this was my first book of this type, and it is practical but I found it hard going to get through and it wasn't overly motivating to continue reading it.

A great book to help you work on all of your relationships. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review.

Thought provoking and practical guidance about how you can improve your relationships.

I found it a bit heavy going in places but also useful.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was an interesting read and posed lots of good ways to improve communications and relationships across all areas of life. The examples might be a little too false for some, but they demonstrate the way to approach the situation well. I’d be intrigued to see how the real world course works out with proper practice in group sessions.

I read every night before bed, but for some reason I just can't bring myself to read non-fiction at that time of day, so I've had this book for a while, but struggled to find the time to read it. I started it a couple of months ago, but never got past the first chapter, thinking it sounded pretty dull and that it wasn't what I had expected.

However, I have now made time to read the whole book, and have to admit that I really got into it and found it fascinating. The book talks about 'exceptional relationships' - what they are, how to get them and how to keep them. Connect follows different fictional relationships in order to give varied examples; including spouses, work colleagues, old friends and more. It gives scenarios and plays out the conversations, talking through what they said, what they could have done differently and offering thoughts on how the other is feeling.

Throughout the book, there is reference to how you can apply this to your own life. Asking you to write down 5 relationships, and then working on them as you read through the chapters. At the end of each chapter are a series of things to think about and actions you can take with your own relationships.

Overall, this was not a typical book for me to read, but I found it to be well written and informative. I would recommend it.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read the ARC in return for an honest review.

A practical guide to how to improve the relationships you have with friends, family and workmates. Plenty of worked through examples to demonstrate the techniques and ideas. I didn’t do all the exercises but I think I got some useful stuff out of it to apply to my life.

I found this book tough going, but glad I persevered and finished it as there is some helpful advice here.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I found myself skipping many pages as it wants to promote something that would happen in an ideal world but sadly applied to real life is not really possible

Some really good advice and lots of relevant examples. The book gives you lots to think about and helps you understand how you can improve developing your relationships.

I think the real value in this information might be in using it in interpersonal settings and learning that way. In other words, this makes a far better course – which was how it originated – than a book. Part of this was the fact that I don’t want non-fic books to rely heavily on examples of dialogue. It irks me even as examples of what to do or not do. Ultimately the information was interesting but the delivery did not work for me.

I was immediately drawn to this book after reading the description. I am fascinated by smart-thinking/psychology books like this and this really reminded me of the classic work of Dale Carnegie. I think we can always benefit from books like Connect as they help us to become more empathetic humans and this book really broadened my mind. Would absolutely recommend!

Pitched at the wrong audience - while there's lots of good info here, it's academic and not a particularly riveting read. Quite the shame, as pitched correctly this could have been a hit.

Really good workbook when it comes to analysing and improving relationships, i.e. not just a book you read, but a book you work with and you can revisit. I couldn't think of a better time to read this book than lockdown when we all crave and appreciate connection more than ever.

As I understand it, the authors have based their book on a successful course they run at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. It shows.

'Connect' benefits from the authors' years of experience working with people in the 'laboratory' of a classroom. They are clearly very comfortable with their material, the most effective ways to express it and how to prompt readers to make the most of the text. The book is easy to read, without over-simplifying. It was not heavily theoretical or reliant on detailed (dry) academic research - the research is their practical experience. The case studies were appropriate - I particularly liked the way the few case studies were allowed to run through the whole book - and relatable.

I woulod strongly recommend this book for all sorts of situations: at home, amongst friends, in the workplace. It is a useful handbook, it provokes reflection and may help change your perspective and behaviour.

I found it to be a very interesting and engaging read and the personalities of the authors came though. I did tire a little. I must admit, of the examples, which I found intrusive, but the advice was sound and the improvements achievable.

I loved it! This book was right up my street. It’s full of stories (some of which I found slightly cringey but most of them were relatable). The aim of this book is basically to present the reader with a toolbox for managing relationships. This might involve attempting to deepen existing relationships, or understanding when relationships are best left as they are. It can also mean learning how to repair fractures in relationships when they occur, and to communicate in an effective way that gets your point across and doesn’t incense the other person.

I would recommend this book to literally anyone. It can really help those in employment build productive work relationships, and I can see it being beneficial for helping to get along better with people at work. I would recommend it for those who have large families and friendship circles, or even small ones — this book can help you to gain more satisfaction from your existing relationships by helping you get the most from them.

Very detailed and very thorough and at times for me a little hard going and intense but the reflection at the end of sections were perfect for me because of that.

It is worth sticking with as there is a lot of detail and this book is very thought provoking. I nearly gave up but I am so so glad that I did not

The premise of the book is that it will allow you to forge better, more meaningful connections with those around you. I was intrigued but had very low expectations, and I was very skeptical about the whole premise.

As many others have said, it's nothing new. The book explains techniques and gives a lot of examples of uncomfortable conversations and how to deal with them to get a more positive outcome. These conversations are fairly realistic (especially in later chapters; the ones at the beginning are very simple). There was nothing that made me think "Oh, I had never considered that!"

Now, here's the twist: I actually attempted a couple of them (from the 'how to give feedback' section), and... they worked. I repeat that it's nothing that you are not probably aware of already, but I guess reading about them gave me the courage to actually attempt them in situations where I felt stuck with someone (and talking to a wall). They're a couple of steps in the right direction, although of course it's very early days. Having this in mind, I will possibly (once we're out of lockdown and we can interact with people in a more normal way) pick the book again and practice some of the prompts at the end of the chapters.

I won't say this book is going to change your life, but I think it's worth your time if you're curious enough.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Perhaps I read this book too quickly, in order to try and give timely feedback - the authors do state that it is intended to be a book you should go slowly with and practise the tips before moving on. It started with a lot of justification as to why it is good which did put me off - I would rather read the tips and judge for myself than be sold something in such an overtly justificatory way. Nevertheless, the tips are largely common sense but in the 'Oh yes, why don't I do that more often?' way. I might try reading this again, more slowly, and see if I change my mind. In summary - a fine book for some sensible tips but the excessive justifying of its own existence did jar me.

This book was a struggle for me to get through, the missing letters and typos made reading difficult and the long dialogues between the people in the examples meant my interest was lost.

Sadly I feel like I didn't take anything away from this book and it was a slog to get through.