Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite

The Game: Winning by Virtue One Move at a Time by HRM Princess Merrilee of Solana looks at the role of love in daily life, urging a reevaluation of concepts such as God, forgiveness, and sacrifice for greater clarity. Princess Merrilee speaks on overcoming ego resistance and leans into personal growth through love and patience as the key to spiritual enlightenment and fulfillment. Self-awareness, self-discipline, and ethical behavior, including boundary-setting and respectful relationships, are deemed crucial for success. Princess Merrilee uses virtues likened to chess pieces—Honor as the King and Faith as the Queen—to illustrate the importance of integrity and spiritual insight. She also proposes a five-gate framework for evaluating individuals—Physical Beauty, Personality, Intelligence, Character, and Spirituality—where true spirituality is seen as a deep, internal connection rather than external practices.

HRM Princess Merrilee of Solana does a wonderful job of merging relatable experiences with genuine spiritual insight to challenge and redefine our understanding of love and self-growth. The Game stands out for its actionable framework and its thorough and thoughtful dive into all that she presents. Princess Merrilee's writing is clean and concise, and she does well in inviting readers to suspend their preconceptions and try to embrace a path of self-awareness and virtue. I felt particularly drawn to her argument that the true mastery of love requires a deep and disciplined approach to personal conduct. She also keeps it real in with firm assertions such as that trust, once lost, is difficult to regain, and that recognizing when the relationship is beyond repair is essential. Overall, The Game is a refreshing blend of philosophy, faith, titular analogies, and practical wisdom, making it a worthwhile read for anyone seeking to enhance their spiritual and personal life. Recommended.

Reviewed by Keith Mbuya for Readers' Favorite

Relationships are a vital part of human existence. Whether platonic or romantic, people want to have a relationship with someone else, everyone wants to experience love. Relationships may either “make you” or “break you” and it is very important to make wise choices when choosing a partner, something that is never easy. Or perhaps getting someone interested in you and maintaining the relationship is the hardest part. The truth is that relationships are as simple yet as complicated as human beings. With technological advancements, which have steered generational advancements in intellectual, social, cultural, and spiritual abilities and preferences, relationships have become even more complicated. Ahmad Aljazeeri delves deeper into the whole concept of relationships, exploring eleven relationship styles, and elaborating on how to spark and maintain them in Unveiling 11 Relationship Styles: Secrets Nobody Told You.

Ahmad Aljazeeri’s Unveiling 11 Relationship Styles is a must-read for anyone looking to get into or already in a relationship, whether platonic or romantic. I’ve read many books about relationships and love, but this engaging and insightful read is nothing like any of them. Using fictional anecdotes, historical figures and examples, and scientific facts, Aljazeeri breaks down the relationship and dating arena into eleven relationship styles. With an open-minded approach and an unbiased tone, Aljazeeri expertly elaborates his thoughts and ideas on these. After each discussion of a particular relationship style, there are thought-provoking questions that force you to look deeper into yourself, helping you figure out which style suits you, and perhaps your partner. There are also suggestions on activities and places to do them that will not only strengthen your bond with your partner but will also bring you closer to like-minded people with the same preferences. Better yet, Aljazeeri introduces his dating app TerriTie, how it works and its unique inclusivity and consideration of each person’s different preferences, based on everything discussed in this book. This book will change how you view and handle your relationships, and make you a master of them.

Reviewed by Jennie More for Readers' Favorite

Speaking With the Heart by Dr. Heather Browne, PsyD, LMFT provides insights on how to save your marriage. Browne gets to the heart of communication, stripping it down to its essentials. With each chapter, you become more aware of yourself, your strengths, your shortcomings, your past, and how all this affects your relationship. This newfound self-awareness enables you to hear and see your partner in a different light, and you realize that you have been talking and listening wrong all along. Browne insists that marriage does not need to end in divorce if both parties are committed and choose each other daily. This book includes insightful revelations and exercises to help couples reconnect. Browne empowers couples to work toward love, compassion, and respect.

Speaking With the Heart by Dr. Heather Browne is a candid and captivating must-read for all married couples to help them create or maintain open lines of communication. Browne’s tone is warm, caring, and supportive, like the friend you always call at the end of a distressing day. She makes you feel as if there is always a solution, and she provides it with solid reasoning that is bound to win over anyone, even those entirely against counseling. Her suggestions are feasible and not time-consuming. It is an easy-to-read and well-structured book. Even though the target audience is married couples, you can apply these communication techniques to any relationship. I certainly recommend it, especially for those facing troubles with finances, money, or intimate issues. It is memorable and enlightening.

Reviewed by Essien Asian for Readers' Favorite

As a child, Mary could not figure out why her mother's behavior toward her tended to be either violent or angry. As she got older the relationship between them only got worse, so much so that she could not wait to get out of living under her mother's control. Her siblings were not immune and even her mother's partners bore their fair share of her vitriolic attacks. After she had moved out, got married, and started her own family, you would expect that Mary would be free of her mother's machinations. Then she received a call about her stepfather's death which coincided with her mother's strange late-hour visit. Could it be that her mother somehow found a way to rope Mary into her fiendish scheme? One so unbelievable it could involve murder? Find out in Her Alibi by Mary L. Schmidt.

Mary L. Schmidt tells a compelling story in her book. Her accounts are detailed and graphic, leaving precious little to the imagination. She explains her family history thoroughly, making it easier to understand her story. It is difficult to believe that some of the events transpired in the way she recorded them, but the way the details come together in the latter stages gives the reader ample opportunity to draw conclusions as to the mental state of Mary's mother and her capabilities. Her Alibi is another example of where reality trumps fiction and Schmidt must be commended for finding the courage to pen this book.

Reviewed by Christine Nguyen for Readers' Favorite

Poorly Wrapped Gifts: Rising and Thriving after Infidelity by Sujata Patel is her account of navigating through infidelity. Her first marriage to Jeff ended in divorce when he had an affair. She embarks on a new relationship with Nick, dating him for six years, but her happy world collapses again when she discovers that Nick has cheated on her. The author makes the tough decision to stay in the relationship and shares her painful journey toward reconciliation. She goes beyond dealing with cheating and its aftermath and delves deeper into reconnecting with one’s true self. She discovers that she and Nick cannot fix each other, but that they must first heal themselves to come together to build a stronger partnership. She provides the tools she learned to help readers process this devastating life event so that it can lead them on a new path to growth, empowerment, and transformation.

Author Sujata Patel shares her intimate journey with a raw openness and vulnerability that draws readers in immediately. Her authenticity and honesty make her very relatable, making her feel like a close friend. I like that she continuously emphasizes how healing and forgiveness are not a linear process and that there is no set timeline, helping to alleviate any pressure people may feel. I found her recommendation of the H.A.L.T method very easy to practice in dealing with triggers. Poorly Wrapped Gifts: Rising and Thriving after Infidelity helps guide readers to find the strength, resilience, and beauty within themselves to overcome any obstacles.

Reviewed by Essien Asian for Readers' Favorite

Debbie Seagle surrendered her marriage to a spouse whose idea of an amicable separation left her holding the short end of the stick. Despite the repertoire of truly horrific ideas she was capable of conjuring up in her mind, she surprisingly opted for writing Coffee Cups and Wine Glasses. This is not a run-of-the-mill read, but a well-thought-out and highly detailed manual on, of all things, the art of navigating relationships - be they happy, struggling, or in the final stages of sinking like a stone. She should know best about that seeing that she has gone through all these phases on autopilot. Sit back and prepare yourself to be educated in the unusual.

Debbie Seagle employs a comedic approach to translating her thoughts into the written word. Her use of language to describe her former partner is insightful as it expresses her anger at being wronged. Her advice is light-hearted and filled with anecdotes that will leave you holding your sides with laughter. Her unusual knack for creating perfectly plausible new words out of thin air makes you wonder why her creations have not found their way into conventional dictionaries. A heightened sense of intuition is needed to get at the real story beneath the layers of humor and relationship survival advice from a woman and mother who opens her heart for you to acknowledge her victories. Coffee Cups and Wine Glasses is a moving piece from which everyone can learn a thing or two.

Reviewed by Christine Nguyen for Readers' Favorite

Dreaming In Spanish: An Unexpected Love Story in Puerto Vallarta by Sara Alvarado is a refreshingly honest memoir about a young woman trying to heal from past substance addictions and sexual traumas. Sara wants to become a better person and stop being a crazy party girl. She finds herself partying nonstop wherever she travels, drinking hard, waking up in strangers’ beds, with cocaine bends, and a continuous loop of destructive behaviors. Suddenly, Sara wakes up to another sexual assault, of which she has no memory. She decides to travel to Mexico, uncertain and scared. Sara starts a new life by getting a job as an English teacher, an apartment with a beautiful ocean view, attending AA meetings, falling in love with a local, and unexpectedly becoming pregnant.

Sara Alvarado takes the reader on a compelling voyage of self-recovery and self-healing. She delves into her spirituality as she struggles to maintain her sobriety. I found myself entirely captured by Sara’s candid writing style and multifaceted story. I loved being reminded continuously throughout her spiritual quest to live in gratitude for the little things and to live with mindfulness. I learned a lot about AA meetings and how they can help someone stay sober and clean. Dreaming In Spanish is an inspiring memoir to help anyone trying to overcome alcoholism, drug addiction, and sexual traumas. It shows that with faith and belief in yourself, you can turn your life around at any given moment. A fantastic and enthralling read!

Reviewed by Dr. Jordan Alexander for Readers' Favorite

I loved every delicious moment of Wild Monogamy: Cultivating Erotic Intimacy to Keep Passion and Desire Alive by Mali Apple and Joe Dunn. As a fifty-something married woman well past the honeymoon phase, I tentatively cracked the cover, apprehensive about the subject of erotic intimacy. I needed something to reignite the spark and it ended up lighting a bonfire beyond my imagination. “We’re still falling in love, we’re still making love, and our sexual connection is as strong as ever.” Authors Apple and Dunn pop into the dialogue to share their own blushingly personal anecdotes alongside client stories that bring relationship research to life. They explain sex as a physical experience, creative adventure, and expression of emotional connection. It is also spiritual, soulful, and can heal. This was not the book I expected. It focuses on respect, feeling secure, and creating a supportive environment for discovery. Sure some of the topics are challenging, but if two people are keen to keep a long-term relationship “compelling, connected, sexy, and fun”, this is the how-to guide.

I particularly found the Intimacy Inquiry enlightening. Readers are guided using a series of questions to have provocative conversations about sometimes taboo subjects aimed to deepen connections with their significant other. The tool delves into beliefs and values that shape our approach to relationships and sexual experiences. Better understanding your starting point across romantic, intimate, and emotional dimensions helps you find the erotic edge that awaits your discovery. You can skip over sections that do not resonate with you, perhaps some fantasies, erotica, or polyamorous arrangements. If you want more support, you can access useful free resources on the website or try ideas from the treasure trove of sexy dinner dates to intimate and erotic encounters. There are plenty of possibilities for adventurous couples to keep their passion within these pages. Each intimate adventure builds mutual support within the relationship and, in so doing, restores connection. Wild Monogamy has no boundaries as readers learn to love outside the lines. Mali Apple and Joe Dunn show how safety and love foundations in a committed relationship help overcome nervousness to venture into your intimate discovery. If you want to keep a long-term relationship sexually satisfying, learn to nurture your passion and your partner with this guide.

Reviewed by Christine Nguyen for Readers' Favorite

The Courage to Stay: How to Heal From an Affair and Save Your Marriage by Kathy Nickerson, Ph.D., is a detailed guide to helping couples heal from infidelity. She immediately dives into this painful process of healing from the very beginning to the end. She offers clear guidelines and questions to ask throughout the process, individually and together, to reach healing. It was so easy to follow for both partners, as she labeled it the straying partner and the hurt partner. The questions she shared were very insightful and deep, pushing each person to be honest with themselves and their partners. The subject of cheating is always treated with sensitivity and great care. Many explanations of why cheating occurred were introduced, making the behavior easier to understand and forgive.

The step-by-step instructions by author Kathy Nickerson are meticulously laid out as if holding your hand to take each step as it comes, slowly and thoughtfully, through such a raw minefield of explosive emotions. There is so much emphasis on kindness and compassion that it makes this excruciating journey somehow better and easier. I love how Nickerson is kind and reassuring to both sides of the marriage at the end of each chapter as she takes time out to encourage each person. I learned much about how pain is the root of many bad behaviors. The Courage to Stay: How to Heal From an Affair and Save Your Marriage is an important must-read for anyone who is dealing with infidelity.

Reviewed by Lexie Fox for Readers' Favorite

Dear Dana by Amy Daughters follows the author as she connects with an old friend named Dana on Facebook. As Dana’s life takes a turn for the unimaginably heart-breaking, Amy decides to make their correspondence analog by sending handwritten letters. Inspired by the deeper understanding of Dana that comes from being penpals, Amy decides to write a handwritten letter to all 580 of her Facebook friends to try to learn about the real lives taking place behind the curated posts and profile pictures. This book immediately establishes itself as one of those true stories that the reader could do for themselves as all Amy needed to begin her journey was a Facebook account and a pile of stationery. But there’s something in the author’s insight and determination to learn about the people in her life that is beyond what a regular person would be capable of that enhances the story deeply.

The journey undertaken throughout Dear Dana is wonderfully moving both in its core concept and its excellent depiction as Amy Daughters’ prose takes us on the rollercoaster of reconnecting with a lost friend, sharing their grief, and throwing open the doors on the lives of the people around you. There is a wonderful word that I discovered a few years ago which captures the spirit of this work very aptly; 'sonder.' It is a noun referring to the profound feeling of realization that comes with the understanding that every single person in this world is living a life as complex and vivid as your own, even though to you they are strangers in the street. Dear Dana is a powerful reminder to look closer at the people around you and to appreciate the things that you gain from making those connections with others.