Book ~ "How I Got Him To Marry Me: 50 True Stories" (2013) Cherise Kelley

From Goodreads ~ According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2012 report on America's Families and Living Arrangements, less than half of marriage-aged Americans are married: 49.3%. The percentage goes up once we turn 35 but so does the rate of birth defects.

Boyfriends make excuses like "Marriage is just a piece of paper," and "Living together is just as good as being married." Many women who value the commitment of marriage and/or the stability it affords for raising children have a hard time getting him to marry us in this environment. This book is written for the woman in this predicament. Her boyfriend has proposed not marriage but living together.

You don't have to interview 50 married women to find out how they managed to get that ring on their finger. The author has done that for you. All 50 were married after 1990, so this is modern information for our changing times. Read and find out how you can get him to marry you and not just live together!

Sandy's boyfriend Jack wouldn't even bring up the 'm' word. She started leaving her things in his apartment, including some tampons in his bathroom. It worked! Too off guard to make excuses like "Living together is just as good as being married," Jack said, "People will start to think you're my wife!" "Well, how about it?" Sandy asked Jack.

Crystal got Paul to skip just living together by refusing to move across the country until she had a marriage license, signed and dated.

Read these full stories plus 48 more, ranging from the heartwarming to the hilarious!

"I got tired of waiting for my boyfriend Jack to propose to me. We had been together for two years, and he hadn't even mentioned the 'm' word to me. If things had been left up to Jack, we would have been boyfriend and girlfriend for the rest of our lives. I had just turned thirty and could not wait much longer to be married. I knew I had to do something to push him along.

First, I tried giving him a taste of the good side of married life.

Jack was raised in a family where two people should not be together if they were not married. I could not just move myself in and wait for him to do the rest, as many of my girlfriends were doing with their boyfriends, in hopes of getting that 'm' word mentioned. I figured I had to slowly make myself a fixture in his apartment. When he got home from work, I would suggest going to his place instead of going out. I started to do some housework for him. I would tell him how messy his place was and offered to help him clean it up. I would wash the dishes and vacuum. After about two weeks of "giving him a taste of the good side of married life," nothing changed.

I even did the unthinkable and cleaned his bathroom. All I got for that was a "Thanks, I owe you one." I had to come up with another idea that was more intensive."

It was interesting to read the accounts of women who wanted to get married but who had boyfriends who were happy with just dating or living together.  There are 50 stories and each is written by different women telling her own story.  They range from women who got married really young to women who had been married before and had children.  Some are driven by their faith.  I liked the stories of the women who were strong enough to stay true to what they wanted (and were willing to walk away from the relationship) rather than having to resort to manipulation or pressure.