Karina Halle

It all started with a pinky swear...Linden McGregor is tall, rugged, and gunslinger handsome; a helicopter pilot with a Scottish brogue and charm to spare. He's also one of Stephanie Robson's best friends and has fit into that box for as long as she's known him.Beautiful, funny and an ambitious businesswoman (with one hell of an ass), Stephanie Robson is one of Linden McGregor's best friends and has fit into that box for as long as he's known her.But some relationships can't be boxed, can't be classified, can't be tamed.Back in their mid-twenties and tired of the competitive hit-or-miss dating scene of San Francisco, Steph and Linden made a pact to marry each other if neither one of them were in a serious relationship by the time they hit thirty.It sounded like fun and games at the time but as the years to thirty tick past and lovers come and go out of their lives, the pact becomes larger than life.Sex is inevitable. Friendships are tested. Hearts are on the line.The pact is about to change everything.

The Pact

Connor 

Jessica Thomas 

First 5 star read of the new year! So good, and you could expect nothing less from Karina Halle.

Grace O'Callaghan

Being completely honest, I don’t remember too much about this one.

It’s a fairly generic romance plot where the heroine and hero make a pact to get married if they don’t have relationships by 30.

This felt like it was supposed to be a friends to lovers story but I never bought the fact they were friends. They seemed attracted to each other from the get go.

I also remember being really bored and not caring about any of the characters.

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The Pact is a very different kind of Karina Halle book, but it was incredible nonetheless. Though it doesn't have the gut-wrenching, heart ripping-out moments of some of Karina's other reads, I still felt a whole bunch of feels. It wasn't angsty, though there was some drama. It was super sexy and a little dirty and a lot addictive. When it's time to read this book, clear a block out of your schedule. Once you start reading about Linden and Stephanie, you won't want to stop. I'm a total sucker for friends-to-lovers stories, so this would have been a must-read for me regardless of who wrote it. But, because Karina writes complicated love so very well, I knew I would love this book. I was right. 

I loved Stephanie and Linden both. The dynamic between them was fantastic. Their banter was funny and sexy and I connected to both of them immediately. There were so many great, funny sexual one-liners in this book, I was highlighting like a mad woman. Linden was so very sexy. There were some moments when I wanted to shake sense into him, but if it was all perfect it wouldn't have been much of a story. Stephanie is the kind of woman I would be friends with in real life. She was strong and successful, funny and real. And seriously confused by her attraction to her friend, Linden. 

Stephanie and Linden were friends. That's it. Or is it? There was an undeniable underlying attraction between them when they made the pact, but neither of them own up to it until much later. It was one of those attractions that was obvious to everyone but them. Because the book was told from both of their points of view, I knew what was going on and I wanted to lock them in a room together until they owned up to their feelings. It was fun to watch their relationship evolve from friends to lovers to more. I wouldn't call this an angsty read by any stretch, but I got hit straight in the feels as things became more difficult for them. I wanted them to make it work. 

The Pact was a great, realistic read. The characters were flawed, but it was those flaws that made them perfect for each other. The struggle they faced as they navigated their feelings for their friend (and the ultimate fallout in their other relationships) couldn't have been more perfectly written. I could easily understand where everyone was coming from (even if I didn't ultimately agree or like some of the behavior), but I always knew what Stephanie and Linden shared was real and right. With all that realness comes a side of smoking hot sexy times. I half feared my iPad would catch fire and I know I blushed a few times as I sat in a living room with my family, reading it. It's fluffier than Karina's normal reads, but I loved it. It shows that a great writer can make even a fluffy story amazing. The writing, the characters, everything was on point. I can't recommend it highly enough.

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Bibi Disco

Lisa ✩ @lifeinlit

“Life isn’t a linear journey. Sometimes it’s one step backwards, two steps forward and then a jump out to the side. It’s kind of like the “Time Warp”, when you think about it.

Life follows many directions and hopefully, eventually, your mind and body and life and love, all catch up with each other.”

I’m a HUGE sucker for friends-to-lovers stories. When I see that in the synopsis I almost always grab the book. Especially when it’s written by an author that I’ve been really enjoying lately. And let’s not forget that cover! Yes, that kind of won me over as well. Add the cover and synopsis together and this was a book that I was not going to miss out on.

I have to say, as a woman in her thirties, there is definitely a lot of truth to this whole idea of life coming to this pivotal point when you hit thirty. Society makes people feel as though thirty is almost the breaking point for being “young”, so I definitely enjoyed the whole pact at thirty thing. I’ve even known a few friends that had a similar agreement. If they were both thirty and single, they would get married. Sounded so weird to me when I was younger and first heard about it… but then I turned thirty and I totally understood. lol

I really enjoyed a lot of this story. Mostly the anticipation leading up to the thirtieth birthday. I was waiting to see what would happen. These two were obviously all kinds of crazy about each other, yet neither one would acknowledge their own feelings. Going from relationship to relationship, the two never seemed to express their feelings toward each other. The anticipation was definitely building for me as the big birthday was approaching.

“Life leaves scars. Sometimes you don’t see them until later. Sometimes you don’t know where they’ve come from. Sometimes they fade before your eyes. But the world leaves its mark on us.”

A few things also kind of bugged me… including James and his whole ruining-everything-in-the-world behavior. He was so self-centered and annoying, and I hated how Steph and Linden tiptoed around him so much. View Spoiler » I also couldn’t stand Nadine, but I’m sure no one could. She was one of the most unlikeable characters I’ve read in quite some time. But honestly, I kind of like that in a story. I don’t have to like every character to enjoy a story. 

(view spoiler)[The only thing involving Nadine that kind of annoyed me was how long Linden stayed with her, despite being in love with someone else. Even his thinking about Steph while being intimate with her really rubbed me the wrong way. If you’re in love with someone else, please just break up. Yes, he didn’t actually cheat on her. Thankfully. But thinking about another woman and being in love with another woman, in my opinion, is a form of cheating. And this behavior of his, for a guy I otherwise really liked, was a bit off-putting for me. Not the end of the world, just bugged me.  (hide spoiler)]

Overall I did find this book quite enjoyable. And though some characters (James and Nadine) drove me absolutely crazy at times, their lack of a good personality didn’t take away from the story for me. I think this is a quick read and I’m happy I read it. Karina has such beautiful writing (as evidenced in the quotes above) and she’s never afraid to make us cringe, blush, and giggle when necessary. I saw a few bloggy friends buddy reading this book, and I think it’s a great book to read with a friend. There were quite a few parts that would have been fun to chat about with someone reading this book at the same time. All in all, another enjoyable book from Karina.

Audiobook Impressions:
Let’s all give it up for TWO NARRATORS!! Yahoo!!! I always, ALWAYS, prefer two narrators when the story has two points of view. It makes the audiobook so much more enjoyable. Both of these narrators were new to me, but after browsing through Audible I saw that both have narrated their fair share of books. That definitely came off in their narrations as well. I wouldn’t say they were spectacular (not along the lines of Elizbaeth Louise or Zachary Webber, but let’s be fair here…) but I don’t have any complaints either. A consistently well-read book by two experienced narrators.


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The Pact

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