The Friendship Pact by Jill Shalvis
Publication Date: June 14, 2022
New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis returns to Sunrise Cove with a powerful, moving story about a young woman on a quest to find the truth about her father who learns the meaning of true love along the way.
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.
My Review
The Friendship Pact by Jill Shalvis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Heartwarming and Emotional Second Chance Romance
What you need to know about “The Friendship Pact”:
✔ Sunrise Cove #2
✔ Third Person, Multiple Point of View
✔ Second Chance Romance
✔ F/M Contemporary Romance
✔ Tae Holmes, FMC
✔ Riggs Copeland, MMC
✔ Disability rep
✔ Can be read as Complete Standalone
This is my first time reading a book by Jill Shalvis. I really enjoyed “The Friendship Pact” so I know it won’t be the last. This is the second book in the Sunrise Cove series but can be read as a complete standalone. This is an emotional and heartwarming book about love, friendship and family.
Tae and her mother, April, are close as April had Tae when she was just fifteen years old. They’ve made a promise to each other to try dating again. Tae is an event planner and she’s at an event when an elderly man tells her he knows her father. Tae is shocked and confused because April told her that her father died when Tae was a baby.
After the event she runs into Riggs Copeland, an old friend and ex from high school. They have a disastrous time of it on the way home to Tae’s and afterward when they are a little beaten up and tending to each other, they have a “moment”. Riggs stops and tells Tae that they should be friends again like they were in high school.
Riggs isn’t intending to stay in Sunrise Cove so, even though he is attracted to Tae, he feels like friendship is for the best. Tae and Riggs make a friendship pact for the summer. This is for the best as Tae is going to be working with him at his and his brother’s company.
The book follows Tae as she searches for clues surrounding her father as well as following her relationships with Riggs, April and Riggs’ relationship with his brother Jake. There’s also an emotional support dog named Grub and an old cantankerous cat.
The Friendship Pact is a pleasing second chance romance about family and finding love. It also includes some great disability representation with Jake and Riggs’ company Adrenaline HQ. The company’s purpose is to make adventure sports accessible for Wounded Warriors and disabled kids and adults.
I received a review copy of this heartwarming romance and this is my honest review.
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I hope you’re finding lots of good books to read during the summer.
For more books releasing in June, click here.