This is a book intended to help people think two or three times before getting married. This book is a challenge to committed couples to separate romanticism from love and sex. The basic question is, are you in it for sex or are you in love? Is it commitment or is it lust? The heart of the matter is one’s expectations. What people can bring into the marriage and what they are willing to commit to it are always the central focus. Crosby treats many of the usual and unusual challenges that are encountered whenever one joins forces with a partner. This book includes chapters on traditional defense mechanisms, passive-aggressiveness, dependence, obsessive-compulsiveness, and paranoia as barriers to solid marital communication.