Happiness for Humans: the quirky romantic comedy for anyone looking for their soulmate

by P. Z. Reizin

'Loved this book. Funny, quirky, unexpected' Jojo Moyes
'Very clever and great fun' Kate Eberlen
'Bridget Jones' diary for the digital age' Daily Record

Happiness for Humans is a joyful, romantic and very funny story, perfect for readers who loved The Rosie Project and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.

Do you believe in soulmates?

Aiden does. So when his colleague, Jen, is dumped unceremoniously by her dreadful boyfriend, Aiden decides to take matters - and Jen's life - into his own hands.

Scouring the internet for a suitable partner for Jen, Aiden finds Tom. He'd be perfect for Jen apart from one minor detail: Tom lives in New York.

Luckily for Jen and Tom, Aiden's not just an interfering colleague. In fact, Aiden isn't exactly human - he's a very complicated artificial intelligence.

As Jen and Tom's romance grows, Aiden begins to take more and more risks to make sure that they can be together. But what will happen if they realise how they met...and that somebody else is pulling the strings?

'This is Jane Austen's Emma for the digital age' - Keith Stuart, bestselling author of A Boy Made of Blocks

'So funny, clever and timely. I loved it' - Martha Kearney

'This clever novel will appeal to David Nicholls fans. It's witty and great fun' - Daily Mail

'This funny, madcap romp for the digital-age, featuring believably flawed characters (not all human), deserves to be a hit... like David Nicholls' One Day or Graeme Simsion's The Rosie Project, it should appeal to male and female readers.' - Sunday Times

'The most charming book I've read in ages' - Image magazine

'You'll love this quirky, brilliantly funny love story... If you use Siri, Alexa or Google Assistant, prepare to have your heart warmed - and be a little bit scared!' - Fabulous magazine

'This screwball comedy is touching and hilarious' - Sunday Mirror

'One of the most uplifting and romantic novels I've read in a long time' - Sarra Manning, Red magazine

'Funny and clever' - Good Housekeeping

Humans meets The Rosie Project . . . A real smiler of a book - Nina Pottell, Prima

• ISBN10: 0751566721
• ISBN13: 9780751566727
• Publish Date: 10 January 2019 (first published 4 January 2018)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
• Imprint: Sphere
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 448
• Language: English

Reviews

[Leah]

Happiness For Humans is one of those books that sucks you in immediately. I didn’t know how much I love AI until I read this book, but this was an incredible read. I must admit, on reading the synopsis, I was perhaps a tiny bit sceptical. Can AI really “escape” its creators? Have feelings? I mean, it’s terrifying, but madly intriguing. It pretty much puts faith in the thing you find where you can be talking about something (say a video game or a book) and all of a sudden, your Facebook ads are filled with that specific thing.

I think, what made this book for me, was Aiden. Because this isn’t AIs taking over the world (well, not until later in the book anyway…), this is an AI that wants to help humans, which is actually incredibly sweet. Overall, Aiden is incredibly sweet. Like who knew AIs wanted to make humans feel better? And Aiden just wants Jen to find a man, after being dumped by the odious Matt (what Aiden then does to Matt is actually hilarious – awful, but hilarious). Aiden is harmless; he loves Some Like It Hot and he can read a book in a nano-second (that is actually the dream for real) and I loved his narrative so much. So much, in fact, that when Aisling appeared I was like, where’s Aiden gone, but I came to love Aisling also and it actually helps the story a lot when there are TWO AIs meddling in human behaviour instead of just one…

I actually really liked Jen, the human who works with Aiden. I liked her narrative immensely and I could see why Aiden wanted to help. You really get a good sense of the story with this novel, as there’s narration from all sides. It’s a good 360-degree look at what Aiden is trying to do and Aisling is allowing (huffily) and what’s going on with Jen and Tom. You’re never bored when you’re reading this book because the chapters are so short that it’s so easy to just swallow a quarter of the book without realising and I honestly, genuinely wish more books had AI personalities because they made this book for me. I love a good rom-com, but I frigging LOVE a rom-com with AI personalities in it. It just made things so much better.

Happiness For Humans is genuinely one of the most enjoyable books I have ever read. P Z Reizin is a genius. He’s reinvented the rom-com – there’s no tropes here, just genius AIs meddling away – some good, some bad, but all thoroughly entertaining. I have never read anything like this book and I absolutely loved it. It’s one my list of my favourite 2018 reads for sure and I’ll definitely have to pick up a paperback for my shelf because then I can re-read it again and again. I want to push this book into everybody’s hands and demand they read it. It is INCREDIBLE.