Summary

Bring Back the Man You Fell in Love With, one of the most important marriage self help books you will ever read, shows couples, particularly women, how to get their power back in their relationships using behavior modification techniques.

If you’re feeling less loved by your man, you will soon find out that the problem often has more to do with his bad behavior patterns than lack of love.  You will begin to understand why your relationship seems so dysfunctional, what role each of you play in the dysfunction, and how to change it to get the love you want.

Bring Back the Man You Fell in Love With also shows couples how to resolve specific issues, such as flirting, in-law problems, housework sharing, infidelity, handling his friends, etc.  The goal here is not to have any one person keep the power, but instead to create an equal, healthy relationship. And even if your man isn’t cooperative, my behavior modification techniques show you how to change his behavior by changing yours.

“Deal or No Deal”
The secret to healthy relationships is not only making deals with your mate that work, but also deals that keep the relationship equal. Would any woman in her right mind (or man) make the deal to work full-time and also do all the housework and childcare? Yet many women do this every day (and resent it) because they haven’t made good deals in their relationships. Not that men always get fair deals either. Like many relationship and marriage self help books, Bring Back the Man You Fell in Love With, is written for women but is valuable to both males and females by helping couples equalize their relationship by negotiating fair deals regarding: money, chores, the aftermath of cheating, how often each go out, handling exes, childcare, stepfamilies, differences in need for sexual frequency, jealousy and flirting, and even how to negotiate different need levels of emotional intimacy.

“How to Change Your Man (or Woman)”
Bring Back the Man You Fell in Love With also helps women (or men) understand how changing their own behavior can, and almost always will, change the behavior of their mates. Learn behavior modification techniques for adults that you can use with your mate, your mom, and even your co-worker.

Negotiating Romance, October 2, 2005
Reviewer: Leslie Halpern (Central Florida, USA)

This book advises women about what to do when the honeymoon is literally and figuratively over. How can you bring back the romantic man of your dreams? According to Bushong, it's through establishing equal power and honest negotiations.

Using abstract theory and concrete examples, she shows how men will only treat women as badly as the women allow. This simple concept of reclaiming power is one of the most important ideas that runs throughout the book. It can be applied to male-female relationships as well as parenting and on-the-job situations. She offers many examples of how to do this effectively. I tried some of her ideas. They worked.

Her four steps to powerful negotiations seemed a little awkward when I first read them. How can you comfortably introduce a set negotiation formula into a casual conversation? Reluctantly, I tried this, too. It also worked.

"Bring Back the Man You Fell in Love With" offers some wonderful suggestions for restoring the love and romance from those early newlywedded years. Most married women would benefit from reading this book.

Leslie Halpern, author of "Reel Romance. The Lovers' Guide to the 100 Best Date Movies" and "Dreams on Film."

• Take Bushong's lively quizzes-such as Are You Acting Like an Equal?
• Employ her techniques-such as The Five Steps to Successful Negotiations
• Heed her no-nonsense advice-such as Don't Bury Your Head in the Sand
• Reap the benefits of a more passionate, attentive partner!