All Comments on 'Better Advice, Better Marriage Ch. 03'

The story of how Mandy ends up losing her practice and being sued to ruination by dozens of her past and present clients still needs to be told.

Chapter 4 is submitted; not posted yet. Unfortunately, if focuses more on Sue and Jon rebuilding their relationship than it does on Mandy's demise.

Another good chapter...I know all expect a chapter about the fall of the therapist Mandy, but the story is about this couple and how they are going to rebuild their married life...Until now they are doing well...Let's wait for the next part...3*

I agree with you about this being a refreshing change of pace story to the usual crap posted in Loving Wives. I think you have been too hard on yourself about negative comments. You writing is strong- EVEN BEFORE THE REVISIONS! Making a marriage better is an awesome theme for LW, and I am sure there are plenty of readers here in the market for this kind of tale. While I might mention a few things that I wouldn't have done, if I wrote this story.....(OK. I didn't really like the "sexposition" during the BJ dialogue exchange).....frankly, as long as YOU the author are happy with the results, then the pride of craftsmanship comes through. Thankyou very much for your efforts, and I hope to read more from you soon!

Sounds like a good title for another story...

There is a common thread to ALL the LW, BTB, etc.,. story variants in this section - an utter failure to effectively communicate with one another between the spouses.

This story is a shining, and very rare, example of the opposite happening.

A couple fighting back from the brink TOGETHER by FINALLY learning to communicate with one another - both verbally and otherwise - effectively.

One thing this category BADLY needs is quite a few more stories where THIS theme is explored in greater expansion and depth.

I love the line where you pointed out that the character of their communications had _previously_ changed from "fighting FOR their marriage into fighting ABOUT their marriage" ...a subtle yet HUGE difference. I almost wish you had elaborated on that point a bit more, because it is a - perhaps THE - KEY difference between a thriving relationship and a dying one. Kind of like the difference between tactical fights and strategic fights in a war (strategy should drive tactics, not the other way around).

Ha! A thought just occurred to me: What this world needs as a new book: Sun Tzu's "The Art of Marriage and Communications" heh.

Thanks for the feedback. It is encouraging to hear that some of you (@anon, @GrandPaM) also thing there could be more stories where couples work on their communication. I'm glad to have started a dialog about this.

And Sue is STILL manipulating him. She's just changing her methods. She even admits it to herself. To quote her - "Men! How easily controlled". She STILL thinks about her husband in terms of how she can control him. In an effort to not end up a single Mother, raising 2 kids by herself, with a much lower standard of living, she simply seeks to change her harpy attitude and seeks to up her control level through sex. The old joke - The little head rules! - applies here. Give him more sex and control him that way now that he's figured out that Mandy has been torpedoing him. To add insult to injury you leave us with Mandy under investigation, Mike and Allison still in divorce Court and Sue suggesting that she has replaced Mandy's advice with Lynn's advice. Can Sue not stand on her own two feet and make any decent decisions about her life on her own? UGH! So I gave this 1 star for not making much progress on the story line, Sue still being manipulative, Jon still being wishy washy and all the other unfinished business this chapter left us with.

@anon - your 1* rating is fair, given your perspective. Thank you for the feedback. I received a lot of feedback on previous chapters where commenters believed Jon's life, marriage and employment were "done" as soon as the rape accusation was made. It seemed logical that a therapist under investigation for filing a false report and for inappropriate relationship with a patient was similarly "done." I have no interest in writing the boring details about the dismantling of the rest of her career nor the sad end to Mike and Allison's marriage.

Similarly, lots of people objected to how fast Sue's attitude changed. Her internal fight that men are still easily manipulated was a concessions that she still sometimes thinks the "old" way and has some more progress yet to make.

Not trying to change your vote, just trying to explain my thought process on how the story developed.

but you continue to paint the picture of a woman with low self esteem who relies completely on the opinions of others as justification for her actions. If she ever needed counselling it would have been for the esteem problem. Her marriage will never be solid so long as that exists. She will simply exist within it, constantly vacillating as she gains reliance on new people and their opinions.

Like all marriages mine has it's issues (really how can women get it soooo wrong all the time :-0 ) and a couple of things you wrote made me stop and think.

It was well written and the dialogue works well in this story. 4*

Your character development worked well, you showed the dynamics of the situation very convincingly.

Was Sue still manipulating Jon? I think so, most wives manipulate their husbands in one way or another.

When Jon spoke to Mike he should have emphasised that he had been in his position and not simple said 'if I were in your shoes'.

“I had convinced myself that taking your cock in my mouth was demeaning to me as a woman.” – Why do so many women feel that blow jobs are demeaning, but don’t think that their men should have any problem going down on them?

.."Men! How easily controlled"... even an idiot like you knows that.

It would seem that the evil therapist attitude and beliefs had a much bigger impact than the husband knows. If ever this wimp pussy loseer of a man finds out that his wife is STILL thinking in those terms the marriage is over

....by that, I mean that the dialog sounded as much like an agenda as the counsellor's behavior.

You might read your dialog out loud to test for "naturalness" in the phrasing and expression.

I liked the story, but it wasn't subtle.

I'm not saying I want to see a return to the dark ages (I believe we have to "level the playing field" in business) but I think the women's lib movement and the "dyke agenda" have done more harm to male/female relationships and the moral and ethical health of nations than any other social, cultural or economic influence extant.

I like the traditional roles and the nuclear family. I like a culture that fosters women as feminine, loyal and powerful, yet nurturing and gentle....until their children or family are threatened. Then they are shredders. I like that about "traditional" women. I feel women with that mindset should be treasured and loved like the wonder that they are. I also feel women have far more power in those environments than any one of these modern women, with their corporate situational ethic and their calculated, adversarial, calibrated, manipulative arrogance, their false superiority....their legislated importance.

All these demean and dilute the power that real women wield.

Sadly, I married one of those......and there has been no peace, no happiness, no joy between us in all these years. But that misery is at an end.

I recently discovered her entrenched, long term, "entitled" adultery.....and am taking the necessary precautions and steps to ensure that she gets nothing from me...before I legally point out to her how wrong she's been, to buy into the feminist bullshit agenda, abusing my trust, my love and my loyalty. I think too many want choice without consequence. And nowhere more than in family court has that agenda been promulgated. I've learned a way to turn that tide (for my situation, anyway) and will walk away clean and unburdened. As should anyone who has been so badly treated by someone so morally bankrupt as to treat their husband or wife with such agregious disloyalty, disdain, abhorrence.

And obviously phrases and thought patterns that have been fixed for years will not

change overnight. What basically bothers is how a creature fight for equality until they rule the roost. In the demands for professional equality I found that women who dedicated themselves did as well as the males but there were very few of them because the rest of the 51% of the population opted to not work that hard.

The only real ripple in the flow of this story for me is that she still doesn't get, or understand, the magnitude of a rape accusation. This is a crime where the accusation is almost as bad as a guilty verdict - and she in her attitude doesn't really seem that concerned. Take pictures public that would ruin the counselors career? Can't do that. Accuse her husband of rape? Sure, why not !?!

Sun Tzu's Art of War was used effectively by IronDragon in his story Coolness Under Fire. Check it out if you haven't already :-)

stuff

Feminism is a cancer; it destroys the natural relationship that fulfills husbands and wives.

Not always, anonymous. But I will agree that far too often views, particularly when taken to the extremes, become insidious cancers.

Don't stop until you lay Mandy low. Burn that bitch and then enjoy BJ Day.

Excellent story. Well written 5/5

Feminism isn't the problem. The problem is that many don't know what feminism is really about. It is about equality in both privileges and duties. It never was about cherry picking or getting even. But somehow many entitled ppl think it's about revenge.

Where is the rest of Mandy's downfall? I hope the remaining chapters have her hit rock bottom. Though I feel like it should have been in this chapter, given the description.