Animal Instinct

Praise

One of LGBTQ Reads‘s Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Books of 2025

“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