Highly Happy Marriages


The Surprising Secrets Of Highly Happy Marriages: The Little Things That Make A Big Difference is Shaunti Feldhahn's latest offering in the marriage-book department. I always look forward to reading Shaunti's books and have also recently read and reviewed her new book, The Good News About Marriage: Debunking Discouraging Myths About Marriage And Divorce. Highly Happy Marriages is extremely well-researched and promises to identify twelve habits of what Feldhahn refers to as "Yes!" marriages and what they have in common. The "secrets" include: Know Little Is Big, Believe The Best, Go To Bed Mad, Keep Score, Boss Their Feelings Around, Have Factual Fantasies, Use Sign Language, Hang Out, Don't Tell It Like It Is, Look Higher, Get In Over Their Heads, and Think They Hit The Jackpot. There's also an introduction explaining how Shaunti and her husband conducted the research, and a closing chapter called "Putting The Secrets To Work", explaining how to put these habits into practice.

First off, I really liked the look and feel of this book. It's a small hardcover like her other books, and very attractive. It would make a nice gift book for a wedding, engagement, or bridal shower. And I feel like that's the ideal target audience for this book: engaged or newly married couples, or married couples who have a good marriage but are looking for a *great* marriage. I would not recommend this book to couples having major marital issues or problems - this is more for the couples who have a good or okay marriage and want to make it amazing. The tips and secrets aren't anything really new or earth shaking - the beauty of them is the simplicity. You wouldn't think that such simple actions/thoughts/attitudes would make such a big difference between a good and great marriage. I really enjoyed how much Shaunti backed up all of her thoughts with the extensive research she did. I really appreciate that about her books - she goes all out to do tons of research to underpin her books. If you're stuck in a rut or just want to improve your marriage, read this book

I received a copy of this book from Blogging For Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

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