A Handbook for Engaged Couples

Customer Reviews

• I'm not engaged but...  Sep 10, 1999 (30 of 31 found this helpful)

  I'm not engaged, or even close to being engaged. Nonetheless, I found the Frylings' handbook refreshing and honest about communications and expectations among couples. I bought it on a whim, having heard that the Frylings do not sugarcoat reality in their presentation. My own relationship was floundering and I needed direction. I wish I had bought it several months earlier!
  
  While written from a evangelical Christian perspective, it has that special universality of truth for every couple looking to understand and to communicate with their mate or future spouse.
  
  I can see it being read alone for personal growth, with your fiance, or even the two of you with a counselor or older, wiser friend. Better yet, try going through this (be ready to be challenged!) with a married couple who seems to "have it together."
  
  Catholics will love it as an addition to their time spent in pre-marital counseling. You're best to buy two copies, with each person reading a portion (set up in topical chapters with discussion questions).
  
  Though I'm one who has never been married, I believe it would be great for a couple married several years as well, helping re-ground your marriage. Don't think of this as just a tool to get your spouse to open up, but as a mutual opportunity to renew the love which drew you to marriage in the first place.
  
  This book is no panacea, but it can assist a new beginning, or a careful grounding for a future marriage.
  
  For you single guys (and gals) get a copy of "A Handbook for Engaged Couples" and read it. It'll help you (and me) relate to anyone you might consider saying "I do" with on an altar someday.
  
  (post-script: I have since been engaged, and can further attest to this book's usefulness, having been happily married now since 2004).
  
  Anthony Trendl
  editor, HungarianBookstore.com

• A Good Premarital Counseling Tool  Aug 2, 2000 (9 of 11 found this helpful)

  I have used this book for premarital counseling for several years. I can give one to each person and use it as a "get started" tool to help in counseling. It provides a very good scriptural groundwork for our sessions. It also covers some hard-to-counsel areas very well.

• It's the Jam!  Mar 8, 2007 (3 of 3 found this helpful)

  I really liked this book. Our pastor got us to purchase it as a part of our premarital counseling. It has a short ammount of information that gets straight to the point in each chapter (2 or 3 pages), and then it has at least a page, if not two, of great discussion questions. The questions are deep and thought provoking. They challenge the couple to really deal with the issues at hand. The information is short, but impactful. The book also has a great, natural flow. I love it!

• Helping a marriage last forever  Nov 6, 2007 (2 of 2 found this helpful)

  I have used this book in premarriage counseling for over 30 years. It is the best I have seen. It is also helpful to use after the wedding for fine tuning. If a couple is dilagent in filling out the questions & then discussing them together and/or with a trained counselor, they will be richly rewarded with a good marriage. This book should be used by all who are getting married with each person having their own copy.

• Loved it!  Sep 9, 2009 

  This book was so helpful in guiding my fiance and I into some important discussions. While some topics didn't exactly apply, it made us talk about other topics that we may not have thought of on our own. The Biblical influence helped us know we were basing these discussions on the foundation of our faith. We highly recommend!