2.5 stars
I stumbled across The Roommate and was pleasantly surprised by the balance of fun and sexy so I was looking forward to this. Too bad this book felt like the curse of the sophomore slump to me. There were a handful of times where I was just bored by what was happening. Naomi and Ethan just didn't seem like as compelling characters to me and it took me over half the book to actually be invested in them. While I did appreciate Ethan's commitment to his job and I learned a lot, I don't think he made for a particularly exciting character. The chemistry felt forced in the beginning. I do think that once they got together, those scenes were pretty steamy but the book just didn't feel like it had the same charm as the first one. I love that these books are so positive about sex but the first half of this book was such a dud to me that I just can't give a higher rating.

A reformed adult entertainer and a rabbi help improve relationships in the most unique and unexpected
partnership.

This slow burn takes you on a journey to discover how to move beyond the past, get over other peoples expectations and accept yourself.

The balance of heat and humor kept me reading page after page without putting this book down.

I'd read more from Rosie Danan and can't wait to see what's next.

I loved The Roommate. It’s super steamy and fun, with surprisingly complex characters who approach sex in an honest, positive, and playful way. I was expecting a lot from author Rosie Danan’s follow-up, The Intimacy Experiment. The book still provides a candid, sex-positive story (though with a lot less steam this time around, much to my disappointment), but it didn’t quite perform (sorry) as well as her debut novel.

A lot of people love this book, but I was so boredboredbored by the focus on sex and religion. I grew up in a conservative religious household and went to a conservative religious high school that rarely broached the topic of sex. If it weren’t for my, ahem, forthright mother who could never quite squash the free-talking, free-loving hippie inside of her, I wouldn’t have known much about sex beyond “don’t masturbate and don’t allow a penis in your vagina until you’re married…but fyi you can still do butt-stuff and call yourself a virgin.” (If I had a nickel for every girl I knew who “protected her virginity” by letting some dude penetrate her bung-hole…) 🤦‍♀️

All that to say that I find the conversation tedious. I’ve had it too many times, and I’m just not interested in wasting any more of my precious energy on it. So I chose to skim the very long tormented dialogues between Naomi and Ethan as they tried to reconcile their seemingly at-odds beliefs. And I skimmed some of the ending, too, because it felt convoluted, a little dramatic, and problematic in its timeline. Also, I was irritated by that point.

One last thing, just to get it out of my system… There is no conflict between sex and religion. Or at least there shouldn’t be. Sex is a natural part of being human. It’s not dirty or perverted—whether it’s casual, intense, solitary, filmed, or whatever. In my experience the only time it gets gross is when people go to one extreme or the other—either they suppress and obsess (and then things get dark), or they think everything is on the table and there for the taking (i.e., one person thinks he has and should have all the power). For most of us, though, sex is just one part of the whole self or relationship, one way of expressing or receiving or enjoying, among many other ways.

I give this book 3.5 stars, but I’ll round up because some people may find the sex and religion conversation relevant.

Fans of The Roommate will not be disappointed by author Rosie Danan's newest novel -- which stars Naomi Grant, so marvelous in The Roommate, as the magnetic lead character. I never would have expected romance novel focusing on a relationship between a rabbi and a former porn star to be anything but a joke, but in The Intimacy Experiment, it's actually a wonderful love story. Funny, sexy, and also introspective and thoughtful, The Intimacy Experiment is a really enjoyable read. Highly recommended.

The Intimacy Experiment was not what I expected but in the best way. I was expecting the romance, the heat and the quirkiness that would come with the main character’s former job.

I did not expect the heart of this story to be so big. That I would be emotionally invested in this characters and their story and that it could be so moving.

I am throughly in love with this novel by Rosie Danan.

I adored this book! I loved The Roommate so
I was ecstatic to read The Intimacy Experiment. Somehow it was even better than The Roommate. Rosie Danan is definitely a new auto buy author for me.

I did not connect with this book. Here is why:
1. What are the chances of a former porn star and a rabbi falling in love? Not believable.
2. Female protagonist Naomi Grant is a bad bitch who isn’t intimidated by anything or anyone.. until she meets super kind and super attractive rabbi Ethan Cohen.. again, not believable
3. Ethan doesn’t have too much depth and, like many male romance protagonists, is depicted as the perfect guy.. not believable
4. Naomi is Jewish but never cared for religion and its practices.. until she meets Ethan. She then is interested in knowing more about her Jewish-ness, and it’s not even to impress Ethan... not believable..

The romance between the two characters wasn’t gripping, and I found myself wondering why bothering reading it to the end. But I did. This book didn’t do it for me. It did not transport me. Maybe it would appeal to Jews since it was all about the Jewish religion..?

The only parts I enjoyed: the lectures. Those were fun to read.

Thank you Net Galley and Berkley Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Danan does it again! I thoroughly enjoyed THE INTIMACY EXPERIMENT. It is one of the most refreshingly honest modern romances I've read in a long time.

I'll be honest. I was worried. I was worried that Naomi's brashness would grow annoying over the course of an entire novel. I was worried that I would hate the addition of organized religion to the plot. But really, I should have trusted that Danan would deliver a winner on both counts. Naomi is still forthright and she still loves to shock, but we get to see way more of her depth - seriously, the woman is DEEP - than we did in the previous book. And the introduction of Reform Judaism was mostly just really fascinating. I wasn't bothered by it on the whole.

It was delightful to read about two adults who are aware of their baggage and are actively trying to work through their issues without making the issues take center stage. Their insistence on honesty, even at the hardest moments, demonstrated their respect for one other. Naomi and Ethan deserved their happy ending - they worked hard for it.

If you're looking for a surprisingly philosophical modern romance, INTIMACY EXPERIMENT is an excellent choice. Five enthusiastic stars.

This one is tough for me to review. I wanted to love it so much because I enjoyed The Roommate. But I just didn’t.

It had a great story. A rabbi falls in love with a former porn star. All the potential was there.

In romance books, you have to be able to feel the chemistry while reading. You need to connect with the characters and feel the angst between them. I just didn’t connect with Ethan and Naomi. The relationship felt forced and I was just waiting for something to change my mind.

I’m not saying don’t read this book. This is just my two cents. But let’s be real.. I might still be in a Meet Me In Montana series hangover.

This was even better than the first, The Roommate, and it does not need to be read in order. I do highly suggest you read the first as it was fun and shares lots of insight into the development of our heroine, Naomi. Naomi is introduced as our resident sexpot who is looking to expand her own brand. However, her past and awesome looks are a detriment to her new goal of lecturing in higher education. In walks a young rabbi and takes a chance on her and they develop a modern intimacy course that sets the congregation and themselves on fire. I loved the idea of having Naomi, an alpha in all senses, matched with a beta hero, Ethan, her complete opposite. I think this type of opposites attract was endearing, Naomi learned so much from Ethan and Ethan drew strength from Naomi. This book also explores morality and the Jewish faith in detail which is a career hazard for Ethan but I felt that it added a new and different dimension to the novel. I also learned a lot while enjoying the witty banter thrown back and forth between the two. I highly recommend for anyone looking for out of the ordinary main characters.

Another wonderful book by Rosie Danan! The perfect sequel to The roommate and I’m hoping there will be a third featuring Ethan’s sister. This book focused on Naomi (a former sex industry sensation, entrepreneur, sex educator and lapsed Jew) and Ethan, a young Rabbi trying to save his synagogue and attract a younger generation. To that end he hires Naomi to give a series of lectures on modern intimacy and of course along the way falls for her. I love how Danon’s books are equally steamy but profoundly insightful. This book was a slow burn romance that was extremely sex positive and full of healthy intimacy. Also did anyone else catch the reference to Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality?? Loved that so much! Highly recommend this one!

Favourite quotes:
“Intimacy is much more than sex.”

“People don’t think about that enough. How everyone we pass on the street has just as much complexity, just as many aspirations and fear and failures as we do.”

THE INTIMACY EXPERIMENT is the second book in THE ROOMMATE series, and it is just as steamy as the first book, THE ROOMMATES. It was a little slow for me to get into since I had to feel my way through the characters before they grew on me. Naomi is a sex worker and co-owner of her own business, which has sex as its core. She wants to break into public speaking and gets a chance through a young and single rabbi. He works at a slowly dying synagogue that needs to grow and attract new members. When they start a seminar series entitled Modern Intimacy, not all are thrilled. But it takes off, and so do their feelings for each another.

I thought it was interesting how much of the story takes place in his synagogue and how much religion and biblical stories are brought in as well.

There are a lot of steamy moments and innuendos throughout the story as we get to know both Naomi and Ethan and their beliefs. But we also get to know them and their frailties and see how good they are for each other, although an unlikely pairing. There are emotional moments throughout, but also the reality that people wanted to hear about intimacy.

There are positive and negative moments in the story, with many emotionally charged scenes. We meet up with characters we’ve met before and see how Clara and Josh’s relationship has progressed. There’s a nice flow to the story and a wonderful romance, which concludes in an epilogue. I particularly love the cover.

Ms. Danan has taken me out of my comfort zone with both of her books, and I’ll be back for more since she has an interesting writing style that grabbed me.

Rosie Danan can just take all my monies!

I loved learning about Naomi's HEA.

The immediate heat level was a lot less than The Roommate - but just do yourself a favor and wait because the wait is worth it!!!!!!!

#teamwetbeard !!

The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan

Book number two in The Roommate series. I definitely liked this one more than the first one, and I think it had to do with the main characters Naomi and Ethan! I absolutely loved their chemistry together and I loved how confident Naomi was. We got a glimpse on Naomi’s backstory and how far she’s come. Former porn star, now co-founder of a sex positive empire, Naomi is now also teaching classes on relationships and sex positivity. When she starts to fall for Ethan (a Rabbi who wants to bring in more people into his synagogue), I absolutely fall for their connection. Ethan is handsome, sweet and kind, and Naomi is sexy, smart and fierce. I loved learning more about Judaism and seeing Naomi trying to learn more about her own beliefs. I laughed a lot, and when it was steamy, it was STEAMY! Oh la la! Such a great and fast read!!

4/5 stars


Thank you Netgalley, Berkley Publishing Group and Rosie Danan for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Intimacy Experiment follows the story of Naomi, a CEO of a sex-positive educational startup, and Ethan, a young rabbi, who grow close after he recruits her to teach a seminar on intimacy to help make his synagogue relevant in hopes to recruit new members.

I loooooved this one. The relationship between Naomi and Ethan made me melt and blush (and feel envious?!). I actually thought parts of it were educational too, in both learning about relationships/modern dating and Judaism.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CN2omQwLxlv/

There's a lot to love here -- sex positivity, religious representation, women in business, friendship, and romance. I loved that Ethan was a rabbi and trying to drum up younger attendees to the synagogue. This was definitely a fresh approach and I liked the serious topics Naomi would discuss because relationships are hard and finding yourself and who you are in one can be scary. Also the discussion of intimacy was really interesting.

With that in mind this wasn't a homerun for me personally. I didn't find I connected well with the characters and they lacked chemistry I needed them to have, but I do think this is still a good book and worth picking up if you enjoyed The Roommate (though this is tamer) and sex positive romances.

While The Roommate came in d*ck slapping, THE INTIMACY PROJECT walked in carrying a cup of coffee ready to chat. Pick your poison, that is all.

3 3/4 stars

I enjoyed reading The Roommate last year (has it really been a year already?) and so was happy to jump into The Intimacy Experiment. One of the things I liked about The Roommate was I thought it presented a perspective on sex and sex workers that I hadn't considered before. The Intimacy Experiment continues to do that, but this time with added focus on how female sex workers are treated outside of the industry.

Naomi is now co-CEO of Shameless, the startup she runs with Clara from The Roommate. It's been wildly successful and now Naomi wants to take it to the next level by teaching in-person classes on sexuality. The problem is that no serious institution will hire her because of her "scandalous" past career. She is offered an opportunity at a networking event by the unlikeliest of people - a rabbi.

Rabbi Ethan needs to grow the size of his shul's congregation and he's thinking outside the box by asking Naomi to present a several weeks-long course of sexuality and dating. She thinks it's a ridiculous idea at first but then changes her mind. There's something so sincere about the rabbi's desire to appeal to a younger demographic and also address the matters that they care about. Ethan feels strongly that sex and religion can coexist spiritually.

Yes, this is all so weird and eyebrow-raising but Naomi has never been one to decline a challenge. She and Ethan are an unlikely pair and while tension builds up between them, it's a little slow burn before anything actually happens. Naomi might be tough as nails but she's not one to allow herself to be vulnerable. Ethan is just such a good guy, almost too good. He's so accepting and non-judgey about people in general, so he's not put off by Naomi's past. If anything, the more he's around her, the more he sees the uphill struggle she faces everyday to be taken seriously, or simply to be treated respectfully.

The more I think about it the more I realize that I was more attracted to the religious aspect than the romance. I know next to nothing about Judaism and so I naturally found Ethan's spirituality and philosophy interesting. There were a couple concepts that were referred to that made such perfect sense and hit me on a meaningful level. What I leaned in to most was that religion as Ethan was using it was not used to cast away or condemn but rather to include and uplift. Anyway, being that both the religion, and how it was being interpreted here were new to me, I was drawn to it.

I questioned one detail in the plot. Naomi is such a resourceful, take action person that it's puzzling why she wanted to teach in traditional institutions instead of creating her own programming and presenting it at a venue of her choice. All I could guess at is that while she claims not to want people's approval, she probably does crave it just a little, and all her hard work and higher learning needs to have been worthwhile.

Naomi, however, is impressive. Almost devastatingly so. Her tough exterior and approach to people and things can be abrasive to some but I liked how straightforward she is. One of the things she struggles with is an incident from her long ago past, back before she became an adult film star, that continues to affect her and drive her. Naomi does get to confront that somewhat by the end by stating things matter of factly. I thought it was a powerful moment for her and I think for a lot of women who'd want the bravery and opportunity to do the same. Danan has written an amazing female persona who's so complex, who's wiring is in knots from years of cynicism, self-preservation and punching out, and also shows her vulnerability and trust issues. This comes to the fore in one of the first intimate moments between her and Ethan. It's one of the most tender moments and a heart melter.

I loved The Intimacy Experiment in its parts. As a whole it's good. This is a complicated romance with so many factors inside and out affecting Naomi and Ethan's progress. They're an unlikely coupling but good together and for each other. This is a story that would please anyone looking for something a little unconventional, something that ruffles feathers and shakes things up.

~ Bel

I requested this book before I read the first one (The Roommate) because I was so sure I would love The Roommate that I just knew I had to read this one too. I wanted to like it so badly. Unfortunately, they just fell flat for me. I love the sex positivity of these books, but the chemistry between the couple(s) fell short and the dialogue flat. I will be honest and say I did not finish them. That said, I encourage others to check out The Roommate and The Intimacy Experiment out and form their own opinions!

I loved The Roommate to pieces, so when I heard Rosie was giving Naomi a book I was all over it! The Intimacy Experiment was like drinking a creamy and rich mug of hot chocolate during a chilly day. I was left content and my heart filled to the brim with so many feels 😭.

I loved how Rosie tackled religion and romance throughout the story. Yes, she mentions powerful lines from Judaism, the religion of Jewish people, yet this story is not overly religious. It's unconventional and intriguing, endearing and just absolutely fabulous!

Ethan is a beautiful soul. He will disarm you, just as he did the heroine, leaving you completely weak in the knees. Naomi Grant is fierce and driven. She works hard and doesn't care to please people. I loved watching her relationship with Clara, our heroine from The Roommate, and Ethan. They both made her soft and gave her a safe space to be herself and not put up walls.

These two couldn't be more opposites and that's what made them perfect for the other. They learned so much from each other, especially how to open up their heart to bear their souls. Ethan didn't care about Naomi's background or past, he just loved her for her. Also, there were some truly great moments with secondary characters. I hope that Ethan's sister, Leah gets her very own story. She was a hoot and her scenes with Ethan sent me into countless laughing fits!

The Intimacy Experiment is a slow burning romance filled with realistic issues and topics that are faced in everyday life. Once again, Rosie Danan has captivated me and I'm looking forward to more of her work!!