the new covers accurately portray the content inside.

While the book features a futuristic storyline about AI and love companions, it's not the focus of the story; it's not a scifi. Instead, we explore the relationship of Kathleen with her new job, her life in Tokyo, Yuriko and what she wants from life.
It's more mature than my usual romances but I really liked that. They both are able to talk to one another, the problems they face don't appear and disappear on a whim and actually make sense. I loved watching them both grow towards one another and seeing their feelings grow as time passes.

It also reads like a love letter to Japan and in a good way. The author has certainly done her research. You can tell the cultural differences are well done and explained, how Kathleen first struggles to adapt, how the culture differs when it comes to queer people and many more instances, big and small. There are no infodumps, japanese phrases are used sparingly and translated if necessary, and it flows well with the overall story.

There was no bisexuality erasure, in fact, it's even challenged.

I ended up enjoying this more than I expected to. I originally picked this book thinking it was going to be leaning more sci-fi-ish, than quickly realized it was a toaster over romance with a slight futuristic feel instead. Luckily, instead of being disappointed, I found myself quite captivated by this read.

This is republished version of the book. I don’t know of any major differences from the first release so if you have read this before, it should be the same story. Since I am mentioning words like futuristic and sci-fi, I know that can put some people off. Don’t let it here. This is a story about a woman who is working on completing the first love companion robot. The life like robot and a few other future tech items is it, there are no more elements that could be consider sci-fi. This is a very sweet romance seen through the eyes of a lonely American living in Japan. As long as you are a romance fan, this book should be for you, so don’t let the futuristic elements scare you off.

I actually expected the romance to go one way, and instead it took me entirely in another direction. I always like when books can surprise me. The premise of this book was really interesting and well done. Not only that but it felt fresh. It didn’t feel like the idea was recycled from a ton of other books which was another huge plus. The romance is a nice slow-burn, maybe a tiny bit too slow, but I loved seeing the characters change from strangers to friends, and then something more. Considering the main character did not realize she was bisexual, the slow build was realistic for the book.

I enjoyed the writing and I thought it was pretty strong. I would not hesitate to read this author again. I only had two small complaints. One was the amount of words in Japanese. I get it the book takes place there, I just was not always able to translate everything. It could totally be my fault or what I was using to translate but it drives me nuts when I don’t always know what a word is. It’s my OCD popping up and waving hello. Lastly I did think the book dragged a little towards the end. The actually ending ending was really nice and made my heart feel good. It was just getting there that took a few pages too long.

Overall I really enjoyed this. It was a sweet story that took me on a trip to Japan when I am stuck social distancing in my house. It was a nice slow burn romance and I think romance fans will definitely enjoy this one. I look forward to reading whatever Jean writes next.

5 stars. Kathleen Schmitt takes a new job in Tokyo to work on a PLC, or Personal Love Companion project. She is working on the Development of the code that is going into the PLC. One day, while getting lost of the train, she meets Yuriko Vellucci. Yuriko is the Engineer on the PLC project, although they have never met, they work in a rather large office. They soon realize they enjoy talking to each other and live on the same floor of their company issued apartment. Yuriko was raised in America as a child and then moved to Japan with her mother when her parents got divorced. Since Kathleen does not speak a lot of Japanese, she relies on Yuriko when she gets lost of the train. They start to form a friendship. Kathleen is given the task of beta testing the new PLC models, which scans your brain and finds out what you are attracted to. When Kathleen's doll arrives, it looks exactly like Yuriko and she thinks it is some sort of mistake, as she was always attracted to men and did not see her attraction to Yuriko.

I enjoyed this one more than I thought I would. The story line seems a little odd but it works and it made me want to keep reading. I really enjoyed the tension between the two main characters as they develop feelings for one another throughout the novel. The interactions with each other are great and it just develops the characters even more. Their whole story is believable (as it could be taking place in the future) and I couldn't wait to see what happens next. I wanted to see how Yuriko and Kathleen would come to fall for each other and how they are evolving as their friendship grows. I would highly recommend this one. It was a great, fast read.

This is an intriguing book right from the start. I love the premise, which is refreshingly different for the romance genre. I read a lot of sci-fi so the plot totally works for me. The author provides a decent explanation of why women would build robots like this for men, but the whole idea of a PLC still felt a bit masculine and correspondingly(also curiously) the writing began to feel a bit masculine too. Having said that I really liked the setting in Japan and enjoyed reading about the Japanese culture and learning some of the language. Also the romance was adorably sweet. So overall this is a very good read.

This is a fish out of water tale about an American expat learning to live in Japan, but with a light science fiction twist. Kathleen Schmitt is an introvert who chose to uproot her normal life by taking a promotion for her Japanese based company. Not only is she now the head of the Personal Love Companion robot project, but she is now living and not adjusting well to living in Tokyo, Japan. When she is forced to be the beta tester, she is shocked that the robot looks like her beautiful neighbor, Yuriko Vellucci. Yuriko is the head engineer for the PLC project, and quickly becomes Kathleen's rock when she realizes that Kathleen needs to get out more - literally. As the women grow closer, with the PLC, named Ai, in tow, Kathleen learns to appreciate her new home, and something a little more.

I might enjoy this book a little more than most, because I emphasize so hard with Kathleen. I did move to Japan, had a breakdown with regards to getting lost on the trains, and learned to love the country and its people thanks to the hard work and compassion of my new friends. Kathleen and I are very similar in that we wanted to go out and do things, but are too afraid to. Kathleen and I also had a very similar revelation that we might not be entirely straight.

If anything, it does rely a little too heavily on Ai, the personal Ai that Kathleen has to test, for advice. I like that Ai is part of an interesting twist with her coding, but the author relies on her as a plot device too much. It gives Kathleen more of an incentive to freak out more with Yuriko, once she realizes that she is attracted to her. Because Ai is a twin to Yuriko, it also gives Kathleen a frustratingly long time to deny her attraction to Yuriko - even though she treats the robot far differently than Yuriko.

This is a cozy romance that has some really nice moments, and some harsh realities about foreign workers coming to Japan. Jean doesn't sugar coat her opinions on the matter (especially with Westerners attitudes about living in Japan) and they do ring true. She also has a really great late in the book about loneliness and its different forms. And, while I do wish the author didn't rely so much on Ai to be the catalyst for Kathleen, I thought all three characters, the two ladies, and the robot were charming, and the lessons learned were sweet. Recommended.

Kathleen Schmitt has moved to Tokyo to take over the PLC project. She has been there 3 months and so far things going well on the job, but she doesn't have much time outside of work. That probably would not matter because she hasn't been able to make any friends. One day on the way home she misses her stop. She is desperately trying to figure out what train to take when Yuriko stops to help this hopeless and helpless foreigner. They quickly find out they work for the same company (Yuriko is a mechanical engineer) but what they don't realize is they are also neighbors. When Kathleen's project's timeline has moved up she is forced to beta test a PLC. What surprises her is that he cortex scan has determine that her PLC is a woman. Wait - she is straight or so she thinks. The story goes from there.

So I can't really say there is a ton of chemistry between the two mains, but it works. It works because Kathleen thinks she is straight. It is over the course of working with her PLC and Yuriko that she realizes she is attracted to Yuriko and also has feelings for her. We see her go through all of the emotions of finding out you want to be with a woman and the stress of her job and also dealing with her annoying PLC. I overall liked this one and found it to be a sweet romance.

4 stars.

This is a republished story, that's why there are older reviews in GR, it was initially published three or four years ago. And it's a curious story, at least it was for me, it's a bit on the borderline between romance and science fiction.

The curious thing for me was the premise, placing ourselves in a more or less near future, that an artificial intelligence created to serve us, can self-modify based on what it learns from its interaction with us. From here there are other fun things, such as the betrayal of Kathleen's subconscious when recreating her ideal partner, given that she is straight and has never felt traction for other women. Also the personality of Yuriko, half Japanese half American, has been a really interesting character to discover. And Kathleen herself is quite interesting too. But the best character has been Ai.

For the rest, the recreation of Japanese culture a little evolved compared to today but preserving its oldest traditions, has been a really entertaining environment to discover as well. Although I have needed a Japanese translator many times, and still, I have not found some words, so there are parts that I have lost a little.

As far as romance is concerned, it is very secondary because Kathleen does not understand very well what is happening to her attraction to Yuriko, her doubts extend to the end of the story, then a romance itself will not be found here, it is more a late blooming, the complex recognition of Kathleen's bisexuality.

With thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to review this book.

Tokyo Love by Diana Jean is a lovely book that is a perfect read (although, I never thought that I would read a book with a 'love bot' as one of the main characters). Kathleen and Yuriko relationship starts out as friends but which turns into love. (my favourite type of relationship).

This books take a little bit to find it’s footing, but once it does, it’s wholly engrossing. The near-future setting is a pleasant change of place, unique considering the genre, and adds an interesting angle to the story. When it comes to conveying people and places, the author has a real talent for providing lush details that make you feel like you’re actually there. Our heroines naturally develop a close friendship, which sweetly evolves into love. All of the obstacles are wholly believable and handled well, without feeling overdone. But the real star of the story is Ai, the robot companion to the main character, who brings warmth and humanity to the story. Definitely a worthwhile read!