Reviewed by Lynette Fowlston for Readers' Favorite

Love and War by John and Stasi Eldredge is a book not only for married couples but for those planning marriage. As the authors state, many young adults who get married today bring a lot of excess baggage into the marriage. John and Staci relate about their own marriage and possible divorce, and show how they faced their challenges together and now have a lasting marriage of twenty-five plus years. Love and War is not a book full of tips and tricks or a step-by-step program for the married couple to follow, but is a book about love (the way God intended from the beginning) and war (with Satan who is out to destroy their marriage). With scripture references relating to love and marriage, the married couple needs to add another relationship into their marriage, and that is a relationship with Jesus. With Christ in the center of their relationship, the marriage will be fulfilled.

This was quite an interesting book, unlike most self-help books. I like the way John and Staci tell each side of their story throughout the book and reveal their own excess baggage that they both brought into their marriage. Whether you have been married two, five or twenty years or are still single and looking forward to marriage, I recommend this book. Read it slowly, digest it, and underline parts. Then at the end of the book one question will be answered: Why do some marriages make it and some don’t? It’s all about learning to love.