LOVE SMARTER

Esther Perel's Mating in Captivity (2006; sold in more than 20 international markets) and Chris Ryan's Sex at Dawn (2010) exposed the cracks in our modern monogamy-only relationship model and unlocked the door to the rest of the relationship landscape. But neither showed us how to find our way around.

In fact, more than 10 years later, in her 2017 book, The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity, Perel told us "few social scripts exist. We are all improvising." Vrangalova wants readers do more than just improvise. "How do we find the relationship type that's right for us, and how do we make sure we're doing it well? Science finally has some concrete answers. All humans have two basic needs: security and exploration. To survive, we need to be physically and emotionally safe and secure; to grow, we need to be able to seek new experiences, to be challenged and surprised." Vrangalova offers insights on how to pursue both. Zhana Vrangalova, PhD is a NYC-based sex and relationships consultant, speaker, and writer who is passionate about elevating our conversations about love and relationships. She holds a PhD in Developmental Psychology from Cornell University and teaches human sexuality courses at New York University. Her scholarly work on sexual orientation and nontraditional relationships has been published in peer-reviewed academic journals, including the Archives of Sexual Behavior, Journal of Sex Research, Social Psychology and Personality Science, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, and Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. In addition to her academic expertise, Dr. Zhana has had the unique and privileged opportunity to personally experience all of the relationship types that she writes about, all of them voluntarily, and some of them also involuntarily. She's reaped all the benefits of these lifestyles when done well and witnessed all the potential costs (some directly) of these lifestyles when done poorly.