The title of the book was intriguing.

Jake, a therapist and Alice, a former semi-famous band member, now an attorney, are getting married. When her boss asks to attend, Alice thinks it's a kind gesture. It is not.

Marriage is hard enough without having a third party involved in it. While I was still intrigued for the first third of the book, after that it became tedious and hard to believe.

We've seen a lot of books like this lately. Books that show super smart people behaving in ways that you know is just not believable. And that was my problem with the book, it made me not like any of the characters, especially the main two.

I found The Marriage Pact to be a rather strange and creepy book. It had main characters that seemed a little gullible to me, as they were so easy to lead into this bizarre group. I felt sorry for them and want them to be able to extricate themselves from the trouble they inadvertently found. The storyline definitely kept my interest. Even though it was odd, I found it suspenseful and intriguing. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest review.

The Marriage Pact is a uniquely fresh and chilling psychological thriller, featuring couples who subscribe to the philosophy of The Pact and would do anything to preserve their marriages.

A distinguished attorney and a therapist decide, after receiving an unusual wedding present, to participate in an unconventional group. This group has one central purpose: to ensure successful and healthy marriages. What begins as harmless structure and discipline leads to a harrowing experience.

With a masterfully tense plot, Redmond’s ability to build a fictional world and breathe life into the characters shines brilliantly in The Marriage Pact. While the tone is dark and brooding, the pace is fast and smooth.

With a tint of satire, this psychological thriller will grab the attention of most married women. With voyeuristic relish, women will eagerly peek into the lives of Jake and Alice, albeit through Jake’s eyes, and begin to ask the age-old question: Is there really a secret to a long and happy marriage?

Alice and Jake are newlyweds excited to start their new life together. Alice is a former rock musician and now a lawyer. Jake is a partner in a psychology practice. Both have demanding careers which sometimes mean long hours away from each other. They still love spending time together and try to make sure they cook and eat dinner together every night. When they receive a wedding gift from a client of Alice's which promises a stronger marriage, they both think it sounds like a great idea. The invitation is to an exclusive group called "The Pact". Upon agreeing to join The Pact, Alice and Jake sign contracts and are given a manual. The manual is very thick and Jake casts it aside after briefly skimming through it. Alice reads it in more detail but laughs it off when she sees there are consequences for simple things, such as having lunch with someone of the opposite sex other than your spouse. Other rules seem simple enough: buy a gift for your spouse once a month, go on vacation together once per quarter, etc. Pact members meet once a month and the parties are always glamorous and enriching. Alice and Jake like meeting new people who seem to have like minded views about a strong marriage. When Jake meets an old acquaintance at a monthly gathering he starts to become suspicious of The Pact. And when Alice is forcefully removed from their home and sent away as a consequence, they both start to become scared of The Pact.

The first half of this book kept me entertained and I flew right through it. I liked Alice and Jake and the initial description of The Pact interested me. The second half got a little too far fetched and ridiculous to hold my interest and I found myself not picking it up for a couple days. All the punishments and consequences were way too out there to be believable. Jake and Alice are both sent away for several days and no one at work suspects anything? A psychologist and a lawyer have such demanding careers, I found it hard to believe that their work could continuously be dropped and picked right up where they left off with no questions asked.

The main problem I had with the idea of The Pact was the actual point of it. Who cares if people want to leave after they join? What interest do Pact members have in the members? An explanation was kind of attempted at the end but it felt too rushed and incomplete for me and didn't fit together well. I would have loved a good twist as a epilogue. I think the ending could have been interpreted differently and I love a good twist. A newspaper article mentioning a couples' disappearance would have changed the ending a little and provided some good mystery to The Pact.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this book.

You start reading this book and think how great the couple just married will have a support system and wham things get interesting real quick. Makes you think how easy anyone could land in their situation which escalates as you keep reading. Love that the couple continues to support each other all through and finally at the end. Great writing and unique idea.

About a third of the way into this book I almost put it down. Being a therapist myself, I thought, "Come on, really?! What professionals would get duped into something like this?!" But forcing myself to read on, I realized that, like the main characters here, we each have insecurities and weaknesses behind our professional facades that shrewd people can prey upon. Although a bit surreal, The Pact shows, albeit in a creepy way, how anyone can be drawn into a situation - this one potentially deadly - by letting doubt and insecurities lead our decision making. Being a fan of solid resolution at the end of my books, I was left unsettled at the final pages of this one; however, I suppose it was fitting for this story.

Disgusting and creepy. Bad writing. And for the love of all things good, I do NOT need to know EVERY detail of the character's married life.

An unknown friend, and unknown gift with no known key. Newlyweds, new fears and challenges, this was not the same old chick shtick; a very nice surprise.

This was the first book of Michelle Richmond's that I have read and I really wasn't sure what to expect or what I was getting myself into. I vountarily am reviewing an advance reader copy of this book. Alice and Jake's story was unlike anything I have read before. It was well written and certainly kept me turning the pages as quickly as i could to find out what was going to happen. I found parts of it to be very unrealistic, however for the story it worked. I would certainly entertain reading additional books by Michelle again in the future.

I was lucky enough to receive an early reader copy courtesy NetGalley. Wow! What a ride this book was. Alice and Jake are the typical newlyweds until they receive a gift from one of her legal clients. The gift is strange - pens in a box. Then one day a woman shows up and explains the gift to them and they sign papers agreeing to abide by the Pact rules thinking it will make their marriage stronger. But the Pact is not what it seems and nobody ever gets out of the Pact – alive. Just the kind of page-turning, twisty, psychological suspense story that I thirst for.

Redmond does not disappoint and the action moves at lightning speed through every page. Any thriller fan will be awestruck by the good writing, plot twists and character development.

A very disturbing look at what a couple would go through to keep their marriage intact. Breaking the "Marriage Pact" has unforeseen consequences. A real page turner.

This psychological thriller really is hard to put down. The story starts with Alice and Jake, young, ambitious and ready to get married and start their lives together. They invite one of Alice's top clients to the wedding and the gift he gives them changes them dramatically. At first the Marriage Pact seems like a great idea. Ways to help keep your marriage strong and healthy - small gifts to each other, date nights, parties to attend hosted by members of the Pact, but behind it all is mystery and some devastating actions if you break any of the Pact's rules. How far would you go to show your spouse you truly love them? What can the Pact find out about your past that can damage your marriage. This book would be great for a book club as it opens up a slew of questions for discussion. Thanks to the publishers for allowing me an advance copy through Netgalley, for my honest review.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I can't name five things I liked about this book. I wanted to, the concept sounded interesting, and then it turned completely cult like and I just couldn't handle it. Also I realize this is an advanced copy, but would it hurt to have some spell checks?

The Marriage Pact is one of those books that seems almost plausible, and yet has an air of unreality about it. When Jake and Alice get married, they are given “The Pact” as a gift. At first it seems like a fairly innocuous gift- a way to help them have a great marriage that won’t end in divorce. But once you’re in; you’re in, and there’s no getting out. The rules are law and the punishments severe. It was the kind of book that makes you feel a bit uncomfortable and yet one that you just can’t put down. I found myself almost skimming through the book as I flew through the pages- needing to find out the ending.

Recommend- Yes

The story is riveting, the characters are dynamic, and overall a very suspensful plot. Some of the events seemed a little over-the-top, but the author weaved it all together into a crazy, terrifying, and satisfying story.

Pretty fast-paced, especially the second half of the book. I loved the plot, but the ending left too much open for my taste, and overall the events felt a little unlikely and hard to relate to.

This book is much more creepy than I thought when I first started reading and I LOVED it. It really adds to the dark atmosphere and hooks readers to the plot. While there were some moments where I felt myself shaking my head in dismay of the characters actions and thoughtlessness, it didn't deter me from finding overall enjoyment of the story. In fact, I really liked it A LOT. I found it to be quite unique and thrilling and wanted to read it from start to finish because I was so intrigued to find out what would happen next. So to say this one is a page turner would be an understatement. It's more like a page-flipper where readers will be anxiously flipping the pages- one after another- because they can't stop reading! Highly recommended!

This wasn't what I expected. It was suspenseful with just a touch of creepy. I didn't like the main characters & found myself not really able to feel any sympathy for them. The book was well- written, but not my cup of tea.

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of this novel.

I received this book "The Marriage Pact" from Netgalley for my honest review.

I would have to say that this book is "different". I didn't know what to think in the beginning as it was hard to grab my attention. I liked the concept of the story so I kept going. The book did get interesting about the time that Jake and Alice decided they wanted out of the Pact. I would say this book is kinda weird but I got to know the characters and I wanted to follow along their story and see what would happen to them. I hated the ending - it just ended - just like that the book was done. I feel like maybe there should have been more - I was left hanging about what happened to Alice and Jake... so what happened to them?

I have no idea how Michelle Richmonds mind works, but the Marriage Pact is one of her best.
It is a love story and a syfy thriller tied up into one!
Amazing!