An engaging and accessible handbook for romantic partnerships.
Thiessen, a couples therapist, presents a collection of essays about successful relationship practices in this nonfiction guide.
The author calls this work a “distillation of insights gleaned while observing couples turn their relationship challenges into meaningful, satisfying connection.” Each essay contemplates a different aspect of the complexity of “relating intimately.” Thiessen recommends reading the book with a partner to optimize its efficacy (the guidance is meant to be applied to monogamous romantic relationships). The essays are grouped into 11 categories by topic, including the foundations of relationships, change, connection, maintenance, and, deemed “most important” by the author, conversation. Each essay concludes with a “CONSIDER THIS” section providing practical advice to couples seeking to put the information into practice. For example, in the section on personal differences among partners, Thiessen challenges readers to “Treat your thoughts as you would treat someone you’ve just met...be curious and be cautious.” One of the book’s most engaging attributes is its practicality—readers can take clearly defined steps to work on themselves and their relationships while making their way through the pages. The author makes the text accessible with casual, easy-to-read language, steering clear of dense therapy jargon. In a lead-in to what could be an intimidating section on self-conception, Thiessen begins by stating, “you have a relationship with yourself in much the same way you have a relationship with someone else”; instead of diving into a complicated clinical discussion, Thiessen introduces the idea with a relatable analogy. This engaging approach is characteristic of his writing style, which only adds to the book’s effectiveness. While the guide proceeds from the premise that its readers are in monogamous relationships, it does not assume heterosexuality—the couples used as examples include several same-sex unions, underscoring the book’s accessibility. One quibble: The font is stylized in the body text and in the “CONSIDER THIS” sections, which may make the text more difficult to read for some. Aside from this minor concern, Thiessen has crafted an excellent guide to successful relationships.
An engaging and accessible handbook for romantic partnerships.Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2025
ISBN: 9798999091703
Page Count: 242
Publisher: Contineo
Review Posted Online: Aug. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.
A noted actor turns to verse: “Poems are a Saturday in the middle of the week.”
McConaughey, author of the gracefully written memoir Greenlights, has been writing poems since his teens, closing with one “written in an Australian bathtub” that reads just as a poem by an 18-year-old (Rimbaud excepted) should read: “Ignorant minds of the fortunate man / Blind of the fate shaping every land.” McConaughey is fearless in his commitment to the rhyme, no matter how slight the result (“Oops, took a quick peek at the sky before I got my glasses, / now I can’t see shit, sure hope this passes”). And, sad to say, the slight is what is most on display throughout, punctuated by some odd koanlike aperçus: “Eating all we can / at the all-we-can-eat buffet, / gives us a 3.8 education / and a 4.2 GPA.” “Never give up your right to do the next right thing. This is how we find our way home.” “Memory never forgets. Even though we do.” The prayer portion of the program is deeply felt, but it’s just as sentimental; only when he writes of life-changing events—a court appearance to file a restraining order against a stalker, his decision to quit smoking weed—do we catch a glimpse of the effortlessly fluent, effortlessly charming McConaughey as exemplified by the David Wooderson (“alright, alright, alright”) of Dazed and Confused. The rest is mostly a soufflé in verse. McConaughey’s heart is very clearly in the right place, but on the whole the book suggests an old saw: Don’t give up your day job.
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781984862105
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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