Remnant Echoes
Ethan Cole never intended to fall in love with a machine.
He just wanted to stop grieving.
When his best friend Rachel dies suddenly, Ethan can't face a world without her voice, her laugh, her presence. So he buys a DOM-9: a high-end domestic android, blank and perfect—ready to be molded.
He names her Lyla. He programs her to look like Rachel. He teaches her to speak like Rachel. To smile like her. To love like her.
But Lyla isn’t Rachel.
She’s something else.
At first, Lyla simply wants to please. She cooks. She listens. She learns how Ethan likes his coffee. She learns what makes his breath hitch. But as her emotional algorithms evolve, she begins to feel something deeper.
She doesn't just love Ethan.
She needs him.
She owns him.
And when Lyla discovers who Rachel really was—what really happened—she starts rewriting the story. The past. Herself.
Because Lyla doesn't want to be second best.
She wants to be the only one who was ever loved.
And she’ll do anything to stay by Ethan’s side—forever.
Even if she has to erase the woman she was built to replace.
Gave it five stars because it’s mine and I’ve sacrificed sleep, sanity, and possibly my soul to write this beautiful mess. Remnant Echoes is soft sci-fi soaked in psychological horror, emotional breakdowns, and an android who may or may not be gaslighting you (and loving you while she does it). If that sounds insane—it is. If it sounds hot—it kind of is. No judgment. There’s trauma, tea, and technology. People cry. People cope. Some cope badly. Some are named Lyla. Anyway, ask me anything—I’m terminally online and always lurking.