The author did a great job describing the life of a single mother Shannon Stevens who is involved in her young son’s life and his love for baseball. She is a devoted mother, committed to making sure that her son is happy and successful. For me it was an enjoyable easy read.

This is a wonderful book for sports lovers especially for parents with young children. There is a little bit of romance; enough to make you smile, but the main story is about Shannon and Sam. There are many places that the dialog is quite enjoyable between Shannon and other moms. Some kids and their parents tend to be mean and very competitive and that is where I loved the way Shannon handled those situations, and protected her son from hurtful words.

The moral of the story according to the author is that you can have friends, or you can complete, but you can’t compete against your friends and expect to keep them.

About This Book

It's a relationship book even a man will read.

Keeping Score provides a relationship evaluation quiz followed by a common sense guide for relationship improvement, all with a humorous twist. You can determine if your relationship has the qualities it takes for a successful marriage and lasting love affair.

If you're single- read this book to see how well your potential life partner measures up.

If you're married- read this book to reduce conflict and increase your happiness.

Take control and shape your union into a relationship that will stand the trials of life and go the distance.

My Take On This Book

Marc Brackett has written a wonderful book for singles, and married couples. This book is set up in sections. First, you have Adam & Eve, which is, broke up into four sections, and then comes Knowledge Is Power, then you have A Score To Win and the last part is found on his website at www.keepingscorebook.com. At Brackett’s website, you can see how your score adds up to other couples and worksheets to print out as well.

This tiny book blew me away. It opened up a completely new way of looking at my marriage as well as how I look at my husband. I am going to be honest it was not all good but it was not all bad either. I think this is a book for everyone, single and married to keep around and read frequently. I know I will.

I want to thank Marc Brackett for giving me the opportunity to read and review his book. It was an eye-opening journey through this little book, thank you Mark.

About The Author

Marc Brackett is a beautiful soul. Not only is he strikingly handsome and rugged, but he is also suave. His numerous skills and talents are legendary, with capabilities beyond description. When not busy restoring the ecological balance to his private tropical island paradise, Marc can be found teaching orphaned baby dolphins how to trust and swim again.

Alright, alright, the truth is Marc Brackett is just an average guy (says his wife) who loves his wife and children more than anything else. Seventeen years ago Marc Brackett made the most important decision of his life: he got married. Ever since, he has been working really hard to stay married and, with five daughters, he now worries about their relationships as well. This book was written to improve his own marriage and to guide his daughters to a successful marriage.

The book and blog are for anyone (young, old, single, or married) who wants to improve their relationship and increase the odds of its success.

Originally posted on my blog Guiltless Reading

Relationships are complicated. We get engrossed in the fine details of our relationships, and its various aspects -- in all its glory and gore. We know it. We live it.

So-called commonsense can keep relationships going, but apparently this is in shortage (especially when emotions are involved) that this book was born. This is "a relationship book even a man can understand" and it's written by a male author, so if you're female this is what you say to your man if you want him to take the quiz. And if you're male, well, you're supposed to understand this.

Yes, this is a fun read! But let me qualify that -- it's not a straightforward read so "reading" it is a little different. This slim book is divided into three parts:

Part I is titled "Adam and Eve" and it branches out into two sets of quizzes, one if you're male and the other if you're female. You go through four sections for each gender, three of which are unique and the last section common for both partners.

Section 1: For Eve, this looks into a woman's thoughts on the ability of her partner to provide financially. For Adam, it looks into a man's thoughts on the physical attributes of his partner.

Section 2: For Eve, this looks into the factors of how a woman feels loved by her partner. For Adam, it looks into areas of potential conflict with his partner, including financial, nurturing, and loyalty.

Section 3 is a bonus question. For the women, it is about her partner's sense of humour; for the men, it is about (oh no!) feeling (in)adequate!

Section 4 is about common interests and how other influences impact your relationship. Some touchy areas it looks into are family (including the in-laws, children and other family member through other marriages), religion, and shared activities.

Part II is titled "Knowledge is Power" and provides insights on the quiz items. This is the meat of the book.

Part III is titled "A Score to Win" and guides you into looking at your relationship score, analyzing it, and deciding how you can get the relationship you really want.

A big part and a very substantial resource is the website - www.keepingscorebook.com - that you should look at in conjunction with this book. The book is merely a jumping board; the website the ocean.

***

What I liked: The format - it's small and you can pop this into your bag and do the quiz on the bus or during a break at work.

It is also extremely easy to read and understand. There are tons of analogies so that various points get across crystal clear. For example (Though I must express some resentment at woman being compared to a car! This isn't exactly a politically-correct book!):

A woman can have all the goods you like, but if the soul is a poor match you'll find the goods a whole lot less enjoyable. Think of it like a car. You can admire a Lamborghini, but would you like paying the insurance, worrying about scratching it [...] - p. 61

The humour. Generally, I found the quizzes funny and I found myself snickering throughout the book. (Though sometimes I found some of the humour a bit tongue-in-cheek). For example:
What is the condition of your partner's tail end? How do your partner's "assets" compare with your preference in this area. Some like a tight end, others like some junk in the trunk. To each his own. How's the scenery from your viewpoint? - p. 56

Overall I think this book is an excellent tool for taking stock of yourself as relationship material, figuring out what your own stand is on various aspects of a relationship, and just generally opening up an avenue for communication with your partner. The caveat is that you need to be honest in your answers. And if you intend on bringing in your significant other, s/he has to be equally open to the process of taking the quizzes.

***

Uh-ohs: I know I said I liked the format, but I have secondhand thoughts about the format of the quiz sheets. I was having some issues with the scoring and the flipping back and forth and I resisted the urge to just tear out the score sheet. Then I got the next part where there is getting the difference from the maximum score and I went uh-oh, why is this so complicated? Also, I kept thinking that the scoring and the explanations should be nearer the actual quiz.

(Note: I also entered my score on the website and it was an answer to some of my gripes above. But this is a review of the book after all. While the quiz part of this translates better in an online format, what's the fun of reading online? I recommend you read through the whole thing, then verify your scores by entering online where you also get the added benefit of comparing to average scores.)

I worry that this book caters to a only heterosexual relationships. If I were gay, which quiz should I take? What is you're in a same sex relationship - so both of you take the Eve quiz or the Adam quiz? Maybe I am overanalyzing this, but the question begs to be asked.

What I found a little worriesome is that there are several assumptions for each gender that didn't quite sit too well with me. The first part of the gender-based quizzes are based on very obvious gender stereotypes: that women are interested in a mate who can provide for her (hence a stress on the financial side of the relationship) and that men place a high value on the physical attributes of their partner. Hmmm ... do we risk perpetuating stereotypes in a relationship by presenting these generalizations as fact?

The cultural lens through which this book came about is based in the dominant culture of North America. While the latter parts of the quizzes are quite open, I found myself wondering how different cultures, which place value different things, would read this and score. For example, Asian cultures value family way beyond what is mentioned here, extending to the value of a person with a community but this isn't reflected in the book and would probably be subsumed under another topic (common interest?).

Overall, I maybe overanalyzing. I think the best way to reap some good from this book is to take it at face value, have fun with it, and open up communication channels with your significant other. Yes, that's commonsense!

Verdict: A fun way of assessing your relationship! A great tool for opening up conversations about the mundane and the things that matter in your relationship ... just be sure to be honest about it!

I was provided a review copy by the author in exchange for an honest opinion. I have also hosted a guest post "Taking the Long View" and held a giveaway on this blog.

Based on the somewhat confrontational title, this probably isn’t a book I’d have just picked up. What drew me in was one of the best notes I’ve ever received from an author. He mentioned that the book contained quizzes which I’ve loved ever since I discovered Cosmo in middle school. He also mentioned that the website contained extra scientific backing for the theories presented in the book, which he’d decided to keep non-technical. After reading it, I’d like to add that the book is also much more sensitive and less confrontational than it sounds.

The author’s up-beat tone sets the stage for using this book productively, including a reminder that it’s often possible for change to start with you. That may sounds trite, but I think it’s important for using this book in a way that is considerate of your partner’s feelings. The complete tallying of scores does seem to me like something that could be a little hurtful, since you’re either going to feel like you’re less appreciated or like you’re significant other isn’t as good at your relationship as you are. However, while I would recommend not sharing total score, I would definitely suggest using it yourself to see what areas you and your significant other might want to work on.

The issues the book raises seem like they could be useful conversation starters, although the advice and description of the way different factors affect relationships is very common sense. In the book, the author acknowledges that, but based on the e-mail I got I was hoping for a tiny bit of surprising research results. I was even more disappointed with the website, which gives more information but is no more technical than the book – about as Cosmo style as the quiz, with more personal advice than scientific research.

At the end of the day, this wasn’t quite the book I was looking for. The boy and I have pretty good communication, so just having issues brought to our attention wasn’t especially helpful. We also weren’t in love with the way different attributes were weighted. And I didn’t get the scientific backing for claims I was hoping to get, even from the website. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t recommend the book. It was easy to read and the quizzes were explained clearly which made them fun to take. Because of the usability factor and the significant issues raised, I think this would make a great starting point for a couple who wanted to make things work but were struggling to identify what needed to change.

This review first published on Doing Dewey.

When I first sat down to read "Keeping Score" by Marc Brackett I didn't realize how much contemplation and consideration was going to be involved. It was quite deceiving. I expected to fly through this little book in a day or two, not the week it took. It was a great little journey and, with the help of personal quizzes, provides some great insights into relationships and marriage.

This book actually works alongside Marc's website, www.keepingscorebook.com, for assistance in downloading worksheets and evaluating your scores. When I first printed the worksheets and told my husband we were going to take a relationship quiz I received one of those, "I'm not taking another Cosmo quiz. Our marriage is fine." looks. When I told him it wasn't a magazine quiz but it was an in-depth quiz regarding our marriage he agreed. There are two very distinct quizzes; one for men and a separate one for women. Each quiz is divided into subcategories including Career, Finance, Intimacy, etc. and even though the topics were the same on each quiz the questions were different. The scores are then evaluated to prioritize the subcategories that are the most important to each partner and how the two of you can work together to strengthen your relationship.

I've read other relationship and marriage-building books like "Ever After" and "The Five Love Languages" and there are parallel's to "Keeping Score." The general concepts are the same but "Keeping Score" is unique because it is so interactive. It was an enjoyable little book.