I thought I would review this wonderful book whilst listening to "Ain't No Cure For Love" by Leonard Cohen as the song somehow connects with Jake and Alice's relationship within their marriage. They fall innocently (and sometimes stupidly), under the influence of a secret society which supposedly was there to improve their marriage. Whatever feelings I had about cults was secondary to the brilliance of the writing. It was one of those (rare) books that I wanted to finish to see how Jake and Alice fared, but I also never really wanted the book to end! Strange, but I loved it.

I enjoyed reading this story but I was repelled at the same time. I found it a really strange concept and the violence was shocking given that no crime had been committed. I was pleased at the ending!

I'm sorry but I just couldn't get into this novel. After starting to read it I had to go back because I had assumed that the speaker was a woman. I have to admit that I gave up which is really unusual for me.

An amazing read. Full of twists and turns and intriguing characters. Easily one of the best books of the year,

I'm on the fence with The Marriage Pact.

It is a page turner, I raced through it in two sittings, it is pacy and well written and in many ways completely gripping - but also unlikely to the point of reading inertia and sometimes so over the top silly that that you just sit there shaking your head. I guess maybe because it looks like a psychological thriller (and is I suppose in many ways) but reads more like a random episode of Tales of the Unexpected (showing my age there)

I can't say I didn't enjoy it I thoroughly enjoyed it but more because it gave me plenty of opportunity to growl at the characters for being either stupid or ridiculously passive.

So the story is about a young couple Jake and Alice who marry and then join "The Pact" a strange cult like group determined to keep marriages happy. They have so many rules and regulations that your head will spin, couples are punished for "infractions" in an increasingly bizarre set of "sentences" one of which included Alice walking around everywhere for days (at her law firm where she is supposedly a respected staff member - lets not even START with her signing the contract at the beginning of this book without due diligence, some Lawyer!!!) in a kind of dog collar type thing (still not sure what THAT was all about) and another of which included actual torture. But hey they just pootle along with it and in between all this carry on being, well, slightly annoying and rather insipid. But still - I couldn't stop reading!

It is a different premise, kudos to the author for that, but it really was terribly terribly ridiculous. I know its fiction so it doesn't have to be realistic throughout but everyone in this book was just weird in one way or another. Plus enough with the statistics about marriages Jake - I genuinely don't care.

This might actually have gotten another star from me because as I said I couldn't stop reading it and it was addictive- but then the ending. Sorry to the author but if you are going to drag me along through a progressively ludicrous plot, expect me to give you plenty of suspension of disbelief, then the least you can do is give me the courtesy of a definitive ending. I don't mind ambiguous endings for the most part - some of my favourite books have them because they leave me with thought provoking what if's - but in this case it just doesn't work. Because frankly I don't care that much so I won't think about them again and all it did was make me go oh. That's it? Pfft.

So 3* for great writing, an honestly hugely imaginative premise and for keeping me engaged even though I occasionally wanted to stab people.

Recommended as a marmite read - decide for yourself!

Excellent book. Great storyline and wonderful main characters. I would recommend this book.

While the premise of this thriller was really interesting – a secret organisation that aimed to support others in their marriage and dire consequences if you failed to adhere to the rules – I was massively let down by a major point near the beginning. Alice is a lawyer, and signs a contract without actually reading it. She skims it, and is certainly more aware of the rules than Jake throughout the book, but this kind of impulsive decision seems out of character with her lawyer persona. Now it is stated in-text that she can be impulsive and doesn’t always think through her decisions, but even still. Any other kind of profession might have been more appropriate than having a lawyer impulsively sign a contract which binds her to all sorts of weird and wonderful rules.

But other than that minor quibble, I mostly very much enjoyed this thriller. As Jake and Alice realise how deep they’ve gotten themselves into something they actually know nothing about, and try to extricate themselves, they realise that The Pact is a more sinister organisation than they could have guessed.

What I really liked about this was that obviously as a couple Alice and Jake wanted their marriage to succeed. So the juxtaposition of wanting to get out of The Pact – which aims at making their marriage succeed – and still wanting their marriage to succeed presents some nice misdirection on what their aims are.

Jake himself is something of a nothing character. There’s little that’s distinguishing about him. Alice is the centrepiece of this book. A collection of contradictions, former rocker chick, band frontwoman, but also a junior associate in a commercial law firm, writing briefs for IP cases. She contains multitudes, and Jake doesn’t understand her, but he worships her. Their relationship and the insights given into it is the driving force of this novel, as they forge their first year of marriage and navigate the path The Pact has drawn for them.

Some twists at the end that I didn’t see coming, and one that I did, meant that the ending of this book was something I found very satisfying in its very ambiguity. The first book I’ve read from Michelle Richmond, I would be surprised if it was the last.

Absolutely loved this page turner! Great gripping story that was uncomfortable to read in some places but intriguing at the same time! Couldn't wait to get to the conclusion!

One of the fastest page turning novels I've read recently. It pulls you in from page one and never let's up.. It's romantic, horrific and just too darn good to put down. Really the question to ask is What would I do in the beginning and the end. Terrific.

A really great read. I was fortunate to read this book prior to it's release and I loved it. A really unusual premise and interesting characters, I was hooked throughout, never knowing who to trust and both scared, intrigued and enthralled by 'The Pact' in equal measures.
Having finished it I'm mainly just grateful this is a work of fiction......it is.... isn't it?........
Read it!

I think the ideas & themes in this book will stay with me for a long time (perhaps because I'm only relatively recently married?) and for that reason I'm giving it a high rating.

It wasn't always the most well written of books & at times, you do have to suspend belief (a lawyer not reading a contract before signing?), but the story of this pro-marriage cult & a man's introspective thoughts on his reasons for initially pursuing a marriage, touched a nerve with me!

I found this book creepy. I enjoy books where a regular person loses all control of their lives after a couple of badly thought out decisions. They draw me in asking 'but what would I do in that situation'?!

The reveal of Orla's rational for creating the 'cult' was not well enough explained & expanded on for me. However there were several other reveals that were unexpected, which doesn't happen often.

Who wouldn't accept the offer of friendly support to ensure their marriage is strong & lasts forever?!

Great concept, went slightly off the rails at times, but creepy & thought provoking throughout.

This is my first book by this author I will be checking out her other books.
The Pact!!! what is it ? is it a club, a cult, or a group?
This book was good I enjoyed it and it was well written the Author takes you on a mysterious ride till the end. I did find it a bit slow to start with but once it got going I really enjoyed the book.
The characters are great well written. And will have you turning the pages to find out what is going to happen.
Just married Alice and Jake receive a wedding gift from one of Alice’s clients - an invite to join a group known only as The Pact. The pact is a very mysterious group and some of the stuff that goes on there is mad.. I am not going say much don’t want to spoil it but give this book a try it is worth the read.

A truly chilling & creepy thriller. A story of Alice and Jake and what happens after they say "I do". Will keep you gripped until the end!

While this started off as a very good book that kept my interest it really spun off in the last third. It seems to be a theme recently that well written books with compelling plots can't see it through to the end.

This book is definitely a page turner. I finished in abou 3 days. You didn't know what would happen next.

After Jake and Alice get married they join The Pact. It's much like a cult and there is no escaping. They seem to have eyes everywhere. There are plenty of twists and the punishments grow more severe each time. They make a mistake. Who can be trusted? Not who you think. Will they even survive? But it's not just a Thriller it's a love story, and Jake really loves Alice and as the book progresses you find that Alice is just as committed to their marriage and that turns out to be really important to their survival as The Pact is all about having a good marriage. I throughly enjoyed the book and loved the ending!!

I didn't enjoy reading this book to be honest, but I persevered to the end.

The plot was sinisterly good, most of the characters were well-drawn, but for me, the whole thing was too far-fetched to be believable. So much so that I became annoyed with some of the characters!

Thanks anyway to the publishers and Net Galley for allowing me to read an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

What can i say! This book kept me enthralled till the very end. You are kept on the edge of your seat wondering just how sinister things are going to get! An amazing summer read that on a serious note did make me think about marriage and all it stands for.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book, I have to be brutally honest it just wasn't for me. I think it was a bit far fetched and it would nearly put me off getting married at all. I didn't think too much of the storyline.

This book had me in two minds hence the 3 stars I neither loved it or hated it. Parts of it I enjoyed the others annoyed me. I also found the theories on marriage thrown in a bit boring so skipped them. I was glad of the ending as I found the premise a bit unbelievable at times although I do know cults exist.

Sometimes you read a book which, despite obvious good qualities, doesn't quite work. For me, this is one of those books. But maybe it's just me. Luckily, despite taking the shine off of the whole experience, there's still something there.

The best thing there is the basic concept. It's simple, fresh, clever, and it's hard not to get pulled along wondering just how it will all play out. The set-up is pretty Hollywood - successful couple gets married and invited into a socially elite group that have a manual on how to nurture a successful marriage. Also in best Hollywood style, the more they learn about this secretive group the darker things become.

Yet there's more to the whole thing than that.

The Manual prompts simple things that many married couples would no doubt appreciate. Regular gifts and trips away for example. You could almost lift parts of this as a Guide To Marriage in a glossy magazine they sound so wonderful. Jake and Alice serve as a reminder that ideals clash with reality at times though. Those magazine articles get read in bed wistfully before sleepily turning off the lights and making mental notes of what chores need doing before you can even consider gift shopping and trip planning. Which is where the edge comes in. The Pact is about rules, and rules are easily broken. And when rules get broken there are usually repercussions. The Marriage Pact delivers on the rituals of devotion, of giving yourself to your partner.

As I said earlier, this angle gives the author room to explore so many avenues that even as the story starts to blossom around a third of the way in it's hard to plot what's yet to come, and does so right to the end. It's one of those stories that you'll have a dozen theories on how it will unfold, and you were right at one point, but who knows how long before you changed your mind.

So if the story is good, where do things go wrong? It's not Jake or Alice. They're good protagonists. It would've been easy to make them just a little too perfect, but from the start they're enjoyably normal. That slight lack of sheen gives them an easy distance from the perfect crowd in The Pact. It all fits in nicely with the overall plot.

What ultimately took the edge off for me though were some (fairly infrequent and random) phases of clumsiness. Out of character behaviours and mistakes, especially when concentrated in a small section, jarred. At times it feels as if the author is conflicted. Character traits that are presumably intended to be affectionate ticks slowly become less logical as they're forced to fit in with the rest of the story. Characters lift the plot onto a new course with a small change in mood or tone that seems unnecessary; the plot has enough flow to glide there itself and doesn't need forced help like that.

In truth these niggles are small. There remains a good story with good characters. I just couldn't help feeling that a little more surety from the author would've elevated it all into something special, and therefore good just doesn't feel enough anymore. It is good, but it could've been great.