I really enjoyed this book! It was compelling and kept me on my toes which I love! I can’t wait to add a physical copy of it to my collection soon!

Funny, head strong, full of laughs and heart. Georgina is a great lead character that packs a punch and makes you cheer for her throughout the book. Really enjoyed it.

Thank you, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Taylor Hahn, and NetGalley for this ARC.

Members of a close-knit circle of friends are all in need of some kind of change. Is swinging the answer?

The Lifestyle by Taylor Hahn kept me hooked from the first word to the very last! Hahn's whimsical writing style offers the reader a compelling blend of humour and heart. Though it is a wildly entertaining easy read, it should not be reduced to simply "fun." Through well-drawn characters and unexpected storylines, this book carries real emotional weight. A perfect choice for bookclubs. I can only hope it's given the Hollywood Treatment one day soon, I'd love to see a film or television adaptation!

Give it a read, you're gonna love it! 4 Stars.

This book was well written and I didn't see any errors while reading it. I didn't like the lifestyle. I don't find that exciting. It had me looking up percentages of people that actually engage in this behavior. I liked that she ended up happy in the end, but I don't think being a whore makes someone "sex positive."

I went into this one blind, I don’t think I would have read it had I not.

30-something Georgina, a big city lawyer, walks in on her husband and her mentee in a compromising position, throwing everything she thought she knew about her perfect marriage out the window.

In order to save her marriage, a friend suggests Georgina and her husband consider swinging, aka “The lifestyle” (I don’t consider myself judgmental or prudish but it certainly seems counterintuitive at this point).

After attending a “lifestyle” party, friends and spouses in tow, Georgina reconnects with her college boyfriend-Who apparently was a great love of her life with whom she had no closure.

Georgina must decide if “The Lifestyle” is helping to save her marriage or if she’s ready to let go and move on.

This is the same story you’ve read a million times wrapped in a taboo bow.

I will say-
I can appreciate the way in which these parties and interactions are written. More implied than described. This is not a book that is primarily about sex. It does try to focus on the relationship aspect. For me, it just fell flat.

I liked Georgina as a character fine, but I did feel they were all pretty two dimensional. I wasn’t attached at all, I cared nothing for any of them honestly.

I give this book a 3.25 stars. It was just interesting and short enough to keep my attention, but likely not something I’ll be recommending to all my friends.

I received this arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I decided to pick this one up after seeing @captainolya recommend it. I thought this was such a hilarious debut! It was light-hearted, sexy, and fun to read. Georgina seems to have everything you could want going for her, until she finds her husband cheating. She then decides that a divorce is not what she wants, and suggests they try the swingers life. She then reels in her friends, and their significant others, to go along with for the ride with them. Well, all fine and dandy untill the first party they go to, she meets up with one of her college exes. Now, Georgina is torn about her feelings that have surfaced.

I thought the insight into this lifestyle was fresh and new as I have never read something like this before, and I liked seeing how these couples worked it all into their lives. Definitely made me laugh quite a few times. It's has some steam but not overly crazy. Really great story!

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the gifted copy! All opinions are my own.

I received an advanced reader's copy from NetGalley for this honest review.

I can't speak to how much this mirrors Emma, as I haven't read it. But the the tagline of "the funniest retelling since Clueless" is completely wrong. I didn't hate this book, but I didn't love it either. Georgina is a perfectionist, lawyer, in her mid-thirties, and a meddler. She is married to another lawyer, and early in the book she catches him cheating on her. Instead of working it out (or realizing she wants a divorce) she turns to the world of swinging to heal her marriage. And she ends up bringing her best friends into it as well (kind of by happenstance). The first chapter of this book is overly infodumpy about Georgina's friends and husband, and took me so long to get through because it was painful to read. I almost DNF'd this at chapter 3, but decided to press on. I did read the rest of the book on a 4 hour flight, so it picked up, I guess.

Pros: it has some funny moments, it's complete, there are some silly scenes, Whitaker sounds hot.
Cons: the writing can be overly complicated, the characters are kind of shallow, cheating being appropriate in one situation but not another, and lying to loved ones.

I don't hate that I read this, but I also don't like that I read it. Meh. Fine enough.

I am not one for non- monogamous relationships. I thought I could read this but I just can't get into it. Again, this is my mindset and I'm not critiquing the authors writing.

4.5 stars
What a great debut novel! I liked knowing going in that it was based on Jane Austen’s novel “Emma”. It informed the basic plot devices, while definitely giving everything a unique spin. I enjoyed seeing how these friends navigated their relationships and “the lifestyle”. It was completely entertaining from start to finish. I stayed up extra late last night to finish it as I couldn’t put it down until it was done!
Thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for this advance copy.

I really enjoyed this book! It is the story of Georgina, an attorney is New York who is married to Nathan, another attorney in her firm. At 35 she thinks her life is perfect, great marriage, supportive group of friends, and she just made partner. Her world is turned upside down when she finds out her husband is having an affair. They decide to try swinging to strengthen their relationship and their friends decide to try it too. The swinging part is secondary-the plot really revolves around both the romantic and friend relationships within the group. The author did a great job of creating not only the main character but supporting characters that were well developed. It was very interesting to see where all of the characters ended up. Definitely recommend!

Overall it’s a good retelling but much tamer than the synopsis suggests. The main character is likable enough but some of her choices seemed to simply extend the story rather than serve a purpose.

This book was in total, just ok for me. Some of the dialogue was excellent- witty and giggle out loud funny. I really liked some of the characters- especially the best friend character.. I found Georgina irritating. I love a list and planning— but her attempts to checklist her way into a happy life, as well as her choices and behavior toward other characters was unrelatable at best and at its worse, grating. For me, the best part of the book was toward the end, when she realized that all of her assumptions were. completely wrong. In fairness, this was an Emma retelling, so it shouldn’t have surprised me. But somehow, with Emma I was able to connect with the character much better..
Still, overall an enjoyable quick read, if mostly because I enjoyed reading the dialogue so much.

Thank you to net galley and the publisher for an advance review copy

I think this book had potential. It seemed unrealistic to me that Georgina and her friends immediately jumped on board in regards to swinging and sex parties. I know that the Georgina character was supposed to be a take on Jane Austen's Emma, who is a flawed character. Georgina is certainly that but still likable, which kept me reading. I think maybe I would have preferred if one of the characters had actually truly loved the "lifestyle" and stayed with it. It would have been a good twist and take on a romance.

Georgina is pretty certain she has the perfect life - that is, until she walks in on her husband, Nathan, cheating on her with Georgina's junior associate, Meredith. Instead of leaving Nathan, she decides all they really need is a spark back in their marriage. So she decides they will become swingers. Not only that, but she ropes in her two best friends (and their respective partners) to take on this new adventure. But, at her first swinger's party, she runs into an ex-boyfriend and suddenly everything feels just a little bit more confusing.

I really liked this book, especially knowing it's a debut novel. It was fun, fast paced, and kept me interested the entire time. The sex scenes, though still open door, weren't quite as open doors as I expected they'd be based on the description of this novel, but I think that makes it more accessible to more readers. I felt like this book was an interesting take on marriage and what it means to take someone for granted. Each of the couples featured in this novel had their own issues they were working through, and though becoming swingers might've been extreme, I think it made for such an interesting discussion on what you do when your life is suddenly blown up in your face.

I didn't care for the main character, Georgina. She felt too know-it-all for me and kept pushing her beliefs onto other people. But I do think that was Hanh's intention. Georgina walked through life ignoring her own problems while attempting to solve everyone else's - so in that way, it made sense that I didn't love her character overall. The ending was a bit predictable but still enjoyable and this is one I'd definitely recommend to people.

This book will be featured on episode 37 of the Reading Through Life podcast, "What We Read in April", available May 4th.

Firstly, I’d like to say how much I adore this cover! It’s so lovely and I couldn’t stop staring at it while reading the book.

Secondly—this book! I was nervous because this has been an anticipated read of mine but I had no reason to be. I enjoyed the main characters and their relationships. Taylor does such a beautiful job curating these endearing and wonderful characters with seemingly real personalities and ambitions. I absolutely busted out laughing so many times! This book was so fun, witty and honest!

Any who, I AM SO HONORED I GOT THE CHANCE TO READ THIS NOVEL. It hooked me immediately and I love how much we focused on all the side characters as well.. I really enjoyed the storyline and wow my heart melted so many times. This was more women’s fiction than romance, which suited me just fine.

I think this one even topped so many other women’s fiction novels this month, and I can't wait to tell everyone to buy it when it's in stores or be annoyingly persistent about it when I’m at the library.

I adored all the characters and the atmosphere so much and I hope the author continues putting out more books like this!

“The Lifestyle”…..is written by the gorgeous lawyer/writer from Los Angeles….Taylor Hahn.

It’s no secret…..this novel is about the Swinger Lifestyle…

Why I wanted to read it? ….. it’s also no secret— not even with our adult children - [judge me if you want] — but Paul and I had a few years experience in this Lifestyle….
Our stories are better 😉
but I had fun reading Taylor Hahn’s book.
It made me feel zippy, sexy, and playful (even if I’m almost entering the official old fart age of 70 next month)…

…. Quick facts about Paul and I…
We had been married 22 years - as straight and ‘vanilla’ (a term we learned)….as any American couple could be.
Our relationship has always been great….with love, and respect….neither of us has ever cheated. We were never not NOT happy….as a monogamous couple.
But one day we became introduced to ‘The Lifestyle’.
So….
Paul and I ‘did’ engage in this world for a few years.
Those late night -crazy fun days were a kick.
Our ‘own’ stories are juicier, funnier, as well as more intriguing depth, truth and growth ….
But Susan’s storytelling was fun!

The dialogue and discussions were good. Watching the characters evolve were done well.
The entire book is charming, hilarious, adorable, lovable, messy, and even a little insightful without being too serious.
It’s not perfect - but I wasn’t looking for perfect.

A few tidbits….
After Georgina caught her husband having sex with another woman at the law firm where they both worked —[before they entered the swinging lifestyle together]…..That naughty husband, Nathan of hers….
Georgina told her best friend, Norah that….
“And it wasn’t their first time!”
“How do you know? Norah asked”
“THEY WERE BOTH COMPLETELY NAKED ‘WITH’ the lights ON”

Another great line:
“When your wife says she wants to swing, you don’t say no, you say when”

Three G rated vanilla girlfriends talked about setting boundaries before swinging… they were all about to be newbies-stepping into the dark side of swinging.
Norah said to Georgina and Alina,
“I want you guys to come to my kids’ birthday parties without remembering what I look like naked. You guys are off limits for me”.
Alina said,
“personally, I have never had a problem engaging in the experience with friends. It’s better in some ways, because you trust one another already”.
Georgina chimed in. She agreed with Nora, her best friend. She didn’t want her best friend having sex with her husband Nathan.

The couples (all in committed relationships) were invited to their first swingers Saturday night party.
They talked about what they might be afraid of. Was it touching a stranger? Or fear of their own desires?

Georgina joined the lifestyle to save her marriage after catching Nathan - in the act of cheating.
But everyone wanted something different.
Marco wanted to trade fantasies.
For others it was the pulse of anticipation, the thrill of newness, the audacity of desire.

What was ‘really’ funny to me —was watching how swinging fit into a mother’s busy life with children to care for the next morning after a late night of erotic sexual escapades.

Norah and Ari had three young children.
Their daughter Hannah was allergic to everything. A porridge of mashed banana and rice milk was about the only food she could tolerate.
Their five-year-old son, Simon was in a bacon face and would only eat that.
And their oldest daughter Rachel had recently become a vegetarian.
“Norah had to use a different set of pans for Hannah’s porridge than those she used for Rachel‘s eggs, which couldn’t dare touch Simon‘s ‘evil, drug-peddling meat’”.

There were many funny scenes in this book that were not only about swinging ….
but how swinging fit into their every day lifestyle.

In the end ….this book is a little teaser look into the swinging lifestyle….
….ways it strengthens a relationship and ways it doesn’t.
….the dangers, the joy, the benefits, the growth into oneself.

I enjoyed the ingenue spirit.

Thank you Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Netgalley, and Taylor Hahn


3.5

Other than the fact that main character is a bit of a busybody, I didn't really find this to be much a retelling of Clueless. It started off well enough, a wife finding her husband in a compromising position with a junior associate and her reaction was incredibly well written. Sadly after that the characters became caricatures and it become a more lurid exploration of the swinging "lifestyle". From that point on it wasn't particularly relatable or interesting and their various adventures became repetitive.

I liked Hahn's style, and would've enjoyed more a retelling of Emma, but this was not it.

I love all things Jane Austen so I was intrigued about the Emma comparison. I thoroughly enjoyed this book but other than the character enjoying matchmaking, that's where the similarity ends. But I still really liked this book. It was funny and warm and insightful.

Unfortunately, this one is a DNF for me. Initially, I was intrigued by the premise of this book. But the further I got into it, the more I didn't like it. I didn't establish a connection with any one of the characters, and Georgina was so unlikeable, I really didn't care what happened to her, hence the DNF. Such a shame because I was really excited to read this.

Unfortunately, I am not a fan of this book, I don't think the writing was bad but the story was just kind of abhorrent. I hated the characters except for maybe Felix. In addition, the way the "swinger" life was presented was just not something I enjoyed reading about or cared to read about. Georgina, the main character, and typical busy body was just awful and so overbearing. I am sorry I could not find a way to rate this better because I would still read a different kind of book by Taylor Hahn.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.