"The Men On My Couch" by Dr. Brandy Engler

I went to Barnes & Noble about about two weeks ago because I had a gift card burning a whole in my purse.  B&N gift cards don't last very long with me.  While I was walking around, I picked up The Men on My Couch:  True Stories of Sex, Love, and Psychotherapy by Dr. Brandy Engler.  It looked pretty interesting.  She interspersed different clients (each one a chapter) with tales of her own love issues.  I will admit, I wasn't that crazy about this book.  It was a very quick read, but not as fascinating as I thought it would be.  If you want to read it, it's definitely one of those "pick up at the library" books rather than a "must buy" book.

Here is the overview from Barnes & Noble's website:

WHAT MEN WANT. WHAT MEN FEEL. WHAT WOMEN NEED TO KNOW.

When Dr. Brandy Engler opened her sex therapy practice for women in Manhattan, she got a big surprise. Most of the calls were from men. They wanted to talk about womanizing, porn addiction, impotence, prostitutes—and most of all, love.

Her patients were everyday guys from all walks of life. Among them were David, the Wall Street hotshot and compulsive womanizer; Charles, an introvert who kept pushing away the fiancée he thought was too beautiful for him; Paul, the self-made man who visited massage parlors despite his sexy wife; and the men’s group whose stark revelations about male anger and their search for the right woman will open your eyes. In The Men on My Couch, Dr. Engler allows readers inside those private sessions to witness her exciting and evocative encounters with what men desire and fear.

Dr. Engler tells her own story, too. At first her patients’ revelations are painful and disconcerting, especially against the backdrop of her own difficult love affair. Yet Dr. Engler lets readers experience how she evolves both professionally and personally, from chagrin to compassion, and reconciles her idealized notions of love and sex with the unexpected and raw truths she hears in the office.

The Men on My Couch is unlike books you’ve read before. There are no tired facile conclusions or pejorative generalizations. Here are fresh insights into modern sexual maladies, gleaned from real people having real struggles and experiencing real epiphanies—in the real world.

This book will change how both women and men think about love, sex, and desire.