The Thinking Girl's Guide to the Right Guy

Though it is cheesy and a bit of an embarassing read (had this on my kindle... no way I'd let anyone catch me with that kind of cover on the T – then again, perhaps if I knew and liked myself more, and claimed my personal power, it would not matter... one day....) this book offers great, practical advice. I wish I had read this when I was 17: partially because that's the reading level, and partially because there's so much in here about learning about yourself, your values, what you want, and how to bring that into a relationship in a healthy way; all this, and a wealth of dialogue to exemplify healthy conversations and self-talk. Perhaps had I established this framework for myself (which is clearly explained and backed by psychological research), I could have made much healthier decisions for myself and for past partners. But, alas. I went the sloppy route.

Then again - I think we all have to go the sloppy route before we can truly understand and appreciate the framework this book provides. And even then, we may find it super cheesy and skim a ton of it (as I did). I also didn't love the workbook style, which is pretty ineffectual on a kindle. I wanted a book that relied more heavily on summarizing actual research studies and their implications versus the silly character dialogues and activities.

But again, with that said– there's great advice here, which I have highlighted and tucked away for myself to use to assess future relationships (and breakups...), and to give the best advice possible to friends.