I think the name of this book is a bit misleading as the majority of it has nothing to do with “the lifestyle.” This group, which doesn’t seem to really be a solid group before this experiment, decides to try it but not really. I didn’t find myself really rooting for the characters (other than poor Felix) and all the new “pairings” just seemed far too convenient. It was a quick read, but not sure I’d recommend it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I still have mixed feelings about this book. The swinger aspect interested me and the writing in this book was good. I think my trouble lies with Georgina. I didn't particularly like her through I did like some of the other characters more. I wouldn't mind reading another book this author because I think this was more on me than the author.

Georgina has a great career as a lawyer, handsome husband, and a group of close friends. When she walks in on her husband Nathan with a junior associate, both with their clothes off, it is obvious to her she needs to do something to spark their love life. She believes she and Nathan along with her friends should join a group of swingers who have sex with each other. Things become even more complicated when one of the swingers is an ex-boyfriend. This book is sexy, and full of humor and love. While Georgina thinks she is enhancing the happiness of her parents and her friends, she is told she needs to focus on her own mistakes. Great book. I loved how the characters grew and supported each other. Lots of changes in everyone and this was not predictable.

I saw "Emma retelling" and was sold! I thought this was such a creative and endearing story and I really loved the evolution of the characters! I saw a couple of reviews saying that the characters didn't have any redeeming qualities, but I feel the complete opposite. I thought it was refreshing to read about complicated and flawed people who are just desperately trying to find something that helps them become who they want to be, whether that's individually or in their relationships.

Georgina thinks she knows what’s best for everyone else, especially since she’s living the perfect life she created. Until she catches her husband cheating. Determined to salvage their relationship and regain control of things, she decides that they should join the lifestyle, a new name for swinging. Georgina’s friends decide to join them, and she uses it as an opportunity for more meddling in others’ relationships. Swinging could turn out to be the perfect solution to everyone’s problems, but Georgina’s college love turns up at a party and throws her completely off kilter. But maybe it’s time for Georgina’s life to get a little bit messy.

An interesting twist on Jane Austen’s Emma which will not everyone’s cup of tea.

I’m pretty sure this book got me out of a reading slump. And I loved it.

Georgina just wants to fix her marriage. After she catches her husband Nathan sleeping with a junior attorney at their firm, she needs a major change. When her client suggests becoming a swinger, Georgina is hesitant but decides that it could be the perfect solution. But not alone. So she calls in her friend Norah and Norah’s husband Ari, who are frustrated in their marriage and trying to sustain their relationship with three (hilarious and absolutely bonkers) kids. She also decides to invite Felix, who is already part of the lifestyle with his girlfriend Alina, but Georgina thinks that he and Norah are endgame. And so, of course, chaos ensues.

This book was just such a fun read. The relationships of all kinds between the characters were well developed and there were no choices made by any characters that made me want to stop reading. Yes, there were frustrating moments, as there should be in a book with a good central conflict, but they never seemed unrealistic or made me want to throw my phone across the room in annoyance. And even some of my favorite books have those moments, so that’s rare!

The characters in this book were great. Georgina herself was relatable (what does that say about me?!) and her character development was genuine and enjoyable to read. Nathan never really seemed like a bad person to me, despite cheating on his wife, which made the book that much more interesting to follow. All of the friends were uniquely interesting, from Felix’s sweetness to Norah’s somewhat subtle badassery to Ari’s secretive nature but commitment to his family. And this may be slightly controversial, but I loved Meredith. She made some mistakes along the way, but she had a path set out for herself with goals and hopes and she genuinely wanted to do her best. There’s also Whitaker. Who I might be a little bit in love with.

The Lifestyle is Taylor Hahn’s first book, and I cannot wait to see what comes next from her. I found her writing style fun and gripping, and her characters and plot well developed without being overkill. If or when we get another book from her, I’ll be first in line to read it.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and to Knopf Doubleday for sending me an advance copy of this book for review!

This was a very quick and interesting read about a woman who thinks she has a perfect marriage and then finds her husband cheating on her. She talks him into the swinging lifestyle to try and save their marriage and convinces some of her friends to join as well. I found Georgina's character fun and quirky and overall I really enjoyed the story. It was interesting to get a glimpse into that lifestyle and how it might or might not help. Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf Doubleday for the ARC.

I know officially know that The Lifestyle won't save my marriage; we already have terrible trust and communication issues and The Lifestyle would only make it worse. 10/10 recommend reading this book and putting yourself in the shoes of the MC. Buying the book is cheaper than therapy (although that's recommended too) and much more entertaining.

Although I am generally not a big fan of what you might call "women fiction", I really enjoyed this book. The topic was what piqued my interest and I found the characters to be more fully drawn than I had expected. Hahn handled a tremendously sensitive topic with humor and grace. I will definitely read this author's future work.

I thought it was a retelling of Emma, but I didn’t see it. The book was light but the topic was too mature for me to recommend or finish!

I never read "Emma" by Jane Austen, but I saw the movie. Georgina walks in on her cheating husband and in a moment of crisis, thinks to herself, what better place to reignite romance between two people destined to be together than a swingers’ party? Her plan is foolproof, until she runs into a college ex at the first party. When they reconnect, Georgina will find herself torn between her head and her heart. Georgina spends a lot of the time making decisions for her group of friends, to varying levels of success, but by the middle of the book she realizes everyone needs to make the choices that are right for them. This book's synopsis was intriguing and it held my attention. I enjoyed getting to read about average mothers trying the lifestyle at night, and mothering - in all of it's annoyances and struggles - during the day. I found portions of the book to be quite funny. and I really enjoyed the group of friends. I would definitely recommend this book. Not a romcom, but a story about a young woman finding herself.

Look, I don't mind complex personalities (flawed, morally gray, unlikeable, etc.) in my books, but at the bare minimum I need at least ONE redeeming quality in a lead character for me to feel invested in the story. I'm aware this is a loose retelling of "Emma" but I sure hope it's VERY loose because I would never pick up Austen's original based on this.

Georgina wasn't it for me. I felt like she was more invested in her friends lives (or her perception of her friends lives and relationships) than she was in her own marriage. Both her and Nathan never felt like fleshed out characters, they were more like a vehicle to get to the "lifestyle" plot device. Needless to say, I wasn't invested in the success/failure of their relationship.

Everyone in this book needed therapy. Some need double therapy. Georgina needs to mind her business. And maybe should try listening for a change and learn how to be a better friend by not projecting her own insecurities on others.

I received a free advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Jane Austen spins in her grave. I was lured into this by the description that it's a "retelling" of Emma.

I soldiered on for a while, but couldn't muster affection, sympathy, or really even enough interest in the characters to read through to the end. Setting a novel in a New York law firm hardly guarantees characters and plots will be sophisticated or interesting. It feels like the author is trying too hard to connect through pop culture references, rather than relying on the strength of her own writing. I'm not a prude and if folks want to swing, that's their business. However, if I caught my partner in flagrante delicto with a coworker -- let alone one who is supposed to be my mentee -- that would be it. Over. Done. Finite.

In the words of the real Emma Woodhouse: “I always deserve the best treatment because I never put up with any other.”

Perhaps if this had been promoted differently, I'd have had less enthusiastic hopes for this story, Obviously I didn't expect it to be set in the regency period, and a modern retelling is fine, but this is a case of bait and switch.

As always, I'm grateful to NetGalley and publisher Anchor Books for the opportunity to view the ARC.

I'm giving this 4 stars, but in reality it's closer to 3.5 probably.

I thought the setting was very fun. The lawyer side of it was interesting, as the author is a lawyer herself. It's always nice to reading about a profession the author knows about, rather than guesses 🤣

Anyways, as far as the Emma retelling it felt pretty vague. Like, I get it but if I hadn't known, I wouldn't have really guessed it.

The swinging scenes were quite the romp and the parties were fun too.

Overall not the worst book ever but definitely not a fave.

And I'm so sorry but this is honestly the ugliest cover I've seen so far this year.

This book was described as a modern version of Emma, but I would also describe it as the story of what would have happened if Elle Woods had ended up with Warner in Legally Blonde. I enjoyed this book way more than I thought I would once I realized what the lifestyle means. Since law school Georgina has meddled with her friends relationships. She thinks she knows best until she walks in on a situation that shatters her perfect world. While picking up the pieces of her life she comes to the realization that she did not influence her friends as much as she gave herself credit for and that it’s actually her life that is being held back. A ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ book that will be the perfect beach read this summer when it’s published in June. 📚📚📚 #bookstagram #netgalleyreads #netgalleyreview #netgalleyarc #bookrecommendations #thelifestyle #janeaustenemma #legallyblonde

The Lifestyle by Taylor Hahn tells the story of Georgina, a lawyer who discovers her husband with a junior associate. Georgina comes to the conclusion to save her marriage ( she’s a problem solver) they need to try the lifestyle which is swinging. This was quite interesting. I really didn’t know anything about this lifestyle. It was interesting that all of her friends got involved and tried it. I liked all of the characters and the outcomes of each couple. I was curious to see who Georgina would end up with. I could see the change and growth Georgina went through. Thank you for allowing me to review this book. I will recommend this book

I had high hopes for this book because one of my friends said how good it was. I did not enjoy this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

There is so much going on in this story. Many characters with so many issues. However, the author handled all of it so well and I was never confused. Georgina, the main character is a bit annoying, but ultimately relatable. She is trying to do the right things for herself and her friends. Unfortunately, trying to help her friends is more meddlesome than helpful to them. All told, this was quick read and a fun story. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read and review an advance copy of this book.

I wasn’t expecting much when I requested this one, but turns out it was right up my alley. I’m not much of an Austen fan and not that familiar with Emma. To be honest, now that I’m reminded what it’s about, probably my one quibble with the book was that I found Georgina’s meddling, especially with regards to Ari, to be quite annoying. I will also say that some people may find the subject of “swinging” to be objectionable, and if you’re not interested in reading about it, then give this one a skip, even though it really wasn’t as racy as I was expecting, but I tend to read racier romance.

If you’re open-minded, you might have a lot of fun with this one. I found portions of it to be quite funny. I really enjoyed the group of friends. They were all very different characters, some in relationships that just needed a little boost and some in relationships that needed to go their separate ways. I definitely shipped the romance, but it’s not the focus. Georgina had some lessons to learn and some things to figure out, so it’s more about her journey to figuring out what she wants and how to embrace it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf Doubleday for the free copy provided for an honest review.

I have to admit, I don’t understand swingers or “the lifestyle”, and it’s not for me, but I am glad I didn’t let that deter me from reading this book because it was smart, funny, and very entertaining.

After catching her husband cheating, Georgina turned to the lifestyle in hope of saving her marriage. As I already mentioned, this is not my world, but I read the parts describing that life with fascination. There were many thoughtful discussions regarding the hows and the whys of it all, and I found it intriguing. It didn’t hurt that many of the “party” scenes were quite humorous and had some interesting outcomes, as well.

That said, the story really took off for me when it moved away from all parties and focused more on Georgina and her group of friends. Each was dealing with a predicament in their life, and it was wonderful watching them and their relationships evolve. I was quite pleased with the way things worked out for everyone, and I swear those last few chapters had me grinning like a fool.

Overall, this was an interesting and amusing look at an alternative lifestyle which ended up being fun and quite heartwarming.