Inspired by her wildly popular The New York Times essay "The Wedding Toast I’ll Never Give", Ada Calhoun provides a funny (but not flip), clever (but not smug) take on the institution of marriage. Weaving intimate moments from her own married life with frank insight from experts, clergy and friends, she upends expectations of total marital bliss to present a realistic—but ultimately optimistic—portrait of what marriage is really like. There will be fights, there will be existential angst, there may even be affairs; sometimes you’ll look at the person you love and feel nothing but rage. Despite it all, Calhoun contends, staying married is easy: just don’t get divorced.

Wedding Toasts I’ll Never Give offers bracing straight talk to the newly married and honours those who have weathered the storm. This exploration of modern marriage is at once wise and entertaining, a work of unexpected candour and literary grace.

"... short, sharp and sensitive volume... Her [Ada Calhoun's] witty, enthusiastic, cautionary, emotional and hard-headed reflections ought to be required reading for anyone entering, experiencing, leaving or avoiding marriage." -- The Guardian
"Calhoun is at her strongest when she probes into the unrealistic expectations people hold about the institution..." -- Times Literary Supplement
"This is a fascinating meditation on monogamy, and when we focus so much on beginnings and endings when we talk about relationships, it's refreshing to read a book that focuses on what many of us are familiar with - just trying to make it work." -- Daisy Buchanan - The Pool
"Hopeful, sensible and grounded in reality, it serves as guidance to those in long-term relationships and those embarking on them." -- Sunday Post
"Whatever your status or views on the institution, Ada’s book offers invaluable insight into marriage: the good parts, the bad parts, and the ugly parts." -- Refinery29
"What’s the last book that made you laugh? Ada Calhoun’s “Wedding Toasts I’ll Never Give.” I mean, underlining and yellow marker bust-out laughs." -- Tom Hanks interview - The New York Times

Ada Calhoun has written for the New York Times, New York magazine, and the New York Post. Her book St. Marks Is Dead was named a New York Times Editors’ Choice and a Boston Globe Best Book of the Year.