Romantic Intelligence: How to Be as Smart in Love as You Are in Life

This book is probably better for the high school and college crowd. There are a lot of passages that do little work for the point the authors are trying to make. They'll go on for a while about what an emotionally intelligent person is like, but then say very little about how one develops the skills to become one. Then there are passages where there is a lot of really good, densely packed information on exactly that point. There are also exercises in the book, and most of them seem really worthwhile.

The flood of self-help books has brought an inundation of bad advice. It's refreshing to read a book that actually has something to say. Drs. Valentis (Mary and John) provide a context and a level of empathy that instructs and encourages growth and intimacy without being either pedantic or purile. There are no instant fixes, no pablum filled chicken soups for the soul, just common sense combined with a smart, well educated and sensitive approach. This book is a road map, but it's up to the reader to do the driving.