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.

Jill Shalvis has an amazing talent for getting her readers to connect to her books on deep and emotional levels. The Friendship Pact is a heartwarming, healing story about friendship in love.

Tae Holms and her mother April have a very unique relationship. April being a teenage mom, in many ways they ended up raising each other. They have a solid bond as mother and daughter but also a friendship that goes beyond. They are in many ways each other’s worlds.  As Tae begins to take off in a career that she is passionate about she also has many life questions. The big one being who and what happened to her father. April is also discovering new parts of her life, finding herself as a person and not just a mother.   On the night of her first fundraiser Tae literally hops into a car and find herself face-to-face with the one person from high school that made an impact on her. Not just a fling but someone she cared about.  Riggs is an ex marine who is facing some demons and issues of his own. While there is an instant connection between the two and their past dealings may help egg that spark on Tae tries to play it hard and cool.

As Tae begins to ask questions of her past and her mothers avoidance at answering just makes her want the answers more. With a determination to accomplish this task on her own the last person she expected to help her would be that blast from the past that knows how to get under her skin, without even knowing.

Jill Shalvis broke out all the stops with this one. The Friendship Pact is a highly emotional and healing story about friendship and yes love. Love between a mother and daughter, love between friends and love between a man and a woman. All the characters in this book were healing in some way or another or helping someone heal. The personal issues of both Tae and Riggs have them keeping their barriers up but each of them seems to know a way to soften the others. Tae and Riggs do not have an easy climb but they make it well worth every step they took to find the love they didn’t No was waiting for them.