15 Marriage Books That Will Improve Your Marriage

By David Small •  Updated: 07/10/18 •  11 min read

Do you know that reading marriage books can transform and improve your marriage in many ways? Marriage and relationships are not easy to handle. Sometimes it seems like cycles of highs and lows are inevitable.

However, many people have been able to save their marriages by attending couple’s therapy. When you talk through problems, you will always reach the compromises that will make your relationships strong.

Marriage Books

If you are not ready to attend regular therapy sessions, you might consider alternatives such as reading books. The best marriage books for couples are those that give you the tools you need to make your relationships stronger. Other marriage books teach you to do away with the bad habits that cause divisions in marriage.

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The following are some of the best marriage books for couples to read together:

  1. The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work: A Practical Guide from the Country’s Foremost Relationship Expert by John Gottman and Nan Silver

Are you in a stagnated relationship that lacks communication, connection, and intimacy? This book is meant to help you and your partner improve in this areas. Through the various exercises suggested in this book, you should be able to improve your relationship.

However, you and your partner must be ready to work towards the success of your marriage. If you give it a chance, your relationship will be up and running in no time. Among the seven principles include solving problems, fostering admiration, and investing in the marriage again. This is one of the best relationship books for couples looking to have stronger friendships, increased mutual respect, and greater love.

 

  1. The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts by Gary D. Chapman

If you have been working on your relationship and you don’t seem to know why your expectations or needs are not being fulfilled, then this is the book for you. It is one of the best marriage books for couples, a must-read classic.

One of the first things you learn from this book is how hard it is to fall in love and hard to stay in love. If you are struggling in your relationships, The 5 Love Languages will provide you how to show and receive love. It is when married individuals show and give love that they can have intimacy at a much deeper level.

It is an insightful and practical book as well. Although it was released decades ago, its timeless wisdom makes it a popular read. Over the years, the book has been updated to include modern marriage realities. Take part in the simple exercises and you will learn your and your partner’s love languages.

  1. Love and Respect Workbook: The Love She Most Desires; the Respect He Desperately Needs by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs

What’s the deepest need for a man or woman? While women crave to be loved, men need to be respected. Unlike other bestselling marriage books, this one looks beyond communication. It seeks to help couples understand the reasons for butting heads or pushing their partner’s to change.

Apart from having the power to meaningfully change marriage, this book helps you understand your partner better. Through this book, you are better placed to see things from your partner’s perspective.

  1. The Love Dare by Alex and Stephen Kendrick

Are at the place in your marriage where it seems you have hit a rut? It’s time to pick up The Love Dare. Just like its title, this book dares you to go out of your way to show love instead of waiting to receive it.

This is one of the marriage books that teach you to find out how you can serve and not to just sit and wait for someone else to serve you. It includes easy but thought-provoking daily exercises. This is one of the best marriage books for couples looking to add extra oomph to their marriages. What more could you want to read?

  1. The Marriage Counseling Workbook: 8 Steps to a Strong and Lasting Relationship by Emily Cook, PhD

Available for free as a PDF download, the marriage counseling workbook is a good alternative for individuals who do not want to buy marriage books. The book addresses topics such as communication, expectations in marriage, and conflict resolution.

It basically touches on everything you need to do to make your marriage work. Why should you pay for a book when you can have the workbook free of charge?

  1. Communication in Marriage: How to Communicate With Your Spouse without Fighting by Marcus and Ashley Kusi

It is normal for married couples to struggle with effective communication but you don’t have to stay there. Did you know that it is possible for you to work through your communication issues? This is one of the counseling books that teach how to communicate with each other.

Written by a couple which has had communication issues in their marriage, the book is as practical as can be. It is one of the best relationship books for couples looking to improve communication and have healthier marriages. It doesn’t matter how long or how much you have struggled with communication. This book will come in handy.

  1. Communication Miracles for Couples: Easy and Effective Tools to Create More Love and Less Conflict by Jonathan Robinson

When in a marriage, it is not unusual to feel misunderstood and blamed. This can happen to you and even your partner. In this book, Jonathan Robinson teaches you how to communicate in a better and more effective way.

It is one of the counseling books that not only teach you how to listen to each but to better understand one another. Here is one of the best marriage books that give you workable listening tools. You can use them to hear each other and understand what everyone says better.

  1. Couple Skills: Making Your Relationship Work by Matthew McKay P.h.D and Patrick Fanning

Staying in love may sometimes require you to work smarter and not harder. This book was written to show you how working smarter can save your relationship. The book addresses many marriage-related issues such as conflict resolution, how to cope with communication, and communication.

You will learn an essential skill from every chapter you read in this book. It is one of the marriage books for him and her that aim at strengthening relationships and promoting intimacy. The latest edition includes a chapter on applying acceptance skills. By accepting you as well as your partner’s feelings without pre-judgment, you will know what it is that you value in the relationship.

  1. The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friends by John Gottman

John Gottman is a New York Times bestselling author. In this book, he provides you will all it takes to build a successful marriage. Among the important elements of a successful marriage is an emotional connection.

He introduces the ‘bid’, a concept that points the readers to tools to fix broken relationships. For those stuck in non-functional relationships, this book is an eye-opener. You can take part in the many exercises and questionnaires as a way of undergoing the therapy you need.  Hard as it may seem, the process works when applied to an individual’s personal life. Why should you not try it?

  1. His Needs, Her Needs: Building an Affair-Proof Marriage by Williard F. Jr. Harley

Men just like women have different needs in relationships. It is important for couples to understand the partner’s unique needs to be able to satisfy them. For example, men need to be respected while women need love.

Where couples don’t have a grasp on these needs, there is likely to be an unsatisfied partner. The end result is in the form of partners straying into extramarital affairs, especially when they meet someone who better satisfies them. As one of the top counseling books, it exposes you to the top-ten needs for men and women.

  1. One More Try: What to Do When Your Marriage Is Falling Apart by Gary Chapman

Time will come when you and your partner will exchange angry words and slam doors. But will that mean that all is lost? Your spouse may have broken your trust and all may seem lost. This is one of the best relationship books for couples to read together if they want to give it one more try.

This is one of the marriage books that to stop being blindsided in marriage and find new ways to deal with anger and frustration. Gary Chapman also seeks to help you build new hope and trust in your partner and embark on a wholesome marriage rebuilding process.

If anything, being separated does not have to lead to divorce. By giving it one more try, you will restore, enrich, and restore your marriage. In this book, you will get a step-by-step guide on your way to healing your marriage and creating hope for the future.

  1. Healing Your Marriage When Trust Is Broken: Finding Forgiveness and Restoration by Cindy Beall

Trust in marriage can be broken due to reasons such as extramarital affairs and addiction to pornography. But what do you do when you don’t trust your partner anymore? This is one of the counseling books that can help heal relationships following an incident of broken trust.

Cindy Beall teaches you how to protect your marriage from unfaithfulness and lies. In the end, you need to recognize that only God can heal a broken heart. Through prayer, guidance, and counseling, you can be able to find healing.

  1. After the Affair, Updated Second Edition: Healing the Pain and Rebuilding Trust When a Partner Has Been Unfaithful by Janis A. Spring

If you are in the aftermath of an extramarital affair either affecting you or your spouse, this marriage book can help you reconcile. You wouldn’t find a better resource to help you forgive, heal, and grow. The book takes you through the reasons why people engage in affairs. That way, you can be able to understand what could have led to the affair.

This is one of the best marriage books for both the hurt and unfaithful partner. Read it and you will be able to understand how your partner feels. You will get insights into your actions, responses, and how to cope.

  1. Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love by Dr. Sue Johnson

Here is one of the critically acclaimed marriage books that aim to heal and enrich relationships using modern approaches. The suggestions provided by this book are revolutionary. If you are looking for marriage books for couples to read together, look no further than this.

The book teaches you how to do Emotionally Focused Therapy, a new approach for counseling couples. It shows you how and why you should once again connect emotionally with your partner. Towards healing the relationship wounds, you will need to hold 7 key conversations with your partner.

  1. Turn Up The Heat: A Couple’s Guide to Sexual Intimacy 1st Edition by Kevin Leman

In this book, Kevin Leman seeks to help you to improve sexual intimacy in your marriage. The book suggests that both men and women should be deliberate when it comes to having more sex with each other. But they have to understand how the different sexes approach intimacy.

While the men don’t need to have a reason to be intimate, women do. This is one of the best relationship books for couples seeking to understand the different ways in which men and women approach sex. With that understanding, it is very easy for you to turn up the heat in the marriage with the aim of having greater sex, always.

All your questions about sex are answered in this book. If you are able to get all the answers you need, it is highly likely that you will revamp intimacy in your marriage.

Conclusion

It is important that you pick one of the best marriage books, read, and apply the lessons to improve your marriage. Most of them are available on Amazon.com and at the bookstore near you. If you are not ready to own one, get it on loan from an online or local library. Like most of the people who have found help with their relationships from these books, you should be able to make your marriage better.

David Small

is the founder and editor of relationshiptips4u. He is a dating, marriage & relationship coach, speaker, and author. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
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