The Intimacy Experiment

By: Rosie Danan

Narrated by: Alex McKenna, Kaleo Griffith

"Danan is becoming a go-to author." (New York Times Book Review)

Naomi and Ethan will test the boundaries of love in this provocative romance from the author of the ground-breaking debut, The Roommate.

Naomi Grant 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 ed won't hire her.

Ethan Cohen has recently received two honors: LA Mag nominated him as one of the city's hottest bachelors and he became rabbi of his own synagogue. Low on both funds and congregants, the executive board of Ethan's new shul hired him with the hopes that his nontraditional background will attract more millennials to the faith. They've 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. They've built the syllabus for love's latest experiment, but neither of them expected they'd be the ones putting it to the test.

©2021 Rosie Danan (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

Alma's Best Jewish Romance of the Year

"Danan’s book is at its very best when it’s connecting faith, trust, strength and desire in complex ways...an ambitious and rewarding story." (New York Times Book Review)

"This follow-up to Danan’s steamy 2020 debut The Roommate is filled with humor, healing, and heady good times (and, yes, that is a naughty pun)." (Vulture)

“Rosie Danan has a staggering gift for subverting expectations.... The Intimacy Experiment on the whole, is a blessing of a book - tender, bruising, sexy, and transcendent.” (Entertainment Weekly)

Great story line. Poor narrator's.

Narrators were too stoic. Sometimes it was even hard to tell apart the male or female character.

Cute read!

Loved it! I found it refreshing and cute! Different from what I normally read, maybe that's why I like it so much!

Intimacy Experiment

Story line was cute - it’s always nice to switch character POVs and I found it easy to fall in love with the characters.
I was hopeful that with 2 narrators, the speaking sections of each character would’ve been separated by narrator - rather than by chapter. Made me feel like each character was actually 2 characters with 2 different voices.

I think they needed better narrators.

The story was there, not awful and realistic, but I have to agree with others on the narration being terrible.

it's unfortunate because I obviously like the book enough to finish it but I wouldn't re-read.

Such a breathe of fresh air!

I loved this book from the first sentence. It was so raw and authentic. The author did such a great job of making this book almost unimaginable, but because she has such skill in character development, it made me feel like I knew them or wanted to at least have a coffee with these two. Read this book, seriously if you love a story that defies odds and comes together in a predictable but also unorthodox way, you’ll eat this book up like I did. Also the sex scene alone was so good, it was honest but crazy town erotic. You may not feel that way, but for a mother/school teacher, it was the perfect balance of sexy and believable.

Read. These. Books.

I wanted to prove that being naked— being sexual— didn’t make me less valuable, less worthy of respect.

I love this book so, so much. Everyone who loves romance needs to read this series. The writing. The chemistry. The banter. The message- breaking down the taboos surrounding the sex work industry and women’s sexuality.

I was screaming at so many interactions between Naomi and Ethan. Moments I wanted to throw my phone (Audible) across the room because I couldn’t handle it.

Read. These. Books.

Loved the feminist themes

But I just needed more romance for this to be a five star for me. In terms of character development it was a definite five but a 3 on the romance. The lead heroine was a sex positive heroine and smart and the hero was sweet and protective. They were a good pair!

Get to know who Naomi really is

I enjoyed this book, it didn't make me laugh as much as the first book in the series, but it still kept my attention and had me smiling. Naomi was not a character I liked much or related with much in the first book, but getting to know the real her in this second book made me understand her so much more. I like her approach to her new series and how she was able to reach out to her audiences. If you enjoyed book 1, you will like the continuation in this book.

Nice spicy romance

I really liked Naomi and Ethan. I liked the contrast between them. He's a rabbi, and she's a former star of sexy movies. It's fun watching them finally get to starting a relationship. There were lots of good descriptions and, especially, plenty of snappy dialogue. I enjoyed and identified with descriptions of Jewish life and customs.

so damn good

Honestly, this book is awesome. This author does such a good job of creating characters that are realistic, that have flaws that everyone has (insecurities, building walls, etc). The female characters are empowering and strong, and when they face challenges they are self-sufficient. I love stories where there characters remind me of myself or people I know, and these characters do. Many of the characters did work in the sex industry (and kudos to Danan for normalizing/humanizing a group of people that are neglected by society), and brought to the forefront of how people in these professions are often treated as unworthy and degraded, as well as the assumptions that are made about their character.

Danan also wonderfully depicts what a healthy relationship looks like. Yes, this book obviously contains sex- but it’s not like other romcoms where the steamy scenes seems to be the primary focus of the story (where the portions between those scenes are lackluster and you could easily skim over). This story goes into the realities of intimacy, the good, bad, and ugly.

Can’t wait to read whatever this author publishes next - even if it’s outside the realm of her previous two novels.