I Heart My In-Laws: Falling in Love with His Family--One Passive-Aggressive, Over-Indulgent, Grandkid-Craving, Streisand-Loving, Bible-Thumping In-Law at a Time (Paperback)

by Dina Koutas Poch (Author) "Thank your mom for the pep talk..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, Problem Scenario, Sun Tzu

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Skip the champagne flutes and buy this for your soon-to-be-wed friends instead!”—Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Product Description

A practical, laugh-out-loud guide to adopting your man’s family—from your first date to your firstborn Girlfriends, fiancées, and wives rejoice! Here, at last, is a book you can turn to in times of stress, panic, and family vacations to the smallest cottage ever built on the island of Nantucket. Mirroring the natural progression of a relationship and incorporating interviews from women just like you, this hilarious, savvy guide will help you survive your first meeting with future in-laws, from the holidays, weddings, and new babies, to the day they retire to the house next door because “it’s a great real estate investment.”
Discover a wide array of sanity-retention techniques and tips on scoring major points with each and every in-law. Learn how to sweet-talk his sister, mollify his mother, and defuse potentially explosive situations—like when your pumpkin pie gives Nana a bad case of hives. Stories range from the tragic “my father-in-law just pinched my ass and not in that sportsmanship kind of way,” to the triumphant “I’m now CEO of my grandfather-in-law’s cement company—Thanks Pupup!”
Offering handy translation charts with curse words in Persian and compliments in Cantonese, a list of gifts and how to interpret their hidden meaning, tips for reclaiming the holidays one Bastille Day at a time, and your very own set of Mother-in-Law MadLibs, I Heart My In-laws embodies the old saying, “It’s funny because it’s true.”

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks (June 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805082794
• ISBN-13: 978-0805082791
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #539,788 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars That's them!!, September 14, 2007

By	M. D. (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

...in a nutshell! Not only has she identified them in all of their quirky insanity, but she's actually given me tactics to deal with them. I only wish I'd had this guide BEFORE the 2 week vacation...not after!
I then brought the book on vacation with my own family and everyone flipped through and got something out of it. (One cousin was overheard saying, repeatedly, "Yes, yes, that's them, exactly!!) Married, dating or single, everyone can find humor and survival tactics in this fun and informative read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars And You think your family is weird..., September 3, 2007

By	Denis Blot - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

You've spent your life thinking your parents, aunts, uncles, cousins all have
"bizarre quirks"that you've learned to embrace but surely you've avoided
telling anyone else about for fear they might just think that wierdness
is genetic and you might be one step away from the looneybin yourself.
Then comes the day when you meet someone who loves you no matter how crazy
you might be and you meet their family and come to the realization that
your family is vanilla compared to the rainbow sherbert that will be your
future in-laws. "I Heart My In-Laws" is a humourous take on all the
different varieties (and several you may not have thought of) of in-laws
you could end up with and how to navigate the treacherous waves of
expected familial bonding that awaits you. The author's filmmaking
sensibilities are noticible as she is quite deft at conjuring up
descriptive scenarios that read like you are watching a scene from a film
unfold. Everything from slapstick to moments of drama are present and
the author does an excellent job of keeping these incidents in perspective
of the larger goal of creating an amicable relationship with your in-laws.
While the text is certainly geared more towards female readers, boyfriends
and future husbands will undoubtedly get some laughs from reading it,
and more importantly learn a thing or two about dealing with their future
in-laws as well. The book also has some witty charts and quizes that will
definitely put a smile on your face as your realize not only what kind of
in-laws you have, but what kind of parents you have as well. Definitely
makes a great engagement present.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Entertainment Only. Not for serious marital issues., December 10, 2007

By	S. Haas - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you're just getting married and can still laugh at your goofy in-laws or in-laws-to-be, this is the book for you.
Beyond that, it's little more than manipulative behavior you can use to treat the symptoms of an unhealthy spouse-parent relationship, that will never deal with the true dysfunction needing to be addressed.
If you have "lite" in-law problems and just need a bit of a giggle, this is a great book. For the rest of us looking for answers to painful problems that accompany engulfing, life-controlling in-laws, try a real self-help book.