X That Ex: Making a Clean Break When the Relationship is Over Kristin E. Carmichael, LISW

Saying it to him felt so damned good. God knows he deserved it. Still deserves it. So why is it that only a few weeks later, I doubt if I can stand by what I said?

X That Ex is the long-awaited answer for women who have left a bad relationship and don’t want to go back. It is incredibly common for women to leave partners who are emotionally unavailable, disrespectful, immature, selfish or even abusive, but then struggle to stay away.

Women might be tripped up by their exes’ schemes to get them back, their own self-sabotaging ways or even by our society, which seems to glorify a “just give him one more chance” philosophy. To their family and friends’ dismay, huge numbers of women go back to toxic relationships, wasting years and the possibility of happier lives on men who can’t give them what they deserve.

If the post-breakup world for most people were logical, fair, regulated and well-defined, there would be no need for X That Ex. As most of us know, however, the time after a breakup is emotionally messy, sometimes chaotic and filled with conflicting feelings, motivations, hopes, temptations and realities that must be dealt with.

X That Ex focuses on this confusing time, demystifying why it is so difficult to stay away from a problematic ex, and distinguishing itself by making personalized predictions for readers about what to expect from their exes and themselves in the tumultuous time right after a relationship ends. This book is a unique roadmap that guides readers through the sometimes perilous time when a woman’s ex might try time-tested tactics to tempt her back, when self-sabotage may make a woman her own worst enemy, and when even our culture gets in on the action by making reunification seem reasonable.