Notes on Infinity by Austin Taylor follows Zoe and Jack while they discover they may be able to create an anti-aging drug. This was a read outside of my normal genres and was fun to experience.

Notes On Infinity by Austin Taylor...

It was neither plot nor character driven, was slow to get through, and made me want to scream. I was never truly compelled to pick this book up, finally getting to the point where I just wanted it behind me, so I binged the majority of it. Then I was overly heartbroken and wanted to cry, feeling the whole gamut of emotions alongside the characters. Yes, it's emotional, but not always in a good way.

I can understand the misogyny, the sexism, the unjust reality that is women in traditionally male dominated industries... but overall, it felt like I was missing a key part to the inside of this story. I know it's supposed to be deeper than face value, I know it should be read with this depth in mind, but I just couldn't access that. Instead, I felt like an outsider looking in.

It's both trying too hard, yet never really delivering solid answers for what it's trying to get across. I kept trying to figure out what it was really about and what the point of it was.

Was it a love story? Was it just about the rise and fall of fame? Was it neither of these things? Are the characters given too much power, money, and importance at too young of an age? Is that the point?

The second perspective was not fluid or continuous and was altogether too confusing - although it had a quicker pace. But its non-linear timeline was simply too jarring to follow properly.

Now this ending... I just didn't like its ambiguity.

Next onto the audiobook... there is simply no other narrator to voice Zoe than Helen Laser. No one else could have narrated it with the same air about them, matching both the rise and fall and every single question in between. Also narrated by Shahjehan Khan, his voice was a perfectly powerful presence to represent Jack. These two voices worked harmoniously together overall while still reflecting who their characters were by voice alone. It's truly such a fantastic audiobook!

I'm really struggling with how to rate this book.

Thank you NetGalley, Celadon Books, and Macmillan Audio for the complimentary copies to read and review.

I grappled with this one and had to pause and then unpack. Their tangled romance and work dramas made my head spin in infinite circles. The struggle was real with the first half of this book but my persistence paid off. The messy plot was so bad, it’s ending was actually good?

I was deceived, toyed with, fell into its dizzying vortex like an endless fevered dream, survived it and came out feeling conflicted and depleted. I haven’t felt so ruined or bothered in a long while but these main characters — their romance made my brain cells hurt. The final act and most anticipated curtain reveal had me shook. I’m still not over it.

Bravo to the author for an unforgettable debut, eliciting in me such emotional and terrible unrest.

This is a really interesting insight into science and startups, as described. I enjoyed the diverse characters and their character development.

This is a slow-paced story of two college students, Zoe and Jack, who seemingly discover the cure for aging and drop out to pursue their research while navigating relationships, business decisions and their personal lives.

The juxtaposition of Zoe and Jack's backgrounds was very interesting in the context of their research and start-up business. Zoe's desire to be taken seriously as a woman in STEM by her parents as well as the academic and business world was very relatable.

The last quarter of the book was my favourite and really boosted my rating. It rounded out the book incredibly well with its raw emotions and near poetic writing. I loved Jack's perspective.

While I felt the story lagged in the middle and could have been shorter, I did enjoy it overall.
3.5⭐️

Thank you to Celadon Books for the opportunity to take part in Celadon's Read Together Initiative. Thank you Celadon Books and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

** spoiler alert ** ***I received an arc of this book in exchange for a honest review***


I am absolutely blown away by this debut. It’s hard to put my finger of exactly why I loved it so much, but I will do my best to try.


The writing style was amazing. There were run on sentences, scientific terms, and references to songs/poems/movies that I’m not familiar with, and I still devoured this. Everything about the writing style made sense and mirrored the plot. It helped me as the reader to experience the feelings and thought processes of the characters.


The first half of the book is written in Zoe’s point of view and then after the peak of her discovering that their success has been a lie, it switched to Zack who, up until this point, has been a bit of an enigma. As the reader, you don’t know anything about his back story or his feelings toward Zoe and their company until this switch occurs. It wrecks you, getting his side. You want to hate him, but you already love him.


You want so much for this to work out for them. Want them to figure it out and become these amazing scientists that found the cure for aging. However, for most of the book, you know that’s not this story. This story isn’t one that will wrap up nicely in a bow with everyone getting their happy ending. There’s sacrifice, forgiveness, and intense grief present at the end. There is hope and love as well.


This might very well be my favorite book of the year and I’m so grateful to Austin Taylor for taking me on this journey. I will be getting a physical copy for shelves and recommending to all of my friends.

Thank you NetGalley, Austin Taylor, and Celadon books for an e-Arc of this novel.

Notes on Infinity is the kind of novel that hooks you with sharp writing and a fascinating premise then dares you to stay, even when the very things you loved about it begin to frustrate you. It’s a maddening, brilliantly executed, deeply complicated book. And that’s exactly why it earned four stars from me.

At the heart of the story is Zoe, a brilliant young scientist with a brittle shell and a hunger for significance, and Jack, a charismatic yet enigmatic figure who barrels into her life with all the warning signs of a storm. Their relationship is immediate and volatile. They risk everything for each other, despite barely knowing one another. It’s the kind of romance that ignites and scorches in equal measure, and Taylor doesn’t flinch from showing how Zoe and Jack both elevate and damage one another.

Zoe is one of the most complex characters I’ve read in a long time, and not always in ways that made her likable. She is a contradiction: fiercely ambitious in a male-dominated field, demanding to be taken seriously by her male colleagues and professors, yet holding a quiet, unsettling disdain for many of the women around her. Her internalized misogyny is one of the most persistent threads in the novel, at times making it difficult to read but brutally honest. She disconnects from other women—her roommates, professors, peers—and her judgment often turns cruel. One unforgettable passage for me is when Zoe is reading fan letters from young girls who want to be like her, and she cringes while reading their praise of her. She signs responses others have written but doesn’t connect to them emotionally. It’s a raw, uncomfortable portrait of someone who has learned to see success as scarcity, and women as competition. Taylor doesn’t ask us to forgive Zoe, just to see her clearly.

The plot is engrossing. It’s twisty, well-paced, and built on a genuinely fascinating scientific premise. But it occasionally drowns in its own research. Some sections get bogged down in heavy scientific detail that stalls the momentum and forces the reader to wade through long explanations that could’ve been streamlined. Still, it’s undeniable how intricately the story is crafted.

Perhaps the most heartbreaking part of Notes on Infinity is the way Zoe’s brilliance is ultimately dimmed by the very system she seeks validation from. Her downfall isn’t just Jack; it’s a lifetime of centering male approval, chasing ideas and theories that pleased others instead of pursuing the ideas that once lit her up inside. Taylor explores this with precision and empathy, showing how a woman like Zoe, so smart and driven, could be undone not by failure but by misplaced allegiance.

In the end, Notes on Infinity is not a tidy novel, and that’s where its power lies. It’s messy, flawed, and full of contradictions, just like its main characters. I felt such a range of emotions while reading this book, and that to me is what great fiction does.

Thank you so much @celadonbooks for the ARC

♾️ Thank you Celadon for including me in this read along

𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲: Notes on Infinity
𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿: Austin Taylor
𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀: Helen Laser, Shahjehan Khan
𝗣𝘂𝗯 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲: June 3, 2025

🔸 𝙈𝙮 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 🔸
Two Harvard students Zoe and Jack meet and start working on a biotech startup to cure ageing. They quickly gain momentum, drop out of Harvard and get investors for their startup. Things look promising as Zoe heads up the business and Jack the research. Once some rumors start circulating that their business may not be as it seems, their business and everything they’ve built is at risk!

The premise of this story drew me in. Two college students think they have discovered the cure to aging. And there is also a bit of a love story building along with the business. It’s intriguing and begs the question if such a thing is possible.

When it came to getting into the meat of the story, I started to get a bit lost. I don’t have a science background, and I feel like this story would have been more enjoyable if I did! Or if I had more of an interest in labs and research.

Overall, I think this story appeals to a specific group of readers, who takes more of an interest in biotech and startups!

♾️ 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚:
🔸 Biotech Startups
🔸 Anti-Ageing Research
🔸 Females in STEM Stories
🔸 Science Research

I can see the comparisons to Tomorrowx3 - but this story does stand on its own. I loved reading about Zoe and Jack and how their relationship evolved over time. There is a lot of science jargon in this, and I found myself skipping through a lot of the heavy parts... but ultimately I loved the character study in this book and that is why it is a 4 star for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Notes On Infinity follows two Harvard students, Zoe and Jack, who first meet as competitive rivals until they find themselves working together on a project that could get them funding before they graduate. It's a mix of science, romance and suspense and, I admit, the science was a little overwhelming for me as someone with no background on it at all. However, there were several real world situations addressed in the book, form Zoe facing the struggles of being a woman in science to Jack being a diabetic to them having to deal with the success of their project. I highly recommend the audiobook version because, not only did it help with the science, but also better set the atmosphere for me.

I absolutely loved the college setting and the Stem science part of the story and found it fascinating. Two Harvard undergraduates Jack and Zoe uncover a lead to reverse aging. This book is such a perfect bookclub book for its many layers and complex topics the story involves. It’s emotional, thought provoking, and hard to put down.

I really wanted to like this one! It sounded really cute, had a lot of potential for a cute romance story….

My issue is the writing itself. You can tell she’s a really young writer. The book feels like a written by and for teens or YA. This is what knocks off so much for me - I couldn’t really relate with the characters, and the writing felt so distant from something I could see as my own life.

That being said, I would still check out this writer in the future. I think she has a ton of potential.

A beautiful debut about first loves, friendship, and the ambitious world of biotech startups.

Zoe and Jack are Harvard students who find themselves on the cusp of a scientific breakthrough: the promise of immortality through an anti-ageing drug. They drop out of Harvard, find an investor, and form a startup. But a startling accusation threatens to destroy everything they've built together.

I found this book so compelling! It's always interesting to me to get a look at the way women in STEM have to navigate their way through a male dominated world. It was also fascinating to get a glimpse of the cutthroat environment of Ivy League academia and young ambition that goes too far.

I really had to make myself slow down with this one so I could take it all in. The pacing was great as was the pov switch part way through. The writing was beautiful and captivating.

Thank you Celadonbooks and Macmillan Audio for all the advanced readers copies via Netgalley and the gifted finished copy for the Celadon Reads Together! What a fun idea to match other bookstagrammers together to make a buddy read for an upcoming release!

Let me first say:
Cover? Stunning.
It’s what initially drew me in on NetGalley.
Premise? Promising.
But I’ll be frank- it took me 3 times to get into this one and even still it remained difficult for me to stay invested. I think that while it may have had more to do with my mental capacity at the time and being preoccupied with heavy life things, not necessarily due to the writing or science talk per se, but I never connected with the characters or story. I do advise this to be read in as few and frequent sittings as possible (but that could be because it never left an impression on me so I was quick to forget what happened and where I was in the story).

It’s like a mix of Theranos and Tomorrow x3 in terms of concept (college-aged kids starting a product; I’m curious if these were Taylor’s inspirations?). It’s ambitious beyond its capabilities (like its main characters) and I never felt fully sold on the concept in general (also, these “geniuses” never seemed genius, just driven by a young, naive and faux-invincible mindset and happen to love science). While I applaud Taylor for her attempt, it just didn’t do much for me. I wanted more intrigue, more character depth and development, more suspense even. I also thought there would be more sci-fi/speculative fiction in this so perhaps that expectation made the actual story fall flat too. Maybe I’m too critical of a reader…

I’ll probably still keep my copy and possibly give it another chance in the future but for now I’ve got more than plenty on my tbr to pick up before that option crosses my mind. Content includes profanity, light sexual content and remarks, suicide, allusions to drug abuse and eating disorder.

Happy pub day to Notes on Infinity, a debut sure to make a big splash this summer as it is very bingable. Zoe and Jack are Harvard students studying organic chemistry class who become intertwined in many ways when they begin intense work in a lab working on an anti-ageing drug that could promise immortality. They are so confident in their work that they drop out to form a startup, but...as these startups often go, money, fame, and secrets start to derail all they are working towards.

This is going to be comped everywhere to Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, which I loved. And in some ways, yes. There is a will they/won't they back and forth as well as the intense focus on a passion project. This also had me quickly turning pages. What it doesn't have is the same emotional pull of Tomorrow x 3 and the characters flat to me. The plot shifts around 60% also felt sort of been there done that, when there seemed to be real potential there.

Overall, I'm glad I read this as it was easily digestible and held my attention, but didn't do much more than that. We all need a book like that sometimes.

3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you Celadon for the gifted physical and audio copies as part of the Celadon Reads Together Initiative!

Notes on Infinity
Austin Taylor
Publishing Date: June 3, 2025

🎧 Narrator: Helen Laser & Shahjehan Khan🎧

I had the pleasure of being part of the Celadon Reads Together Initiative for this book! I had a great time reading with my book buddies @bookgirlbrown_reviews, @bookish.brittt, @bookish.girl82, and @bookobsessed_hannah!

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭:
🧬 Debut Novel
♾️ LitFic with Romance
🧬 Multiple POV
♾️ STEM/Academia
🧬 Biotech Startup
♾️ Examines Gender Narratives
🧬 Coming of Age
♾️ Consequences of Fame & Fortune

I really like what this author was aiming for here. The examination of gender in STEM and elite academia was interesting. The concept of the discovery of an anti-aging drug was intriguing. I love a good coming of age story. This story takes a good look at how well we can really know other people, how much we let others see of ourselves, and the lengths we will go to for others and for self preservation.

I just struggled a bit with the execution here. Zoe and Jack were hard to connect with. And maybe that was the point. The pacing was pretty slow for the first 75% of the book and then things picked up. Unfortunately that was also when things started to get interesting for me and I found myself feeling a bit bored with all the science and technicalities throughout much of the book leading up to this point.

I just need more investment in the characters, especially if you’re going to pack the punch that this one does at the end. I will say that after reading a Q&A article, I am able to better appreciate what the author was doing here. I think if I were to read this book again with these added insights, I might appreciate it more and pick up on other details. And I will give much deserved credit, I am still thinking about the conclusion of this one!

🎧 I read this one mostly with my ears and at times tandem with the physical copy. The narration was great!

Riveting, thrilling, and heartbreaking. I was completely immersed in Zoe’s and Jack’s story as they work around the clock on a life-changing discovery. This is a story of ambition, ethics, technology, confidence, misunderstandings, and love.

The writing is sharp and I think the structure worked well with the first part focused more on Zoe’s perspective before Jack’s point of view is revealed. This shift heightened the stakes and enriched the story. I was swept away by the story and had to remind myself that the characters were so young and that so much happened in a short span of time. I didn’t love every decision the author made but I understood why the story unfolded the way it did. Highly recommended!

Thank you very much to Celadon Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

Extremely slow pace. Does not deserve the tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow comp in my opinion. Didn’t love this.

Austin Taylor's "Notes on Infinity" was wildly different from what I normally read. The first half of this book dragged a bit as it got bogged down with a lot of scientific and business jargon. While mildly overwhelming at times, Taylor explains enough for the reader to follow every step of the way. The amount of explanation required, however, made the first half feel like a whole lot of setup and not a lot of action. Once I hit that 50% mark, though, every complaint went out the window and I couldn't put this book down.

I was absolutely obsessed with Zoe's characterization and backstory as the daughter of a no-nonsense MIT professor. She was brilliant, passionate, and fiery and I felt deeply connected to her experiences as a woman in academia. While flawed, Zoe was an incredibly relatable character who will do anything to pursue what she's passionate about, a trait that I think any reader can identify with. In addition to Zoe, I was deeply intrigued by Jack's character the entire book. The first half doesn't tell you much about him or his backstory and it's clear he has a history, but the suspense is worth it. Both of these characters are deeply flawed but beautifully written. The story as a whole is such a beautiful tragedy about life, love, grief, passion, and the realities of pursuing unrealistic expectations. I loved this book.

Notes on Infinity by Austin Taylor
Release Date: June 3, 2025
Genre: Urban Fiction | STEM | Coming of Age
Length: 400 pages | 10 hours, 15 minutes
Rating: 4.5

I really enjoyed the opportunity to read together put together by @celadon and all of my members in my group @shook_sbooks, @simpsonsparadox, @sogladtoreadyou, and @sterlingbookclub.

Synopsis:
Zoe and Jack set off on their new project in secret. Finding encouraging results, they bring their work to an investor, drop out of Harvard, and form a startup. But after the money, the magazine covers, and the national news stories detailing their success, Zoe and Jack receive a startling accusation that threatens to destroy both the company they built and their partnership.

Thoughts:
When I saw comparable to this book being Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow I knew I was going to have a good time because tomorrow x3 is one of my favorite books I have read and it is one of those books that helped me get back into reading as an adult.

Notes on Infinity has been rolling around in my brain for the last couple of weeks since finishing. This is my first book with STEM in it and as someone who is not familiar with science I felt that the science talk wasn’t overwhelming but was written in a way for the layperson to grasp with enough detail. The true star of this book for me was the character studies of Zoe, Carter and Jack. They all played a significant role in the development of the story. Specifically, the backstory of a particular character made me feel for them but did not absolve what they did. I appreciate that the ending felt very real. Did the author wrap it up in a neat little bow? Not in the slightest but it felt very true to what the outcome would be in real life. This book calls to be examined by conversation with different perspectives.