The Boyfriend Project (The Boyfriend Project #1) – Farrah Rochon
Published: 9th June 2020
Source: Netgalley
Genre: Romance, Contemporary
My Rating:
hat happens when three women discover , thanks to the live tweeting of a disastrous date, that they've all been duped by the same man? They become friends of course!
Samiah Brooks never thought she would be 'that' girl. But a live tweet of a horrific date just revealed the painful truth: she's been catfished by a three-timing jerk of a boyfriend. Suddenly Samiah - along with his two other 'girlfriends', London and Taylor - have gone viral online. Now the three new besties are making a pact to spend the next six months investing in themselves. No men, no dating, and no worrying about their relationship status...
For once Samiah is putting herself first, and that includes finally developing the app she's always dreamed of creating. Which is the exact moment she meets the deliciously sexy, honey-eyed Daniel Collins at work. What are the chances? When it comes to love, there's no such thing as a coincidence. But is Daniel really boyfriend material or is he maybe just a little too good to be true?
This was a great read in a lot of ways. It was a lovely romance and I enjoyed the amazing female friendship in it. My favourite part was a combination of how uplifting the female friendship was for Taylor, London and Samiah, but also how Samiah was a total BAMF in the tech world, even if she didn’t always realise that.
I will say, I wasn’t head over heels in love with this book. I did enjoy myself reading but I could tell even at 25% that there was something which hadn’t clicked. I think I know what it was and there was something which happened right towards the end which didn’t sit well, but it never ruined the book. Sometimes a book doesn’t quite click and you just get bored reading (I know, I’ve been there) but this wasn’t the case here. There was a lot going on in the book, there were several really cool storylines which meant that even though one thing was missing there was other things going on. That’a rarity.
So what didn’t work for me? The romance. It didn’t have me so how can I say I liked a romance read where I wasn’t in love with the actual romance? Well, the romance wasn’t terrible, I just wasn’t invested but as I said, there was so many parts of this book which were good and had my attention so the weak romance didn’t bother me.
There was so much good. I’ve already said, the female friendship was spectacular. In the first few pages you are introduced to Samiah who discovers her boyfriend is cheating and storms over to meet him on the date he’s on and meets the other women he was seeing,Taylor and London. As soon as these women met and were bouncing off each other bringing Craig down and I just knew this was going to be an amazing friendship. I like to think we all have friendships where you meet someone and are instantly vibing with them and it was great to have that here. They were brilliant and the fact they worked for that friendship to continue was great to read as they each lifted each other up and pushed each other to do more. I was wary when they’d vowed off men but then to see them vowing off pursuing something that people thought they should have to focus on doing what they wanted was good as I think many people focus on dating as others expect them to be married and have kids by a set age so I always enjoy to see women focusing on themselves and we definitely had that here.
I called Samiah a BAMF (badass mother-fucker) and she totally was because she was a black woman succeeding in a tech world. Even one of those things would have hindered here, there aren’t as many women in tech I think simply due the sexism of people believing it’s a male industry… but she was a black woman in tech in a world where racism is out there. Considering the current landscape I think we all recognise that, but it was definitely written so well how she was dismissed earlier in her career and how during her time she had worked even harder to be recognised and it made me admire the work ethic of Samiah. I could only dream of having the level of passion and commitment she had for her job and the fact she was then trying to create her own app (an app I honestly think would be amazing to have). You even learn she did the work and was qualified to teach and then went back to college to pursue her passion for tech! Who was this woman to be so amazing? I could barely be bothered to do undergrad! So yes, Samiah was a BAMF who made me feel like I needed to work harder and I adored her for that. I was cheering her on for every success and was so pleased to see her bosses recognise her skills towards the end and for Samiah to see they always respected her. It was so lovely to see.
Then there was Daniel. He was where this book fell down for me. He was pretty damn cute, I was definitely loving him and his dimples. He was sweet, he was smart, he had some slightly dorky tendencies. But I guess I felt him holding back, for very obvious reasons considering her was part of an investigation into the company Samiah worked for, but it didn’t sit right with me. I liked him and I could tell he was always trying to do the right thing… but I guess I struggled with his actions as much as he did. This was especially true at the end considering the impact his choice could have had on Samiah and her career. I always felt like she forgave him too easily. I recognised his actions were for the good, I really do and I was impressed she saw that too but I think I must just hold a bigger grudge than Samiah did because I would have made him jump through a couple of hoops and work a little harder for the forgiveness she gave quite easily.
In the end, it’s a good book. I may have struggled with parts of it but even when I was frustrated I enjoyed myself. And I recognise the book was so well written, if I had read this book in a different week I may not have even been as bothered by Daniel’s actions, but I read it when I did and my mood will always affect my feelings when reading and this may have happened here.
Have you read this, what did you think of Daniel’s actions at the end? And what’s the last book you read with some amazing female friendship?
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