Perfect Combination: Seven Key Ingredients to Happily Living & Loving Together by: Jamillah & David Lamb Review

About the Book:

Title: Perfect Combination: Seven Key Ingredients to Happily Living & Loving Together
Author: Jamillah & David Lamb
Publisher: Between the Lines Productions
Pages: 182
Genre: Relationships/Dating/Romance/Self-Help

Jamillah and David Lamb are the dynamic couple behind the successful off-Broadway play, Platanos Y Collard Greens, which has enjoyed more than 10 years running. For years, they have worked side by side, 24/7, to create and build their business. And, not only have they not killed each other, their love has grown stronger. Now Jamillah and David share their recipe for romantic success.

This insightful relationship guidebook is part love manual and part diary as the couple explores important and intimate topics. Speaking from both of their voices--separately and collectively.

Perfect Combination: Seven Key Ingredients to Happily Living & Loving Together is not a book of relationship theory – it’s a practical guide that provides the recipe anyone, man or woman, single, engaged or married, can use for love. Jamillah & David tell their story with a sometimes painful, sometimes hilarious, honesty. It is the warm, true-to-life style combined with road-tested advice that makes this book on love and relationships so unique and so valuable.

For More Information

• Perfect Combination: Seven Key Ingredients to Happily Living & Loving Together is available at Amazon.
• Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble.
• Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.

Book Excerpt:

So many couples don't want to deal with it, especially not in detail, but we all come to every relationship with a past. We walk around carrying hurts, pains and regrets in gigantic emotional duffel bags. Believe us; we do the same, just like every other couple. Just because you see us on stage smiling at each other affectionately at the end of a great show, our genuine love on display doesn't mean that we haven't had to unload emotional baggage to arrive at a place of Love and Happiness. So before we get into what works in our relationship and in our partnership, or deal with the places where we are still being challenged, we wanted to share with you our "Before You” talk.

We have all been in relationships before that didn't work, and  we all have to deal with the ideas, memories, expectations and pain that keep us from Love and  Happiness.  It's necessary because there are some important lessons you learned in those other relationships about what you don't want and will not accept in a relationship (your deal-breakers).  But, here's the truth that stings: even though you're an amazing, wonderful, gifted person, you have also learned some things about yourself that didn't always reflect you in the best light, but they were   real.

In order to be willing to move forward, in love, with love, you've got to deal with what you've learned about yourself. The lessons you learned are important and it's essential to incorporate them into your everyday thinking so that you don't make those same mistakes or waste time on those same conver­ sations, when you know that you already know better.

About the Authors

David and Jamillah Lamb are the creative and dynamic couple that founded Between The Lines Productions, Inc. to fulfill their co-mission: to spread inspiration, joy, and love through the power of theater and other media. They are also co-authors of the acclaimed Perfect Combination: Seven Key Ingredients to Happily Living & Loving Together.
As they’ve taken each step of their unique journey, they’ve become a trusted source for answering the questions like: What is Love? What is Romance? What is Marriage?
They didn’t wake up one day, and ‘poof’, they were instant relationship gurus. That might be how it happens in romance novels and romance movies, but that’s not the story of their romance. Their expertise grew out of everyday living and a desire to teach each other the lessons of love, the joys and trials of marriage, and the beauty of a romance. They are dedicated to giving other couples an honest, no-holds barred look at their struggles, their hurts, their triumphs, and their love.

His Story:

David was born in Queens, NY and raised in public housing in Astoria, Queens. He attended Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and New York University School of Law. The successful playwright of the hit off-Broadway play Platanos Y Collard Greens, David has found the love of his life in Jamillah.
Despite knowing he had found the right person, David struggled to lower his guard and put aside his tendency to be suspicious of women. Before Jamillah, David would often find himself breaking up with girlfriends rather than risk being hurt by rejection. Recognizing he had found a “kind heart and sweet spirit” in Jamillah, he made the decision “to grow up and grow into feeling what love felt like.” As the relationship has deepened, he’s learned other lessons. He now smiles at his typically male (let’s be honest!) expectation that Jamillah be able to read his mind.
The ability of love and romance to conquer hurts and overcome hardships is a theme that runs through David’s books and plays. He loves being a business, marriage, and parenting partner with Jamillah.

Her Story:

Jamillah grew up in Chicago in the same neighborhood as First Lady Michelle Obama. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Wesleyan University and then a Masters degree in Public Policy from Harvard University. A former Vice-President at Citibank, Jamillah uses her education and experience in the daily operations of their business.
Just like David, Jamillah had baggage of her own to overcome. Raised in a strict environment with high expectations, she struggled to lighten up. She put men she met before David “through the ringer,” worrying that allowing someone to care for her meant being less independent. As she learned to overcome her fears and become more trusting, she came up against other challenges. Becoming a family with the birth of their daughter Kaira was not a straight path. The journey to this incredible blessing was filled with adversity and pain, but also the support of David.
Jamillah made one of her most important life decisions in 2005. At that time, Jamillah was a VP at Citibank, while also helping get David’s first play off the ground. The play had been going well for a couple of years, but it was still a big leap of faith when she made the decision to leave a comfortable corporate job to work on their business full-time. Through ups and downs, and the typical financial worries of growing a business, Jamillah has never regretted her decision. The choice has allowed them to be together day in and day out doing creative, passionate work together

For More Information

• Visit the authors’ website.
• Connect with the authors on Facebook and Twitter.
• Find out more about the authors at Goodreads.

My Review
"Perfect Combination" is written by authors Jamillah & David Lamb a couple who have decided to share with the reader their way of life. They are a happy couple that are together all of the time. They have written about seven items that are important in any relationship.  This is a great book for anyone who has been married a long time or is in a new relationship. I really enjoyed this book, and give it a 4/5. I was given this book for a review and these are my opinions.