His Robot Girlfriend by Wesley Allison

This is another free book I read on my ipod  I'm totally digging this whole 'free books' idea. Or, as my husband puts it: "Don't you EVER put that thing down?!" The only problem with e-books is that you don't get that wonderful book smell. If any of you know where I can get book smell perfume, I will love you for life. Seriously. Ok, enough B.S. Let's do what we came to this shady corner of the internet to accomplish!

The official book blurb is: "Mike Smith's life was crap, living all alone, years after his wife had died and his children had grown up and moved away. Then he saw the commercial for the Daffodil. Far more than other robots, the Daffodil could become anything and everything he wanted it to be. Mike's life is about to change."

Although that sums things up quite nicely (as book blurbs often do) it doesn't really do story justice.  

Long story short: Mike Smith's life is crap. He's widowed with two grown children who are out of the house and busy with their own lives, he's a chubby, lazy school teacher with few friends and no real life. This book is set in the relatively near future (which is done very well, I'll get to that in a bit), and Mike decides to get himself a multi-purpose robot companion to help with household chores, companionship, and his sexual needs. He designs and purchases his ideal robot companion, and when she arrives he names her Patience.

Patience becomes Mike's chef, maid, lover, landscaper, financial analyst, gym partner, friend, and savior.  She changes his diet and gets him to work out, she organizes his house and sells his junk on ebay, and she helps him cope with tragic memories he's suppressed deep withing himself. She even risks her 'life' to protect him! She has some very human traits (shoe fetish!) and it is easy to forget that she's not human. So easy, in fact, that Mike develops a genuine love for her. This, of course, is not well-received by a lot of people- and this is also what makes the story pull at me. 

Once you get past the futuristic robot concept, this story is about one man wanting to marry the person he loves - even though most people strongly disapprove of people marrying robots . This part of the story doesn't show up until the end, but that's because you need to read the stuff before it to become attached to the characters. And the characters are easy to get attached to. 

The environment that Wesley Allison creates is so realistic that you can easily visualize the future he writes about. It's quirky, fun, and totally believable. The writing style is easy to read, and I laughed out loud several times throughout the story. I have only one gripe: the predictable and abrupt ending. But, to be honest, I can totally understand it. I just wanted the story to keep going. 

I really enjoyed reading this, and I plan on reading more of his stories since I saw there's a bunch of free ones on iBooks. I'm a book whore- it's what I do!