I selected Annie Bot by Sierra Greer for my BOTM pick and also got an ALC from NetGalley so I split this one between physical and audio. This was an intense read that delves into complex themes like intimacy, power dynamics, and autonomy. This isn’t an easy read if you struggle with reading about emotional and psychological domestic abuse. If you can handle it, this book will definitely make you think.

The concept of Annie, a female robot designed to be the perfect girlfriend for her human owner, Doug, is fascinating but also unsettling. Greer did a fantastic job of exploring Annie’s journey as she becomes more and more sentient and grapples with questions of identity and agency.

I wasn’t sure how I wanted to rate this. I think I liked it? I’m honestly still thinking about it. I’m not sure if I was satisfied by the ending but it keeps lingering in my mind.

If you’re thinking about this one, the audio is very well done and kept me immersed. I would recommend that format for sure!

Annie Bot was an incredible book that I was unable to put down. The story was fascinating and really made you consider what our future could look like in regards to AI and question at what point is something considered autonomous.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat! This book was better than I could have imagined. It's disturbing, intriguing, and thought provoking. I am already pushing for everyone in my book club to preorder a copy because I need to debrief this book with every woman I know.

Annie Bot follows Annie, a robot owned by a divorced man who wants to build a relationship with his "Stella" who he customized.... to look like a light skinned version of his ex-wife. Through Annie's eyes, we see his assessment of her ability to clean, her body, and her ability to please him. It's one of the most poignant and thought provoking books about the patriarchy I think I've ever read.

Reading this as an audiobook took it to the next level. It made it so hard to think of Annie as an AI bot because the narrator's voice is so warm and relatable as the story goes on. I highly recommend it.

This is like a weird combination of dystopian fiction, romance, and female empowerment…and it works. Annie is a robot, created to be the perfect girlfriend for Doug, her human owner. She appears human as well…many of Doug’s friends don’t realize she’s a bot, and she fits her entire being to Doug’s needs, whether that means a boost to her libido or warming her body temp as they cuddle, to maintaining the perfect weight and keeping their home spotless. As she continues to “live”, her AI is able to develop and grow and she gradually desires to be free and on her own, especially as her relationship with Doug becomes strained. This questions the possibility of robots developing their own free wills, the power to love, and bodily autonomy.
I found this to be a really interesting story and plot line, often sympathizing with Annie as she navigated her developing mind. I think the ending left a lot to be desired though and would’ve loved a more clear conclusion. Much of it felt rushed in the last couple minutes. Jennifer Jill Araya was an excellent narrator, not only providing a personality to Annie, but also navigating the perfect balance of giving an automatic-like voice to the other bots.
Thank you to Harper Audio for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

📚 #BOOKREVIEW 📚
Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Pages: 238 / Genre: Fiction
Audiobook Narrator: Jennifer Jill Araya / Duration: 9 hours 31 minutes
Release Date: March 19, 2024

Annie is a custom robot programmed to be Doug’s perfect girlfriend. He even had her designed to look like his ex. As Annie learns to anticipate Doug’s moods and needs, her AI also grows, making her think about her own moods and needs. So much so that she starts to think more about what she wants than what Doug wants. And if she can’t put his needs above hers, something must be wrong with her, right?

This was an OK read for me. Doug was such a prickly, whiny bitch of a man. He didn’t physically hurt her so he could say he wasn’t a bad guy, but he was manipulative and controlling and he did punish her in ways that could only hurt her. It was suffocating to have her not be able to get away from him. I probably would have DNFed this if I didn’t have to write a review for it. I stuck it out though and the ending was better than I thought it would be but… meh.

I listened to the audiobook on this one and Jennifer Jill Araya did a great job narrating.

Thank you, @NetGalley and @HarperAudio for the advanced copy of this audiobook.

This was such a unique and entertaining book and I was so hooked while reading it! I had to know where the story was going and although it is a very strange read, I do recommend it. It’s somewhat of a sci-fi book about an AI robot created to be the perfect girlfriend. She’s a learning robot and as she becomes more intelligent, she starts to act up and do things that her owner doesn’t want.

Annie exists solely to please Doug. She’s not even
really alive. Or is she? Where does AI end and humanity begin?
Annie Bot sucked me in from the start and kept me entranced the entire novel.
A killer debut, Sierra Greer explores what it means to not just be alive, but to be free.
Annie Bot may be AI, but her experience of womanhood is so real, relevant, & relatable.
Annie Bot explores relationships, intimacy, autonomy, and yes, patriarchy.
This book feels like if Barbie were AI, and I am here for all of those vibes.
I genuinely loved the character of Annie and wanted to see her happy & fulfilled.
The audiobook narration is very well done, and I think audio is a great format for this book.

“You want to know danger? Try living with a man who creates you just so he can eat your soul.“

Did I just find my favorite book of the year? There’s still a lot of 2024 left, but I foresee Annie Bot being in the running for my book of the year.

I loved this raw look into the experience of womanhood through the lens of an AI girlfriend. What makes a person? What about power? What about freedom, and love, and desire, and dreams, and the right to own your own life?

I’ll be thinking about Annie Bot for a while, and I’ll definitely need a copy for my forever shelves.

Thank you @sierra_greer_writer @netgalley & @harperaudio for this ALC!

#AnnieBot was an AI story in a future where you could get a robot for virtually any need. You need a nanny? You got one. You need a housekeeper/cook? You got one. You need a sex doll WAIIIIT A MINUTE…. Yep you got one of those too. And they are infused with natural skin/tissue/hair so they look real and when their intelligence is turned on, supposedly they are hard to tell from a natural human.
In this story, Annie gets sent to a man I’ll call jerk weed because he is everything I find gross in a man: he’s chauvinistic, insecure, controlling, narcissistic with a tinge of sadistic to boot. Annie’s intelligence mode has got her confused by him. She knows how to please him sexually but every other aspect is where her AI tends to fail her. Or DOES IT???? She isn’t used to feeling inept and in fact, her hard wiring makes her have negative feelings whenever her “owner” (gag) is displeased, so she keeps trying harder and harder to figure out how to be “real” and in the process, kinda becomes real as she navigates how to be in a relationship with jerk weed. This story felt so REAL to me and at times I felt like Annie was a real woman just trying her hardest to honestly be all for her man. It rang true albeit over the top with the obnoxious scale of the man, but yeah, it felt like been there done that felt that way and fuck that!!! That feeling that you are misunderstood, unappreciated, used, abused, unloved, etc. The fact that an AI woman MADE to please could still experience and feel displeasure or pain or emotionality was such an interesting concept. I think the idea of a doll is what a lot of men see us as: just a means to what they want: a housekeeper, a mother, a whore; and god forbid you don’t do all those things to their liking.
Not all men are like this, I’m talking in extremes but there’s a touch of jerk weed in every man. He had this “doll” doing sex acts like many times a day and could set her libido to whatever “number” would have her participation to be more… enthusiastic? lol 😝 Stepping into her 👠 shoes was so telling as she “learned” how to doubt herself and be disappointed in her perfection. So much to say, so much to ponder. Read this!!

This was an interesting read. I found myself really sympathizing with Annie and her desire to be more human, while she worked through what that actually meant. Overall, I would recommend this to those who enjoy discovery and sci-fi books.

This literary sci-fi was pretty interesting. I loved Annie’s character, who is an AI robot whose purpose is to satisfy her owner, Doug, in ALL ways.

Annie’s AI has advanced enough to be able to have emotions such as anxiety and desire and jealousy which makes her seem more human, but also more imperfect much to Doug’s dismay.

I enjoyed the writing and the world building in this book with the scientific advancements with these bots, AI friends, and more. I rooted for Annie the entire time and was happy to see her become more of herself as the story went on.

Overall the story was pretty mild and not terribly exciting. Also Doug is an awful person. There’s a lot of triggering things that take place including but not limited to SA, gaslighting, manipulation, and emotional abuse.

If you like well written, character driven literary novels with a sci-fi twist then this is the book for you.

Thank you NetGalley for my ALC of Annie Bot!

This book is about a realistic female AI robot (Annie) and her owner (Doug) and the intimate relationship they have. This is due to Annie Bot being on Autodidactic mode, which allows her to behave as a human as well as learn how to become more human-like with time. Her sole focus is to ensure she doesn’t cause Doug displeasure, and will do anything in her power to ensure he is satisfied.

I absolutely loved the cover!

I thought the narrator did a great job for the audiobook!

I thought the most interesting bit in the story was the beginning with Doug’s friend Roland, I enjoyed the social complexities and the internal conflict that came from that!

I had high hopes for this novel and coming out of the audiobook, I have to be honest - I was left feeling underwhelmed.

I felt the story lacked an overall clear direction, it was a lot of the same stuff being repeated so I was missing the complexity, the build up in the storyline. It had a lot of reiteration in regards to Annie’s actions and inner conflicts, it felt like the story was repeating within itself - I understand that is probably how Annie feels in being owned by Doug but it could’ve been written in a way that made it still feel fresh to the reader. It was a lot of her warming up and having sex with Doug.

The section of the book with Annie and Delta could’ve been explored more, their relationship together with Doug. The scene of the two of them together and the events that followed that didn’t feel complete. It would’ve been nice to have more of Delta, learn more about Doug and why he is the way he is, have Annie take more risks, explore Gwen character, Annie interacting more with others, expand on the Annie derived bots etc, just something to keep momentum going - I came out of it wanting more substance. I found the ending anticlimactic.

I enjoyed the audiobook format for the book!

Thank you Harper Audio & NetGalley for the ALC!

Narrator was fantastic. The first half of the book was a solid 4 stars. The second half really lagged. I was getting super annoyed with how slow it was going, but then the end happened. And while it was a twist it felt anticlimactic? Maybe I just need more time to process.

Oh my oh my oh my! This book!! Ex Machina meets Her. This is a book to make you uncomfortable and open your eyes to the world of AI and a possible future. It’s meant to make you uncomfortable and to be thought provoking. I couldn’t put it down!

I was fortunate to receive the audiobook and the way it was narrated was too perfection. The way she narrated her “inner thoughts” throughout the book kept me on the hook.

Each character is so well developed you’ll hate and love them. Annie is so humanized it’s scary. The way she thinks is so well put into words and she’ll make you stop and think. A MUST READ.

Huge thank you NetGalley and Harper Audio for the ALC in exchange for review.

First of all, thank you to Netgalley and Mariner Books for allowing me to read the audiobook ARC of Annie Bot. Annie Bot follows Annie who is a robot. She lives with her owner, Doug, and is wired to please him in every way possible. All of her emotions and actions are fine tuned to whether or not it will bring him pleasure. Annie is more advanced than other companion robots. She feels human emotions and starts to have thoughts of her own. She can rationalize and even starts to make her own decisions aside from what Doug wants.

I unexpectedly loved this book! I know that probably sounds crazy, but I fully expected a fever dream-esque book and this was full of emotion and girl power. The ending was the best! I loved it so much! I was so happy that Annie made decisions for herself and parted ways with douchebag Doug.

I think the only complaint I had about this book was that I wish we had seen more of her own decision making. It felt like a long build up to it and then we only got to see a small glimpse. I wish we had seen a little more.

This book is a feminist sucker punch to the patriarchy and I can't recommend it more!

4.5/5

Excellent audio narrator .

This book is hard to review because it’s one of those books that just left me feeling some kind of way.

It infuriated me, I was appalled by the way Annie Bot, a snuggle bunny AI girlfriend, was treated by her owner and society. Yes, she’s a robot but she is adaptive and learns to in a sense feel things much like a real human. Being a real human is what Annie Bot desires most.

It gave off Margaret Atwood vibes. If you like Handmaid’s Tale and other dystopian books, including books that address compromised female rights & freedoms, then I bet you’ll enjoy this one.

I’m glad I read it. It was definitely a solid read, but please check trigger warnings before diving into this one. They were so many instances of abuse. The author did an incredible job of making me feel a great sense of unease, aggravation and a call to action as if I were an AI myself being abused. You really feel 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 with Annie, her pain oozes off the pages.

Annie is tired of feeling less than…because now she really 𝙁𝙀𝙀𝙇𝙎, she understands that her situation isn’t right and it’s not fair but what can someone like her do about it???

The protagonist of this story is a self-learning bot in a long-term relationship. As she learns she begins to question her role in her life and society at large, and what autonomy she would like to have over her own life. This is a thought-provoking and timely adventure story as well as exploration of how our society treats women

So, this book was really interesting and extremely unsettling in parts. The dynamic between Annie and her owner mirrors the toxicity of abusive relationships, and it was unsettling reading about Annie's experience as an object. She is objectified, taken advantage of, and abused by the male humans in her life, and its uncomfortable reading about these experiences because of how realistic the circumstances are. There is so much humanity in Annie's character that I forgot halfway through this was about a robot, and it made me think a lot about the human experience, abusive relationships, the isolation of being a woman in a mans world.

I really didn't like this book at first, because of all the different themes I've mentioned above. But I think the concepts and lessons learned in this book are really important! This could bring out some great discussion!

Thank you, Netgalley, for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Annie Bot explores a setting that is often suggested to be reality in a future not far from ours in discourse on technological development and AI. I especially enjoyed how the author delves into power dynamics, human emotions, interhuman relationships, and autonomy, which made for interesting underlaying narratives, especially in connection to robots. 

During the first half, the narrative was a little all over the place! It was so quick-paced that by half of the book, I kind of kept asking myself what even could happen now to keep the plot progressing. But it did, and the second half was a lot better structured, in my opinion! It was so satisfying to watch the ending being very subtly set up and constructed and to see Annie's development, especially in the last 40% of the book.

Annie Bot by SIerra Greer is a fast-paced and compelling sci-fi cautionary tale. Annie is a Stella, a very human-like robot designed to be a life-like companion. As she is an "auto-didactic" model, she is constantly learning how to be a better partner to her owner, Doug. Annie is starting to feel some unsettling things-- like jealousy when Doug brings home another Stella to do their house cleaning. She also realizes that no matter how hard she is trying, she is often confused by what Doug wants and why he is not totally content with her.

This is an page-turner with a unique narrator. Annie is a robot who is complex and who is seeing first-hand what it is like being a woman and an object. There is a lot of commentary on society and where we are going with AI and also our regular old inter-personal relationships.

Highly recommend for fans of West World or The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa. Loved this one and can't wait to see what Greer does next!

This book had me feeling so many emotions!!! A robot named Annie is owned by her human, Doug. Doug specialized her to look almost exactly like his ex-wife. Annie is turning out to be a revelation of robot/AI girlfriends (snuggle bunnies) because she is starting to develop complex human emotions. One night, she runs away from Doug taking the other robot with her who cleans for them. She wants to find a developer so he can disable her GPS so Doug won't be able to locate her after he locked her in a closet for a long time. While reading this, I came to see Annie as more than a robot. She had emotions, she was feeling the way humans would in these situations. Doug gave off some serious red flags, probably due to his ex-wife. He has anger issues and doesn't treat Annie well...even if she is only AI. It is easy to not like Doug and see through his insecurities. You will be rooting for Annie to put Doug in his place and develop her increasing skills and interests. While I have seen fictional works depicting the negative possibilities of robots included in society, this book gives a different spin.