Surrounded by the energetic swirl of cards, boxes of chocolates and co-workers making romantic dinner plans during the month of February, any divorced woman -- no matter how self-confident -- could easily fall into a vat of misery, feeling like a leper of love, living on an island of one.

Drama. Deceit. Devastation. It's not just reality TV, it's the reality that most of us experience when we end a relationship, because we don't and won't leave our mate until we reach the point of hating, hurting and hardly speaking. Like a pit bull gripping its most beloved doggie toy,...