The Friendship Pact by Jill Shalvis – a Review

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Description:
Alone in the world, Tae Holmes and her mother April pretty much raised each other, but as Tae starts asking questions about the father she’s never met, April, for the first time in her life, goes silent. To make matters worse, Tae is dangerously close to broke and just manages to avoid financial meltdown when she lands a shiny new contract with an adventure company for athletes with disabilities and wounded warriors.

Her first big fundraiser event falls flat, but what starts out as a terrible, horrible, no-good night turns into something else entirely when Tae finds herself face-to-face with Riggs Copeland. She hasn’t seen the former Marine since their brief fling in high school, and while still intensely drawn to him, she likes her past burned and buried, thank you very much. Hence their friendship pact.

But when April oddly refuses to help Tae track down her father, it’s Riggs who unexpectedly comes to her aid. On a hunt to unlock the past, the two of them find themselves on a wild ride and learn a shocking truth, while also reluctantly bonding in a way neither had seen coming. Now Tae must decide whether she’s going to choose love … or walk away from her own happiness.

Review:

The Friendship Pact by Jill Shalvis is the 2^nd book in her Sunrise Cove series.  We meet Tae Homes, our heroine, at the start, when she is in charge of a fundraiser that has turned flat, mainly due to terrible weather.  Tae has her own event planning business, and the fundraiser was to help Jake Copeland with one of his events (military, kid, disabled, etc.); Jake tells Tae she did well, and she should go home, as his AHQ (Adrenaline HQ) team will clean up.  While waiting for Uber to show up, Tae is shocked to run into an old friend, who offers her a ride home.

Riggs Copeland, our hero and Jake’s brother, as return home to help his brother for the summer. Tae and Riggs have not seen each other since high school, with Riggs now out of the military, planning to move at summer’s end to accept a job in DC. Though both were a bit uncomfortable, neither of them ever forgot about their relationship back then.  Tae doesn’t plan getting close to Riggs, as he hurt her; and Riggs doesn’t plan to stay too long, as his memories of his deceased abusive father were still buried in his mind.

Tae is very close to her mom, April, and together they have managed to make ends meet. April loved to take beautiful photos, and has not tried to promote that, until someone sees the pictures and pushes her to show them. April, has focused her life solely on Tae, having raised her daughter, being a single teen mother; as she was her world, but April did have a secret.  One day, looking through some papers, Tae notices her birth certificate that has a blank under father; she begins to investigate, since her mother told her that her father died overseas when she was a baby.

Though Tae and Riggs ended up constantly running into each other, they agree that neither will be anything other then friends.  A slow build romance will change their friendship pact, and I loved watching them fall in love.   Riggs was strong and protective, of Tae, as well as his brother, Jake.  The brothers shared ownership of AHQ, which was helping out Veterans, kids, and those with disabilities, and Riggs felt Jake did not need him past the summer.   Will Jake be able to convince Riggs he is needed here?  Will Riggs, who has fallen hard for Tae, hurt her again, and leave?

The Friendship Pact is an excellent, heartwarming story revolving around friendship, family, love and forgiveness. As Tae learns more about her father, will she be able to forgive both her mother and Riggs, who was protecting her, for not telling her the truth. The Friendship Pact was very well written by Jill Shalvis. 

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher