Trigger warning for this read: Mentions of childhood sexual abuse.

"I felt safest when I was unwitnessed by other people."

This book is facts interwoven with the author's personal journey discovering nature and themself as well as their developing understanding of the world and nature as distinctively and naturally queer. The author's view of queerness as diversity in nature was so inspiring and made me really evaluate my own relationship with nature. As an amateur forager, the author's insight into the landscape of my home and passion for mycology really resonated with me.

This book made me tear up and feel so many emotions over the wonder and queerness of nature and the author's relationship to the natural world is so refreshing and inspiring. As resident of the Hudson valley, their descriptions of the nature and space we live in was so poignant and I will be thinking about and feeling this book during my time in the forests (of which I spend a lot!)

Forest Euphoria was so beautiful! I had the pleasure of listening to the audiobook; Aven Shore's voice was perfect for this journey through the author's story. I felt like I learned a lot in very digestible snippets and would highly recommend this book.

Four stars instead of five because I feel like I was often left wanting more! I think some of the transitions between topics were a little too abrupt and at some points quite jarring. Moving from talking about snails at one point immediately to childhood sexual abuse was not expected. I think some softer transitions between topics would have been a bit more palatable. However, I grapple with my dislike of this style as it's definitely a reflection of the author's own neurodivergence.

Thank you to NetGalley and Spotify Audiobooks for this advance audio copy.

Kashian weaves her life and queerness together to create a story that opens your eyes to the natural world around you. She uses nature as a mirror to explore and question aspects of her life and of our wider collective community. What you hear about each species is enough to understand her point but left me wanting to research more, which I really enjoyed!
A beautiful reminder that you are not, and have never really, been alone. The earth and the trees and the birds and so many more are all around you if you only take the time to look and listen.

I understand the comparison to RWK's work and see some overlap, though this book takes a different angle and feels more conversational, so if you've read one, by no means should you skip the other. I must admit I wish they'd chosen a different narrator, but that's a personal preference. I enjoyed the different topics that were touched on and how Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian connected them to personal stories.

Thank you to Netgalley and Spotify Audiobooks for the audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to the publisher and net galley for this audio book arc!
The audiobook was narrated by the author, which I always enjoy. I thought this book was really well done, with tons of sensory details that fit the nature theme. Even though we don’t learn a ton about the authors life for a memoir; I feel like you do get to know them well! I love how they combined the different themes of their life story, mental health, ecology, and genocide. Despite being varied, it still comes together to form a cohesive text. My only complaint is that some parts got bogged down by all the details, and using up pages that could have described the plant life to the reader.
4 stars

5🌟

Thank you netgalley for this arc!

From the beginning I loved both the way this author wrote her story and the subject matter about which she wrote. The blending of memoir with science was beautiful. I'd love a longer or second book where we can delve deeper into the queerness of nature and how nothing is a binary.

This book wove a beautiful story and spoke directly to issues a lot of people face in science, both in industry and academia. I appreciated the beauty and hope that apparent throughout this book. I am not typically a fan of nonfiction, but will be recommending this book to everyone.

I experienced "Forest Euphoria" as an audiobook narrated by the author herself. More often than not, I can struggle when authors read their own material. I am pleased to say that this was not “the case with Forest Euphoria." Listening to Kaishian talk about her rigorous mycology research and her personal insights on queer ecology felt like a passionate celebration of nature’s wild diversity.

Having Kaishian’s voice throughout the audio made it all much more immersive, I felt it successfully transformed what could have been verbose scientific observation into poetic truth. Here we are exposed to everything from gender-fluid slipper snails to the intersexed anatomy of cassowaries, all while weaving in her own story of gender dysphoria, neurodivergence, and healing through connection to the natural world. It’s a short listen, but rather than devouring it all in one sitting, I felt it was important to take my time to digest it all, particularly as some of the ideas presented were very new to me.

Rooted in the forests and swamps of upstate New York, "Forest Euphoria" is a call to recognise that queerness is not an exception in biology; rather, it is everywhere. With science as her compass and personal narrative as the map, Kaishian charts a vulnerable, ecstatic, and rebellious terrain where same-sex bird courtships and endlessly sexed fungi flourish, proving that nature itself resists binaries.

This truly revelatory blend of memoir, biology, and eco-philosophy serves as both an enlightening lecture and a candid, deeply personal act of reclamation. It is a celebratory reminder that all life is interconnected.

Thanks to NetGalley and Spiegel & Grau by Spotify Audiobooks for the advance reader's copy.

"Forest Euphoria by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian" was an ancipated release for me this year and unfortunately I found it to be a rather annoying listen.

A very unique and unusual book - this is a blend of memoir, philosophy and scientific information.

The author takes us on the journey of her life, as she comes to understand her place in the queerness of the world, while sharing and explaining the joys of nature and its variations around her. As she discovered snakes, snails, eels, and especially fungi and the many ways in which there are more than two sexes, or sexes that are fluid, she followed a path that led to her understanding herself and also led her down the path of being a mycologist and immersed in the science of nature.

I enjoyed the scientific facts and all the wonderful and fascinating information about many different species, a lot of them ones that typically do not get attention. I loved the concept of a 'sit spot' and slowing down to appreciate the changes in nature that happen all around us.

To be honest, I enjoyed the scientific side of the book a little more than the memoir.

I listened to the book, and while the frequent sudden changes of direction took a little while to get used to, I think it reflects the neuro divergency of the author. The narrator was able to capture the wonder of the information that was shared.

Going back to the start after I finished it, I didn't find a trigger warning section, but I may have missed it. A warning about the non-graphic sexual abuse of a minor seems necessary, though it didn't keep me from reading or enjoying the book. I just figure there are some people out there who would really want to know ahead of time. (The author does a good job of setting the mood, so I think it's probably possible to skip past that part, though it is alluded to in even less detail once or twice as the book progresses.)

This has a lot of memoir aspects, but since those memoir aspects are by a scientist there is a lot to learn. I found it really informative and, at least for me, incredibly relatable. I was pleasantly reminded of my own childhood as a "tomboy" wandering around the woods and marshes in northern New Jersey and southeastern upstate New York in the 90s, It has been too long since I really put that much thought into the snakes (I was also raised to be horrified by killing them) and slugs around me, and I am going to grab the next book I find about eels. I got my hands on this right at the start of hiking season, I'm looking forward to walking in the Appalachians with the insights from this book rattling around in my head.

A huge thanks to NetGalley, Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian and Spiegel & Grau for the audio ARC of this beautiful book!

Look. This book just felt like a big, comforting hug to both past and present me. As a queer person who has gotten used to the loneliness of Never Really Belonging, this book gave me hope, and it told me what I already knew, but needed reminding of: that we are part of nature and that yes, we do belong. It made me feel less alone.

Kaishian draws parallels between nature, her own life and the bigger picture of present, past and future, masterfully interweaving interesting nature bits with history and more personal stories. Beautiful combination of memoir and biology book.

In short, I loved it. The narrator did the story justice, it was a pleasure to listen to this manuscript come to life.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75/5

Forest Euphoria is a captivating book about the queerness of the natural world that shares fascinating facts and comfort.

I loved this one. This story’s dive into the natural world and its queerness was wonderfully interesting, filled with fun facts, insightful research, and incredible stories. I also loved how Patricia Kaishian described moments from her life and her experience as a queer woman and scientist. This reflective and powerful story presents an eye-opening and gripping story complemented by Kaishian’s beautiful prose. I highly recommend this delightful book!

Aven Shore narrated this book wonderfully. Her voice was comforting and lovely, offering an entertaining and engaging listening experience. I highly recommend the audiobook!

Thank you to the publisher for the free ALC!