Reviews with content warning for Rape - The Amendment

It’s a shame that this book only began to get good around 75% of the way in. Ending was great but…..this series has been a mess.

I read The Arrangement and gave it a 3.5 at the time. The ending twist learning Peter’s secret really disgusted me. I actually had no idea there was a sequel. I wanted to give Kiersten another chance but maybe her style is not for me.

What’s bothersome is that, so much happens and virtually none of it has meaning because in the next page we’re already onto the next phase of the story. And I’m just gonna say it, the main characters are insufferable. The events that happen in this book are so rushed by that I don’t have time to care about any of it.

My biggest question is how are we, the readers, supposed to believe these characters, Peter and Ainsley, able to do all these horrible acts, get away with it all the time, and raise THREE LITERAL CHILDREN? And the children don’t suspect a thing besides mommy and daddy may be getting a divorce?

These parents are just able to kill and bury people and not once does a child hear anything, they’re just never home? It makes NO sense!!! Gives no credit to how smart and sneaky kids are especially when things are rocky at home, kids begin to snoop. Peter and Ainsley would’ve had to screw up at this point.

Spoilers review, explicit and harmful mentions & trigger warnings ahead so proceed with caution:

Let’s start with this whole rapist murderer that is Peter. That threw me for a loop in this first book. It was just so unnecessary??? Especially the explicit and disgusting act of rape…I’m profoundly upset that this is even a central topic in this book. We just have to read from the mind of a rapist and what…sympathize with him??? Genuinely. What more does this give to the story? If it had a purpose I could understand it but it feels like It’s a wanna-be completely worse and poor attempt at a Joe Goldberg from You.

But what makes it unbelievable, is we are supposed to believe this WOMAN.. Ainsley just ACCEPTS her HUSBAND and FATHER of her children has been out here being disgusting and raping/killing women…and she still WANTS HIM??? She legitimately has a daughter, is a woman herself and is like oh yeah I love my violent rapist serial killer husband. And I get that that IS possible, but maybe it’s just written terribly?

So already the foundation of this story is all over the place, but these characters kill two people in the span of a few chapters and their deaths mean nothing. All this build up about Jim - mans is dead and forgot about in an instant. What about his little business? What about the fact that cops interviewed him about Peter and now he’s missing too??? Why did he need all those boxes?? Who’s body was in the room???

Don’t even get me started on the Coach sub-storyline. The author really was sitting there like, as if I didn’t make this book deplorable enough, let’s throw in a pedophile for good measure!!! So Ainsley and Peter - the rapist/serial killer wanna team up and kill this coach but oh, Peter never killed and raped children so he must be so much better than the Coach huh?? (can you sense my sarcasm here?)

And to even add in the line where Peter admits to this self awareness….And again, the Coach is dead in an instant and it means nothing. We feel nothing for any of these characters.

Just when it started getting good with the therapy part, Joanna (whom I completely forgot about from the first chapter), and the growing distrust dynamic between the couple, oop the book is over!!

I sincerely wish the whole story was centered on that bit - them seeking out therapy and slowing going against each other until the very end where someone gets killed. At least that would’ve been more interesting than these random side characters who right when you start to feel any sort of emotion for the situation, they are dead and the couple is back to square 1 with their sex filled crazed phase again.

The ending left with a cliffhanger so I’m assuming there will be another eventually. I will say I do like how fast these books are to read and I want to like this author so badly but I am extremely disappointed. Not sure if I’ll pick up another sequel from this series.

Content Warnings

jconn0r's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

ctsaultz's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

3.5

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kamin8882's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

4.5

"Sorry, Honey. We're in this together, remember? After all, RULES ARE RULES. Guess I had just one more secret. How's that for full circle?"

WOW!! I really don't know how Kiersten Modglin comes up with these twisty, mind-blowing ideas, but she is a thriller genius for sure.

This book was just as crazy as the arrangement, with new characters introduced that we creepy and perfect for the story. I did think Peter was a little annoying in this story though. Ainsley new everything about him, so why keep small things that were way less intense from her?? Unless that was part of the thrill?? Either way, Ainsley was a badass in this book !! She not only proved herself to be a devoted wife and mother, but an exquisite partner in crime. LOVED HER! The narrators of the audiobook were perfect and the same as the arrangement, which really made the story even better. I can't wait to see what Kiersten has up her sleeve next.

Thank you to Kiersten Modglin for an ebook ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. AND thank you Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for an audio copy to accompany and make it a great read experience.

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