cover image Is There Really Sex After Kids?: A Mom-To-Mom Chat on Keeping Intimacy Alive

Is There Really Sex After Kids?: A Mom-To-Mom Chat on Keeping Intimacy Alive

Jill Savage, Allie Pleiter. Zondervan, $12.99 (240pp) ISBN 978-0-310-23743-3

Good Christian moms who are a bit shocked by the title of this book may be even more startled to learn that it comes with a group discussion guide. While not explicit, the book is refreshingly frank and down-to-earth, offering exhausted moms an opportunity to reflect on sex (or the lack thereof) and its importance in their lives. It's really a book about marital intimacy in all its manifestations, including emotional and intellectual closeness as well as sexuality. Savage is honest about her own struggles, mentioning times when her marriage ""hit rock-bottom"" and she had to learn about creating a marriage-centered family rather than a child-centered family. After she had kids, she says, ""making meat loaf was a higher priority than making love."" Now a mother of four, she and her husband lead marriage-encounter workshops and counsel couples who are experiencing intimacy conflicts. This book, which is occasionally repetitive but always sensible, is the distillation of the Savages' advice, and features questions for reflection at the close of each chapter.