Reviews with content warning for Antisemitism - The Intimacy Experiment

I really should learn to DNF 😭

This book has a pretty cool premise for a romcom, a plotline that carries itself through the entirety of the novel but the INSTA LOVE JUMPS OUT SO HARD.

I just couldn't with the way these two fell SO unbelievably quickly in love. Insta attraction fine, but in love?? The book literally takes place over the span of like max 2 months, I cannot.

It's well written and I enjoyed parts, but there were other things that irked, like the irony of Naomi running a seminar on modern intimacy when she is so obviously emotionally closed off and unable to be emotionally intimate with people??

Ethan would bust out insecurities that felt like they came out of nowhere and were dropped on us. Only part about this I liked was the internal discussion about what it means for the closet people in your life when your job is literally helping people. As someone who works in the NGO sector I felt that.

So sure, there were parts I liked, but overall unfortunately whilst there was an interesting premise, the insta love had to come and ruin it. And I saw the insta love like 50 pages in and that should have been my cue to drop the book but alas here we are 😭

Content Warnings

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The first book in this duet was gifted to me for my birthday. I really enjoyed the first book, and this book was so cute but also talked about some subjects that don’t offer get spoken about.

This book has two points of view. The first is Naomi Grant. She has built her life around going against the grain. After the sex-positive start-up she cofounded becomes an international sensation, she wants to extend her educational platform to live lecturing. Unfortunately, despite her long list of qualifications, higher education won’t hire her. The second point of view is Ethan Cohen. He has recently received two honours: LA Magazine named him one of the city’s hottest bachelors and he became a rabbi of his own synagogue. Taking a gamble in a effort to attract more millennials to the faith, the executive board hire Ethan because of his nontraditional background. Unfortunately, his shul is low on both funds and congregants. The board have given him three months to turn things around or else they’ll close the doors of his synagogue for good. Naomi and Ethan join forces to host a buzzy seminar series on Modern Intimacy, the perfect solution to their problems – until they discover a new one – their growing attraction to each other.

I liked how headstrong Noami was in the first book from the little snippets where we saw the friendship grow between her and Ciara. So, I was looking forward to seeing her own love story and I did not expect it to be with a Rabbi and a submissive man. It was fun, cute and sexy. But the serious subjects – trying to encourage young people to join a synagogue, sex workers after they leave the industry and that they are people before they are sex workers and how men treat male sex workers differently from female sex workers. Ethan was so adorable. I loved him and how he questions everything and doesn’t think he is worth it. Naomi was so headstrong, and I loved her and how she is fragile on the inside and doesn’t want to break. Her going back to her high school that she hated and then ranted about how break-ups sucked rather than the sex ed talk that she was supposed to be talking about.

I felt like there was something missing within this book, I don’t know what it was, it was just the extra sparkle that would make it five stars. Maybe it was the miscommunication that happened or the way that the getting back together happened.

I really enjoyed this book, and I cannot wait to read more of Rosie’s work.

Content Warnings

hannibanani29's review

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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kristinallard's review against another edition

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funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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xennial_reader's review

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

3.75

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sleeping_unicorn's review

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emotional inspiring medium-paced

5.0

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saeruh's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful

5.0

I LOVED this and I’m not 100% sure why. I think a lot of that comes from the fact the relationship was a black cat tall bisexual bitchy mean ex sex worker wife and a golden retriever short king physics/book nerd wife guy and they were obsessed with each other. I loved Naomi’s fragile relationship with her Judaism and Ethan’s complete, unwavering faith. I loved how it had really sexy scenes and really tender scenes and scenes that made my throat hurt because I was trying not to cry!
Took me a little longer than audiobooks normally do because sometimes the discussions of religion felt a little too personal lol 😛😘

Content Warnings

ell_n's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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