Jill Shavis's 'The Friendship Pact' is told from three points of view - prickly Tae, her high school fling Riggs, and her mother optimistic April.

Tae is fiercely independent having grown up with a mother 15 years older than her, living place to place and witnessing how relationships and love do nothing but hurt women. Yet she yearns to know more about her father after discovering that he might be alive.

For April, getting pregnant at 15 left her without a family or any support, leaving her co-dependent with her daughter, getting into relationships with men just so they had a home. She also has been hiding information about Tae's father.

Stoic Riggs, is allergic to committment and relationships, having left his alcoholic father's home to join his brother in the military. He's returned for the summer to help his brother run their business, only to find himself just as attracted to Tae, whom he had a brief fling with in high school.

At first this book had me frustrated with the pace of this story. While I loved that Tae was prickly and had excellent reasons for why she did or didn't do things it completely slowed down the story line for her refusal to take action on information she's learnt. Same with April and Riggs. While I understood and empathised with them this 'negative motivation' didn't move the plot forward.

However once this book overcame those hurdles I was really invested and by the end went 'wow'.

This book was a heartwarming and poignant look at family, and learning to trust in yourself and others.

Thank you to Headline and Netgalley for ARC.