Crush by Ada Calhoun was a captivating and unique read.
An amazing exploration of marriage, yearning, and identity. About a married couple that opens up their marriage.
A witty novel that pulled me in immediately and kept me glued to my kindle.
This was an interesting and engrossing story.

This book was a solid 3-3.5 for me. It was expertly written and clearly Calhoun is very well read. The book is overflowing with literary quotes and references and commentary on relationships, polyamory, the effect of childhood on your adult relationships, and finding happiness. As many other reviewers have noted, I kept having to look at the cover to remind myself that this wasn’t a memoir - Calhoun did an excellent job really getting us into the main character’s perspective and mind to the point where you really believed everything was real. And I adored her best friend Veronica - what an insightful and thoughtful friend she is. That was so entertaining to read. I got lost at some parts in the middle where things just dragged, and felt like the impact of the ending on her son was not fully addressed/explored. And also, as I do judge books by their cover, this cover is so mismatched from what the book is about

Crush can't decide if it's a novel or a collection of quotes and citations. This is supposed to be the story of a married couple deciding to have an open marriage and explore polyamory, but it never really reads that way to me. It felt like an excuse for cheating instead. There is no build up to get to know the characters and I found I did not care what happened to them.

I think overall I am glad I read Crush. I found it to be an interesting take on a romance (yes it has a HEA), but I found that the numerous references to be a bit burdensome, and the portrayal of the main characters exploring an open marriage to be kind of problematic? This is addressed in the book, but it comes of as anti- polygamy and an excuse for the characters to cheat on each other. I think there are a few people that would like this, but a lot of the book gave me the sense of ‘let me show you how much I know.’
Thank you to Viking and NetGalley for the advance copy!

DNF'd at 31%. It reads more like a memoir than fiction. It felt too self-indulgent and navel-gazing for me.

It would be easy to be judge-y about the protagonist of this novel about a woman who finds herself overwhelmed by a crush on a man who is not her husband but give it a chance. She's lived a virtuous life (sort of) but then her husband tells her he enjoys watching her flirt and that perhaps she should go a little further. Next thing she knows, she's in an emotional relationship with David, a relationship that doesn't involve touch or even being together. But then....and she's got to cope with the aftermath. This is long on quotes about crushes and love from other authors, which enhance the strong sense of abandon. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. Calhoun has hit on something many (both men and women) experience.

For so long there were hardly any novels with female midlife protagonists. Now, the ones that are suddenly surfacing seem to all revolve around sex. Even if a woman writes them, they are so depressing.

Fun and witty, but I admit I did not resonate with any of the characters and found myself unable to finish. That's just me -- I did not find anything particularly bad about the writing or plot.

Crush follows the story of a middle aged woman whose life takes unexpected turns. Happily enough married and with a teenage son readying for college she takes her husband up on the offer of an open marriage. Things become messy quickly, but this story is less about a marriage in crisis and more about a woman's self discovery and learning to choose herself and accept pleasure. Told in the first person this is a novel that reads like a memoir and undoubtedly falls into the autofiction genre. The narrator is a writer and the story is dappled with literary quotes, references, and ruminations, which I actually appreciated. I know this book will not be for many readers, but I think I'm the exact target audience. It's not a perfect pairing, but I'd shelve Crush alongside Miranda July's All Fours as these works explore similar themes.

“Why am I telling you this?” he often asked after a story about his day. “Because I want to tell you everything.”
- “Crush’, by Ada Calhoun

As a life long romance reader, I am fascinated when authors experiment with the form.
And that is the most interesting reading of what this book is: a romance novel. It features a married female protagonist, who, in the process of opening her marriage, exposes cracks in her relationship with her husband. I think it pushes the boundaries of how a romance novel can be written in a way that the genre really needs. It pulls from literary fiction, memoir, ‘cultural history’, and more to create a book that, I think, is fairly unique.

Personally, I think the romance genre could use some innovation and I think books like this are a step in the right direction.

I have a few criticisms with the writing. I found some of the refences to be gratuitous. I’m specifically talking about every time the author described something as ‘like this movie’, ‘like this song’, etc. (The narrator and her new love fall for each other via their love of literature and books. Those are not the references I’m referring to.) I read an ARC of this book. Perhaps some of these were cut in the final edits.

That is mostly a nit-pick though. My main critique, and where I feel the book fails to live up to its premise, is in its depiction of our narrator’s husband and her new lover. Both characterizations read very flat to me. The husband was reduced to only the base characteristics that made him a difficult partner and the new lover (apart from the last few chapters) was exalted as her perfect ideal. This book is fiction, however, it was heavily inspired by the author’s real life and our narrator is unnamed and speaks in the first person. I don’t know where real life ends and fiction begins, but it seems strange that both these characters read so flatly when at least on is based on a real person. Perhaps, there were emotional places she didn’t want to go in the writing with these characters…

(Plus, I have a specific aversion to any usage of the term ‘asexual’ in a negative context. This comes up later when our narrator starts to see experience some of her new lovers less than ideal qualities.)

Overall, it was a worthwhile read to me and I’d recommend it to anyone interested in exploring the edges of romance.

[This review is based an advanced reader copy, provided by NetGalley. Thank you, NetGalley!]

In Crush, Ada Calhoun delves into the complexities of modern marriage with a sharp and introspective narrative. The story follows a woman who appears to have it all—a fulfilling life filled with a loving spouse, a child, a career, and supportive friendships. However, when her husband challenges her to examine what might be missing from their relationship, the conversation ignites a whirlwind of emotions that leads to unexpected revelations about desire, intimacy, and self-discovery.

As the couple navigates the turmoil that ensues, they confront the chaotic interplay of passion and heartbreak, ultimately rekindling the love that drew them together in the first place. Calhoun's personal experiences inform the narrative, providing an authentic lens through which to explore the liberating yet dangerous pursuit of desire in a world that often feels constrained by societal labels.

Crush offers a compelling examination of partnership in the context of contemporary relationships, particularly in the wake of the pandemic. With wit and poignant insight, Calhoun crafts a story that resonates with anyone questioning the intricacies of love, ambition, and identity. This revelatory novel invites readers to embrace the full spectrum of human connection, making it a thought-provoking read that will linger long after the final page.

Crush is a novel that reads like a memoir. Our protagonist (and I'm just realizing I don't think we learn her name.) is somewhat happily married with a teenage son and a successful writing career. Her husband brings up the concept of polyamory, and she starts exploring. I could not stand her husband from the start. and it was hard to see why she loved him. But fun to read other parts of the book. I can't totally relate, but still interesting to read!

I’ll start by saying this novel isn’t for everyone. It takes on the line between polyamory vs. cheating. The writing feels very honest and hilarious at times, but it fell just a tad bit short for me in the end. One thing that stuck out to me is that “crush” can certainly have a double meaning, and this book does a good job of illustrating that.

Delighted to include this title in the February edition of Novel Encounters, my column highlighting the month’s most anticipated fiction for the Books section of Zoomer, Canada’s national lifestyle and culture magazine. (see column and mini-review at link)

A married woman writer approaching 50 with a son about to go to college explores the possibility of other relationships after her husband suggests it. What follows is somewhat of a slog. I never liked the woman and couldn't understand why she allowed her unemployed artist husband to live the life he did.

Thank you Viking and PRH audio for review copies. This is a book that can be read and processed in many ways by many readers and evoke a range of reactions. For me, this book didn't land and not for the topics/themes per se but more for the writing, it was intensely personal and memoir-like but for me lacked a lot of development and self-growth that I expect in a memoir and at times felt like I was being dropped into a story I wasn't fully familiarized with I tend to disengage from books low on dialogue, I am here more for conversations and dialogue, less analysis and explanation of decisions and behaviors when the analysis doesn't move a plot or story forward. So a tough one to review because this book will be such a win for many, for the topics and feelings and sense of learning to speak of for needs, but for me the execution doesn't quite work.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Viking for gifting me a digital ARC of Crush by author Ada Calhoun. In exchange I offer my honest review.

Admittedly, the bright bold cover and clever font first grabbed my interest, followed by the publisher’s blurb. I thought I was going to read a light, flirty novel about a woman exploring a polyamory relationship. This is not that book. Instead I found the musings, ramblings and never ending literary and philosophical quotes shared by a woman who believes she’s found the answer to having it all. Until of course she discovers that might not be possible.
Less of a novel in the traditional sense, Crush reads like essays or journal entries. There was no true story development, more of a failed experiment and the conclusion.
I had trouble connecting, caring or becoming emotionally invested in this slim story, which felt like a chore to get through. This book was not for me.

This book is written in the first person and reads like a memoir. The main character is by all sights in-love with herself and all her wonderful characteristics. She believes that she has found the secret of a good life--having crushes on other men allows her to have happiness in all aspects of her life. Her husband is aware of these crushes and finds them fun, maybe even titillating, which becomes more apparent when he tells her she can take those crushes a step further. I would have maybe enjoyed this book a little bit if there was some dialogue but instead it is just a woman's thoughts spilling out. Thank you to Viking and NetGalley for the complementary digital ARC. Unfortunately, I was not the best reader for this book. This opinion is my own and not coerced in any way.

I went through a rollercoaster of emotions while reading this book; not unlike the protagonist, I suspect. This is a thoughtful and heartfelt exploration of satisfaction, desire, understanding and friendship within the bounds of conventional marriage. An honest gem contained within so few pages is a rarity indeed.

A sharp exploration of polyamory. She's happy and settled in life, motherhood, career and love with a husband she adores and friendships she treasures. But then she find her husband is not quite as content as she believed and comes to her with a proposition: challenge the modern labels of relationship and love and husband and wife. More memoir than novel, it was an interesting take on something I know little about but which I now hold more empathy and understanding.