When Hazel becomes the personal physician to Princess Charlotte, the sickly granddaughter of King George III, she is dragged into the glamor and romance of the British court, but she soon realizes malicious forces are at work in the monarchy, and she may be the only one capable of setting things right.

To what extent are our most romantic moments determined by the portrayal of love in film and on TV? Is a walk on a moonlit beach a moment of perfect romance or simply a simulation of the familiar ideal seen again and again on billboards and movie screens? In her unique study of American love in the twentieth century, Eva Illouz unravels the mass of images that define our ideas of love and romance, revealing that the experience of "true" love is deeply embedded in the experience of consumer capitalism. Illouz studies how individual conceptions of love overlap with the world of clichés and images she calls the "Romantic Utopia." This utopia lives in the collective imagination of the nation and is built on images that unite amorous and economic activities in the rituals of dating, lovemaking, and marriage. Since the early 1900s, advertisers have tied the purchase of beauty products, sports cars, diet drinks, and snack foods to success in love and happiness. Illouz reveals that, ultimately, every cliché of romance―from an intimate dinner to a dozen red roses―is constructed by advertising and media images that preach a democratic ethos of consumption: material goods and happiness are available to all. Engaging and witty, Illouz's study begins with readings of ads, songs, films, and other public representations of romance and concludes with individual interviews in order to analyze the ways in which mass messages are internalized. Combining extensive historical research, interviews, and postmodern social theory, Illouz brings an impressive scholarship to her fascinating portrait of love in America.

Jewish Stories of Love and Marriage offers a treasury of tales that speak to the tenderness and passion, difficulties and blessings of love. Jewish tradition overflows with love stories from the Bible, Talmud, and Midrash. Folktales continue the tradition, and contemporary writers highlight the way their faith and love interweave and enrich each other. From Adam and Eve to Song of Songs, from legends of Solomon to the letters of Alfred and Lucie Dreyfus, these are stories of heartbreak, devotion, and celebration. They tell of how people fall in love and how they grow in love. The narratives are as old as the Bible and as new as the twenty-first century. They come from places as far-ranging as Yemen and New York. The relationships are heterosexual and homosexual, arranged and spontaneous, young and mature. Though the stories reflect the times and places in which they were told, they have a universal message about longing and romance, relationship, respect, and commitment. Noted storyteller Peninnah Schram and Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso collect these narratives and letters for the first time, inviting readers to delve into these stories for entertainment and inspiration, at engagements, weddings, and anniversaries, to recall what once brought people close and what continues to hold them in love.

"Kate likes her men tall, dark and smouldering. She has a fatal attraction to bad men. Then she meets Steve... Steve is a feminist. Can Kate overcome her love of lipstick, cupcakes and Heathcliff? Can Steve forgo the ethical confetti and learn to be a little bit more ravishing in bed? Can the two of them reinvent romance for the twenty-first century? How to Date a Feminist is a hilarious new spin on the Hollywood romcom featuring two proposals, two weddings, an elopement and a cast of unforgettable characters."--

A Paperback Original. Who hasn't been dizzy with the prospect of romance? Now the most popular feature of Lifetimetv.com helps you put your love to the test. Do you fight fair? Should you stay, or go? Are you a flirt? These are just some of the topics covered in this quiz collection compiled by relationship guru Dr. Pepper Schwartz. The quizzes help readers analyze their feelings and actions objectively and help them improve their relationships using the solid advice offered by Dr. Schwartz. Is It Love or Lust -- Take the test! You're at a dinner party with a roomful of people when your partner tells a joke that falls flat. You: A) Turn a little red for him B) Laugh -- loudly, you don't want him to be embarrassed C) Chuckle, and remember again why you love his offbeat sense of humor (If you answered A, you're on the fence! The best answer is B. Your impulse to laugh despite the fact that your partner's funny joke tanked shows your desire to support and protect the one you love. If you answered C, you love him precisely because he's one of a kind. B & C are the answers of a woman in love, not in lust.) The 50 quizzes cover all aspects of your "love psyche" and are a fun and provocative tool for anyone who wants to be kissed by Cupid's arrow.

Despite current concerns for “family values” and the dissolution of marriages, Amy A. and Leon R. Kass see very little attention being paid to what makes for marital success. They argue there are no longer socially prescribed forms of conduct that help guide young men and women in the direction of matrimony; the very concepts of “wooing” and “courting” seem archaic. Yet they see major discontent with the present situation and detect among their students certain longings―for friendship, for wholeness, for a life that is serious and deep, and for associations that are trustworthy and lasting―longings they do not realize could be largely satisfied by marrying well. Wing to Wing, Oar to Oar: Courting and Marrying is an anthology of source readings offered as a response to the contemporary cultural silence surrounding love that leads to marriage. It addresses important questions that emerge not from theory, but from practice: Why marry? Is this love? How can I find and win the right one to marry? What about sex? Why a wedding and the promises of marriage? What can married life be like? Using readings taken mainly from classic texts of Homer, Herodotus, Plato, Aquinas, Erasmus, Shakespeare, Rousseau, Austen, Tolstoy, C.S. Lewis, Miss Manners, and many others, this collection challenges our unexamined opinions, expands our sympathies, elevates our gaze. It offers a higher kind of sex education, one that prepares hearts and minds for romance leading to lasting marriage, and introduces us to possibilities open to human beings in everyday life that may be undreamt of in our current philosophizing. This unapologetically pro-marriage anthology is intended to help young people of marriageable age and their parents think about the meaning, purpose, and virtues of marriage and, especially, about finding the right person with whom to make a life.

Beginning with women's most common complaints about men, this study explores the psychology of the male and identifies the divergent attitudes that separate men and women