Book Review: Clash of the Couples

By Sara Steven

While shopping for a new bed for our four-year old preschooler, my husband and I had a bit of a disagreement. All right, it wasn’t a disagreement. More like an argument. See, he’s perpetually looking for the best deals, the bottom dollar prices on anything he buys, and while I appreciate the need to save a buck, I prefer to buy something when I need it, even if that means spending a few dollars more. The bed we had in mind was a good deal, in my opinion, but did not include free shipping. This annoyed my husband. He wanted to look elsewhere to get the lowest rate he could find that included free shipping, but I wanted our son to have a bed. The kid had outgrown the toddler bed, and was ready for a twin-size mattress. I flippantly suggested we wait another month or two to see if we could save $50 on shipping (yes, I was being sarcastic). My husband recommended I let the furniture store take advantage of us even more by allowing them to charge us an arm and a leg for shipping, which should be free. (We were shopping on Black Friday). Back and forth we bickered, just like an old married couple, even though we had recently celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary.

In Clash of the Couples: A Humorous Collection of Completely Absurd Lover’s Squabbles and Relationship Spats, I know I’m not the only one dealing with stupid arguments. There are forty-six authors who contributed to this book, with plenty of stories that will make you laugh and want to give your significant other a big hug out of appreciation, or a sharp kick in the pants. I’m particularly fond of the story where the pregnant woman flips out on her husband for having the audacity to eat all of her ice cream from the freezer, only to find out he didn’t. She had misplaced the ice cream by putting it into the bread box by mistake. Pregnancy brain! I also enjoyed the one where the woman sends an e-mail link to her boyfriend, thinking he’ll find the article as funny as she did… only, her boyfriend doesn’t find it very funny. Not one bit. As you can imagine, there’s comedic chaos, and that’s what you’ll find in every story within this book. It’s so relatable!

As for my husband and our stupid argument? After a few minutes of bickering, we both stopped and looked at one another, and it was hard not to crack a smile. While we have disagreements from time to time, we rarely have tough arguments, so we both ended up laughing over the fact that it was a twin mattress bed set that got us going. And a few days later, he found a fantastic deal online through the same furniture store that did include free shipping. I appreciate how Clash of the Couples takes a candid look at real-life couples, and the little things they fight (and make-up) over. If there’s a Clash of the Couples II in the works, I am more than happy to contribute some of my own debacles. There have been plenty.

Thanks to Blue Lobster Book Company for the book in exchange for an honest review. Due to the questionable nature of the book cover, we are not sharing it on our page. You can see it on Amazon. Also visit the Facebook page.