No Perfect Love: Shattering the Illusion of Flawless Relationships

I will not say this is perfect (because Dr. Nerenberg teaches that perfection doesn’t exist), but I will say that No Perfect Love is pretty darn close! Relationships exist among nearly every living person and present themselves through various people and in multiple ways—family, friends, romantic, platonic, etc.

Dr. Nerenberg wrote No Perfect Loveamid the COVID-19 pandemic, arguably one of the most challenging times to work on maintaining, let alone strengthening, relationships. Dr. Nerenberg is a strong endorser of the twelve-step program commonly used for addiction; her book includes twelve chapters covering every area of a relationship imaginable.

Whether your relationship presents to be “perfect” and you have no concerns, or you don’t know how you will make it through another day, you have at your fingertips an abundance of information (Dr. Nerenberg provides more than enough research and resources) to maintain or improve not only a relationship with someone else, but more importantly, your relationship with yourself.

The information will not read like a textbook; instead, case studies from clients and much self-disclosure allow the book to read as relational and comforting. Dr. Nerenberg concludes each chapter with two to three exercises/activities to try that focuses on the relationship issue mentioned in the chapter.