The Romantic Ideal—The Highest Standard of Romance for a Man: A Hopeless Romantic's Exploration of Masculine Intimacy, Sex, and Love

Winner: 2025 PenCraft Seasonal Book Award

Winner: Atlas of Stories Award

With signature depth and insight, Gregory V. Diehl explores life as a man who embraces the boldest romantic ideals, a man who pursues romantic self-expression, self-determination, and self-actualization as his primary mission in a world so often set against it. His new book examines the hidden depths of masculine intimacy and passion, romantic compatibility, a man’s unignorable sexual curiosity and burden, and the challenging quest to fall in love and bond with one’s complementary soulmate in willing interdependence between the masculine and feminine.

A self-actualized man in romance seeks the influence found only in the right woman, the feminine force who brings color, beauty, and connection to his estranged life. The Romantic Ideal—The Highest Standard of Romance for a Man helps men identify mature and healthy ways to deal with these timeless trials of masculinity. For women, it offers eye-opening transparency about the quintessential masculine experience of sex, love, intimacy, and romantic aspirations beyond dating, flowers, and trying to get laid.

Includes a feminine foreword by registered psychotherapist Svetlana Sevak, MA, RP.