BRAVE HEARTS

Brave Hearts: Three Rules for Men with the Courage to Love is a nonfiction book that invites men to embark on a hero's journey. It begins with you in the company of other men going on an adventure from which you emerge wholly transformed. 

The book is packed with practical relationship advice. Having already garnered top honors from the Reader Views Literary Awards and the Firebird International Book Awards, it is no ordinary book; it's a manifesto for change. As you delve into the anecdotes, the research, the guidance within these pages, you'll find yourself embarking on a transformational odyssey. The three rules are your compass, guiding and empowering you to emerge as a hero in your own story.

The book is dedicated to men in love. Those brave enough to admit it to themselves. Profess it to the woman they love. And most of all, demonstrate their love for that woman without apology or shame to other men. 

Read a sample chapter below.

Long before they’re ready, young boys are told to “Be a man.” They’re told not to cry, to suck it up, and even with a bleeding wound on one knee, are told to go back to the playing field because they’ll be all right. Boys grow up believing emotions should be shoved to the side or buried deep inside; then one day, they meet a woman whose mere presence challenges their vise-like grip on their feelings. And this feminine, nurturing, emotionally generous person speaks in a language alien to the masculine mind. 

What you have in your hand is a guidebook on adult relationships that aims to pin down the elusive answer to the question “What does a woman want?”—and help men find some clarity.

This book is a journey that will help you understand her and relate to her better. But it begins with a look within you because half of any romantic relationship will always be made up of you. So if there’s anything you can take full responsibility for, it’s going to be your half. 

According to a 2015 research study led by the American Sociological Association, nearly 70% of divorces are initiated by the wife. Among college-educated women, this number goes up to a staggering 90%.

Drawing on the research and science I’ve learned—and bringing that wisdom into sharper focus through the lens of my own experiences—I have identified three key rules that men can follow to help them navigate the complexities of love so they can cultivate peace, emotional intimacy, and happiness in their romantic relationships.

For those who want to cut to the chase, I’m stating the three rules right here:

1. Know Who You Love—and Why: The magnet that will pull you two together for the right reasons

2. Do Things that Show Her You Love Her: The unexpected aphrodisiac that redefines your definition of foreplay 

3. Feel Your Feelings and Soften Them Up: The challenge to shed the armor and open your heart to vulnerability 

Simply put, the rules are about recruiting three things into the quest of loving a woman: your mind, your actions, and your heart. That should make things incredibly easy to remember. It’s deceptively basic and seemingly a no-brainer. But if it were really that easy, then why are so many relationships tangled up in knots? 

The rest of this book will contain the detailed answers as to why you need these rules and how to go about applying them. We’ll be going through some fundamental first steps that are crucial to understanding your state of mind as well as explanations and examples of the principles behind the rules. In going through this process, I’ve taken on the task of filling in a void in the lives of men and their romantic relationships: The absence of role models. 

When it comes to loving a woman, men have no heroes. Most men, in fact, model their behavior from the example set by their fathers who were raised to be stone-faced gladiators. Soldiers of success. Warriors in the boardroom—and the bedroom. 

You, holding this book, have evolved to the point of understanding that wanting to love—and wanting to know how to love—no longer holds the stigma it used to have. But much of the world still has some catching up to do, so that doesn’t make things easy for most men. 

Science provides data that proves men are biologically the more aggressive, risk-taking, lustier sex— but at the same time, are in fact born more emotionally expressive than women. Culturally, however, they are raised to keep their emotions tightly guarded; and they’re supposed to avoid saying, doing, or displaying anything that could be interpreted as a sign of weakness. This combination of nature and nurture that molds men into emotionally unavailable individuals makes them seem like unsuitable recruits for an army of men out to conquer women’s hearts through acts of love, thoughtfulness, and romance. But the good news is that men also have agency—the ability to act on one's own will or have independent control of one’s actions.

This book will fortify that ability, by taking the most iconic heroes and superheroes—from olden times to the modern—then reappropriate them as role-models-with-a-twist for men in love today. I’ll be recruiting them as guides as I take you through your own hero’s journey. They’ll be examples set to help men who falter, fumble, and eventually fall in love—so they can land solidly in a superhero pose. One hand and one knee placed squarely on the ground, and the other hand raised to the sky.

Read this book and join an army of Brave Hearts. Because it takes courage to enter a committed relationship—and faith to believe that it can last the challenges of time. The heart is fragile, and most people are afraid to break it. But we need to step forward and risk it. 

Love can die. Unless we fight for it.