Some of you told me I wouldn’t like Twilight, but I bought the book anyway just to see what all the hoopla was about. Well, I finally finished it, and…I appreciated the romance-factor, but I couldn’t help thinking it was giving girls the wrong idea about love and relationships. I did a feminist reading of Twilight and here’s what bugged me:

1. Bella has no outside hobbies.

After she moves to Washington, Bella makes a few friends, but she’s not interested in them. Mostly her life is about Edward, Edward, Edward. But what relationship can survive that? Take it from Simone … Read More

We remember being young, hanging at our grandmother's house and seeing this brown cardboard box being passed around. The mystery box was teeming with paperback romance novels, the pages of which had been made thick from massive page turning and dog earing. She'd read her way to the bottom of the box, and then trade books with a friend. With relish, she'd start again on a new stack of inky steaminess.

Occasionally, a book with its riveting cover (usually a brawny man cloaking a windswept woman with his bulging muscles, the two looking as if they'd just survived a tornado or fire … Read More

This economy has had the same effect on relationships that a punch to the jejunum has on a person's sense of safety and wellbeing: not good. Somewhere along the line (I'm guessing roughly 10,000 years ago) it was decided that in lieu of emotional availability, men could trade material goods (such as food, shiny stuff and designer, sabretooth loin clothes) for physical affection and carnal congress. And for a while it was good.

Then the economy became a real bummer and the whole program went spinning off into the sun. So every week or so, I come up with a good … Read More

Much in the same vain as our beloved He's Just Not That Into You, comedian Steve Harvey—like comedian Greg Behrendt—sets out to enlighten ladies with more straight talk about men. He's penned his first relationship book, Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man, and not surprisingly this is another ode to the sex-crazed simplicity of guys and how women need to stop tolerating their B.S.

With chapters that read like: "We Need to Talk" And Other Words That Make Men Run For Cover" and "First Things First: He Wants To Sleep With You" it … Read More

We went to go see that romantic comedy He's Just Not That Into You because a.) we have tons real life experience on the topic and b.) we were huge, huge fans of the book by former Sex and the City writers Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo.

As much as it pains us to admit it, Greg's straight talk taught us a lot. We now know that if a guy gives us his card, doesn't ask for ours, and babbles something about "keeping in touch" he has no desire to see us naked. (Or call us afterward if he … Read More

There are thousands of love and relationship books on the market, each preaching their own brand of advice on how to meet, catch and keep your match. But with so many contradictory theories—from advocating subtle (and not so subtle) manipulation to encouraging total, unabashed honesty—it's tough to figure out which rule book to play by if you want to win the game of love. Having helped men and women find their soulmates in one of the toughest cities in the world, Elizabeth Webb, New York City's premier Love Coach, knows first-hand what it takes create a successful relationship, … Read More

Is there a time and place for white lies in your relationship? The LoveFeed has the answer. LoveFeed is YourTango's daily round-up of love, sex and relationship news and trends. 

LoveFeed shows you how to tell if your man is serious. Watch and learn whether grand gestures or small things matter more.

From tear-jerkers to the warm fuzzies, the New York Public Library shares with YourTango their top 10 picks for the greatest romantic reads of all time. They can melt your heart, make you laugh and leave you longing for a Kleenex. Who can resist the most sought after romantic novels of all time? Whether you are looking for that special someone, or blissfully in love, these ageless classics know just how to pull on those heartstrings. So, jump under the covers, turn down the lights and get flippin'.

1. Wuthering Heights: A total eclipse of the heart.

In one … Read More

Do you ever think about Laura Bush? May sound like a strange question, but it's really not: Do you ever consider what life must be like for the woman married to the most powerful man in the world?

The author Curtis Sittenfeld is picking up the slack. She has parlayed a deep fascination with Laura into the 558-page novel, American Wife, which imagines the courtship and marriage of a librarian named Alice and her hard-drinking, baseball-team-owning, born-again husband Charlie Blackwell. Through good times and hardship, a doting Alice stands by Charlie's side—all the way to the White … Read More