Made For You by Jenna Satterthwaite
Hi. My name is Julia.
I’m a Synth. And I’m here to find love…
Synthetic woman Julia Walden was designed for one reason: to
compete on The Proposal and claim the heart of bachelor Josh LaSala. Her
casting is controversial, but Julia seems to get her fairy-tale ending when
Josh gets down on one knee.
Fast-forward fifteen months, and Julia and Josh are married
and raising their baby in small-town Indiana. But with haters around every
corner, Julia’s life is a far cry from the domestic bliss she imagined. Then
her splintering world shatters: Josh goes missing, and she becomes the prime
suspect in his murder.
With no one left she can trust, Julia takes the
investigation into her own hands. But the explosive truths she uncovers will
drive her to her breaking point—and isn’t that where a person’s true nature is
revealed? That is…if Julia truly is a person.
Told via dual timelines, Jenna Satterthwaite’s twist-filled
debut deftly explores the exhilarating point where artificial intelligence,
reality TV, and bone-chilling murder mystery meet.
Excerpt
THEN
“Can you hear me?” A male face peers into mine. Midthirties,
glasses, expressive eyebrows. Andy. Kind.
“Yes,” I say. There’s an overwhelming barrage of hot
sensation, then click, it all evens out—light, sound, the air on my
skin—settling like embers, then cooling.
I breathe in, feel my chest balloon, breathe out. Lift my
hands to face level and flex my fingers, mapping how the smooth pale skin with
its smattering of freckles shifts and ripples over my knuckle ridges.
I’m sitting. Dressed in what seems to be an evening gown. I
register how tight the skirt is around my thighs. How beautifully the blue
sequins catch in the ice-white light from above. Palms down, I skim the fabric,
tickling the pads of my fingers as the sequins catch, lift, fall. It’s like
wearing a party. I like it.
“Do you know who you are?” says Andy.
I look up and feel myself smile. He’s in baggy jeans, a gray
T-shirt with a buffalo plaid shirt open over top and a pen hooked on the breast
pocket. A dark five-o’clock shadow travels down his neck. His look screams
sleepless nights.
“Of course,” I say. Everything is simply there, no effort,
natural as breathing. “I’m Julia Walden.”
“Do you know where you are? What year it is?”
“We’re in LA. It’s January 2022 and Biden is President.” I
tilt my head. “We’re in the middle of a pandemic.”
“Do you know what’s about to happen?”
I register, out of the corner of my eye, a boom mic operator
to our deep left, but keep my attention on Andy.
“I’m about to compete on The Proposal.”
“God,” breathes Andy, putting a fist to his chest like my
answers are slaying him. “You—you’re—” He crooks a finger at his lips.
“Here?” I suggest with a light laugh. Now I’m rubbing my
arms, the rough skin at my elbows, allowing my hands to touch my own face, then
wander up to my hair, long and loose. I fish it around my shoulder. It’s a
fiery, sun-gleam red. I love it. I love everything about being Julia Walden.
“Real,” says Andy when he’s recovered his speech. “Working.
Amazing. I kind of want to hug you?”
“You don’t have to ask.” I stand in my high heels, taller
than Andy by nearly a head. His glasses collide with my shoulder as applause
bursts around us. After a second, he hooks my hands in his and pulls back, eyes
moist.
“Wow, Julia. Just wow.”
I scan our surroundings as flashes pop. We’re in a
warehouse. To the right, large machines quietly rest. I note hydraulics,
robotic arms, big sheets of pale, rubbery material. Skin, I realize, and my own
skin seems to respond, tiny goose bumps racing up my arms.
It’s not a bad feeling, exactly. Just…unpleasant, like
touching something wet that you thought would be dry.
To my left, a film crew makes a crescent shape. One hefty
man shoulders an equally hefty camera, trained on me. I know without being told
they’re here from The Proposal.
It’s a little strange to be having this intimate moment with
Andy while everyone watches. Then again…that’s about to be my life. Fully on
camera.
Andy claps his hands. “So. Ready to meet Josh?”
“I was born ready,” I say with a laugh. My eyes flicker up
to the answering sound of laughter from the film crew. But while I did mean to
be funny, I also mean it.
Andy pulls out a cell phone. “This is yours. Let’s break it
in.” He leans into me and we smile for our first selfie.
“Should we post it to Insta?” he says. “Your handle just
went live—we had to wait until the other contestants’ phones were taken away.
Oh, and we can’t mention you’re on The Proposal yet—” But I reach for the
phone.
“I got it.” My fingers navigate the screen easily. Also,
wow— how does @TheRealJuliaWalden already have close to a million followers…and
counting? I caption the picture the journey be-gins!!!, noting the tug of
resistance within me as I put the phone down. I guess part of me wanted to
watch the reactions roll in. Immediately I wall up this thought. I’m not here
for everyone. Just one man.
Andy has pulled out a blue pen while I’ve been messing with
the phone, and is nervously gnawing on the clicker end. Weirdly, I want to
reassure him, It’ll be okay. You’ll see.
“Julia!” the producer calls out. “Could you introduce
your-self? For our viewers?”
I look at the camera’s cold eye across the distance and
imagine that I’m looking into the face of a friend who can’t wait to see me. I
smile.
“Sure! I’m a Synth. My name is Julia. And I’m here to find
love.”
Excerpted from Made for You by Jenna Satterthwaite © 2024 by Jenna
Satterthwaite used with permission by MIRA/HarperCollins.
Purchase Links
About the Author:
Born in the Midwest, Jenna Satterthwaite grew up in Spain,
lived briefly in France, and is now happily settled in Chicago with her husband
and three kids. Jenna studied classical guitar, English Lit and French, and
once upon a time was a singer-songwriter in folk band Thornfield. She loves
sushi, reading in her natural habitat (aka her bed), and women taking back their
power. Made For You is her debut
novel.
X: https://x.com/JennaSchmenna
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