FROM THE BOOKSHELF

February Reads On Love, Marriage & Staying Together

By Patricia Canole

February, the month of love, beckons us to delve into the intricate tapestry of human connection. While Valentine’s Day often takes center stage with its celebration of new romance and grand gestures, it’s also a perfect time to reflect on the quieter, steadier currents of enduring love, which grows more profound over time, weathering life’s inevitable ups and downs.

This month’s column is dedicated to books that explore the complexities of love, marriage, and the art of staying together. These works tackle the joys and challenges of partnership, the evolving nature of intimacy, and the resilience required to navigate the journey of togetherness. These authors offer unique perspectives on what makes relationships thrive, whether through poignant memoirs, thought-provoking essays, or heartwarming fiction. For those seeking inspiration, insight, or even a little solace, these stories remind them that while love can be messy and imperfect, it is also one of life’s most profound and rewarding experiences.

Here’s to celebrating love in all its forms and finding new ways to cherish the people most matter.

MARRIAGE HELP:
RESTORE YOUR MARRIAGE & FALL IN LOVE AGAIN
By Krystal Kuehn
Maximum Potential, LLC

Are you facing challenges in your marriage? Are you thinking about separation? If you need support and hope to restore your relationship, Marriage Help is your guide. This essential resource offers proven methods to rebuild a strong, loving, and successful marriage.

All marriages will face problems and challenges, even times when couples question their love for one another. Yet, most couples want their marriages to work. They want to restore what was lost and fall in love again.

Couples with marriage problems who seek help are more likely to stay together, learn from the difficult times, and discover renewed love for one another! If you have decided that marriage difficulties will not keep you from believing that your marriage can be restored, this book is for you.

Krystal Kuehn provides a simple, step-by-step approach to improving communication, resolving conflict, increasing acceptance and understanding, demonstrating affection and gratitude, strengthening commitment, and renewing hope and trust so you can restore your marriage and fall in love again!

You’ll receive 12 proven relationship-building tools and empowering ways to apply them. In this highly effective and engaging approach, you will be encouraged to make positive differences in the way you relate to one another. You will work through marriage issues and discover successful solutions. With tools, applications, insights, and inspiring reflections, you will embark on a lifelong journey to better communication, unconditional love and understanding, genuine demonstrations of affection, and heartfelt gratitude. 


THE 6 PILLARS OF INTIMACY
By  Alisa DiLorenzo with Tony DiLorenzo
ONE Extraordinary Marriage

Can you strengthen your bond, grow together, and enjoy more profound levels of love and intimacy that rival your newlywed days? And can you do any or all of that without having to digest mountains of self-help books or pouring your heart out to a total stranger in endless counseling sessions?

Yes, it is possible—and as you read, you’ll see how easy it can be! Authors Alisa and Tony DiLorenzo are passionate about helping couples create their extraordinary marriages. They do this through books, coaching, and their #1 marriage podcast, “The ONE Extraordinary Marriage Show” where they connect with an audience of over 50,000 listeners around the world.

Their newest book, The 6 Pillars of Intimacy: The Secret to an Extraordinary Marriage, is based on their personal experience and on seeing the marriages of countless people they have worked with improve. They have learned some hard-knock life lessons and discovered key principles that have kept their marriage (and sex life) alive and flourishing… and they did it together. Let them do the same for you!

Even the best marriages can have cracks. The difference is that extraordinary couples take action when they see those cracks.


ON HER TERMS
By Amy Spalding
Kensington Books

For fans of Casey McQuiston, Alexis Hall, and Meryl Wilsner, a hilarious, sweetly sexy, gloriously relatable sapphic rom-com about a fake relationship, very real emotions, and writing your own Hollywood love story—from the acclaimed author of For Her Consideration.

Fresh off breaking up with her boyfriend and swerving away from the conventional, TikTok-ready married life she never wanted, Clementine is ready to explore the alternatives. Not that she wants to be single forever, much less die alone. But at thirty-six, it’s time for her to experience new things, including in her love life. And though an invitation to a fake relationship to appease family sounds like a recipe for disaster, Clem finds herself saying yes to brilliant, spirited dog groomer Chloe Lee anyway.

Chloe is long past her own baby gay era, but even before they’ve tackled Clem’s parents’ anniversary party and Chloe’s friend’s wedding, the two of them end up spending a lot of time together. As the attraction between them grows stronger, it all begins to feel pretty accurate to Clem. Chloe, however, is fine as just friends—plus she’s convinced Clem is just eager for “someone” to take her off the singles list. How to persuade her otherwise? After all, Clem is starting to realize her life is wonderfully complete, and being “alone” doesn’t scare her a bit. Still, being without the tiny powerhouse that is Chloe, specifically? That’s a whole other story . . .


ISOLA: A NOVEL
By Allegra Goodman
The Dial Press
A young woman and her lover are marooned on an island in this breathtaking saga, an epic story of love, faith, and defiance from the bestselling author of Sam.

Heir to a fortune, Marguerite is destined for a life of prosperity and gentility. Then she is orphaned, and her guardian—an enigmatic and volatile man—spends her inheritance and insists she accompany him on an expedition to New France. Isolated and afraid, Marguerite befriends her guardian’s servant and develops an intense attraction. But when their relationship is discovered, they are brutally punished and abandoned on a small island with no hope for rescue.

Once a child of privilege who is dressed in gowns and laced pearls in her hair, Marguerite finds herself at the mercy of nature. As the weather turns, blanketing the island in ice, she discovers a faith she never needed.

Inspired by the real life of a sixteenth-century heroine, Isola is the timeless story of a woman fighting for survival.


CRUSH: A NOVEL
By Ada Calhoun
Viking
When a husband asks his wife to consider what might be missing from their marriage, what follows surprises them both—sex, heartbreak and heart rekindling, and a rediscovered sense of all that is possible.

She’s happy, settled, productive, and content in her entire life—a child, a career, an admirable marriage, deep friendships, happy parents, and a spouse she still loves. But when her husband urges her to address what the narrow labels of “husband” and “wife” force them to edit out of their lives, hell breaks loose.

Using the author’s personal experiences as a jumping-off point, Crush is about the danger and liberation of chasing desire, the havoc it can wreak, and most of all, the unmistakable sense of self one finds when the storm passes. Destined to become a classic novel about marriage and tackling the big questions being asked about partnership in post-pandemic relationships, Crush is a sharp, funny, seductive, and revelatory novel about holding on to everything it’s possible to love—friends, children, parents, passion, lovers, husbands, all of the world’s good books, and most of all one’s deep sense of purpose.