Marriage Pact: A Novel

by Michelle Richmond

Picture-perfect newlyweds Alice and Jake are unexpectedly initiated into a mysterious organization designed to keep marriages happy and intact through seemingly sensible rules that become increasingly exacting and subject to brutal enforcement.

• ISBN10: 0385343299
• ISBN13: 9780385343299
• Publish Date: 25 July 2017
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Bantam Dell Publishing Group, Div of Random House, Inc
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 432
• Language: English

Reviews

[Leah]

The whole concept of a group determined to keep marriage sacred is an intriguing thing. Things like answering your spouses calls, going on a holiday every quarter, giving gifts every month, seems like a pretty innocuous way to keep your marriage going - right? Well, not quite, because the Pact is not as it seems and things soon turn sour for our happily married Jake and Alice as they rack up infractions.

I liked the concept of this book - marriage these days is treated as something you can do multiple times, like it has no meaning now. The vows may say "til death do us part" but rarely is that fulfilled in this age where people don't understand the concept of making a relationship work, and give up at the first hint of trouble.

However, the more I got into the book the more preposterous it all became. And the ending felt like a cop-out, would they really have been given those options?! I think not. And it just kind of devalued the whole reading experience.

An intriguing read, with a decent idea for a plot, but it just didn't grip me the whole way as I would have liked and that ending was just ridiculous. Is there some kind of clause that all thrillers must end like damp squibs? Crikey.

[pagesbycyndy]

Why did I like this book? It was so damn interesting, this group of successful couples have a pact about marriage and you would not believe the  bizarre rules and punishments. Newlyweds Alice and Jake willingly sign this pact before realizing what exactly they signed up for. What follows is the most bizarre look at how to keep your marriage perfect and what happens if you break even one rule. There is actually a marriage prison!! I was a bit amused by this book , I mean it was so over the top and unrealistic but I did enjoy it. For instance if you gain weight, they have weigh ins, you have to do grueling workouts with a personal trainer until you lose the weight. The couples have to remain the weight that they were on their wedding day, Friend. The Pact takes marriage and it's book of rules, The Manual, very seriously and members call each other Friend. While I did love this book at first , for me the middle dragged , it picked up again at the end though. I went on quite a roller coaster ride with Jake as he tries to find a way out of The Pact  but Friend, there may not be a way out unless you die. This book was so over the top but enjoyable.This review was originally posted on Cindy's Book Binge

[Jane]

5 stars? Wow! Been such a long while for me. 😉

Full review: https://janepedia.com/themarriagepact