
Making Love Real
The Intelligent Couple's Guide to Lasting Intimacy and Passion
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $19.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Daniela Acitelli
About this listen
Learn to Deepen your Sexual Intimacy with This Relationship Workbook for Couples
Ease that first step into true intimacy: You’ve bought the feathers, the candles, the sex toys. You may have even gone to sex therapy for couples, and learned some communication tools. But if that first step to creating real and lasting change still feels like a mystery, Making Love Real is the book that will help you overcome your blocks and lead you to a lasting marriage and a life of deep sexual intimacy.
Take your relationship to the next level: Offering an in-depth understanding of sexual desire and relationship dynamics, this book gives you a highly practical set of tools to help you create the profound transformations in your relationship you crave.
Remove the blocks: Do you have the same fight over and over again in your relationship? Don’t know how to break the cycle to repair and heal old resentments? Learn what actually turns people on psychologically and physically, and how to have an honest, supportive conversation about your desires. Learn how to handle the day-to-day ups and downs of a relationship, and how to use challenges in your relationship to deepen intimacy instead of eroding it.
Get guidance from world-renowned sexperts: Written by pioneering sex therapists and relationship coaches Danielle Harel and Celeste Hirschman, Making Love Real passes on their collected stories and experiences from countless sex therapy sessions. Both individuals and couples will benefit from this comprehensive guide, helping them improve their relationships, and sort out their sexual challenges.
Create the passionate connection you’ve always wanted in your life with Making Love Real.
©2015 Danielle Harel Ph.D., Celeste Hirschman M.A. (P)2019 Danielle Harel Ph.D., Celeste Hirschman M.A.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Erotic Mind
- Unlocking the Inner Sources of Passion and Fulfillment
- By: Jack Morin PhD
- Narrated by: Matthew Boston
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Challenging accepted theories about what makes for terrific sex, The Erotic Mind is a breakthrough exploration of the least understood dimensions of human sexuality - the psychology of desire, arousal, and fulfillment. Sex therapist Dr. Jack Morin offers a new perspective that celebrates the joys of Eros without denying its risks. Based on an in-depth analysis of over 1,000 provocative stories of peak sexual experiences, The Erotic Mind offers clear, accessible guidance on how anyone can utilize their own peak encounters and fantasies as powerful tools of self-discovery.
-
-
The BEST book in sex and psychology
- By Jesse Malan on 09-07-24
By: Jack Morin PhD
-
My Grandmother's Hands
- Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies
- By: Resmaa Menakem MSW LICSW SEP
- Narrated by: Cary Hite
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this groundbreaking book, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in America from the perspective of trauma and body-centered psychology. My Grandmother's Hands is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not only about the head but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide.
-
-
Think You Don't Need This? Think Again, Please!
- By Carole T. on 03-27-21
-
Come As You Are: Revised and Updated
- The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life
- By: Emily Nagoski PhD
- Narrated by: Emily Nagoski, Nicholas Boulton
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For much of the 20th and 21st centuries, women’s sexuality was an uncharted territory in science, studied far less frequently - and far less seriously - than its male counterpart. That is, until Emily Nagoski’s Come As You Are, which used groundbreaking science and research to prove that the most important factor in creating and sustaining a sex life filled with confidence and joy is not what the parts are or how they’re organized but how you feel about them.
-
-
Usless!!!
- By tammy on 03-04-21
-
The Course of Love
- A Novel
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Julian Rhind-Tutt
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We all know the headiness and excitement of the early days of love. But what comes after? In Edinburgh a couple, Rabih and Kirsten, fall in love. They get married, they have children—but no long-term relationship is as simple as "happily ever after". The Course of Love is a novel that explores what happens after the birth of love, what it takes to maintain love, and what happens to our original ideals under the pressures of an average existence.
-
-
Amazing, much needed retooling of the expectations and realities of Love
- By Lydia on 07-04-16
By: Alain de Botton
-
Men, Women, and Worthiness
- The Experience of Shame and the Power of Being Enough
- By: Brené Brown PhD LMSW
- Narrated by: Brené Brown PhD LMSW
- Length: 2 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What does it take to be secure in our sense of belonging and self-worth? We may hustle to attain this security through achievements, meeting expectations, or repeating affirmations to ourselves - but Dr. Brené Brown's research has shown there is ultimately one obstacle to our sense of worthiness. “Shame is the barrier,” she teaches, “and building shame resilience is how we overcome it.”
-
-
Nothing new here.
- By barefoot rabbit on 01-13-15
-
Mating in Captivity
- Reconciling the Erotic & the Domestic
- By: Esther Perel
- Narrated by: Esther Perel
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Esther Perel takes on tough questions, grappling with the obstacles and anxieties that arise when our quest for secure love conflicts with our pursuit of passion. She invites us to explore the paradoxical union of domesticity and sexual desire, and explains what it takes to bring lust home.
-
-
Slices of life
- By Eric on 12-03-18
By: Esther Perel
-
The Erotic Mind
- Unlocking the Inner Sources of Passion and Fulfillment
- By: Jack Morin PhD
- Narrated by: Matthew Boston
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Challenging accepted theories about what makes for terrific sex, The Erotic Mind is a breakthrough exploration of the least understood dimensions of human sexuality - the psychology of desire, arousal, and fulfillment. Sex therapist Dr. Jack Morin offers a new perspective that celebrates the joys of Eros without denying its risks. Based on an in-depth analysis of over 1,000 provocative stories of peak sexual experiences, The Erotic Mind offers clear, accessible guidance on how anyone can utilize their own peak encounters and fantasies as powerful tools of self-discovery.
-
-
The BEST book in sex and psychology
- By Jesse Malan on 09-07-24
By: Jack Morin PhD
-
My Grandmother's Hands
- Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies
- By: Resmaa Menakem MSW LICSW SEP
- Narrated by: Cary Hite
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this groundbreaking book, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in America from the perspective of trauma and body-centered psychology. My Grandmother's Hands is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not only about the head but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide.
-
-
Think You Don't Need This? Think Again, Please!
- By Carole T. on 03-27-21
-
Come As You Are: Revised and Updated
- The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life
- By: Emily Nagoski PhD
- Narrated by: Emily Nagoski, Nicholas Boulton
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For much of the 20th and 21st centuries, women’s sexuality was an uncharted territory in science, studied far less frequently - and far less seriously - than its male counterpart. That is, until Emily Nagoski’s Come As You Are, which used groundbreaking science and research to prove that the most important factor in creating and sustaining a sex life filled with confidence and joy is not what the parts are or how they’re organized but how you feel about them.
-
-
Usless!!!
- By tammy on 03-04-21
-
The Course of Love
- A Novel
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Julian Rhind-Tutt
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We all know the headiness and excitement of the early days of love. But what comes after? In Edinburgh a couple, Rabih and Kirsten, fall in love. They get married, they have children—but no long-term relationship is as simple as "happily ever after". The Course of Love is a novel that explores what happens after the birth of love, what it takes to maintain love, and what happens to our original ideals under the pressures of an average existence.
-
-
Amazing, much needed retooling of the expectations and realities of Love
- By Lydia on 07-04-16
By: Alain de Botton
-
Men, Women, and Worthiness
- The Experience of Shame and the Power of Being Enough
- By: Brené Brown PhD LMSW
- Narrated by: Brené Brown PhD LMSW
- Length: 2 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What does it take to be secure in our sense of belonging and self-worth? We may hustle to attain this security through achievements, meeting expectations, or repeating affirmations to ourselves - but Dr. Brené Brown's research has shown there is ultimately one obstacle to our sense of worthiness. “Shame is the barrier,” she teaches, “and building shame resilience is how we overcome it.”
-
-
Nothing new here.
- By barefoot rabbit on 01-13-15
-
Mating in Captivity
- Reconciling the Erotic & the Domestic
- By: Esther Perel
- Narrated by: Esther Perel
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Esther Perel takes on tough questions, grappling with the obstacles and anxieties that arise when our quest for secure love conflicts with our pursuit of passion. She invites us to explore the paradoxical union of domesticity and sexual desire, and explains what it takes to bring lust home.
-
-
Slices of life
- By Eric on 12-03-18
By: Esther Perel
-
Nonviolent Communication
- Create Your Life, Your Relationships, and Your World in Harmony with Your Values
- By: Marshall Rosenberg PhD
- Narrated by: Marshall Rosenberg PhD
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On Nonviolent Communication, this renowned peacemaker presents his complete system for speaking our deepest truths, addressing our unrecognized needs and emotions, and honoring those same concerns in others. With this adaptation of the best-selling book of the same title, Marshall Rosenberg teaches in his own words.
-
-
This is an amazing life changing book!!!
- By Olesya on 08-03-16
-
Existential Kink
- Unmask Your Shadow and Embrace Your Power; A Method for Getting What You Want by Getting Off on What You Don't
- By: Carolyn Elliott PhD
- Narrated by: Carolyn Elliott PhD
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Each of us has a dual nature: we are light (conscious) and dark (unconscious). The dark side of our personality - the “other,” the shadow side - is made up of what we think is our primitive, primal, negative impulses - our “existential kink.” Our existential kink also drives the dark or negative repeating patterns in our life: always choosing the abusive partner or boss, settling for less, thinking that we’re undeserving, not worthy. But it also is the source of our greatest power.
-
-
Personal Experience Based Pseudoscience
- By The Humble Housewife on 11-02-21
-
The State of Affairs
- Rethinking Infidelity
- By: Esther Perel
- Narrated by: Esther Perel
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An affair: It can rob a couple of their relationship, their happiness, their very identity. And yet this extremely common human experience is so poorly understood. Adultery has existed since marriage was invented, and so, too, the prohibition against it - in fact it has a tenacity that marriage can only envy. Iconic couples' therapist and best-selling author of Mating in Captivity Esther Perel returns with a groundbreaking and provocative look at infidelity, arguing for a more nuanced and less judgmental conversation about our transgressions.
-
-
A compassionate approach
- By Anonymous User on 10-16-17
By: Esther Perel
-
The Way of the Superior Man
- By: David Deida
- Narrated by: Cecil Archbold
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1997, David Deida released what would become one of the most widely read books on men’s spirituality ever published—The Way of the Superior Man. In this unabridged audiobook of the 20th-anniversary edition, Deida presents a new preface to the now-classic text on how to live a life of masculine freedom, integrity, and authenticity.
-
-
A woman’s thoughts
- By kayleighwllms511 on 02-10-19
By: David Deida
-
Sex at Dawn
- How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships
- By: Christopher Ryan, Cacilda Jetha
- Narrated by: Allyson Johnson, Jonathan Davis, Christopher Ryan (Preface)
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since Darwin's day, we've been told that sexual monogamy comes naturally to our species. Mainstream science - as well as religious and cultural institutions - has maintained that men and women evolved in families in which a man's possessions and protection were exchanged for a woman's fertility and fidelity. But this narrative is collapsing....
-
-
Strawmen and Ad Hominems
- By Carolyn on 09-18-12
By: Christopher Ryan, and others
-
Secrets of a Passionate Marriage
- How to Increase Sexual Pleasure and Emotional Fulfillment in Committed Relationships
- By: David Schnarch PhD
- Narrated by: David Schnarch PhD
- Length: 2 hrs and 38 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you think you need to change your marriage, think again. It may well be that your marriage is trying to change you. In Secrets of a Passionate Marriage, Dr. David Schnarch shares a revolutionary approach thousands have used to take their relationships to new and lasting heights of sexual ecstasy and intimacy. Emotionally committed relationships, he teaches, are people-growing machines, and sexual difficulty and other challenges are actually signs of a healthy, maturing relationship.
-
-
This is NOT the book. This is a 2.5ish hour talk!
- By Bookworm on 04-22-19
-
The Myth of Normal
- Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture
- By: Gabor Maté MD, Daniel Maté
- Narrated by: Daniel Maté
- Length: 18 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this revolutionary book, renowned physician Gabor Maté eloquently dissects how in Western countries that pride themselves on their healthcare systems, chronic illness and general ill health are on the rise. Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug; more than half take two. In Canada, every fifth person has high blood pressure. In Europe, hypertension is diagnosed in more than 30 percent of the population. And everywhere, adolescent mental illness is on the rise. So what is really “normal” when it comes to health?
-
-
Bought book after hearing podcast...
- By Adrian on 09-14-22
By: Gabor Maté MD, and others
-
The Wild Woman's Way
- By: Michaela Boehm
- Narrated by: Michaela Boehm
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For women today, achieving a successful career, a fulfilling romantic relationship, and a rewarding personal life can feel like opposing goals, leaving their deepest yearnings just beyond reach. It has even become difficult to enjoy the simplest pleasures of our lives. We are stuck in “go mode", damaging our romantic relationships, pleasure, and creativity. But what if there were a way to experience the simplest pleasures of our lives on a deeper level, freeing the body and psyche from these damaging patterns?
-
-
Not just for women
- By ironjc on 08-24-18
By: Michaela Boehm
-
Us
- Getting Past You & Me to Build a More Loving Relationship
- By: Terrence Real
- Narrated by: Terrence Real, Bruce Springsteen
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At a time when toxic individualism is rending our society at every level, bestselling author and renowned marriage counselor Terrence Real sees how it poisons intimate relationships in his therapy practice, where he works with couples on the brink of disaster. The good news: Warmer, closer, more passionate relationships are possible if you have the right tools. In his transformative new book Us, Real brilliantly observes how our winner-takes-all culture infiltrates families with devastating results.
-
-
I preferred Fierce Intimacy
- By Jose on 06-23-22
By: Terrence Real
-
Love Worth Making
- How to Have Ridiculously Great Sex in a Long-Lasting Relationship
- By: Stephen Snyder
- Narrated by: Stephen Snyder
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Stephen Snyder's unique approach has helped over 1,500 individuals and couples master the erotic challenges of long-term relationships. Integrating the latest research on human sexuality with compelling stories from his 30 years of experience working with individuals and couples, Love Worth Making will help people of all ages and backgrounds master their sexual feelings and enjoy them for life.
-
-
Try “Come As You Are” instead
- By Kathleen Rice on 07-20-18
By: Stephen Snyder
-
Open Deeply
- A Guide to Building Conscious, Compassionate Open Relationships
- By: Kate Loree
- Narrated by: Carol Jacobanis
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A full one-fifth of the United States has engaged in consensual non-monogamy (CNM) at some point in their lives, and 29 percent of adults under 30 today consider open relationships to be morally acceptable—yet there are few resources to turn to when it comes to navigating this more non-traditional and explorative territory.
-
-
Very important book
- By J. Oakley on 12-13-22
By: Kate Loree
-
Eight Dates
- Essential Conversations for a Lifetime of Love
- By: John Gottman PhD, Julie Schwartz Gottman PhD, Doug Abrams, and others
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin, Julie McKay
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Navigating the challenges of long-term commitment takes effort - and it just got simpler, with this empowering, step-by-step guide to communicating about the things that matter most to you and your partner. Drawing on 40 years of research from their world-famous Love Lab, Dr. John Gottman and Dr. Julie Schwartz Gottman invite couples on eight fun, easy, and profoundly rewarding dates, each one focused on a make-or-break issue: trust, conflict, sex, money, family, adventure, spirituality, and dreams.
-
-
What the F. Robot-reader???!?!?!
- By Anonymous User on 01-21-20
By: John Gottman PhD, and others
What listeners say about Making Love Real
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Leroy Griffith III
- 11-05-19
unafraid to explore the boundaries of love
excellent choice for those seeking to learn about emotional connection, vulnerability and deep, passionate sex.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Princess Emily
- 01-21-22
practical skills for hot sex
Celeste and Danielle have compiled their best sex and relationship therapy advice into this book and I am grateful. I've been listening to it again and again hoping it will sink in.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!