I'm obsessed with stories about swingers so went into this with high expectations and it kept me entertained. I didn't love the main characters but some of the secondary characters were great and I would definitely read more by this author.

Thanks to Knopf and NetGalley for the copy to review.

while this was a book about possibly the most interesting and dramatic topic there could be - swinging! - there was almost no tension or complexity at all. each and every character was completely understanding, to the point of perfection, even as they were experiencing trauma or being treated terribly or what have you. it made for a very hard to invest in reading experience.

Emma is my favorite Austen novel and this was a very interesting take on it. Probably the most fun reinvention of the story that I’ve seen since Clueless! I really enjoyed this story and look forward to reading more from this author.

Tame for what I expected.

A book focused on couples getting involved in swinging sounds like a unique take on relationships and the lives of married couples. The story itself was really tame. Or underwhelming is a better description.

I didn't see the connection to Jane Austen's Emma. Calling it a retelling was an interesting choice in my opinion.

I thought one of the character's backstories was far more interesting than the story itself. Being raised on a "hippie commune" and homeschooling would've made such an interesting stand alone story.

The writing itself isn't bad. I can see myself reaching for another Taylor Hahn book.

I ended up really enjoying this! More contemporary fiction than romance this was an intimate look “the lifestyle” without getting to explicit or spicy. I really enjoyed the group of adult friends and how their dynamics played out. I thought the main character was very likable and relatable and found myself laughing out loud a few times. It all wrapped up a little too neatly for me & not gonna lie I was expecting for swinger content but overall an enjoyable read!

This was a really fun read. Georgina loves control. She has a perfect marriage, career and life. That is until she goes to work after hours one night and discovers her husband cheating with a younger assistant.
After her anger passes, Georgina decides she can fix her marriage by declaring to her husband that they are now swingers. After befriending a group of swingers, Georgina and her husband navigate their new lifestyle in surprising ways. When Georgina meets a boyfriend from her past, things really get interesting. I received a complimentary e-book from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Here we meet  Georgina who discovers her successful legal partner's husband infidelity at his office after hours. She enlists her friends to swing with her and her husband in an effort to rescue their marriage. Whitaker, her ex-boyfriend, walks in, and how this all plays out is anyone's guess.

This book's swinging actually makes it possible to examine relationships. While "the lifestyle" may help some of Georgina and her married friends, it isn't always a quick answer for them all. They are all struggling in different ways.

I gave the book 3.5 stars since I believed it was a simple, engaging read.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the e arc. I liked the idea of this book being a Emma retelling but I just couldn’t get into it. This will definitely work for some people but it wasn’t what I expected and it didn’t work for me. It started strong but I lost interest about 20% in.

I really did not get into this story even though I thought it might be good. It just did not do anything for me and I was not able to finish it, I am sure others will like it.

Solid romance/contempo entry. I enjoyed the unique storyline, and the main character's hijinks as she explores the lifestyle and works toward saving her marriage. The end is a bit sudden, and could have used a bit more development, but still enjoyable.

I suspect that this book will work well for people who like Jane Austen's Emma. Unfortunately, I was reminded why I dislike that lead character. The busy body lead character didn't work for me. I think it was also not the right time. When women's rights are being eroded, a character reacting to her husband cheating by suggesting swinging was a tough sell. If they had come into the choice together it may have worked for me. That said, the writing was good. It just wasn't the book for me.

I went in with the comparison to Jane Austen’s Emma, and finished with a what the hell did I just read? I had seen my friend Caroline’s @texacalibooks review, and was still unprepared.
Picture solving your marriage problems with some soft (or not so soft) swinging. Maybe you don’t want to actually do anything, you just want to grab some popcorn and watch your husband participate with someone else. Georgina has some interesting methods of fixing up friends and working on relationships. They’re not for me, and they’re not very Emma. That said, I liked the writing and would pick up another from the author. Let’s see how she rewrites Sense and Sensibility.

I really wanted to like this one. It seemed fun and different. BUT I was super turned off by the fact that the MC agreed to join into poly relationships just because her bf was cheating. That's not light or fun, it's depressing. This was just a personal preference, and I'm sure others could look past that.

a fairly easy beach read type of book. i really enjoyed the side characters and the writing itself, its take on “modern” relationships, but it didn’t fully win me over by the end of it with the leads. i wasn’t really invested in the relationships in the way i’m used to being, but i made it to the end without getting bored by them so that’s a plus!

The Lifestyle by Taylor Hahn is an entertaining read about a woman trying swinging for the first time.

Meet Georgina. She's a successful lawyer who finds her lawyer partner husband cheating on her after hours in his office. In order to save their marriage she recruits her friends to join in swinging with she and her husband. Enter her former love Whitaker, the one who go away, and it's anyone's guess how this turns out.

The swinging in this book really allows for an examination of relationships. Georgina and her married friends are each struggling in different ways, and while "the lifestyle" helps some of them, it isn't necessarily a quick fix for them all.

Remember when I said it's anyone's guess how it turns out? Well, the book predictably goes where you think it will. I'm not usually a fan of infidelity so I initially couldn't tell how I would feel about the book. The swinging scenes weren't overwhelming or graphic and were even comedic at times. I thought the book was an easy enjoyable read and would give it 3.5 stars.

What's a girl to do? Georgina catches her husband Nathan having an affair so naturally she sets out to save her marriage by convincing her husband to join the "lifestyle" aka swinging. But not just her and Nathan, no no. Because Georgina cares about her friends and their relationships (which she sees as less than stellar) she also convinces them to become swingers too. What could possibly go wrong?

This book starts out strong. I really enjoyed it and was reading it quickly until about halfway through. Then it got tedious. There's never ending clubs and parties and it becomes very obvious very quickly that the only person interested in the Lifestyle might be Georgina herself. But is it the lifestyle she's interested in or certain members of the lifestyle?

As far as a debut novel goes this wasn't bad. I think as a reader I would've enjoyed the book a little more if there had been less droning on about the lifestyle and more about the interpersonal struggle and growth of Georgina and the other characters during and after the Lifestyle.

I was offered an early copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

The premise of The Lifestyle was promising but the execution didn't quite work for me. The pacing didn't really pick up until the final third of the novel. Overall the story touches on the swinger lifestyle and complexity of marriage but didn't delve quite deep enough into these themes.

Georgina had the perfect life with the perfect husband until she caught him cheating and her whole world changed. After a friend suggests trying out a swinger lifestyle, Georgina thinks this might be a way to get her marriage back on track. Through this experience we find Georgina stop repressing things from the past and start enjoying life by living fully and not by how she thinks things should go.

I really like the idea of this story and how messy it was but I think the structure could have been handled better. The story tended to stay to ebb and flow a lot which made it difficult to hold interest at times. Also, the characters were just not connecting for me; it felt like we only scratched the surface and any real depth didn't happen until the end of the book. I will say I enjoyed all of the different encounters in the swinger world, but I wish the story as a whole landed a little better.

While this book had an interesting premise, I struggled through this one. I know I'm in the minority though because a lot of reviews are raving about this one. Not for me. ⭐⭐

This was hailed as an Emma retelling, which I could catch glimpses of in the story, but it read more like a much, much tamer version of Sex/Life by B.B. Easton (the TV show). I didn’t care for Georgina much and couldn’t be happy or sad for her.

I enjoyed the writing style so I think I’d be inclined to read future books by this author. The side characters, like Felix, were enjoyable. The portrayal of the swinging lifestyle was underwhelming for me.

I think there are some people who will enjoy this book a lot. I’m struggling to put this book into a category, but it kind of fits Romance and kind of fits Women’s Fiction.

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf for a copy of the book.