Customer Reviews

Forbidden Love with a Married Man: E-mail Diaries

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I can't believe reading this book how touching and heartbreaking this love story is. At the same time, it opened my eyes to how this situation is much more prevelent in our society than many married men want to admit and women don't want to know about. I was glued to my seat as I sped through this page turner. This book had me non stop page turning for an entire Saturday. You must buy it. Schleicher is a genius and his voice is genuine. I look forward to volume 2 or Hollywood. Please write another!
-Kelly, Psych RN

This memoir was an amazing look into the story of the author and his gay and married boyfriend. Mind you, he's married to a woman...

It follows their romance from a chance meeting, to a planned get together, and follows them through their dates, phone calls, emails, and intimate moments.

The book lets you glance in on a world that is usually kept secret, and never talked about. Well here is the chance for readers who may have some questions, or may be coping with the same situation. It is an amazing read and I cannot say that enough!

Great job Dennis!

Since 1984, I have counseled over 30,000 women who discover they have unknowingly married gay men. Although this may seem like an isolated situation, it affects over 4 million women in the United States. One of the most difficult tasks is convincing these wives that their husbands are capable of having a secret life outside the realm of the marriage. Schleicher's book is an eye opener for those women who think that it can't happen in their marriage. This daily diary gives an inside view of how their husbands can live a double life without having any sense of remorse. Schleicher, a hopeless romantic, meets his supposed "soulmate" through a fluke chance on a gay dating Internet website. He soon realizes that he is in the middle of the triangular moral dilemma of falling in love with a married man whose wife of 14 years is clueless. It was never Schleicher's intention to hurt his lover's wife, but rather to help his soulmate come to terms with his hidden homosexuality in hopes of transforming his destiny to being half of a loving and caring gay couple. Although Schleicher is convinced throughout the story that the couple will live happily ever after, you must draw your own conclusions or wait for his sequel. While this book is a love story for Schleicher, it's questionable whether his boyfriend really has any intention of doing the "right thing," as he promises, or if Schleicher is just another pawn in the game of a man living a double life, hurting both his lover and wife? I strongly recommend this book to any woman who is suspicious about the possibility of her husband's possible secret. It serves as a startling reality check for those who may be unable to believe the worst of truths.

I am a gay married man who is at the crossroads of his life. After 14 years of living with a woman who is loving, kind, and understanding, I have decided to make the most difficult decision in my life to date--namely, be honest with her. After reading the book "Straight Wives, Shattered Lives," by Bonnie Kaye, I realize that the longer I withhold this truth from her, the more damage I am doing to her life. When I read some of the stories of these women in the book, I was faced with the reality of what I am doing to my own wife. I have fought these feelings of male attractions for many years. I wanted to be the husband my wife needs. I never meant to hurt her. I take my marriage vows very seriously. I married her because I was in love with her, and I still love her so much. But now I realize that I can never love her in the way she deserves to be loved--totally and completely. I know this because I have read the book "Forbidden Love With a Married Man: Email Diaries" by Dennis Schleicher. In his story, I saw the kind of relationship that I too desire with someone of the same sex. Between these two books, I realized I had to be honest with myself before I could be honest with my wife. I know my life will never be the same after I reveal this news, but I don't want to keep hiding behind a lie. Wish me luck.

This is a hit!! I ripped through it.

Schleicher is very brave! He bared his soul. And his intimate details. Wow!!

I'm I a singer. I've been in the entertainment business for a thousand years. I have many gay acquaintances but no really close friends. The book did for me what going to Temple for the first time did. (my husband is Jewish) I had fantasies about how different it would be from Church. Once I got there I realized that - other than Hebrew instead of Latin and different hymns-melodically speaking - Its all the same.

Forbidden Love showed me that love and relationships between couples, no matter how common or unconventional the circumstances, is still about passion, self doubt, warmth, butterfly stomachs, hurt and healing. We are human beings after all is said and done. The emails made it so personal and real. It never had that Hollywood movie sensationalism. The ending felt abrupt. Left me waiting for the sequel. But I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This book needs to be a 'must read' for all. I simultaneously fell in love with the author and his partner. As a psychologist I was moved by the vulnerability of Dennis, sharing his life story and experiences. I commend Byron, for his honesty and know his wife will find love someday. When is the movie coming out?

Christine, Psychologist

I've always believed a gay man should never get involved with a married man--it's a recipe for heartache. There is only so much a married man can give of himself, and this is extremely unfair to his lover, especially when the married man keeps promising more in the future. Couple this with the certainty of guilt, and you'll find every experience, no matter how blissful, is shadowed. Truth is romantic love is not often powerful enough to wrench a man away from his wife and family and the life he has known for many years. But we're human and these kinds of affairs happen, and this one is wonderfully illustrated in every detail in Denis Schleicher's book. Until now, I would have never expected anyone to bare the most private and intimate details of a personal relationship; but he does. We see two men instantaneously smitten with each other, and we are allowed to read a long exchange of e-mails that reveals their desperate need for a male companion. No matter what you think of the author's writing style or his lifestyle or his material priorities, you will like him and will appreciate what he is trying to accomplish with this book. I like him for his integrity, his honesty and his naiveté: my reason for rating his title five stars.

Forbidden Love with a married man:e-mail diaries written by Dennis Schleicher was the nourishment I needed going through the darkest time in my life. I am a married gay man that has been riddled with guilt because I feel that I created victims in my wife and children for selfish reasons. I got married even though I knew I was gay but I new what societies expectations were of me and I thought marriage would somehow heal those desires. They didn't and they never will for anyone. Dennis's book not only helped me understand that my intentions weren't to do harm but to follow societies narrow expectations they have for men and woman. I truly did what I thought was right. I now have hurt my wife and children and it nearly cost me my life until this book was given to me. I have since join Dennis annonymous group for married men and he is not only wise and insightful but very compassionate and has personally helped guide me back out of the darkness of dispair that I was in. This book WILL and SHOULD become a movie. Thank you Dennis for your inspiration. Most sincerely, Aaron

After reading this inspiring and forthcoming memoir, I finally mustered up the courage to confront my husband about his true sexual indentity.
The answer was as disturbing as I had predicted.....he is gay and completely in love with another man with whom he has been dating secretly for over 2 years.
We are now in therapy together and coming to terms with our impending divorce and his plan to move in with his lover.
A must read for any married woman with these suspicians.
Thank you Mr. Schleicher!!

Andrea Vogel
Easthampton, Ct.

I just completed the book, and frankly it was as if someone was hiding around the corner documenting my life for the past few years. I am a gay man currently involved with a married man, and the book is pretty straight forward in the representation of how these types of relationship transpire. There are a great deal of difficulties for the "Other Man" in a relationship such as this, and sometimes it feels like there is no winner in this situation; however, there are times it really seems like the fault can't be assigned to one of the individuals in the triangle. the married man has more than likely been gay his entire life, but out of fear makes the choice to try to present a facade, the wife definitely is at no fault and unfortunately probably gets hurt the most, the "other man" probably knows better (if he knows a marriage is part of the equation), but sometimes there is no accounting for who you fall in love with. The book definitely captures the types of conversations that go on behind the scenes (at least for me) and describes the kind of connection you can have with someone in your life that may or may not be acceptable by society. Vows taken at marriage are important, but someone carrying a lie to the altar isn't really capable of committing to another individual especially if they can't even honest with themselves or commit to themself.