The 10 Greatest Gifts We Give Each Other

A joyful, heartfelt, laugh-out-loud love story that ranks up there

with any Hollywood romantic comedy. A thoroughly fun and entertaining read.

—Steve LuKanic, screenwriter, For Richer or Poorer, producer/director, 13 Families

This promising debut ... is an unexpectedly fun, delightful read.

--D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

A lot can happen between I do…and I do again.

The year: 2006. The setting: Littleton, Colorado. For 20 years, a New York Times best-selling author—a wealthy, globe-trotting entrepreneur—is on the loose. Who will snag him?

Meet Barbara Lynn—a first-grade teacher by day, a  divorced, single mom by night. This true love story chronicles the impossibly mismatched couple’s unlikely romance:

• Steve Vannoy lives in a mansion; Barb lives in a tract house built with garage sale money.


• He prefers breathing mountain air; she sucks helium with her first graders.


• Steve blushes after Barb passes him a sexy note in her classroom—as her students sound out words.


• And what’s a bride-to-be to do when her future mother-in-law’s engagement gift is a headstone?

Goodbye normal.

The misfits bumble through astonishing dating backdrops: the Amazon jungle, Tasmanian bush, Swiss Alps, and Alaskan peninsula. After Steve proposes, they spend one year writing ten marriage vows, committing them to memory, but leaving room on the page for one more. Just in case.

Their marriage quickly struggles, so Barb posts the vows in the most prominent place in their home: the master toilet. Joining their quest for marital sanity are three stepdaughters, two maladjusted dogs, and one Renaissance mother-in-law, Steve’s Ma.

The magic of the wedding vows reignites wild adventures for a grand reveal of the elusive 11th vow that changes everything—and their world.

In a marriage memoir where vows become a force for good in the world, Barb’s infectious voice delights with irreverent, zany humor, teaches with masterful storytelling, and empowers with unanticipated, soft insights of hope. 

Reading The 10 Greatest Gifts We Give Each Other is like watching

a Hallmark Channel movie on the TV in your mind.

—Rob Owen, TV writer/critic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette