If you're about to walk down the aisle, you want every day to be as happy as your special day. However while there is lots of advice on planning a wedding, there's precious little to prepare you for the rest of your life together. If you're lucky your mother will offer a few tips and your father will makes some jokes but otherwise you're on your own. Perhaps it's some years since you promised to love and cherish each other and the pressures of everyday life have taken the shine off things. Throw in the sort of crises that everyone faces at some point—like financial problems, losing a parent, family rows and infidelity—and it's easy for the love between the two of you to be seriously damaged. So what are the secrets of happy couples that stay strong rather than grow apart? In this groundbreaking book, marital therapist Andrew G. Marshall, explains that it's not chemistry that keeps partners connected but skills. It's likely that you didn't learn these skills as a child because your parents didn't know them or couldn't explain them. Maybe they avoided conflict, fought like cat or dog or split up when you were young so never showed you to fall out safely, make-up and resolve differences. Fortunately, it's never too late to learn how to communicate better and repair your relationship—even if you're on the verge of splitting up. Marshall draws on thirty plus years working with over three thousand clients to give you his tried and test tool kit for a happy marriage. It includes: - The rules for constructive arguments. - How to be a better listener. - Use carrots rather than sticks. - How to forgive and move on.

Me and Will. Will and Me. A perfect match. He said he would always be there for me, but it's been a year since he drained his coffee, walked out the front door and vanished. Did he leave me? Or did something terrible happen? I'm scared someone finally found out about what happened on the drive home that night... I lie awake at night trawling the internet for rental properties, desperate for an escape. Until I see my husband's gorgeous face smiling back at me from a photograph on the fireplace in someone else's home, and something inside of me snaps. At the house, I find no trace of him and the woman who lives there has no idea who I am. But I'm certain she's hiding something behind the locked door upstairs. I know that if I want answers, I have to stay. You might think that what's inside that room is the answer to all my questions and the end of all my pain. But it's only the beginning... Nail-biting and completely gripping, The Happy Couple will make you question how well you really know the ones you love. Perfect reading for anyone who adored by The Wife Between Us, The Girl on The Train or Gone Girl. Readers are loving The Happy Couple 'WOW!... A MUST READ!!!' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'Loved all of the twist and turns. I thought I'd figured out what was going on...then...WHAM...twist I did not see coming! Great book.' NetGalley reviewer, 5 stars 'Wow!... I wouldn't have guessed the ending to save my life!... definitely lives up to all of her hype... full of twists and turns. Once I started, I couldn't put it down.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'Guaranteed to keep you guessing from the start... there is absolutely no way I could've predicted it... fantastic book from start to end... kept me on the edge of my seat and made my jaw drop on more than one occasion... a five star read which is absolutely guaranteed to be a bestseller.' Little Miss Book Lover 87, 5 stars 'Believe me when I say that this really WASN'T A TWIST THAT I SAW COMING!... I didn't have a clue until it slapped me in the face!... This book is AWESOME and I was addicted from the very first page!' My Chestnut Reading Tree, 5 stars

Bad habits: we all have them! But what happens when these bad habits extend to our relationships? Whether it's interrupting your partner mid-sentence, acting bored when they are speaking, or teasing them in hurtful ways—over time these bad habits can lead to resentment, and can mean the difference between a wonderful, close relationship, and one characterized by conflict or unhappiness. Fortunately, for all of us, good relationship habits can be learned (or re-learned), and bad habits can be un-learned. Named one of “America’s Top Therapists” by Cosmopolitan magazine, prominent Los Angeles-based psychologist and radio talk show host Barton Goldsmith, PhD, offers readers simple, accessible tips and tools for developing and strengthening positive relationship habits such as gratitude, humor, togetherness, and honesty. Habits can be hard to break, but if you love someone, you’ve got to make sacrifices. When you consider that 50 percent of marriages end in divorce, it becomes clear that many of us may need help in making a relationship thrive. The Happy Couple shows how simple acts of kindness and generosity can increase the likelihood of a relationship being happy, healthy, and long-lasting.

Based on data obtained from nearly 100,000 respondents, here is the ultimate resource for anyone who wants to learn the relationship-tested ways couples can achieve satisfaction and contentment in areas such as communication, sex, affection, and financial cooperation. What constitutes “normal” behavior among happy couples? What steps you should take if that “normal” is one you want to strive for? To help answer those questions, wellness entrepreneur Chrisanna Northrup teamed with two of America’s top sociologists, Yale Ph.D. Pepper Schwartz and Harvard Ph.D. James Witte, to design a unique interactive survey that would draw feedback from around the world. What has resulted is the clearest picture yet of how well couples are communicating, romancing each other, satisfying each other in the bedroom, sharing financial responsibilities, and staying faithful – or not. Since the Normal Bar survey methodology sorts for age and gender, racial and geographic differences and sexual preferences, the authors are able to reveal , for example, what happens to passion as we grow older, which gender wants what when it comes to sex, the factors that spur marital combat, how kids figure in, how being gay or bisexual turns out to be both different and the same, and –regardless of background -- the tiny habits that drive partners absolutely batty. The book is dense with revelations, from the unexpected popularity of certain sexual positions, to the average number of times happy – and unhappy -- couples kiss, to the prevalence of lying, to the surprising loyalty most men and women feel for their partner (even when in a deteriorating relationship), to the vivid and idiosyncratic ways individuals of different ages, genders and nationalities describe their “ideal romantic evening.” Much more than a peek behind the relationship curtain, The Normal Bar offers readers an array of prescriptive tools that will help them establish a “new normal.” Mindful of what keeps couples stuck in ruts, the book’s authors suggest practical and life-changing ways to break cycles of disappointment and frustration.

Secrets of Happy Couples is different from other books of the same subject because it is based on one basic truth--that all great relationships begin and end with yourself. Any relationship is the sum of its parts: individuals. This book explores how you, as an individual, can make the difference and create a happy and fulfilling relationship with your partner.

Bad habits: we all have them! But what happens when these bad habits extend to our relationships? Whether it's interrupting your partner mid-sentence, acting bored when they are speaking, or teasing them in hurtful ways—over time these bad habits can lead to resentment, and can mean the difference between a wonderful, close relationship, and one characterized by conflict or unhappiness. Fortunately, for all of us, good relationship habits can be learned (or re-learned), and bad habits can be un-learned. Named one of “America’s Top Therapists” by Cosmopolitan magazine, prominent Los Angeles-based psychologist and radio talk show host Barton Goldsmith, PhD, offers readers simple, accessible tips and tools for developing and strengthening positive relationship habits such as gratitude, humor, togetherness, and honesty. Habits can be hard to break, but if you love someone, you’ve got to make sacrifices. When you consider that 50 percent of marriages end in divorce, it becomes clear that many of us may need help in making a relationship thrive. The Happy Couple shows how simple acts of kindness and generosity can increase the likelihood of a relationship being happy, healthy, and long-lasting.

This book of 12 prompted letters helps family and friends wish the happy couple a lifetime of joy. Filled out by an individual or group, as a guest book at the wedding, or as an anniversary gift, it will be a personalized keepsake that they will treasure for years to come.