I struggled to get into this and gave hp halfway though. Found it cliched and heavy. Not for me.

I really struggled to get into The Marriage Pact, the blurb sounded a great read, book cover was really good but wasn't for me.

The storyline was interesting but I found this quite a difficult book to review. It was very dark and twisted, certainly a page turner but with a disappointing ending. My thanks to Net Galley for my advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book, it was an unusual story although it was a bit unrealistic, but it kept me gripped all the way through. A fast-paced book that I read in a day, I couldn't put it down.

I am definitely looking out for more books from this author!

A definite 5 stars from me.

I’ve truly never read a book with a plot like this. The story starts with newlyweds, Alice and Jake becoming embroiled in a pact to ensure that they stay married and gets more and more bizarre as it goes on. It was a little far-fetched at times but still an engaging read

I didn't know what to expect from this book as I hadn't read any reviews. I have read quite a few thrillers that promise to be "page turner's with a twist I didn't see coming". This actually fitted the bill and I read it in one sitting well into the night!
I couldn't believe the turn the book took when the pact decided to punish people. The focus device was unbearable to think about.
The author built the suspense really well and the ending was cleverly written.
I enjoyed it very much .

I wasn't sure from the reviews if I would like this book or not. The premise sounded really out there, but if you suspend belief on a few things, I think you will find this a really good read. You join a secret society based on the inviolate rule that marriage is forever and there are consequences for members who violate this rule. Serious consequences. I thought the "rule book" was a bit absurd and not entirely believable considering modern life as it is. But its modern life that often erodes a relationship, so I tried to see it from that perspective. I also had some trouble swallowing the notion that an intelligent, professional couple would simply sign on the dotted line without really knowing what they were getting into. However if you overlook those two things, you can start to enjoy the plot. Things get increasingly creepy and Orwellian and you (ok, I) have to stop yourself cheating by peeking at the last couple of chapters to see what happens. This was very different from any other fiction I've read that focuses on relationships. Not for everyone, but well written.

Jake, a therapist, is newly married to Alice, a former rock chic turned lawyer. One of their wedding gifts is an invitation to join The Pact, a cult like group that promotes life-long marriage. Sounds innocuous enough , doesn’t it? But there is a manual, a long and very complicated manual, which sets out hundreds of rules and the consequences of breaking them. And if you change your mind about joining and want out, you may just find that the door has slammed shut behind you.
The Marriage Pact is a great concept. You’d think it would be a bit like the love child of The Stepford Wives and The Firm but for me, this promising idea failed to deliver.
Jake and Alice don’t really come across as a believable couple. Jake is buttoned up and sober and for all she is supposed to be a lawyer, Alice doesn’t come across as the sharpest knife in the drawer. The transformation from musician and free spirit to corporate ambition isn’t believable.
The other members of The Pact are very successful and senior in their careers. We are never told why Jake and Alice were chosen as potential new members and that rankled with me throughout the book. The organization, a cross between a cult and a private members’ club, is international and the author suggests that some very high profile people are members so it seems unlikely that it would be able to retain its secrecy in the real world. And where did it get all its money?
This isn’t a bad book. If you are able to leave logic and common sense behind and just read it for a bit of entertainment, it’s fine. A perfect beach holiday read. I just don’t like beach holidays.

I did like this book and enjoyed the whole idea behind the storyline which I thought was quite unique. Unfortunately in my opinion it dragged on far too long and went into far too much detail with facts and figures that I felt was unnecessary for the story. I found myself skimming pages that just didn't interest me as I just wanted to get it finished. It could have been cut back a fair bit

The Marriage Pact is a psychological suspense thriller with an interesting plot. Eventually, in the west, the rate with which the marriages are failing, is pretty high. In such a world, would you be prepared to do anything to make your marriage successful?

This is the story of Jake and Alice who are newlywed. Jake loved Alice but he married Alice because he was afraid that she would go away. At their wedding, they were compelled to invite an additional guest Liam Finnegan and his wife, after she won a big case at her law firm. Finnegan gives them a gift when Jake and Alice return from their honeymoon. That gift was an invitation to join a secret society “The Pact”. The Pact was a group of married couples who call each other “Friend” and its goal was to help ensure everyone’s marriage is successful. Seeing this as an opportunity, both Jake and Alice sign the contract because they wanted their marriage to last forever, though neither of them was sure of this at first.

Michelle Richmond has introduced a unique concept in terms of The Pact. Jake and Alice meet Vivian who introduces them to the laws of The Pact and hands them the Manual. Yes, there is a whole manual about the rules and regulations of the Pact. The members had to follow those rules otherwise there were different levels of punishment and consequences. Some of the things mentioned in the Pact included giving gifts to each other every month, going on trips, meet other Pact members during the parties, etc. At first, they thought that this is going to be easy. But slowly the trouble started when Alice was more devoted towards her work. There were consequences too. Soon they realized that they have to get out of this but they found that it was almost impossible to leave the Pact.

I really like the idea of this Pact, obviously minus the punishments thing. The overall idea was to create certain rules in a marriage that will keep the spark in the marriage going on. There are often small things that matter the most like giving gifts to each other occasionally or planning vacations. Jake was a therapist while Alice was a lawyer. There was a huge difference in their work style. The idea of the author behind creating the Pact and this story is excellent. These days marriages are not that much secured and the divorce rate is too high, probably because people take each other for granted? But then you realize that the Pact is just more than that. Which seemed like minor punishments, suddenly gets more serious and you realize that the Pact is more like a cult? Michelle Richmond creates a heavy environment with all the twists and turns you find yourself confused whether the Pact is good or bad. You want to know what would happen next and then you don’t want to put it down.

All of these things about the Pact and the story setting was enough to create a suspenseful drama. You are forced to turn the next page to know what will happen to Alice or Jake and who are these people. I would give full points to the suspense till 80% of the book. The rest of the 20% was a bit dragged and it’s here that the book loses its 1 star for me. The end was not what I was expecting but yet I was hoping for something much better and dramatic. I think the book could have been shorter if the end was not dragged this much.

Another trouble I had was that it had too many details in between about the various facts. I mean, I get that Jake was a therapist but it was not required to give stats of different things at so many levels, like the stats on marriage etc. I think these stats made the story a little bit longer and it would have done just fine without those numbers.


Final Thoughts
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This story was like a fresh breeze of air with unique storyline and a good amount of suspense. It makes you scared in between, it make you to feel sorry for Jake and Alice, it makes you scold them for their foolishness. In all, it gives you all the emotions. Though it could have been a bit shorter, it gives you a good ending to finish the brilliant story. However, you need a fair amount of disbelief to go with the story and once you do it, it would be a fast-paced and quite entertaining one. It felt like an original and thought-provoking story with multi-layered characters. I would definitely recommend this if you are looking for a good suspense-thriller read.

I didn’t enjoy this book at all, and am amazed at it’s average 4* rating on Amazon. The characters were weak and it was ridiculous that a lawyer would get herself into a situation like this - it’s also unbelievable that we should be expected to be hooked into this disturbing and unpleasant scenario.
I stopped reading about 60% into the book, and went to the last chapter which was also very unpleasant. Sorry, but this wasn’t for me. And I begrudge having to give it one star.

There are so many turns in this book I loved it. Jake and Alice are given a mysterious wedding gift from a client of Alice’s, they decide to take a chance and enter The Pact a cult for the perfect married life, no body divorces and everyone lives happily ever after what’s not to love about The Pact, things turn dark pretty quickly and The Pact becomes a horrifying mental and physical torture to both Alice and Jake. A fantastic book thank you for giving me the opportunity to read and review.

The story itself - Jake and Alice are newlyweds and they receive a gift from one of the wedding guests - the gift is an invitation to join ‘The Pact’ a Society where marriage is indeed an institution and divorce unheard of. Not taking it altogether seriously they sign up but before long they realise they are in too deep and there is no escape!!

I have awarded this a 3.5 rounded up to 4. This book started off kind of slow then quickly picked up pace, so much so I didn’t want to put it down but then the last section seemed like the author ran out of steam and just wanted to get to the end. I was really disappointed in the last section from Jake leaving for Ireland right through to the closing sentence - there was so much more potential for the story to have had a more satisfying ending - I hate being left feeling frustrated by a book’s ending, don’t you? Although I guess it is good for the author and provides a talking point - Friend!

Some of the characters were just too perfect to be true and the whole story was so far fetched to be believable.
Not for me.

*** NEW *** NEW *** NEW ***
From now on, in every book review, I will include the one single idea that stood out the most for me in that book. Every book has one. I’d love it if you shared yours with me from the same book.
I loved this while I was reading it; couldn’t put it down! But then afterwards, when I gave it some thought (and I suppose that is a plus: that I was still thinking about it for a while afterwards), I started thinking about how much of the story was so highly improbable. Yes, I know it’s fiction, but there does still need to be a certain measure of belief and sustainability to keep a story within the realms of possibility, especially when it’s meant to be happening in the here and now. If this had been set in the near future, I think it would definitely lend more plausibility.
So … the premise is that Jake and Alice are newly-weds. They’re not young or naïve. She is a lawyer, he’s a psychologist. They receive a mysterious wedding gift from one of Alice’s clients – actually he’s a client of the firm that Alice works for; a very prestigious client, and she was instrumental in winning his case. On a whim, she invited him to their wedding and was surprised when he accepted. In hindsight, it’s an invitation she wishes she never extended!
The strange gift turns out to be an offer to join a covert club known as ‘The Pact’. Members of this fellowship are couples who are extremely devout (to the point of fanaticism) about their marriages, and the marriages of all others who are part of this organisation with them. There are rules … oh so many rules! The main ones being that you do not mention The Pact to anyone outside it, and once you’re in, you can never, ever leave! It’s a bit odd that Alice, a lawyer doesn’t seem to grasp the ‘small print’, or even fully read it before agreeing to enter into The Pact.
The amount of time this couple takes of work throughout this book was one of the things that I found myself constantly shaking my head about! There’s a vague reference once or twice to Jake’s colleagues questioning his increasing absence, but other than that, everyone seems pretty accepting of these unaccountable lapses in being present at their places of work.
The concept of this ‘Marriage Pact’ is an interesting one, and I suppose that’s what makes the book highly readable. The execution of the actual idea itself is sometimes a little off kilter though. Clearly the membership is made up of an intricate network of friends in high places, well connected, and well versed in the art of manipulation. Just how are the powers that be so all-knowing and all-seeing?
This book really had me hooked, but my suspension of belief was stretched to its limits so I’m giving it a 3.5. You need to read this one for yourself and decide.
STAND-OUT IDEA: “Answer the phone when your spouse calls. Every time. No exceptions.” While this stood out for me like many other concepts in the book, and the overall notion of the Pact itself, I found myself questioning whether this is actually possible? Jake is a psychologist – surely he can’t answer the phone during a session with a client? Alice is a lawyer – if she’s in court, she wouldn’t be able to answer the phone, would she? Similarly in our everyday lives, while theoretically the idea might be a good one to try and implement wherever feasible, it’s not always going to be achievable. I guess we can try our best though, right?

this was a very different type of thriller novel for me to read.

the pact are a group of married couples who believe marriage should be worked on at all costs and strictly abide by a set of, sometime bizarre, rules in order to keep their marriages going. if the rules are not observed the guilty party is subject to punishment metered out by the other members. couples are told “nobody leaves the pact!”

the story follows a young professional couple who become involved with the pact. that’s where my only problem with the book lay - how did an intelligent couple get so involved with these bunch of weirdos!

this book is well worth a read as it is so different from the norm.

many thanks to netgalley and the publishers for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This thriller took a newly wed couple into a cult about marriage. Some of the points the cult had would indeed help you keep a happy harmonious marriage but the punishments they dished out for breaking the rules were awful. Interesting read.

The Marriage Pact is a truly fascinating read. The plot was so unique and had me hooked from the very start.

Newlyweds Jake and Alice are intrigued by a mysterious box that they receive as a wedding present. An email enlightens them that a representative will explain to them the significance of the package. From their married life soon spirals out of control. Taken in by the mysterious group 'The Pact' they find that they now must live their life by very strict rules that involve draconian penalties if not adhered to.

Jake and Alice soon find that they are on the wrong side of the Pact and its leaders despite their best efforts to adhere to the rules. They start to question the motivation of the Pact. Have they joined a cult? Is Jake's old friend Joanne the key to helping him unlock secrets of the Pact? Why are they so hung up on punishing Alice?

The book is full of ups and downs and I found it a truly thrilling read. I was outraged at points at the horrendous means the Pact used to maintain the ideals of marriage. It is also the type of book that really gets you thinking. Imagine if something like this really existed! It is a complete rollercoaster of a book. I felt all the emotions that Jake and Alice felt. I was creeped out by the constant greeting 'friend' and the ending was something else!

I would absolutely recommend this book for others to read. I love a good psychological thriller but what really grabbed me was the uniqueness of the story. I seriously need to see this now as a movie because it would 100% work.

I really enjoyed this read. A little different to my normal reads. What would you give to ensure your marriage lasted! One to get you thinking and mess with your head. Would highly recommend. My thanks to the publisher & NetGalley for the advance reader copy.

Unfortunately I could not get into this book at all.