I didn't expect to weep as much as I did but the author's love story is so touching and magical. I got the opportunity to read this through NetGalley a couple of years ago and never got around to reading it until now...and I can see why! Stephanie's life reminds me so much of mine, I really think I was meant to read this now and not a moment sooner. I think this book did a good job of weaving scientific info with a personal story that it was a very seamless read. Also, woohoo for female neuroscientists! :D

Thank you to Net Galley and Flatiron for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. This was a very interesting read and part memoir as she intertwines her experiences as a researcher and of love. She does a wonderful job of explaining the science of love and also loneliness (her future husband's area of expertise) and how we know more about our relationships than we realize (our brains know our preferences but for some reason we don't "know" it). She also gives specific examples why having love in our life is necessary for life (romantic or otherwise) and also how detrimental loneliness can be on our wellbeing (many experienced this first-hand during the pandemic). I highly recommend this if you're interested in the topic.

This one has been circulating really well, its a good mix of anecdote and hard science for a public library collection.

I thought the premise of this book was fascinating, as it explores the intersection of self and science. There have been other hybrid memoirs in this vein that I've loved and read. And this cover is gorgeous.

However, this one fell flat for me, because it lacked the objectivity to be purely science, and the self-awareness to be memoir. Because of this, a lot of this book read like Cacioppo trying to justify her own experiences via science, and cherry-picking science to support her own experiences.

I want to give some grace with some of my biggest frustrations, because I know that English is not Cacioppo's first language, but the use of acronyms (FOMO/JOMO, etc) was exhausting, and I felt like the way that Cacioppo spoke to queer experience was primarily lip service (it's hard to maintain an atmosphere of inclusivity when both the print copy and the audiobook use "transgendered" instead of "transgender," [I'm sincerely hoping this was corrected before the book went to print]. and the entire thesis of the book essentially dismisses our aromantic/asexual friends.)

I primarily read this via audio, and while I appreciated the narration, I think the clinical writing of even the personal parts of this book just made it hard to feel fully connected or invested.

I lost my husband a year ago. This book has been a bittersweet aid in helping me remember and heal.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This feels like a book in the vein of Lab girl, pert memoir, part popular science. And, while it does sort of do that, the science here was very in the weeds and the meat of the memoir doesn’t take off right away. In this instance, it lost me in the form.