
Secrets of Great Marriages
Real Truth from Real Couples About Lasting Love
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 $24.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Doug MacKechnie
About this listen
Over a two-year period, Charlie and Linda Bloom interviewed over 50 couples who had been married for an average of 31 years and seemed as happy as newlyweds. Were they just lucky? Or did they know something that most other couples don't know? Or did they do something different? And if so, what?
Their groundbreaking book features 27 of those couples who share the sometimes surprising secrets of their success in overcoming the challenges that occur in nearly all committed partnerships in one form or another.
The Blooms found that these couples had faced real challenges—difficulties with children and stepchildren, war wounds, infidelity, health crises, and financial ruin. They also found that with loving dialogue and open hearts, the couples had found ways to heal, grow, and deepen their commitment through, not despite, their challenges. The authors distill this real-world wisdom into practical, positive actions any couple can use to achieve or regain not just a good marriage but a great one!
©2010 Charlie and Linda Bloom (P)2022 Charlie and Linda BloomListeners also enjoyed...
-
Happily Ever After...and 39 Other Myths About Love
- Breaking Through to the Relationship of Your Dreams
- By: Linda Bloom, Charlie Bloom
- Narrated by: Doug MacKechnie
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Happily Ever After...and 39 Other Myths About Love provides you with communication guidelines and tools that will enhance and strengthen your ability to avoid many of the pitfalls that so many couples experience when they mistakenly accept widely held opinions that are masking as "truths".
-
-
Myths that we’ve all believed…
- By SallyAmazon on 04-27-22
By: Linda Bloom, and others
-
101 Things I Wish I Knew When I Got Married
- Simple Lessons to Make Love Last
- By: Linda Bloom, Charlie Bloom, Kathlyn Hendricks - foreword, and others
- Narrated by: Tom Parks, Teri Clark Linden
- Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With the current divorce rate spiking at a dizzying sixty percent, it is clear that young couples are not being taught the skills needed to navigate through the conflicts and difficulties of being in a committed relationship. Charlie and Linda Bloom, psychotherapists with fifty-five years of combined experience in relationship counseling, are acutely aware of this. For the last fifteen years the Blooms have been leading seminars on improving life relationships through their organization, The Empowerment Network.
-
-
Terrible audio quality and not a great book
- By Ross Manthei on 06-08-19
By: Linda Bloom, and others
-
Loving Your Spouse When You Feel Like Walking Away
- By: Gary Chapman
- Narrated by: Chris Fabry
- Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When you said, “I do”, you entered marriage with high hopes, dreaming it would be supremely happy. You never intended for it to be miserable. Millions of couples are struggling in desperate marriages. But the story doesn’t have to end there. Dr. Gary Chapman writes, “I believe that in every troubled marriage, one or both partners can take positive steps that have the potential for changing the emotional climate in their marriage.”
-
-
encouragement through another chance
- By Brookley on 09-19-18
By: Gary Chapman
-
How to Know a Person
- The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen
- By: David Brooks
- Narrated by: David Brooks
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As David Brooks observes, “There is one skill that lies at the heart of any healthy person, family, school, community organization, or society: the ability to see someone else deeply and make them feel seen—to accurately know another person, to let them feel valued, heard, and understood.” And yet we humans don’t do this well. All around us are people who feel invisible, unseen, misunderstood. In How to Know a Person, Brooks sets out to help us do better, posing questions that are essential for all of us: If you want to know a person, what kind of attention should you cast on them?
-
-
A book he was ready to write
- By Adam Shields on 11-17-23
By: David Brooks
-
Rise to the Sun
- 7 Footsteps and 7 Prayers for Getting Out of Hell
- By: Richard J. Marks
- Narrated by: Richard J. Marks
- Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rise to the Sun: 7 Footsteps and 7 Prayers for Getting Out of Hell plays with travel and journey in two senses - forward on a physical road and into the heart of the self. This book on spiritual healing is a voyage to freedom set in the context of our times. A timely and necessary work, Rise to the Sun illustrates how humankind must seek to heal its own innate suffering before it can hope to succeed in healing the various external crises affecting our planet. The 7 Footsteps and 7 Prayers unlock a kinder, gentler, and long-lasting engine for transformation.
-
-
A gentle and fine book about the Soul
- By Carol Stevenson on 01-06-21
By: Richard J. Marks
-
We Over Me
- The Counterintuitive Approach to Getting Everything You Want from Your Relationship
- By: Khadeen Ellis, Devale Ellis
- Narrated by: Khadeen Ellis, Devale Ellis
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After twelve years of marriage, twenty years together, and four kids, Devale and Khadeen Ellis have been through a lot. They’ve loved their way through a long-distance relationship, financial instability, parenthood, Khadeen’s near-death, and their near-divorce, chronicling their day-to-day life with their boys online. After much trial and error, they hit upon one surprising, essential truth: If you’re looking for a healthy relationship and a fulfilling life, focus on your partner’s needs instead of your wants.
-
-
I enjoyed every minute of this book
- By Freddrick Smooth on 04-30-23
By: Khadeen Ellis, and others
-
Happily Ever After...and 39 Other Myths About Love
- Breaking Through to the Relationship of Your Dreams
- By: Linda Bloom, Charlie Bloom
- Narrated by: Doug MacKechnie
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Happily Ever After...and 39 Other Myths About Love provides you with communication guidelines and tools that will enhance and strengthen your ability to avoid many of the pitfalls that so many couples experience when they mistakenly accept widely held opinions that are masking as "truths".
-
-
Myths that we’ve all believed…
- By SallyAmazon on 04-27-22
By: Linda Bloom, and others
-
101 Things I Wish I Knew When I Got Married
- Simple Lessons to Make Love Last
- By: Linda Bloom, Charlie Bloom, Kathlyn Hendricks - foreword, and others
- Narrated by: Tom Parks, Teri Clark Linden
- Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With the current divorce rate spiking at a dizzying sixty percent, it is clear that young couples are not being taught the skills needed to navigate through the conflicts and difficulties of being in a committed relationship. Charlie and Linda Bloom, psychotherapists with fifty-five years of combined experience in relationship counseling, are acutely aware of this. For the last fifteen years the Blooms have been leading seminars on improving life relationships through their organization, The Empowerment Network.
-
-
Terrible audio quality and not a great book
- By Ross Manthei on 06-08-19
By: Linda Bloom, and others
-
Loving Your Spouse When You Feel Like Walking Away
- By: Gary Chapman
- Narrated by: Chris Fabry
- Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When you said, “I do”, you entered marriage with high hopes, dreaming it would be supremely happy. You never intended for it to be miserable. Millions of couples are struggling in desperate marriages. But the story doesn’t have to end there. Dr. Gary Chapman writes, “I believe that in every troubled marriage, one or both partners can take positive steps that have the potential for changing the emotional climate in their marriage.”
-
-
encouragement through another chance
- By Brookley on 09-19-18
By: Gary Chapman
-
How to Know a Person
- The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen
- By: David Brooks
- Narrated by: David Brooks
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As David Brooks observes, “There is one skill that lies at the heart of any healthy person, family, school, community organization, or society: the ability to see someone else deeply and make them feel seen—to accurately know another person, to let them feel valued, heard, and understood.” And yet we humans don’t do this well. All around us are people who feel invisible, unseen, misunderstood. In How to Know a Person, Brooks sets out to help us do better, posing questions that are essential for all of us: If you want to know a person, what kind of attention should you cast on them?
-
-
A book he was ready to write
- By Adam Shields on 11-17-23
By: David Brooks
-
Rise to the Sun
- 7 Footsteps and 7 Prayers for Getting Out of Hell
- By: Richard J. Marks
- Narrated by: Richard J. Marks
- Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rise to the Sun: 7 Footsteps and 7 Prayers for Getting Out of Hell plays with travel and journey in two senses - forward on a physical road and into the heart of the self. This book on spiritual healing is a voyage to freedom set in the context of our times. A timely and necessary work, Rise to the Sun illustrates how humankind must seek to heal its own innate suffering before it can hope to succeed in healing the various external crises affecting our planet. The 7 Footsteps and 7 Prayers unlock a kinder, gentler, and long-lasting engine for transformation.
-
-
A gentle and fine book about the Soul
- By Carol Stevenson on 01-06-21
By: Richard J. Marks
-
We Over Me
- The Counterintuitive Approach to Getting Everything You Want from Your Relationship
- By: Khadeen Ellis, Devale Ellis
- Narrated by: Khadeen Ellis, Devale Ellis
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After twelve years of marriage, twenty years together, and four kids, Devale and Khadeen Ellis have been through a lot. They’ve loved their way through a long-distance relationship, financial instability, parenthood, Khadeen’s near-death, and their near-divorce, chronicling their day-to-day life with their boys online. After much trial and error, they hit upon one surprising, essential truth: If you’re looking for a healthy relationship and a fulfilling life, focus on your partner’s needs instead of your wants.
-
-
I enjoyed every minute of this book
- By Freddrick Smooth on 04-30-23
By: Khadeen Ellis, and others
-
8 Rules of Love
- How to Find It, Keep It, and Let It Go
- By: Jay Shetty
- Narrated by: Jay Shetty
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Instead of presenting love as an ethereal concept or a collection of cliches, Jay Shetty lays out specific, actionable steps to help you develop the skills to practice and nurture love better than ever before. He shares insights on how to win or lose together, how to define love, and why you don’t break in a break-up. Inspired by Vedic wisdom and modern science, he tackles the entire relationship cycle, from first dates to moving in together to breaking up and starting over. And he shows us how to avoid falling for false promises and unfulfilling partners.
-
-
Audio quality is lacking:(
- By Robert Scarberry on 01-31-23
By: Jay Shetty
-
Sis, Don't Settle
- How to Stay Smart in Matters of the Heart
- By: Faith Jenkins
- Narrated by: Faith Jenkins
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By day, Faith Jenkins is the host of the nationally syndicated TV show Divorce Court; by night, she’s a happily married newlywed who navigated these dating streets for years before learning how to attract the love of her dreams.
-
-
Modern Day Heroine
- By Roxana LaKay Butler on 01-16-23
By: Faith Jenkins
-
Let Love Have the Last Word
- By: Common
- Narrated by: Common
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Courageous, insightful, brave, and characteristically authentic, Let Love Have the Last Word shares Common’s own unique and personal stories of the people and experiences that have led to a greater understanding of love and all it has to offer. It is a powerful call to action for a new generation of open hearts and minds, one that is sure to resonate for years to come.
-
-
Growth. Challenge. Love. Fulfillment.
- By Hanif Abdur-Rahim on 05-11-19
By: Common
-
The Second Mountain
- How People Move from the Prison of Self to the Joy of Commitment
- By: David Brooks
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Author David Brooks explores the four commitments that define a life of meaning and purpose: to a spouse and family, to a vocation, to a philosophy or faith, and to a community. Our personal fulfillment depends on how well we choose and execute these commitments. Brooks looks at a range of people who have lived joyous, committed lives, and who have embraced the necessity and beauty of dependence. He gathers their wisdom on how to choose a partner, how to pick a vocation, how to live out a philosophy, and how we can begin to integrate our commitments into one overriding purpose.
-
-
Pursue meaning, reject hyper-individualism
- By Adam Shields on 05-07-19
By: David Brooks
-
The Good Life
- Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness
- By: Robert Waldinger MD, Marc Schulz PhD
- Narrated by: Robert Waldinger MD, Marc Schulz PhD
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What makes for a happy life, a fulfilling life? A good life? In their “captivating” (The Wall Street Journal) book, the directors of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest scientific study of happiness ever conducted, show that the answer to these questions may be closer than you realize.
-
-
very little practical advice
- By Kindle Customer on 01-16-23
By: Robert Waldinger MD, and others
-
How Al-Anon Works for Families and Friends of Alcoholics
- By: Al-Anon Family Groups
- Narrated by: Anonymous members of Al-Anon Family Groups
- Length: 16 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Al-Anon's basic book discusses the mutual-help program of recovery, including personal stories. A beginning approach to the Twelve Concepts of Service is included.
-
-
Worth it, even though it needs pro recording!
- By SweetDreamsCRTT on 06-26-15
-
The Gifted Highly Sensitive Introvert
- Wisdom for Emotional Healing and Expressing Your Radiant Authentic Self
- By: Benita A. Esposito
- Narrated by: Benita A. Esposito
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you struggle with a highly sensitive personality, this memoir and collection of stories will help you heal and flourish. Benita A. Esposito is a licensed professional counselor and best-selling author with four decades of professional experience. Even smart high-achievers have themes on their hero’s journey to the authentic self, and these were hers. What unconsciously drew her to an emotionally distant relationship or an emotionally abusive relationship? Why did she feel so hurt when others judged her? Why was she so tired? What compelled her toward self actualization?
-
-
Yawn
- By Rochelle D on 06-09-20
-
Marriage Ain't for Punks
- A No-Nonsense Guide to Building a Lasting Relationship
- By: Calvin Roberson
- Narrated by: Calvin Roberson
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marriage is a bond that requires hard work from two people in order to find happiness - find all the tips and tools to a happily-ever-after using the guidance of a trusted relationship expert.
-
-
Very balanced and practical perspective BUT
- By Me Nuh on 10-17-21
By: Calvin Roberson
-
Book of Jewels: For Personal Development
- By: Craig Stewart
- Narrated by: Craig Stewart
- Length: 3 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Book of Jewels: For Personal Development contains 11 of the biggest life lessons that I've learned, and those lessons are captured within each chapter. The chapters open with an original quote that frames it to help bring each life lesson into focus. I've shared my most important life lessons in this collection of personal stories and experiences with Envy, Love and Fear, Faith vs. Religion, Dating, Difficult Conversations, and more. This work is intended to help you grow exponentially.
-
-
The Voice
- By joyce brandon dugger on 09-17-24
By: Craig Stewart
-
Marriage Triggers
- Exchanging Spouses' Angry Reactions for Gentle Biblical Responses
- By: Guy Lia, Amber Lia
- Narrated by: Amber Lia, Guy Lia, Kirby Heyborne - foreword
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A husband-wife team offers practical advice for married couples to end the cycle of reactionary arguments by examining the most common issues that trigger disagreements and applying God’s Word to radically transform relationships. Many couples know their marriage has room for improvement, but it is hard to pinpoint exactly why a relationship is suffering. Often times everyday triggers are the culprit. If you are wondering how to break out of the cycle of reactionary outbursts, cold shoulders, resentment, and pain that harms your relationship, you are not alone.
-
-
Just what I needed
- By Visitor on 12-17-20
By: Guy Lia, and others
-
Rethink Love
- 3 Steps to Being the One, Attracting the One, and Becoming One
- By: Monica Berg
- Narrated by: Monica Berg
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
I have attended more than 500 weddings over 22 years. I have been privy to couples' most intimate moments as they share their hopes for their relationship and fears that arise before the ceremony, and as they work through the inevitable issues that come up afterward. No, I am not a wedding crasher, I just happen to be married to a rabbi. Rethink Love is for anyone who is in love, wants love, or wishes to rekindle love.
-
-
Love it!
- By tinymom on 01-06-23
By: Monica Berg
-
Parenting with Heart
- How Imperfect Parents Can Raise Resilient, Loving, and Wise-Hearted Kids
- By: Stephen James, Chip Dodd
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The good news is our children don't need perfect parents. They need authentic, fully-hearted, relationally engaged parents who can mess up and move on more than parents who always get it right. In this freeing book, respected therapists and best-selling authors Stephen James and Chip Dodd invite parents to let go of perfectionism and micromanaging as they learn to parent from a place of emotional honesty and intimacy. They teach parents that raising children to become capable, loving, and wise-hearted adults is far more about accepting our flaws than projecting an impossible standard.
-
-
Best parenting book I’ve read
- By Sam Dahl on 10-30-23
By: Stephen James, and others
What listeners say about Secrets of Great Marriages
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- LaffingKat
- 02-13-23
Couples share honestly about challenges & success
The authors interviewed couples who had been together for at least 15 years, and they present 27 of those couples’ stories in their own words in a dialog format. This wasn’t quite what I expected, but it is interesting if you have patience to consider each couple’s story. Some stories resonated with me more than others.
What stood out most to me was all of the challenges that these couples faced. Their relationships weren’t perfect, but they found ways to learn, grow, and face their challenges together. I was particularly inspired by the couples who faced serious health challenges or great losses and still found happiness together.
Doug MacKechnie did a great job with narration. He’s easy to understand, he has distinct voices for the different interviewees, and his pacing and emphasis are wonderful.
Although it takes some effort to glean specific lessons from these stories, I found this audiobook interesting and inspiring.
I received a free copy of this audiobook from the authors. I volunteered to provide an honest review.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Robert from Santa Cruz
- 05-05-23
Even better the second time around
I read this book many years ago & was delighted to find it available on Audible. I "re-read" it again by listening to it this time. Since I am older now & and married, I was surprised that the stories of these couples made even more sense to me now. I appreciate how the Blooms captured the "secrets" of great marriages. I understood it even more the second time around. It is so worth the "read."
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!