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.
Review:
Absolutely loved!
Truly, no one does families and the complex relationships they contain like Jill Shalvis, and the second book in her Sunrise Cove series is further proof.
For her whole life, it’s always been Tae Holmes and her mom April. April was pretty much a baby herself when she had Tae, and Tae’s spent almost as much of her life protecting her mom as her mom has done for her. When some long-held beliefs through her past into question, Tae isn’t sure what to do. Adding to the confusion, her best/worst one night stand is back in town, and boy has he grown up well…
Riggs and Jake Copeland didn’t have parents they could count on, they only had each other. Until Jake left for the military. Riggs followed 8 years later, but he still wasn’t there for his brother when an IED changed his life forever, and it’s made their relationship…complicated. Now out of the Marines for good, Riggs is back in town for the summer to help with Jake’s new business. What he didn’t expect? To see Tae again. A whole lot of Tae…because guess who his brother has hired to help plan their upcoming events?
I loved watching Tae and Riggs, two people who already have a lot going on in their lives find each other again and fall in love. Of course at the same time they had plenty of family drama to work through, and in true Jill Shalvis fashion we *might* also get a sweet secondary romance thrown in there too.
And a pair of dogs, some adorable at-risk kids, and oh yeah, a unicorn onesie. Not gonna lie, that garment sounds amazing…
Though The Friendship Pact is the second book in the series, it absolutely works as a standalone as well. But do yourself a favor and read the first one ( The Family You Make ) too–I promise, you won’t be sorry!
Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.