I'm not the target audience for this book (I'm neither religious, Black, married, nor do I have any kids), but I still quite enjoyed this book. I've never heard of either authors prior to reading this book (Melissa is an influencer and Kevin is a comedian, and they both have a relationship podcast) but I have a feeling that the audiobook version of this book would be fantastic, seeing as the book was written in a very conversational tone alternating back-and-forth between Melissa and Kevin's POV.

While this was primarily a book that imparts relationship advice for married couples, most of the advice provided is applicable to all long-term relationships. They cover numerous relationship topics including managing expectations, effective communication, sex, jealousy, fidelity, conflict, parenting, divorce, and of course, marriage. While there were many aspects that didn't apply to me personally (ex. the impacts of saving yourself for marriage, raising children, etc.) I did enjoy learning about Melissa and Kevin's struggles and the lessons that they've learned about their own relationship over the years.

I also loved that each chapter in this book ends with a set of "relationship check-in" questions which served as a great opportunity for my partner and me to reflect back on our relationship to determine what's working and what's not, and what can be improved upon.

I don't mean to brag, but reading this book and going through the relationship check-in questions reinforced my belief that I'm currently in the most perfect and healthy relationship ever. Granted, my partner and I have been together for 11 years now (so we're practically married) and have already worked through many key issues that were identified in this book in the earlier years of our relationship. With that being said, I think much of the advice provided in this book would have been more useful to me early on in our relationship when we were still trying to figure things out and work through our issues on our own.

As such, I would highly recommend this book to new couples and newlyweds on how to sustain a healthy relationship after they make it past the honeymoon phases of their relationship. I would also recommend this book to any couple who feels like they're entering into a rough phase in their relationship - this book might just help!

Marriage be hard. If there's a truer statement than that, I don't know what it is! Marriage IS HARD! Having Kevin and Melissa share stories and tips and lots of humor made this book so relatable. I will definitely be recommending it to family and friends.

Marriage Be Hard is full of honest, transparent stories. Helpful tips and lessons and all with humor throughout.

I received an e-arc of this book through Netgalley.
At first I wasn't a big fan of the writing style because I am not aware of this comedian or his wife, but then I got used to it and did get some value out of what they were saying about marriage and parenting. There is a religious bent to the book as they were both raised in the church. Some of the marriage advice was useful and I liked the summary questions at the end of each chapter.