Review of Smart Love

[Tejas Koli]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Smart Love" by Vincent Fudge II.]

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5 out of 5 stars

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"SMART Love: The Manual" by Vincent Fudge II offers a unique methodology for repairing and improving romantic relationships called SMART Love. The book recounts Fudge's own tumultuous marriage and the strategies he employed to turn things around using principles adapted from agile project management practices.

Fudge provides valuable context for why he created the SMART Love framework by transparently sharing the events that led to his arrest and subsequent motivation to save his marriage. His anecdotes paint a vivid picture of the challenges he and his wife faced and the emotional epiphanies that inspired him to try a more systematic approach. This level of vulnerability and honesty helps readers understand the circumstances in which SMART Love was conceived.

The book thoroughly explains the SMART Love methodology, drawing parallels to familiar agile concepts like visioning, planning via user stories and sprints, daily stand-ups for accountability, and retrospectives for optimization. Fudge walks through exercises for establishing shared relationship visions, drafting SMART commitments to achieve those visions, and holding regular check-ins. Communication best practices, like establishing a conversation receptiveness score, aim to facilitate difficult talks. Overall, the framework provides structure often missing from general relationship advice.

The editing of the book is well done; there are no grammatical errors, which gives a seamless read. While Fudge's presentation of agile concepts transfers well to relationships, some may find the workshop-style exercises too clinical. Additionally, the book would benefit from examples of actual conversation scripts or commitment statements for inspiration. However, Fudge acknowledges relationships require customizing the process and emphasizes flexibility over perfection. There are no negative points to mention.

In sharing his own journey transparently and outlining a thoughtfully adapted methodology, "SMART Love" offers a promising approach for repairing struggling relationships. Fudge tells an engaging story while providing actionable guidelines that could help steer couples towards improved understanding and partnership. Overall, the book presents a creative idea with potential for helping relationships if adapted sensitively to each unique dynamic. I would rate it 5 out of 5.

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Smart Love
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