Book Review: The Two Minute Marriage Project

I have a LOT of books about marriage. In fact, when I was a college student my roommates would tease me a little bit about how many books on marriage were in my possession. My collection took up one whole shelf of our Ikea bookcase. The thing is, my Mom is a Marriage and Family Therapist, so she’s sent me oodles of books on relationships over the years. And I was studying Marriage, Family, and Human Development so several of those books were for my courses. In any case, the pile just kept getting bigger and bigger and I still have most of those books today.

But it wasn’t until I picked up The Two Minute Marriage Project that I realized it’s actually been a while since I’ve read that type of book. And I was so glad that I read it because it contained so many good reminders.

I guess perhaps one of the few good things about infertility was that it really strengthened our marriage. Spencer and I grew closer facing hard things together. And though we had to wait a long time for children, we were grateful to have each other and we tried to just enjoy that phase of life. Now that we have our babies, we are loving being a family of four. But we are also realizing that spending time with just the two of us isn’t as effortless as it once was… obviously! The Two Minute Marriage Project reminded me of a few things I can do to make our marriage more of a priority. And like the title implies, these are simple, little, everyday changes that can strengthen a marital relationship.

These suggestions for strengthening relationships are backed by research and studies which, for me, makes a book a much more worthwhile read. There are plenty of “self help” books out there that are mostly opinion and not backed by evidence. Not the case with this book. Poelman did her homework. Though the book is based on research, it’s not a dry read because it is mixed with personal experiences making it both applicable and interesting.