52 Things Wives Need from Their Husbands: What Husbands Can Do to Build a Stronger Marriage

I'm not married; I'm a single man engaged to the most beautiful and wonderful fiancee in the world, Melanie, due to be married next December. I'm currently a full-time student, but I decided that I'd get a head start on doing some premarital counseling myself. Words can't describe how exciting and exhilarating it is to be engaged and beginning the process of planning the wedding with my soon-to-be-wife! Most of my life, I've made excuses to not go to church on Sundays so I could sleep in or watch the Cowboys play. A lot of times, I just didn't want to go. Needless to say, I've not had a great relationship with God and Christ for years. Now that I'm engaged and starting to prepare for a wedding and long life ahead with the woman of my dreams, I felt a huge, sudden urge to rekindle the flames with God and Christ; What better way to start preparing an unbreakable foundation for your marriage than through the Gospel? Granted, it's going to take time. But I'm committed to staying the path. Why? Because I want to. I desperately desire for Christ to be in my life. I wanna yearn for God to do His will through me. I need to be that man, not just for myself, but because my fiancee needs me to be that godly man as her husband. Likewise, our future children ( God willing) will need a godly and loving father. But I didn't want this to be a mission that Melanie couldn't be a part of. It's important to me that we both be on the same page and that we both pursue Christ in all of our endeavors. So, I perused around Amazon for some great books written by Christian authors, psychologists, etc., that Melanie and I could use along with the Bible (the best source of marriage counseling period!) to prepare ourselves for married life. Anything that would help us begin to start scratching the surface of fathoming what a marriage entails and the future hardships destined for any married couple, especially newly-weds. In all, I found 16 books that talk about God's intentions for the incredible mystery of marriage, how to honor your wife and sacrifice beyond measure to fulfill her every need, and God's views and intentions for sex between husband and wife. When I told Melanie what I had done and what my intentions were behind it all, I definitely surprised her and took her aback. But she was so happy and glad that I was taking such initiative. In "52 Things Wives Need from Their Husbands," Jay Payleitner does a great job explaining what wives need from their husbands throughout the entire marriage. I personally thought the book was very insightful and informative. I like the fact that Jay uses Scripture to solidify what he's saying. It's an extremely quick read, only 2-3 pages per chapter, and it's actually pretty humorous throughout the whole book. Jay does a really great job relating to the reader in some of the things he's struggled with personally. This book is short, direct, and to the point. He doesn't drone on and on about each of the 52 things, but he tells it how it is. I respect him for that. Again, even though I'm not married I found this book to be extremely useful and helpful for preparing myself (although it won't do much until I actually experience it myself!) as best I can to be the best husband for Melanie. I'd recommend this book to any engaged nearly-weds, newly-weds, and veteran married couple.

I bought this book for my husband, but I wanted to read it first to see if it was something that was worth the time to have my husband read it. I really thought it was a great book! The author is so down to earth, and the chapters are short and to the point! My husband read it, and he said he really liked it. He thought the author was really funny. He laughed alot when he was reading this book. From the looks of the cover of the book, it makes it look really serious, or boring. But it's far from it! It's so down to earth, and it tells the man exactly how their wife is feeling, and what she really needs. With some added humor! I would suggest this book to any married couple! It's a GREAT read, and the author is FANTASTIC!

My wife disagreed with about 40 of the 52 things that Jay claims "wives need" but it was an entertaining read anyway. It only took a few days to burn through the whole thing and I did it twice. Unfortunately, I gave it to my wife and she said, "Eeh...well, not really." But this is probably spot-on for Jay and his wife. Overall, worth the few bucks I spent on the purchase and the few days to read through it twice. Any marriage book sitting on the counter or nightstand will automatically score points with a wife. Note to husbands: You have to read the book or make it appear that you are reading it.

I don't know about you, but as a wife reading a book written for husbands I want to know what type of advice is being given and if I agree with or disagree with anything in the book. I read this whole book in a matter of weeks and decided it is good advice for the modern married man! The tips in this book will make a wife fall in love with her husband all over again. Think of the benefits? Warm feelings, more attention, more attraction, less arguments, more admiration plus plenty of respect and loyalty from a wife who can appreciate being treated well. I'm giving this book to my husband to read! THAT IS my highest recommendation!!!!!! ~The Rebecca Review P.S. My husband is reading this book and seems to be enjoying it. :) He seems a little more patient with me and seems to want to be helpful!

This book was very powerful for me. I ordered 3 others around the same topic after an event in my marriage created quite a deep divide. What I appreciated about this book is that it was very practical and action-based. It's not a ton of theory that never gets put to action. I also read the men's version and it really hit the nail on the head for how I was feeling. I loved this book and will constantly refer back to it. I've purchased it for a friend already and it has already made a positive impact for us.

I never write book reviews, mainly because, what's the point - you're going to read what looks interesting and form your own opinion. However, I have a spare moment and wanted to comment on this. Context - husband, father of four, veteran, almost 40, been married 10 years, and Christian. I've read a lot of parenting / father books from different perspectives: vets, world leaders, religious leaders, etc. but have read very few marriage books. I would have rated this five stars if it was written in the 60s. There is some practical advice and some good high level concepts to think about - he interjects his own life experience as well - that's clear. I feel like he tried too hard to fit families into a small box - like he was speaking directly to the quinisential nuclear family. I get it, he can't write for everyone; but in our family, both adults work full time, mostly out of choice - many of his examples relied on the wife being the "stay at home." All in all, it was a quick read and I had some takeaways and anchors on scripture, but about half the book didn't really apply to my family - obviously there is always room for improvement in husbandry, but I had very few "ah-ha" moments reading this.

This is a wonderful book! I bought for my husband and read it first to be sure it was worth him reading-SO GOOD! I’ve recommended to friends because we enjoyed it so much. Plant to buy a copy for my cousin for a wedding gift. My husband plans to save, make notes, and give to our son on his wedding day! Now I just need to buy a few of his other books! Only complaint...I didn’t buy sooner!

Good read but that is about it for me. Some books I go back to numerous times... this is not one of them.

Great book for great people - and we are those :) My family uses it as an every day guide!

Finding it useful for starting discussion.