One of Oprah Daily’s Best Books of Spring 2025
One of SheReads’ Must-Read Books of March 2025
One of LGBTQ Reads‘s Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Books of 2025
One of Write or Die Magazine’s Most Anticipated Books of March 2025
“In the middle of reading Animal Instinct, I had to stop to text this to a friend: ‘Divorce is so HOT right now!'” —NPR, Books We Love 2025
“A delicious, sexy, insightful, big-hearted joy . . . Rachel is so open, generous-hearted and funny that reading about her makes you feel like one of the friends who comes over for drinks on her balcony.” —Curtis Sittenfeld, The Guardian US
“[A] sexy novel.” —Marie Claire
“The quippy and the no-holds-barred dialogue will remind you of gossiping with your best friends immediately after a first date. From celebrating women in mid-life embracing their sexual liberation to revealing (rather devastatingly) our co-dependency on technology to build emotional intimacy, Shearn’s novel is at once genuinely provocative, deeply heartwarming, and aware of its time. A refreshingly grown-up coming-of-age story.” —Oprah Daily
“Horny from page one, the book will resonate with budding bisexuals, divorcées, and anyone faced with the ever-embarrassing task of trying to find themselves again.” —The Cut/Book Gossip newsletter
“A good old juicy divorce [story] . . . Human sexual partners end up paling in comparison to a meticulously programmed AI.” —Vulture
“Amy Shearn’s novel celebrates the escalating weirdness of just being human in the 21st century.” —Goodreads
“A sharp new exploration into sexuality, identity and the dynamism of human nature that traditional gender roles seem determined to stifle.” —BookTrib
“Shearn crafts a bawdy, relatable narrative of sexual reawakening after a marriage grown loveless, while her character Rachel quickly realizes that such a dating environment—though it may offer fodder for a hilarious chronicle of sexual adventures—also leaves her wanting.” —Chicago NewCity
“A recent divorcée and mother of three living in Brooklyn goes on a bisexual online dating and sex spree in the spring of 2020. She also creates an AI chatbot named Frankie in an attempt to program the middle-aged dating fantasy of her dreams, a fantasy that naturally swiftly unravels as reality comes crashing back in.” —Autostraddle
“A smart, sexually charged novel.” —The Film Stage
“Shearn’s inventive novel offers snappy dialogue that feels like eavesdropping on close friends, captures the scary early-pandemic days of isolation and digital connection, and ultimately celebrates the unpredictability of love.” —Booklist
“Delightful and hilarious . . . [Shearn] relates to the reader a series of wry and cutting observations about traditional marriage. . . . [and] transcends typical divorce novel . . . This scintillating story of reinvention will excite Shearn’s fans and win new ones.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Animal Instinct is almost mysteriously kind and hot and funny—like Grace Paley crossed with Miranda July, crossed with, like, Tina Fey. I loved it so much. A joyful pandemic sex novel that’s also a scathing critique of marriage? It’s the book I didn’t know I needed.” —Catherine Newman, New York Times bestselling author of Sandwich
“A juicy novel exploring what it means to start again at midlife, Animal Instinct is a refreshingly funny, devastatingly horny, and very human look at feminine desire and self-determination. A delicious read that’s like the greatest gab session with your best friend.” —Rachel Yoder, author of Nightbitch
“Shearn’s Animal Instinct is the whole wild ride: honest, smart, deep, and so very funny! I loved it.” —Sierra Greer, author of Annie Bot
“Incisive, hot, and heartbreaking, this sizzling novel is as much about the emotional and physical acrobatics women go through to survive straight marriages as it is a siren call for women of all persuasions to forge lives on their own terms. Animal Instinct is the manifesto for self-love and liberation that we need this year.” —Courtney Maum, author of I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You and The Year of the Horses
“Animal Instinct is sexy, bitingly funny, and wise. Although it’s set in the very specific, perfectly rendered world of Brooklyn during the pandemic, Shearn’s compulsively readable exploration of what it means to start over will resonate with women everywhere.” —Rowan Beaird, author of The Divorcées
“Animal Instinct is a laugh-out-loud funny, clear-eyed appraisal of desire reawakened after divorce, as well as a tender, unflinching look at a modern marriage, what’s expected of women, and what we expect of ourselves—and what it means to let go of all that.” —Kirsten Bakis, author of King Nyx
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