Opening Up: A Guide to Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships

I have a little over three hours left of this audio book (free with trial!) and it's been such an interesting and insightful intro for me into open relationships, polyamory, expectations, assumptions, relationship rules, types of relationships, accountability, compersion, what-ifs, what abouts, etc. As I am studying a bit in the sociology of gender- I found the author's gender switching voice tones to be a little distracting/ inaccurate/ contradicting. I suppose it is really done just so that we can identify the different people in the relationship (who she's quoting) but yea, just a heads up. It's a tricky thing to be able to have a voice for the amorphous mix of people who inhabit this planet. And actually.. props to her! -For giving it a whirl, and attempting to let it all out, include as many minority people and voices as the book allows for. (These personal experience stories are what makes the book as effective as it is I believe.) The stories add a freshness and a big layer of credibility/ trust to otherwise foggy and foreign subject (but is it REALLY foreign to us?) Plenty of different references that would be great for further reading as well. Although the world of opening up our relationship to ourselves and/or another is vast, this book makes it seem very enjoyable and very navigable. I love how it creates new pathways for thinking and accepting others while at the same time allowing for us to accept more parts of ourselves with patience and love! Grab hold of this MUST HAVE READ to not only expand the depth and understanding of yourselves and your relationships with others but to have compassion and a more open heart to the many possibilities inside the lives and love of others. People aren't acting like we were taught to believe! It's much more communication, much more vulnerability, and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. Let me say it again, real love. Real love is here in this book.

I would most certainly recommend this as the book you would give to somebody in order for them to understand this lifestyle. It is by far the one to do research with before taking any further steps. The kind of information required before jumping into anything spontaneously and regretting not haven moved more slowly in the beginning. It has a very mature approach about the subject of matter and it was an extremely interesting read. It is really well written and never had me bored throughout the entire book. I was impressed with how well laid-out the categories and chapters were. I liked it a lot more than another book called The Ethical Slut, although that book was very good itself, I would definitely recommend as the second read of this book as I feel Ethical Slut was too direct and might make beginners jump into anything too quickly only to possibly have regrets later on. Excellent book; the grammar was the best it could be and I cannot see anybody not have this book in their arsenal toward there coming steps towards the evolution of their life. Methods in this book could be applied to other things in life as well that do not regard to the subject matter at hand. Purchase other books as need be, but do not pass this book by for any reason what-so-ever. It changed my life for the better and I just know I could have never made it through my circumstances more smoothly without the help of this book. I only wish I had read it one month prior, but this book did enter my life at the proper time -so was happy for that much needed information at the time. It helped me identify who I really thought I might have been all these many years. The person I have been all along but never went through the process itself until fate/life handed me opportunity.

Readers of my poly erotic novel RYE ask if there are books I'd recommend: books that could help them on their journey into the world of multiple partners. For them, I would definitely recommend Tristan's OPENING UP and Hardy & Easton's classic THE ETHICAL SLUT . They are really good companions. ES is a well-written and fun overview, while OU dives in deep with 100 interviews that are sourced throughout the book. In OPENING UP you discover just how diverse poly/open relationships can be. There's really no one-size-fits all here. Your relationship will be complex, difficult, amazing! Tristan does a wonderful job keeping things on track. The sections are 1) Chosing an Open Relationship, 2) Styles of Open Relationships, and 3) Creating and Sustaining Your Open Relationship. This is 343 pages of helpful info. As the dedication reads, "I dedicate this book to every person who has the courage to love outside the box." Nice!

This book does a great job at explaining open relationships and the different ways that people can see it. However, it presents as normal and admissible to do some things that are actually detrimental to relationships. It has somewhat a standpoint of "this is how you feel, let's work with that" instead of saying "this is how you feel, but maybe it's due to insecurities you can work on". While it's important to acknowledge that you need to tailor your relationships to your needs, this book doesn't encourage you to work on issues that might block you, and frequently presents as admissible to impose things on third parties, which is not always cool. I strongly prefer More Than Two.

I wanted to find out more about polyamory and this book gave me all the information I needed. It's insightful with plenty of exemples of personal lived experience. It helped me deal with difficulties in my relationship at the time, especially around jealous feelings and how I could break them down into more distinct emotions. I'd recommended this book for anyone wanting to open up their relationship. Warning: it only works when the two of you wants to open up and both partners should read the book and discuss it at length if you want it to work. Sadly, it didn't for me :-( but nothing to do with this brilliant book!

This book is amazing to start, or continue, your introspection and sharing on open relationship. This is an amazing tool to develop and understand aptitudes related to open relationships. It also helps to understand all the possible relationship arrangements, and demystifies what they are. The author is also amazing at normalizing non-monogamous relationship. This read is recommended for any couples, monogamous or non-monogamous. Even if your views are strict, you should still read it as it includes multiple cue about communication and harmony within a relationship, whatever type it is.

Eu comprei esse livro junto com a minha namorada e está ajudando muito a gente a nos conhecer melhor e conhecer nosso relacionamento em um nível diferente! Recomendo para todo mundo!

Das Buch ist in einem einfach verständlichen Englisch geschrieben und leistet einen unglaublich wertvollen Beitrag zum Verständnis von offenen Beziehungen aller Art. Das Buch ist vorurteilsfrei geschrieben (beschreibt offene Beziehungen nicht als die einzig richtige Form von Beziehung) und ist für JEDEN geeignet, der sich für das Thema interessiert! Sehr empfehlenswert für alle neugierigen Menschen!