This book was too much drama to be a fun rom com for me. It was full of affairs, breakups, and unrealistic relationships to an extreme. Not my favorite read.

Representation: Swinging couples is the main plot, a few BIPOC supporting characters

Georgina has it all - a great husband, good job at a very prestigious law firm, and fantastic friends. A perfect life! Until she walks in on her husband in the middle of having sex with a junior associate, and that perfect life is upended. She starts to think her life’s over but she didn’t have divorce in her carefully planned future. She has a lightbulb moment of how to save their marriage from a previous conversation with one of her clients. The idea? Becoming swingers to recapture the spark. She’s also bringing along her friends and their partners for the ride, because she’s sure swinging will also fix their relationship problems.

Rating: 2.5/5 I didn’t like this, unfortunately. I gave it 2.5 stars (three on GoodReads). When I started reading this, I immediately didn’t like the main character. Her attitude about needing to have her life be perfect, needing to “fix” the lives of her friends felt very paternalistic and like she didn’t see them as full adults of their own. Not just that, but the fact that she immediately turns to swinging as a way to save her marriage and fix relationship issues. Swinging is very much a straight people’s game. Not to say that it doesn’t apply to queer people, but it’s definitely much more common for straight people to use that term, because queer people already have looser concepts of relationships than straight people do. I’m getting off the point, back to it. I may not have experienced swinging, but I understand enough about it, and polyamory, to know that it shouldn’t be used as a way to fix relationships. If you have problems in your relationship, swinging will only sweep all of that under the rug until you can’t ignore it anymore. Or lead to even more issues coming up, affecting others in the swinging group you join and that’s not fair to them, having to deal with your relationship issues that you didn’t solve before opening up the relationship. The only reason why it still has above two stars is because I think the writing is mostly good, I just didn’t like the content. Honestly, when I started reading this, I expected a much more smutty book, but this barely has any steamy scenes. There were a couple sex scenes but they weren’t at all interesting or exciting to read. Also, I remember being very put off at the beginning by the language that Georgina used to describe herself, others, etc. It felt very…objectifying and sexist, I think is the word. I think if I hadn’t persevered and finished it, I would’ve given it a much lower rating. Spoiler alert for the ending, jump past the brackets to skip it. <<Georgina eventually finally realizes that it’s none of her business to be meddling in her friends’ lives, no matter what she thinks. And she realizes that swinging wasn’t really the answer, she needed to evaluate her life without using sex with other people as a distraction. She also breaks things off with her husband and goes for her college ex, but even that felt kind of forced to me.>> Anyway, overall I didn’t like this book which is a bummer, because it’s not often that there’s a book written about swinging as a positive thing. There was discussion throughout the book about swinging rules and expectations, which was great. I just wish it’d been a different plot line.

A fun read with a somewhat likable main character. However, the ending felt very rushed and her getting together with the old boyfriend felt very unbelievable.

This story hit a little too close to home, I tried, but couldn't finish it. Thanks to NG and the publisher anyway.

I was really drawn to the clever cover design and the premise of the book sounded super interesting when I requested via Netgalley. However, it wasn't my jam. I am sure if it was the pacing or the story, but I ended up DNF-ing.

The Lifestyle turned out to be a little tamer than I thought it would be, but I appreciated the more serious moments, as it added a little more depth. However, I didn’t really feel connected to Georgina and Whittaker’s relationship. I would’ve liked more details of their past - maybe dual timelines. When they ended up together, it felt forced. This was an entertaining read and I would read more by this author.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the free digital copy!

Uhhh...what did I read? I'm not big into reading about swingers (though this was timely -- #MormonMomTok), and tbh I DNFed this.

I'd read Taylor Hahn's books again, this just wasn't me.

Thanks for the ARC!

Great book and interesting concept. At first I hated the ending, but after I thought about it, it was clearly what the characters needed to end up together. Except it doesn’t explain Georgina’s open ended ticket to Thailand and Nathan ending up with Alina.

A retelling of Emma that centers around a group of friends who decide to try swinging. Definitely one of the more interesting additions to the Emma retellings.

This is a very unusual book, and if you are looking for something different, then you should definitely read this book. This book explores the swingers lifestyle. Georgina Wagman thinks she has it all, until she discovers that her husband is having an affair. When she makes the decision to try to get the spark back, they begin a new direction in their life. Will this solve the problem, or create new ones?

I did not finish this book. It was not my cup of tea. The story was slow with too many unnecessary details. I found it difficult to like the character and did not find the comedy in the story.

Georgina has it all…until she walks in on her husband sleeping with her mentee. After drinks with a client, Georgina is introduced to swinging, and told how it has fixed her clients marriage and sex life with her husband. With her husband and friends on board, Georgina dives into the world of swinging. Will it be what it takes to fix her marriage?

Swingers. Not usually my type of story. However, what do we learn if we don’t read outside our comfort zone? I will say I found this book pretty fun. Obviously Nathan sucked, so I kind of loved that Georgina took back her own power and started focusing on herself (while still trying to work on her marriage.) I thought this book was so interesting and quirky, while being insightful and pretty fun. If you are wary of starting this one for the same reasons I was, give it a chance!

I was doubtful about this book. Mainly due to the subject of the book. I must say I was entertained reading it. I did like seeing the purpose behind everyone’s decision to go along. I thought I knew how it would end up and was surprised it wasn’t what I thought. I think you can take from this book how desperate we become to fulfill a vision of what we see for ourselves and how far we’ll go to see it through rather than admit it’s ok to see it’s not working and change the plan.

This is a fun and fast read! I completed it in two settings. The characters are relatable even though their activities aren’t things I’d necessarily partake in. I’ll say that that spice level on this book is pretty mild considering there are sex clubs and sex parties!

I so wanted to like this book but I just had a hard time getting into it. I’m sure there are people who will love it but it just wasn’t for me. Thanks for the ARC

This book turned out to be much different than I thought it would be and I love being surprised with something better than I expected. I didn't anticipate there being so many reasons to enter The Lifestyle that indicate a desire to facilitate positive changes in relationships. The characters were well-written and I enjoyed the writing style. This is a unique story of love and friendships that just may surprise you too.

This is the second Austen-inspired book I have read this year (the first being The Murder of Mr. Wickham) and let me tell you….the two couldn’t be more different, and I definitely preferred The Lifestyle. I was a little sceptical when I read the synopsis, but once I saw it was picked as a BOTM I was intrigued. Is this an Emma retelling? Yes. Are there swingers? Yes. Was it as bizarre as it sounds? Sort of, but I really liked it in the end. Honestly, whether or not you are put off by the premise, I think it’s worth pushing through if you are looking for a fun/smart summer read. Just trust me!

I really really really wanted to love this, as I love a taboo situation. However, I think Emma retellings are just not my thing. Which is okay because a lot of people love Emma!

This book was incredibly well written, interesting and I was never bored. However, the MC got under my skin a bit too much and I think it's because I can't stand Emma as a character lol.

This is the first book I’ve read where the plot is based around swinging. I had no idea what I was getting into so I started reading with little expectation. The author makes Georgina likable, but human. She has her flaws of trying to fix everyone’s problems and not focusing on her own. So when she catches her husband in an affair (and that was a well-written, emotional point in the plot), it’s almost no surprise that she wants to “fix” it by joining the swinging lifestyle (and bringing her friends along in the process to help fix their problems!). And from there, we find that it works for some and not for others. Plot twists here and there (like meeting your college ex that you never should have let go at one of the parties) spice up the story. I was always interested in what was going to happen next and there was just enough humor throughout. I did expect a little more plot about the actual lifestyle, but overall a good read. I’d recommend it.
Thanks to Netgalley for the copy of this story to read and review. All views are my own.

Loved this book! Thought it to be totally different than so many novels out there. I was rooting for the characters - especially Georgina, Norah and, surprisingly, Meredith. Love this!