 🎧︎The Friendship Pact, the latest novel by Jill Shalvis, transports the reader back to Sunrise Cove. This time around, the reader gets the chance to take an emotional roller coaster ride with a new set of character. 🎧︎The Friendship Pact introduces characters who will win your heart and have you craving a visit to the Cove.
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Title: The Friendship Pact
Author(s): Jill Shalvis
Series: Sunrise Cove #2
Also in this series: The Family You Make
Narrator(s): Andi Arndt
Published by HarperAudio on June 14, 2022
Pages: 378
Length: 9hrs 11mins
Genre(s): Romance, Women's Fiction
Source: Netgalley, Scribd
Format: Audiobook, eArc 
Purchase: Amazon|Audible
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New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis returns to Sunrise Cove with another moving story about a young woman on a quest to find the truth about her unknown father and learns about 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.
SUMMARY
In this installment of the Sunrise Cove series the reader meets Tae Holmes and her mom April. April was a teenage mother who chose to raise Tae on her own. Since then it was them against the world. Tae had a hard life growing up, but now she’s an event planner and is determined to support her mom and herself. Growing up without a father affected her poorly, and she closed off her heart and refused to get close to anyone. Things seem to be looking up when she got the contract with an adventure company, Adrenaline HQ, to plan events for wounded soldiers and athletes with disabilities.
Riggs Copeland a silent partner for Adrenaline HQ, came to Sunset Cove at his brother’s request to assist with the summer program at Adrenaline HQ. He has no plans to stay, as he has a job in DC waiting for him. He and Tae had a fling in high school, but things ended on a sour note. Since then they haven’t spoken to each other. When their paths crossed once again, sparks flew, but being the broken persons, they were a relationship was out of the question. The best thing would be to remain friends. Will they be able to keep their pact of friendship, or will they give into their desire for each other?
I had a wonderful with 🎧︎The Friendship Pact. There were so many things happening. Romance, drama, and secrets flowed through the pages of the story.
I loved the relationship Tae shared with her mother. It may not have been perfect, but the love between them shined throughout the story. As I mentioned, it was far from perfect, which in of itself is fine. However, what had me all riled up was April’s decision to lie to Tae under the guise of protecting her.
Like Tae, Riggs didn’t have the best life growing up, which was what drew them together years ago. Now, as adults, the baggage of the past weighed heavily on their present. I enjoyed seeing how they eventually came to terms with their past and, in doing so, paved the way for healing, forgiveness, and love.
The secondary characters added depth to the story, with my favourite being Riggs’s brother. I admired how he didn’t allow his disability to hold him back.
This was my first experience with narrator Andi Ardnt. She did a great job with the characters. I enjoyed her male voices, despite her not sounding like a guy. Her performance in this regard was done with ease. Her variation in tone reflected the gender of the characters. She gave the story life and made it a pleasurable listening experience.
Once again Shalvis created a story aimed at captivating readers. A story to put some joy in your heart and a smile on your face. 🎧︎The Friendship Pact is perfect for fans of women’s fiction with a mix of romance, drama, comedy and sass.
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About Jill Shalvis
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