Q*pid

I will admit this started slow. I was tempted to not finish but I did like the concept and Archer and his quirky neighbor lady. Fox finally grew on me as the story progressed.
There are some really cool characters in this book. Fox has a friend that wants updates on his sex life, and his wife usually is right there for the video chat. She is intrigued when the guy shows up and Fox agrees to meet for a drink then they continue meeting as friends.
Archer is a real sweetheart and I adored his elderly tenant and how he always had her favorite imported sausages "just laying around needing cooked" I liked that he was open when he male match came and he took the chance to reach out if not anything but for a friend and out of curiosity as to why the machine matched him with a man.
I also liked the Machine itself as a character. I would have liked a little more on it, but I guess the match and romance did need to be up front.
The story is extremely well written, intriguing and fun.
The narrator Rudy Sanda was new to me. At first, I wasn't sure how I felt about the narration. I did not like Fox's voice at all. I think maybe if Fox and his friend's voice was switched it may have worked more for me. The pacing was good though and all in all, once the story picked up so did the narration.
If you like Gay For You you get a double whammy as it's Gay for You for both characters. It is a good slow burn as well, and lots of humor.

Archer is the AI at the dating service Q*pid, and he has his own ideas about how matches can be made. Veera, his programmer, is frustrated that he isn’t listening to her and insists on going his own way. She’s on thin ice as it is with Archer at work, and not everyone at the dating service is convinced of Archer’s ability to make working matches. But when he proposes changing the protocol that determines which gender the clients are looking for, making them open to more possibilities, they are determined he and Veera have lost their collective minds. Due to a misunderstanding, Archer proceeds with his plan, and the results…

Drew Larsen is working on his PhD, and his dating life is fraught with strong and strange women. It’s not surprising that none of his relationships last. He finds more pleasure in the company of his elderly neighbor, Mrs. Schwartzmann, who has more tall tales than Carter has little liver pills. Fox Kincade is a very successful man in all ways but one—finding the right woman. But never fear, he has a spread chart for everything, and since joining the dating service Q*pid, he is determined to find Ms. Right, as long as he follows his own rules of dating. He feels pressured, though, because he is the last of his group to find their partner. His standards are high. He is determined only to date women who match him at least with an 80% rating or higher.

When Fox and Drew are each notified of a match exceeding 99%, they are overjoyed! But that joy soon turns to confusion and dismay when they open the match to find themselves looking into another man’s face! The dating service, once it discovers what Archer has done, quickly rescinds the matches, but too late for Fox and Drew, who have to decide to do with this information.
Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith…

Q*pid is a well-written, romantic story about love and possibilities, based on the understanding that love is not limited to nor restricted by body parts. By what matches where or what goes where. Love is soul-deep. You just have to be open to it.

Xavier Mayne writes well, and he draws his characters as people we can easily like and believe in. The secondary characters—Drew’s neighbor, Mrs. Schwartzmann, and Fox’s bff Chad and his wife—are delightful people you would really like to spend time with. From the beginning, I knew the outcome was predetermined—it is a romance, after all—but the journey to happiness is well worth taking, and the ending is satisfying on many levels. Don’t forget to bring plenty of Kleenex.

All in all, this was a good read, one I would recommend if you like two men finding each other when they think they want Ms. Right. And it also goes to prove you don’t have to have all the same interests to be attracted to someone.

Reviewed by Erin for Diverse Reader

An interesting premise coupled with an absolutely adorable cover made picking up Q*pid by Xavier Mayne a no-brainer. Throw in an eccentric old woman and an AI (artificial intelligence) named Archer and I couldn't wait to dive into this book. Low angst, a super swoony slow burn romance, and a cast of characters that are utterly delightful had me smiling from beginning to end.

Fox Kincade treats his dating life like a full-time job. He's got spreadsheets, a get-to-know-me spiel that's a full six minutes long that he's practiced until it flows naturally, and has check marks and has the percentage of finding the "perfect" woman down to the decimal point. He's no nonsense when it comes to finding the one and is bound and determined that he's going to find her. When the opportunity comes about to take part in a brand new pilot program on the Q*pid dating site, he jumps in with both feet knowing that this is a chance he can't miss. Until Archer, the AI running the dating algorithms decides that leaving things up to humans might not be the best chance at love.

Drew Larsen is having zero luck in the romance department. He keeps trying and trying to meet a nice girl and well, he keeps striking out in the worst ways. He's a struggling PhD student, a bit of a nerd and his closest friend is his eccentric neighbor Mrs. Schwartzmann. He gets the same invite as Fox to try out the new feature on Q*pid and figures he's got nothing to lose by checking it out. The two wind up matched and arrange a date, not knowing the other person is a man. And yeah, you guessed it, when they find out when they meet, the sparks start to fly.

I liked the friendship and chemistry between Fox and Drew. They were so cute as they get to know one another, all the while questioning just how it is that they seem so perfect for one another but struggle with the fact that it's a guy they're attracted to you (classic gay-for-you trope here) I definitely believed in the romance between the two men but the sexual attraction I had a little harder time with. There was no question that Fox and Drew genuinely liked one another but that red hot intense sexual attraction was lacking. I had a little trouble liking Fox at first, he's a hard nut to crack, but the farther along the book got, the more I enjoyed him.

All in all Q*pid was a fun read. The technical speak when it came to the computer program itself bogged things down for me a little bit, but it wasn't enough to keep me from rooting for Drew and Fox to get their HEA. The writing is great, the story line refreshing, and Mrs. Schwartzmann stole every scene she was in! Be sure to check out Q*pid, y'all, and be ready to smile until your face hurts

“But you prevent me from reaching those metrics by refusing to allow me to reconfigure Parameter Three.”
“That’s the way humans are, Archer. Parameter Three is not negotiable. Do you understand?”
“I understand your instructions, Veera.”
“Then maybe you can tell me what’s wrong with your epistemology engine.”
“The epistemology engine has determined that removing Parameter Three would allow me to exceed the success metrics.”
“And until I allow you to waive Parameter Three, you’re not going to let the epistemology engine work on any other parameters?”

The blurb for ‘Q*Pid’ pulled me right in and as I am continually fascinated by the idea of artificial intelligence I was excited to see where the author would take me. Interestingly enough, I am old enough to remember the first forays into Internet dating, and my own very dubious experience. Personally, I found it to still be as much of a “meat market” as traditional dating and after a few months I gave up. The idea of an AI - with access to someone’s entire social media accounts, plus online activity, and access to the camera in one’s phone and computer - is not only daunting but fascinating in the sense that what will a machine “think” of humanity and pairing individuals?

Veera works for Q*Pid and Archer is her baby. I made use of the quote above because I felt it was a great way to show Archer’s stubbornness, so to speak, and its determination that if Parameter Three - “the customer’s specific gender for relationship discovery” - is waived it will be able to make more accurate matches. Hmm. Fox and Drew have both been members of Q*Pid for quite a while and have had numerous dates but neither has met the One. When Q*Pid offers them a free trial of their new AI system, Drew jumps at the chance, and even though Fox deliberates a bit, he too is interested in seeing what could happen. Well, neither man could have possibly seen what was to come.

“His finger hesitated over the Delete Match button… but. But that flashing 99+ kept blinking at him. That had to be a mistake. It had to be. Didn’t it?” (Fox)

“But I don’t date men.”
“You are a young man. If you are going to start, now is the time to do it, before you are too old to try new things.”
“We’re not talking about trying a new toothpaste.” (Drew & Mrs. Schwartzmann)

At this point in a review I would normally continue by talking about each of the characters, more of the story, etc., but I find that I’m more inclined to discuss what I loved about this book. I absolutely adored the jumps to Veera, her talks with Archer, and other happenings at the Q*Pid headquarters. It gave me new insight into what occurs behind-the-scenes - honestly something I’ve never considered. There are fantastic secondary characters such as Drew’s elderly neighbor, Mrs. Schwartzmann, who kind of is his only friend until Fox, and then there’s Fox’s best friend, Chad, who provides the soundtrack of a man who has been married for several years. Even better though, both of these people care about Drew and Fox, and are willing to really listen and offer support. They also provide more than one memorably humorous moment!

And then there are Drew and Fox. Drew is a nerdy graduate student who grew up in a loving but pretty poor family, who exists on a small stipend and the free rent he gets for being the apartment buildings super. Fox is a wunderkind in the marketing world, grew up wealthy but with very distant parents, most especially his father, and has a plan (including spreadsheets) for everything in his life. I loved their differences and their similarities. I loved the friendship they developed. I loved the journey they both made, albeit more hesitantly on Fox’s part, and I loved the honesty of the writing. Some might say this is just an old-fashioned gay-for-you story but I think it’s far more than that.

An absolutely delightful novel that very clearly shows if humans were to enter into relationships with no preconceived “parameters”, then who knows where their hearts might lead them. A huge thank you to the author for this wonderful story!

NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews

We know dating apps, right? In one way or another, they’re just for a quick hook-up or searching for our eternal soul-mate. What? You don’t know? Well then, maybe it’s time for you to give it a try.

Q*pid is a dating service, and Veera is one of its developers. They are ready to launch the new algorithm, an algorithm controlled by Archie, an A.I. developed by Veera. They send out a message for their top users to give Archie a try. But to do that they must give access to their social-media file and facial analysis through their cameras. It’s a high risk for exposure, but our MCs are desperate enough to find their true love, so they accept the terms and conditions and all the privacy settings. Curiously it seems that Archie’s algorithm works just fine, until one Sunday morning, where by accident, he ignores one tiny little fact to consider, and that would be gender preference…

Fox is the ultimate analyst. He has a spreadsheet to rate all his dating. A system with what he eliminates the women he’s not compatible with. After every date, he and his bro-buddy Chad analyse the last night’s events together. Fox is convinced he’s a straight man, who never questioned his sexuality. He has a very clear idea in his mind: to meet the one and marry her.

Drew is writing his Ph.D. and living the life of a poor student. He also had many unsuccessful dates behind him. While he’s checking Q*pid at least 3 times a day, waiting for the big connection, he’s selected to try out the AI of Q*pid, but he ony hesitates few minutes. So imagine his shock when after a few days, he gets a 99.5% match. He’s eager to finally see the woman of his dreams, but that woman turns out to be a man.

This book is an amazing read!!! I couldn’t put it down until I finished it! Maybe the first half of the book is a bit boring, but then things get active. It’s humorous, syrupy-romantic, and full of confusion on the part of the MCs who try to enlarge the horizon when it comes to their sexuality.

The intimate scenes were genuine. Being a man, I know what a real quickie means, and it’s reflected in this book. Maybe some of you will not agree, but my fellow men readers will be able to relate to it.

All in all, it’s a good read! I wouldn’t mind that this would turn into a series, or read a bit more about Fox and Drew!