This book presents a cursory and incomplete analysis of selected U.S. sociological trends related to "romance," posited here as a capitalist construct to distract people from collective action via a private future of "happily ever after." There are some interesting ideas in this book--for example, that one of the strengths of Disney films is that they offer heterosexual men a model for expressing love and other emotions--but the author's methodology leaves me cold. It feels like she cherry picks specific examples (the <i>Twilight</i> series of books/films or elaborate recorded marriage proposals) rather than providing a thorough survey of the romance landscape. Her sample sizes for interviews are tiny (usually <50 people), which feels nonrepresentative and statistically insignificant to me. This book, which references* numerous earlier works, does not contribute many original insights. Not recommended.

*A far better book about one theme covered here (dating) is <i>Labor of Love: The Invention of Dating</i> by Moira Weigel, which has the breadth and depth that <i>Love, Inc.</i> lacks (and the author does not even reference Weigel's work, which implies a poor literature review).

What an interesting read! I am fascinated by our cultural obsession with love. Laurie Essig's book breaks it down, historically and factually, and brings us into the modern age with an exploration of dating apps. I really enjoyed reading the historical implications of love, and was thrilled to hear her take on why romance plays such a large role in our lives today. I enjoyed the many facts that she shared and was very glad to have the opportunity to read this book.

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.