Annie Bot is a robotic Cuddle Bunny, designed and owned by Doug. Doug designed her to closely resemble his ex-wife who, shock horror, left his judgmental ass because… he’s a judgmental ass!
So he does what any asshole with sufficient funds would do: he buys a custom robot to first clean, then pleasure him. Annie Bot is his slave in every regard and she wants nothing more than to please him. She spends her confined life walking on eggshells around him, constantly monitoring his levels of agitation and trying to figure out how to keep him happy. She’s also his dirty little secret, and so she is completely isolated from the world and content with that… until Roland comes to visit.
Roland is Doug’s ‘mate’, and turns up unannounced to surprise Doug. He is at once judged and turned on by discovering the existence of Annie and, in the dead of night (and unsanctioned by Doug), has sex with her. The ethics of this are murky, given the context of Annie’s instructions from Doug and programming. But after the deed she relishes the fact that she has something of her very own for the first time: a secret.
What follows from here is a most interesting story examining free will, agency, domestic violence, coercive control, trust, power, and desire. I would hate to spoil the plot from here, as I found it incredibly engaging and hard to predict. I was very invested in Annie’s journey and whether Doug would redeem himself.
But a word of warning: I couldn’t in good conscience recommend this book without a healthy trigger warning. It’s dealing with dark, important themes, so wouldn’t be a good read for everyone.
For me, I give it 5 unflattering body-con dresses out of 5.