Marriage is hard and complicated even when two people are perfect for one another and are truly in love. It becomes even more complicated when there are 2 very flawed people who are trying to find love again. Ed and Laura seem great on paper but their marriage is in trouble. Ed is not a great husband yet Laura has plenty of flaws herself. Even though I was not a huge fan of either character, I was still very involved and wanted to know what would happen with them, I suppose it is being a fly on the wall in someone else's marriage. There were a few twists and turns but overall this was an enjoyable look through the window at a marriage in shambles and trying to put it back together.

I tried to get into this many times over the last few months but it wasn't for me. Thank you for the opportunity!

Do you have to like the characters in a love story? Well, you might not like Ed or Laura or even Penelope. Ed and Laura are married and doing a dance with and against each other. He's taken over a mental institution and among his patients is Penelope, a very young woman with epilepsy. Laura knows about Ed's fascination with her- and takes a job as an art teacher at the institution. These three swirl around each other and then......There's a twist that changes things up for all three (no spoilers). This is a dark portrait of marriage but the characters are realistic and compelling. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. This won't be for everyone but try it for a mature and engaging read.

THE BEHAVIOR OF LOVE by Virginia Reeves is a tough read. It is very dark, the ending especially, and I can't bring myself to recommend it. A story about a married couple that continuously gets brought together and torn apart over a various number of years in the 1970s - 1980s. Dealing with infidelity, health, pregnancies, and miscommunication, the couple (Laura and Ed) are a quintessential oil and water couple. They don't belong together, but their live will forever be entwined whether they like it or not.

I found the characters not very redeeming though, and a bit one note. I wasn't sure why they got married in the first place, and why neither of them could see how unhappy the other one was. Another two-star rating for me.

This is another beautiful and poignant novel from Virginia Reeves, this time about a damaged man and the two women he loves.

Dr. Ed Malinowski is a brilliant behaviorist running a mental institution in the 1970s. He’s a charming philanderer, much to the chagrin of his wife, Laura, who is drawn to him in spite of herself. When Ed falls in love with one of his patients, a beautiful 16-year-old epileptic named Penelope, it drives a deep and ultimately irrevocable wedge into his marriage.

I don’t want to give anything away, but I will say that something happens halfway through this novel that completely changes the tone of the story in a profound and excruciating way. Ed, the successful and charismatic womanizer, suddenly loses the control he has always maintained and becomes becomes jarringly vulnerable.

The two women he loves remain, unable to let him go. It’s a stunning and devastating portrait of love, marriage, illness and healing.

*Thanks to NetGalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review*

Reeves is an unusual, possibly uncategorizable writer. Stories that seem to be about loving relationships between couples morph into something else, something more complicated, or at least this was the pattern in both her previous novel Work Like Any Other and this new one. The Behaviour of Love is a story of choices, work and relationships that turns more philosophical and compromised. Reeves seems to enjoy creating these emotional quandaries and then offering generous solutions to them. Her grace makes for a satisfying reading experience, but the books hover between stools, neither literary nor romantic. Maybe she is inventing a space all her own.

3.5 stars
The Behavior of Love is a provocative, tragic novel about a doctor torn between the love he has for his wife and love for a brilliant young patient.

It's hard to pin down exactly how I felt about this book. Ed is selfish, passionate, and indulgent. His wife Laura is jealous, secretive, and independent. I appreciated the author's willingness to reveal the ugly side of marriage and people. They are meant to be flawed characters, but that did make it difficult to get through some of the story at times because they are so unlikable. I also appreciated the irony of what happens to Ed near the end, but when I finished the book, I was still uncertain of its message. Love comes in many forms? Cheating depends on how you define it? Honesty and communication are super important in a marriage?

The Behavior of Love is dark, heavy, and sad. It's worth a read if you're in the mood for a melancholy book with flawed characters, like The Perks of Being a Wallflower or The Lovely Bones.

Thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
I highly recommend this book.
I thought that this was a beautifully written book.
It was a heartbreaking tale about love, lust and obsession.
It had an interesting plot and great character development.
I would definitely read another book by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle ARC of The Behavior of Love.

This is the first book I've read by this author and though I enjoyed her writing, I didn't enjoy the story or characters.

Dr. Ed is the superintendent of an institution who has fallen for one of his patients, a pretty 16 year old epileptic named Penelope. His long suffering wife, Laura, has to deal with her husband's emotional infidelity and that he cares more about his job and patients than he does for her.

Over the course of a decade, we watch the couple fight, make up, have a child, split up and endure tragedy and triumphs, sorrow and grief.

It was extremely difficult to like Ed; okay, I hated him.

There's nothing wrong with flawed characters. We're all flawed and have issues; that's what makes us human but Ed, despite all his degrees and education, is a dick. An adultering, cheating, selfish dick.

I have no idea why Laura and Ed got married; how they meant is explained but I still have no idea why she fell for him.

As a behaviorist intent on helping his institutionalized patients achieve independence and self worth, Ed justifies his own bad behavior in the most self-centered and egotistical ways.

He cheats on his wife because she is not available to satisfy his physical needs; he lusts after Penny and though they never consummate their illicit relationship, when Laura finally leaves him, Ed wishes he had gone through with the affair because, at least, he had been able to satisfy his lust.

After the divorce, Ed seeks Penelope out and is devastated when she has a boyfriend, even though he had always hoped she would have a normal life.

All he thinks about is himself.

I hated Ed, and to make it worse, he lacked any redeeming qualities. Even when he got sick, I couldn't sympathize for him.

I did empathize with Laura and her family, his friends and caregivers, but not Ed. Nope, not happening.

Laura was marginally better as a character. I understood her need for her husband's attention and her near irrational jealousy at Penelope, even years later, because this young girl had usurped her husband's affections.

I understood Laura's inability to let Ed go after he became ill and her behavior towards him is out of love, guilt and all they have shared together, including a son.

I just couldn't understand why and how Laura and Ed fit together as a couple; I had no inkling of their chemistry, love or mutual respect for each other.

Also, everyone smokes and drinks way too much; you know this takes place decades ago because Laura smokes and drinks, even when pregnant.

I did appreciate Ed's desire to create a supportive and stimulating environment for his patients in order to integrate them back into society and the institutional setting as a backdrop but these details didn't diminish my dislike for him.

The title is misleading because I did not feel love between any of the characters, not even between Laura and her second husband, Tim.

The irony that the doctor becomes a patient toward the end did not escape me but unlikable characters and a Lifetime-like plot made this an unsatisfactory read for me.

Shattering, insightful and poignant, a novel which you will consume without taking a breath for air---and which will haunt you for days thereafter.

“The Behavior of Love” is about a love triangle in a very chaotic, hectic setting. Ed is superintendent of a mental institution and is married to an artist. He falls in love or lust with one of his patients. It’s a very emotional, tangled web about the collapse of a marriage and much more. I commend the author for successfully weaving together the chaos of a mental institution, sex and love. I’m not really a fan of love stories but this one is different. I enjoyed this book, the characters are well developed and it has a very interesting plot. I received this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I found this book to be extremely compelling and relatable to what constitutes an affair. The book was told from the viewpoint of both the Dr and the wife. The reader views the collapse of a marriage and the feelings and emotions that are experienced throughout. The drama was well written and I really felt for the characters. I will be recommending this book to others and would like to read more from this author. Thanks the ARC, Net Galley.

Virginia Reeves wrote a well constructed and intellectual novel in “The Behavior of Love.” I may not have embraced Laura not some of her actions, nor even found her likable, but I have to give her latitude in behaving as she saw fit under all circumstances. I do not want to be more specific, as I do not want to create any spoilers. Life happens, we react, we feel certain ways, how can we judge one, without walking in his or her shoes? This is an epiphany I had after ruminating over the events that took place in this novel. Kudos to Virginia Reeves. I highly recommend this book. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for granting me the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

I received this advanced copy from netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

This book was a little hard to start for me. Just some part was disturbing, and I immediately told myself I wasn't going to enjoy it. That's generally not how I read.
I pushed on and am glad I did. It's complex and really raw. After the first 25% of the book, I couldn't put it down. Great book. Read it!

A love triangle set in an institution Doctor the head of the institution married to an artist falls in love lust with an epileptic patient,a patient who does not really belong in the institution.aA tangled web of a story a novel that drew me in compulsively readable so multilayered so well written the characters linger in your mind long after you finish the book. #netgalley #scribner

Ed Mulinowski, superintendent of a mental institution and husband to artist wife Laura, develops a passion for Penelope, an epileptic patient of the institution who really doesn't belong there.

First thought: This is a fully engaging novel that I had a very difficult time breaking away from. Had I the opportunity, I would have read this in one sitting.

I can't give enough kudos to the author for the character development she builds in this story. It has been a long time since I've read a novel in which I have felt so many different emotions toward a main character---- Ed. While one minute, I despised this man for his not-so- acceptable actions, the next I felt extreme sorrow and understanding for this quite 'broken" man.

I am confident that this novel would be a great book club selection. I can hardly wait until its release date as I will certainly be choosing this for the monthly selection.

Thank you to Net Galley for furnishing me with an Advanced Readers Copy of this literary gem.

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a very complex novel, weaving together love, sex and deinstitutionalization. The writer is able to make a compelling story out of some very unlikable character is, and it is always believable even when it is unlikely. Very worthwhile read