Customer Reviews

Loving Your Long-Distance Relationship

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I hoped this book would help me cope with my long distance relationship with a military cadet. The book is worthless. It is nothing but the author's sob story. There are no ideas, hints, or tips, just a story about someone else's relationship. I don't need to hear what it's like to be in a long distance relationship, I bought the book because I already know.

If you haven't bought the book yet, don't bother. You could get better advice from the six year old down the block than from this book.

I was hoping that I would get some good advice on how to deal with the difficulties of a long distance relationship. Instead, I felt that the author was really just telling his story. I did not find it to be very helpful in dealing with the problems relating to my long distance relationship.

I would have to say that I am plesently surprised with the book.. no it doesn't really give any solutions to what you may face in a long distance relationship, but it is easy to read and in those times when you are down or depressed from being away from your love it will give a little perspective on where it is you do stand in your relationship.. any and everyone in a long distance relationship could have written this book, and that is why it works.. we have all been through it but it lets us know.. we aren't alone.

If you are over 20 or have an IQ of anything over that, this book is NOT for you. It gave absolutely no advice except unhealthy, infantile suggestions like, "When you are feeling like you are losing your affection for one another, have phone sex with each other" or this advice..."I learned to avoid heavy issues on the phone and just talk about light subjects"....What is that????? A healthy relationship dives in, pokes and prods all subject matter to try to really get to know who they are having a relationship with. I was REALLY yearning for some mature, knowledgeable, introspective advice on many issues that a long distance relationship brings on and some REAL solutions to the problems one faces when loving someone far away but to my extreme disappointment, there was NOTHING I learned from the book except that Steven Blake writes like a 5 year old...and knows nothing about having or creating a healthy relationship. It has given me an incentive to write my own book on the subject...believe me, his book is definitely no competition! Oh yeah, ask him if he has succeeded at his long-distance relationships....I don't think so.

IF you are in a long-distance relationship, you'll probably feel the same way I did about this book: I know as much as (or more than) this guy! Why did I pay for this book when there are much better resources about long-distance relationships?

Unfortunately this book fails to provide much more than the most basic look at long term relationships through the authors eye. It's just not enough information to spend money on. If your serious about this topic I suggest "How to survive a long-distance relationship by Shellie Vandevoorde. This book is written from a military spouse's perspective and has advice and meaningful applications as well a realistic look at this difficult reality which military families deal with all the time.

This author made the book for the moneyStephen Blake made no serious effort to research, explore or provide insightful evidence about long distance relationships. No behavioral analysis or even guidance on what to do for those in this situation. (...).

You can read the book in one evening's time. I agree with some of the other posts that it's not written in the most sophisticated language, the advice is not ground-breaking or research driven, but you get what you pay for. I wouldn't necessarily slam the book like some of the other buyers did. It's only 90 pages and it's about 7 bucks, and indicative of the cover subtitle it clearly reads "a personal experience by Stephen Blake". Mr. Blake never proclaims to be an expert or researcher...just a guy who had a couple of unsuccessful and successful attempts at LDRs. He wants to share his experiences with the world while simultaneously taking his mind off his loneliness by writing a book. It's admirable.

If you buy the book, certainly don't expect a host of new ideas or psychological jargon, but you will enjoy a quick read, and find that his book is a lot like having a real life conversation with someone. It's nice to see that a man was committed and in love enough to put his thoughts and feelings to paper.

I bought the book after having a huge disagreement with my long distance boyfriend about the frequency of our communication. I felt inspired enough by a couple of passages in the book to open up a very frank and honest conversation about my feelings. So, in my eyes, it was worth the cheap price and a few lines that I underlined.

What I did, and what I recommend is to buy this book in conjuction with other LDR books, or men-women communication books written by experts. This is definitely not a stand alone book for how to deal with your LDR, but it can be a nice supplement to other texts.

Blake's extensive personal experience with long distance relationships has given him a lot of knowledge on how they work. I especially liked the chapter on emotional stages of separation. I feel those stages intensely with my boyfriend. This book was simple to read and easy to apply.

My boyfriend and I are dealing with issues like money, how we should spend our weekends together (only with each other or with friends), having serious discussions over the phone instead of in person, etc. I was looking for a more in-depth book about how to deal with problems that arise in a long distance relationship. Although I did identify with some of the issues the author faced, I didn't feel that he offered many good solutions. I should have known that I would not like the book when I was skimming through it and saw how poorly it was laid out and presented. Too bad this is the only book I've found that covers this topic.