Don's friend Gene sends PhD student Rosie to Don to settle a bet, but because Gene is sorting through the questionnaires, Don assumes that Rosie is a candidate for The Wife Project. He quickly determines that she is unsuitable - unpunctual, a smoker, and a vegetarian who only makes exceptions for sustainable seafood - however, he finds himself agreeing to help her with DNA testing to find her biological father. As Don and Rosie spend time together in pursuit of The Father Project, they come to realize that logic and genetics are not enough to predict love.
Although this book does fit in the Romance genre (being a book in which the romantic relationship between the protagonists is the primary focus of the story), it doesn't feel so much like other romance novels that I've read as it does like a great romantic comedy movie told in novel form. I was not at all surprised to see in the acknowledgements that it went through a phase as a screenplay, but neither did it feel as if I were reading a pitch for a future movie in the form of a book, as I sometimes have with writers who, although they have a good sense for what works on screen, have less skill with words *cough cough Dan Brown*. I read most of this book in public and had a very hard time not laughing out loud like a madwoman on multiple occasions, particularly about one incident involving a skeleton.
I also loved how Simsion reveals more to the reader than Don knows, even though the entire book is from Don's POV. We are often shown enough of his friends' actions and hear enough of their dialogue to put things together that are beyond Don's ability to interpret social situations, although he may be getting closer as the book goes on and he gets more practice with more different people.
There is the occasional moment that seems off, such as a scene in which Don shows uncharacteristic social subtlety in getting a woman to reject him. However, on a whole, The Rosie Project is a pure delight.
Overall Grade: A