Creating an Intimate Marriage: Rekindle Romance Through Affection, Warmth and Encouragement    by Jim Burns Order:  USA  Can Bethany, 2006 (2006) Hardcover      Reviewed by Melissa Parcel Jim and Cathy Burns have what is known as a high maintenance marriage. This means that they have to work very hard to keep their relationship healthy. Through their trials and errors, bumps and pitfalls, they have created strategies to help those who want to improve their marriages and to make them more intimate and meaningful. Chapters include titles such as: Making Your Marriage Your Top Priority, Creating Affection, Warmth, and Encouragement in Your Marriage, Attitude is Everything, and Growing Toward Spiritual Intimacy. Included with these are chapters about romance, communication, friendship, forgiveness, and reviewing your vows. After discussing the nuts and bolts of each topic, there are questions that help to reinforce issues. There are Questions for Me, which couples can answer individually, Questions for Us, for couples to answer together, and Heart-to-Heart Homework which gives things to work on throughout the week. For example, the homework in the chapter focusing on friendship and fun is to come up with twenty creative date ideas and attempt to do all twenty of these within the year. Throughout, Bible verses and appropriate anecdotes help to clarify points and make them relevant to each couple reading or working through the book. This would be an excellent choice for small group classes or for a motivated couple to work through on their own. The concepts aren't groundbreaking or new, but Creating an Intimate Marriage can provide couples with tools that help develop a more intimate, loving relationship. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more NonFiction books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews