Romantic Novels & Relationship Advice Books to Read With Your Partner

Relationships are complex to navigate and a healthy relationship needs constant effort from both partners. One of the key factors that contribute to a healthy relationship is finding fun activities you can do as a couple. Reading can be one of those activities that can strengthen and rejuvenate your relationship and sharing a book with your better half can be a very uplifting experience. To help our readers build healthier relationships, we have compiled a list of some of the best romantic novels and relationship advice books that you can read with your partner.

1. The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman

It is no secret that strong communication is the key to a great and lasting relationship. In this insightful guide on relationships, marriage counselor Gary Chapman shows us how to use five different methods of communication to improve our relationships and how healthy communication between couples can help nurture a relationship that lasts and flourishes. If you're in a relationship and especially if you're married, this book can help you transform your relationship with your partner. Dr. Chapman helps us identify where we lie on the spectrum of the languages of love and reveals the five ways we can express ourselves and show and receive love more generously.

2. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

This is a story of hope, of how two people with nothing in common come together and find love in the unlikeliest of circumstances. Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an ordinary life until she loses her steady job at a cafe and becomes a care worker for the quadriplegic (and suicidal) businessman Will Traynor. As the story unfolds, we see how the two connect, how Will encourages Lou to pursue interests outside of her comfort zone, and how Lou gives Will a new hope, convincing him that life is still worth living.

3. The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work by John M. Gottman and Nan Silver

Packed with statistics, data, practical questionnaires and couples exercises, the Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work is a book full of actionable wisdom. It disproves several myths about marriage and why marriages fail - and presents a framework of seven steps that can lead to a long-lasting and blissful relationship. While the book mainly deals with the topic of couples and marriage, a lot of the practical advice in this book can be used to improve your relationship with co-workers, friends, family, and even neighbors.

4. Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment by Amir Levine and Rachel S. F. Heller

Almost all of us carry some emotional trauma and baggage from our past that prevents us from feeling contented and secure in our relationships. This eye-opening guide for couples by psychiatrist and neuroscientist Dr. Amir Levine and Rachel Heller explores the science of attachment and uses scientific data and arguments to explore why some people navigate relationships with ease, while others constantly struggle with negative feelings such as insecurity and anxiety. Attached helps the readers understand what their and their partner's (or potential partner's) attachment styles are and how they can use this understanding to find and sustain love.

5. Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus by John Gray

Authored by American relationship counselor John Gray in 1992, this must-read relationship guide posits that the most common problems in relationships arise from a fundamental psychological difference between men and women. Sometimes we can't get along with the opposite sex simply because our brains aren't wired the same way. Dr. Gray argues that we can overcome this by acknowledging these fundamental differences, and understanding the communication style and emotional needs of the opposite sex, thereby significantly improving the quality of our relationships and avoiding unnecessary conflicts.

6. Getting The Love You Want: A Guide For Couples by Harville Hendrix

We all yearn for a love that is deeply satisfying and fulfilling, but seldom find it because we are unable to eliminate the negativity that gets in the way of such a love. In this ground-breaking guide for couples, Dr. Harville Hendix presents years of study and research he gathered working as a couples' therapist and reveals the true, lasting source of love and companionship. The book shows us how we can build an atmosphere of safety and trust with our partner and help each other heal. With its step-by-step framework, Getting the Love You Want has helped millions of couples revitalize their relationships and is a definitive guide on building wholesome relationships.

7. The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak

Written by the acclaimed Turkish novelist Elif Shafak, this is a profound novel that takes its readers on a journey of timeless love. The story unravels in two interweaving narratives, one is a present-day story of Ella Rubenstein, an ordinary and unhappy housewife, and another set in the thirteenth century when the mystical poet Rumi met his spiritual mentor, the dervish known as Shams Tabriz. The novel is deeply therapeutic, full of profound wisdom, and shows us how love can be a transformative force in the most unexpected ways.

8. Sam's Letters to Jennifer by James Patterson

A tender and heart-warming tale of love, Sam's Letters to Jennifer is the story of grief-stricken Jennifer who returns to her childhood home to care for her ailing grandmother after a recent tragedy. There, Jennifer discovers a series of letters addressed to her that will give her a new purpose in life and a second chance at love.