Book Review: The Shared Pulse by Eda Kara
A Speculative Fiction – Romance Novel published on (01/02/26)
I received an Advanced Review Copy (or ARC) on Reedsy Discovery
“Steel Hook, the trendiest AI dating app of the moment: part Bumble, part psychometric experiment, part cult. For her, the app was less about meeting someone and more about defining a problem statement for which the match would be the optimal solution.”
In a near-future Istanbul where love is governed by algorithms, Alev and Toprak are improbably matched by a system glitch that creates an intimate “Shared Pulse” between them. Alev is a perfectionist guided by her AI coach, while Toprak is a commitment-phobe gaming the dating app so it won’t kick him off. Can real love exist in an optimized world, or is it doomed by the messy chaos of being human?
Keywords:
Technology, Dating, AI, Turkiye, Algorithm, AI Coach, Autonomy, Efficiency, Humanity, Connection
My Review:
I was immediately hooked by the speculative fiction, semi-dystopian premise, but even more so within the first few pages of Chapter One, by the writing itself and the story. The moment Secret Garden tells Alev she’s ready for a relationship, and she joins the AI dating app Steel Hook, the story’s main plotline is set up: a woman who has optimized every part of her life now outsourcing intimacy itself. Alev’s complete lack of concern about privacy, handing over her data without hesitation, and letting her devices record her daily life feels both unsettling and painfully accurate. “She was trapped in an infinite loop of optimized, emotionally neutered efficiency.”
Alev is written as hyper-competent and emotionally constrained… “basically, if an Apple Watch had a human form.” She treats dating (even romance and romantic feelings) as a problem statement waiting for the optimal solution. Steel Hook, with its cult-like slogans MATCH. MEASURE. MAXIMIZE becomes less a dating app and more a mirror of her internal logic: efficient, sterile, and emotionally risk-averse. The result is a life that feels performative and devoid of emotion.
The disruption comes in the form of Toprak, whose unpolished kindness and awkward charm challenge Alev’s instinct to judge and categorize. His resistance to being reduced to metrics and his frustration with being seen as likable but not trustworthy introduce the book’s most compelling counterargument to algorithmic compatibility. When the AI begins “optimizing for emotional authenticity instead of compatibility metrics,” the story becomes even more compelling: that emotion, messiness, and so-called chaos are not bugs in the system but the point of life itself.
What elevates all of this is the author’s language. The prose is sensory and alive—“The night was already pressing the windows,” “The city below stretched its limbs.” The author’s command of wordcraft feels effortless and immersive, making the emotional and philosophical questions feel real and alive rather than abstract. This is speculative fiction at its best: using near-future technology to interrogate identity, intimacy, and the radical idea that our cracks aren’t flaws at all: they’re openings.
TL;DR Star Rating: 5.00
Links for more information
Rachel Author Barnard 