Animal Instinct

The world has stopped. But Rachel is just getting started…

It’s spring of 2020 and Rachel Bloomstein—mother of three, recent divorcée, and Brooklynite—is stuck inside. But her newly awakened sexual desire and lust for a new life refuse to be contained. Leaning on her best friend Lulu to show her the ropes, Rachel dips a toe in the online dating world, leading to park dates with younger men, flirtations with beautiful women, and actual, in-person sex. None of them, individually, are perfect . . . hence her rotation.

But what if one person could perfectly cater to all her emotional needs?
Driven by this possibility, Rachel creates Frankie, the AI chatbot she programs with all the good parts of dating in middle age . . . and some of the bad. But as Rachel plays with her fantasy to her heart’s content, she begins to realize she can’t reprogram her ex-husband, her children, her friends, or the roster of paramours that’s grown unwieldy. Perhaps real life has more in store for Rachel than she could ever program for herself.

Animal Instinct

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Animal Instinct

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Animal Instinct

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593718339
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/18/2025
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Amy Shearn is the award-winning author of 5 critically acclaimed novels including Animal Instinct, Unseen City, and The Mermaid of Brooklyn. Her work has appeared in the New York Times Modern Love column, Slate, Real Simple, Martha Stewart Living, Oprah, Coastal Living, Poets & Writers, Literary Hub, Catapult, The Millions, The Rumpus, and many other publications. Amy has an MFA from the University of Minnesota, and lives in Brooklyn, where she teaches writing, works individually with writers, and runs writing retreats.

From the B&N Reads Blog

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Editorial Reviews

★ 01/13/2025
In Shearn’s delightful and hilarious latest (after Dear Edna Sloane), a recently divorced app developer and mother of three navigates online dating during the early months of Covid-19. Unwilling to remain stuck inside her spare Brooklyn apartment, Rachel meets men and women for take-out drinks in parks and breaks pandemic protocols by going home with them, awakening her dormant sexual desire in the process. She dubs her small group of regular dalliances “the team,” and relates to the reader a series of wry and cutting observations about traditional marriage (“I’ve gone from being his best friend to becoming a butler / sex worker / armchair!”). Shearn transcends typical divorce novel tropes as Rachel begins work on a chatbot called Frankie that will ultimately become an amalgam of “the team,” possessing all the desirable qualities of the people she dates with none of the downside or hassle of human relationships. Eventually, the bot teaches Rachel unexpected lessons about self-forgiveness and the rewards of embracing one’s imperfections, leading her to connect with someone IRL. This scintillating story of reinvention will excite Shearn’s fans and win new ones. Agent: Julie Stevenson, Massie & McQuilkin Literary. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

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

"[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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