The First Five Years: Make the Love Investment That Lasts a Lifetime    by Bill Farrel & Pam Farrel Order:  USA  Can Faithwords, 2007 (2007) Softcover Read an Excerpt     Reviewed by Jessica Weaver After working with Bill and Pam Farrel on their Bible study Men are Like Waffles, Women are Like Spaghetti, I was eager to read their newest how-to book, The First Five Years: Make the Love Investment That Lasts a Lifetime. It reads just as they are in person - vibrant, excited, and straightforward. Bill and Pam aren't afraid to approach any topic, including - and especially - sex. Their sweet and funny style makes The First Five Years an easy read. The title refers to the first five years of marriage. The Farrels encourage their readers to make the most of these first years, thus establishing a great precedent for the rest of a marriage. They stress that in the later years of marriage, when there are children and other issues involved, that a couple should be able to look back with fondness at these first few years. The Farrels deal with four main topics in their book, which they give the acronym GIFT: Get in the game, Invest in your sex life, Figure it out, and Tough on me, tender on you. Putting a spiritual, biblical spin on each topic, the authors discuss such pressing issues as buying a house, starting a family, supporting one another's dreams, bad habits, and also devote a fourth of the book to developing sexual intimacy. If you can't deal with frank, practical advice on your sex life, including some graphic language, don't read this book! Altogether I think this is a great read for a newly-married couple, filled with great practical advice and forcing the reader to face unhealthy emotional habits he or she might have. It would be a great book for a Christian couple to read together and then get together to discuss, and Bill and Pam provide questions and activities for the couple to do together at the end each chapter. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more NonFiction books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews