15 Relationship Books For Couples, Relationship Coach-Approved In 2024

Every relationship is unique, and everyone deals with diverse issues to keep their relationship or marriage alive. So, we have compiled a list of the best relationship books to help you out. Although a standard piece of advice won’t work the same way for every relationship, it can help you gain perspective about your relationship dynamics. A little advice from professionals, who have spent their whole lives trying to understand the human mind and the complexities of a relationship, can give you great insight.

If you are going through a rough patch or want to make your relationship grow, you can explore the expert-approved books on relationships listed below to choose one that suits your taste. So, read on to learn more.

In This Article

Relationship Books To Strengthen Your Bond

There are a plethora of relationship advice books for couples who are dating or married. Here are our picks.

1. Best Life-Changing: Getting The Love You Want by Harville Hendrix

Written by a therapist, Getting The Love You Want is one of those life-changing books that can save your relationship. This best-selling book is for those who want to be present in their relationship, become aware of the baggage they are carrying and stop it from negatively affecting their relationship. Dr. Hendrix talks about getting out of the negative patterns we may have developed during childhood. This trusted book may also give you some clarity about why you chose your partner.


protip_icon Did you know?
The book “Getting The Love You Want” was written by a writer and therapist duo that has been married for many years.

2. Best Communication: The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman

Love is universal. But the languages that we use to express it are many. Perhaps that is why there is unhappiness in several marriages, says Gary Chapman, the author of The Five Love Languages. Chapman, who worked as a couples’ and relationship therapist for more than 30 years, talks about the five different ways people express their emotions and love for one another in this book about love languages.

Learn the many languages of love to communicate with your partner and express your love better. Gary Chapman’s advice can help improve your relationship with your partner, whether your marriage is failing or flourishing.

3. Best Connect: The Relationship Cure by John M. Gottman

The Relationship Cure is a five-step guide that aims at improving your relationship with your spouse, kids, siblings or friends. This book on emotional connection for couples is based on years of research and introduces the readers to the innovative concept of ‘emotional bid’, which helps you form better emotional connections with the help of exercises and questionnaires developed by the author.

Highly practical in their approach, the concepts have the potential to improve and enrich even the most troubled relationships, making it a trusted pick among reviewers.

4. Best Conversations: Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus by John Gray

One of the oldest and highly recommended relationship books, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus is a must-read if you want to understand both sides of the coin. This is one of the best books for improving relationships as it aims at helping the spouses understand each other’s perspectives, acknowledge that men and women are different, and learn to communicate in a way the other gender gets the message, especially during crucial conversations.

Based on research, the book gives you scientific evidence and examples to help you nurture and strengthen the relationship.

5. Best Rebuilding: I Love You But I Don’t Trust You by Mira Kirshenbaum

A successful marriage or relationship takes work. But is your relationship worth the effort?

This is the nagging question most couples have when their trust is broken because of a cheating or lying partner, or due to hurtful experiences from the past. When you are in doubt and don’t know how to begin trusting again, this book can help.

Mira Kirshenbaum addresses what a person goes through when they experience betrayal or hurt, ultimately leading to trust issues. This love book for couples takes a rather practical approach to build back trust in your partner and can be helpful for those dealing with challenges in relationships.

6. Best Techniques: Conscious Loving by Gay Hendricks and Kathryn Hendricks

Did you ever do or say something that you didn’t intend to and regret it later? If you did, you are not alone. We are all wired to act on our subconscious and react to certain triggers without knowing it. We do and say things that hurt our relationship, mostly because we don’t know how to change the unconscious patterns.

Conscious Loving by Gay and Kathryn Hendricks can help you change the negative patterns that could be hurting your marriage or relationship. Based on critical evaluation and several years of experience and talking to married couples, the authors have come up with workable strategies and effective techniques that let individuals be present in the relationship to strengthen and create a solid partnership for a successful marriage or relationship.

The strategies focus on the relationship as well as the well-being, personal growth, and happiness of the individuals in it. The authors emphasize the importance of letting go of power struggles, sharing microscopic ‘truth’ for better intimacy and positive communication.

7. Best Successful: The Seven Principles Of Making A Marriage Work by John M. Gottman

A marriage doesn’t work unless you make it work. In The Seven Principles Of Making A Marriage Work, John Gottman lists down the seven key rules that make a thriving and successful marriage. This trusted book for married couples is based on years of research and is filled with practical exercises and questionnaires that guide you to create a lasting, happy marriage.

The author studied and followed the marriages of 640 couples who applied these principles in real life. The overall relapse rates for these couples reduced to 20% after three months and just 6-7% after six months.

If the principles worked for so many, they could work for you too to cultivate and sustain a healthy relationship.


protip_icon Did you know?
John Gottman has studied couples for over 50 years and has written over 40 relationship-themed books and 200 published academic articles (1).

8. Best Well-Being: Deal Breakers by Dr. Bethany Marshall

Sure, relationships need you to change and accommodate the other person both emotionally and physically. But how far must you go? Where do you draw the line?

Deal Breakers by Bethany Marshall helps you find answers to these questions and determine when it is worth it to work for the relationship and when it is time to stop and walk away. This relationship counseling book is basically about unhealthy toxic men that women end up with, avoiding the red flags in relationship, and falling into the rut of never-ending problems. The best-selling book helps women set healthy boundaries to prevent them from doing something stupid in love that can hinder their personal growth and well-being.

Item Weight: 7 ounces

9. Best Decision-Making: The Science Of Happily Ever After by Ty Tashiro

And they lived happily ever after!

That’s a rather unfair way to end fairy tales because it doesn’t tell us how they lived happily after. Worry not, for Dr. Ty Tashiro, an acclaimed psychologist and author of The Science of Happily Ever After, tells us exactly how we can achieve our happily-ever-afters. The book evaluates a person’s decision-making abilities and how they can fail when they choose a mate. Tashiro uses research-based evidence to help us make smart choices that lead to enduring, loving, and healthy relationships.

The author guides you to a life of togetherness, happiness, and a stronger relationship.

Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces

10. Best Exploration: Attached by Dr. Amir Levine and Rachel Heller

Attachment is what keeps us connected to a person or thing. It is a basic human need, a tool that helps us stay in relationships and work towards maintaining them. While everyone craves for attachment or that meaningful relationship, their reaction to such a relationship varies. In this book called Attached, Dr. Amir Levine, a neuroscientist, tells us about the science behind attachment and how it varies based on our experiences in the past, making it one of the most practical books on relationships.

Liked by several reviewers, the book helps you figure out your attachment or relationship style and communication skills to create a more nurturing, fulfilling, and successful relationship.

Item Weight: 12.2 ounces

protip_icon Point to consider
A relationship book about attachment styles can provide significant insights into solving minor relationship issues.

11. Best Sustaining: 47 Little Love Boosters For a Happy Marriage by Marko Petkovic

Everything seems fine with your relationship or marriage at the moment. But something is missing. That spark or fire that sustains a healthy relationship and keeps it as exciting as it once was.

If you’re looking for little things to say or do to express your love, this book on marriage might be ideal to buy. The author lists down small but necessary things that happy couples do to keep the fire burning in their marriage, surviving the test of time. Just a few minutes in a day is all you need, even if you are busy otherwise, to deepen the level of connection with your partner and nurture a successful relationship.

12. Best Enrichment: Couple Skills by Kim Paleg, Matthew McKay, and Patrick Fanning

Do you need superpowers to make a relationship work? No, you’ll need a few basic skills that let you interact with your partner positively. The book talks about the right communication skills, coping with problems and solving problems creatively. The book also emphasizes the importance of acceptance skills, which are essential to embrace the partner’s strengths and weaknesses without judgment.

This book teaches you to build better understanding and intimacy with your partner for a successful marriage and satisfying relationship.

Item Weight: 15.8 ounces

13. Best Emotional: Hold Me Tight by Dr. Sue Johnson

Written by one of the finest couples’ and relationship therapists, Dr. Sue Johnson, Hold Me Tight does not give you tips, guidelines, or ways to impress the partner through romantic gestures. You don’t even have to analyze your childhood or past to ensure a successful relationship. Then how, you might ask!

Dr. Johnson focuses on the simple points that you and your partner are emotionally connected and dependent on each other. The book emphasizes the importance of soothing, nurturing and protecting the bond between the partners by spending quality time and being open, and better attuned and responsive to their emotional and physical needs.

Based on this theory, Dr. Johnson explains seven different crucial conversations partners can have to create and protect a bond that lasts long.

Item Weight: 2.4 ounces

14. Best Rekindling: Love, Sex, And Staying Warm by Neil Rosenthal

You meet someone, fall in love. The chemistry is amazing and there is a lot of sex. And then, the relationship becomes warm. If ignored, the passion fades and the relationship becomes cold and dead.

In Love, Sex and Staying Warm, Neil Rosenthal gives you practical ways to rekindle or retain that warmth and bring back the fading passion into the relationship. If the time has taken its toll on your relationship, this book is for you. The book begins with a quiz that helps you understand what’s sabotaging the relationship, moves on to introduce romantic intelligence and then to discuss how you can use it to improve your bond and keep that flame burning for a satisfying relationship.

15. Best Insightful: Mating In Captivity by Esther Perel

*The prices provided in this article are based on the latest available information. However, they may vary due to changes in pricing by the seller and/or promotional offers.

Where Neil Rosenthal’s book talks about romantic intelligence, Mating In Captivity by Esther Perel talks about erotic intelligence and the amalgamation of lust and domesticity. Often couples put aside steamy or even poetic sex, as they drown in the complexities of married life. When the passion goes missing, and intimacy and sex take a back seat, this book on building intimacy can help you bring them back right where they belong in your relationship.

How To Choose The Right Relationship Book For A Couple?

Consider these factors when choosing a relationship book for a couple.

  1. Reviews: A book with several positive reviews can help you understand how effective the book is. These testimonials can give you an overall idea about how the book has helped people in the past and if it has relevant content to help you as well.
  2. Topics: Every couple’s situation is unique, and so are the approaches suggested by authors for different situations. Relationship books cover a range of topics and aspects, from managing arguments to helping get over rough phases. So, choose a book that contains relevant information that suits your situation.
  3. Practical tips: It is important to check if the book comes with practical and helpful tips, right from dealing with different situations to helping you get back on track. Consider a book with tips and suggestions by relationship experts or psychologists.

Flora Ong, a dating and relationship coach and an integrated attachment specialist, says, “From the cradle to the grave, one thing that all humans require is emotional attunement–to be seen, to be heard, to be delighted in. The stresses of day-to-day life can move us away from the simplest gesture that can make or break the longevity of a relationship. Thus, put in the effort to appreciate each other.”

Why Trust MomJunction?

Wedetso Chirhah is an experienced writer reviewing books and other products. He conducts in-depth examination and reviews best-selling books to help his readers have a hassle-free shopping experience. He has listed some of the best relationship books in this article with high user ratings and impressive reviews. These books have been picked after thorough evaluation and scouring through different trusted websites to create a list that proves to be helpful for readers.

The Bottom Line

While every relationship is unique, you can get better insight and advice from the best books on relationships written by experts in the field. You may pick a book written in a simple, easy-to-comprehend language and address topics and areas you want to understand better. Whether you are looking for ways to improve your relationship or learn how to survive a rough patch, relationship books such as The 5 Love Languages, a five-step guide for improving communication, the book Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, which talks of gender differences, and the book Attached, which explains the science behind attachment may come in handy. So check out our extensive list and pick the books you find helpful.

Infographic: How To Keep A Romantic Relationship Healthy And Thriving?

It is necessary to keep working on the relationship to keep it working. Explore our accompanying infographic for proven tips to nurture and sustain the love between you and your partner, keeping your romantic bond intact and flourishing.

Tips To Keep A Romantic Relationship Healthy And Thriving (infographic)

Illustration: Momjunction Design Team

Get the high-quality PDF version of this infographic.

Download Infographic in PDF version


References

MomJunction's articles are written after analyzing the research works of expert authors and institutions. Our references consist of resources established by authorities in their respective fields. You can learn more about the authenticity of the information we present in our editorial policy.
  1. Dr. John Gottman
    https://www.gottman.com/about/john-julie-gottman/

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