The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan

Narrated by Alex McKenna and Kaleo Griffith

I purchased The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan because I saw it was highly recommended by bloggers I trust. I didn’t even read the description, I just jumped right in. Imagine my surprise when I saw it had rare Jewish characters! As a girl who was brought up Jewish, even though I don’t practice, I really like seeing my people in a mainstream romance.

You do not need to be Jewish to enjoy this any more than I need to be Catholic to read a book with a Priest. In fact, if you aren’t Jewish, I think it would be very interesting and different.

Naomi Grant is an ex porn star who started a popular website about sex and dating. She really likes educating and wants to teach classes on intimacy, but Universities don’t want to hire ex porn stars to teach.

Ethan Cohen is one of LA’s hottest bachelors. He was also just hired to be a rabbi at his own synagogue. The congregation is old and dying away, and the board hopes that the young handsome rabbi would bring in a younger group of worshipers. He only has 3 months to show positive change.

So he hires Naomi to give a lecture series on modern intimacy and dating. He’s a man of faith, but he is single, and rabbis aren’t celibate. And Ethan and Naomi have growing feelings for each other.

But can a rabbi date a porn star? Even a Jewish one?

“One of the best things about love, real love, is that it doesn’t demand perfection. It simply invites us to live up to our potential.”

It sounds like a light comedy, but this smart romance goes deeper. Naomi is tough, broken, guarded and closed off, while Ethan is in many ways innocent and open.

“What I’m trying to articulate, probably a little poorly, is that you’re precious,” Ethan said, “not in spite of, but because of all the ways you believe you’re broken.”

It’s a slow burn romance that was a just little too slow for my tastes. It did start to drag a bit in the middle and it started to feel a little forced—like the story was leading rather than the romance developing naturally. I still thought it was a fun and different romance, just a bit long for the story told.

“Love, like faith, asks us to be less selfish. Less greedy. It asks us to trust. To sit with our doubts. To keep coming back to and proving our commitment.”

Likes:

Very unique premise.
A rare Jewish couple that seem like normal people.
I loved the lectures.
I learned without realizing I was learning.
It was smart without hitting you over the head with it.
I loved Ethan’s sister!
One HOT scene! I didn’t expect that kind of heat from a Rabbi!
I had a very similar thing happen to me in high school that changed me.
You didn’t have to read the first book, The Roommate first. I didn’t even realize there was one, until I saw it on goodreads.

Dislikes:

It got a little slow and draggy in the middle.
3rd person.
The relationship didn’t feel that natural because they were following the lectures.

The Narration:

Both narrators were new to me, and I really hope to hear more from both of them. I think they added to my enjoyment of the story.

The Down & Dirty:

The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan really stands out as unique. How often do you get a hot rabbi as the hero of a novel that isn’t a Hanukkah novel? I love that we have a mainstream romance with Jewish characters. A porn star and a rabbi makes for a fun blurb, but the story itself was pretty smart and deep. It moved a little slow at parts, but all-in-all, the uniqueness of the storyline brought it up a notch. I look forward to more from this author.