REVIEW: The Friendship Pact by Tara Taylor Quinn

In The Friendship Pact by Tara Taylor Quinn, Koralynn Mitchell befriended Bailey Watters in grade school, giving her the support and love that she never received at home from her alcoholic mom or absentee dad. Kora had a stable home life with a well-off family who treated Bailey like one of their own from day one. Their friendship becomes more of a sisterhood, each one of them swearing to protect the other no matter what, finishing their pact always saying, “I’d give you a kidney.”

“Promise me that if you ever need anything, you’ll come to me. Promise me you’ll ask me for it.”
“Of course.” She always had. Didn’t Koralynn know that?
“Because I promise you, from the depths of my soul, that if there’s anything I have that you need, no matter what it is, I will give it to you.”

As both Kora and Bailey make their way into adulthood, they choose different careers, school teacher and lawyer, respectively, but they don’t lose sight of their close bond. Bailey is there when Kora marries her high school sweetheart, Danny Brown, knowing that their love will last forever. However, Bailey doesn’t believe in forever for herself. She tries to make it work with a man she genuinely loves, but she knows marriage isn’t in the cards. She wants a family, though, so she decides to have one on her own via IVF. Through her searching, Danny becomes one option to her dilemma. Bailey and Kora will do anything for each other, but would this complicate the situation to the point where they could no longer remain sisters of the soul?

‘My best friend was right. Things weren’t the same anymore. We had to make adjustments. But what mattered most, the bond between us, hadn’t changed. And it wouldn’t.’

You know when you struggle over a decision, making what seems to be the best choice at the time, only to have it make things more complicated later on? That’s basically the premise behind The Friendship Pact. And what a truly tangled web of choices it is…

Novels about women’s friendship always get under my skin and cut right through to my heart. It’s a universal subject. We’ve all had a friendship or two that has in some way affected our lives. And this story gets down to the real core of how these two women, Bailey and Koralynn, became friends, why they stayed together, and the events that threatened to tear them apart after more than two decades together. Author Tara Taylor Quinn explores their differences and similarities, showing us how each woman chose their own path in love and life, but kept that thread of friendship, even during their most difficult times.

There are so many wonderful aspects to this story but I have to be careful not to give too much away! I can say that Bailey and Kora were equally inspiring in their own way: Bailey in becoming a successful lawyer after growing up with an alcoholic mother and an absentee dad; and Kora in her ability to see the best in people and in situations, then overcoming her own struggles later on. There is a huge amount of drama here and each event builds upon the previous one to bring more complexity to all of their relationships. Decisions Bailey makes with Jake and then Danny affect Danny and Jake’s relationship with Kora, and so on. I did like that this had a HEA ending that brings everything back around again. It may seem a bit soap operaish to some, from what I’ve seen mentioned online, but I think based on the relationships involved, it’s really the only outcome that could truly make sense.

The Friendship Pact is a moving, complicated, but ultimately heartwarming journey that I will definitely be reading again. Highly recommended.

Book Info:

Published June 2nd 2014 by Mira Books

This is a story for every woman who has a best friend…

Bailey Watters and Koralynn Mitchell consider themselves “sisters of the soul.” Their circumstances growing up couldn’t have been more different; Kora came from a wealthy, privileged family, while Bailey’s home life was hard. They’d do anything for each other. “I’d give you a kidney,” they always say. There are no secrets between them–until there’s one secret Bailey can’t share.

This is a story for every woman who’s been in love.

Danny Brown is the only man Kora’s ever wanted, ever loved, and her marriage seems as flawless as everything else in her life. Bailey, however, doesn’t want a husband. She does want a baby–but only by IVF. And the perfect donor, the perfect biological father, would be a man like…Danny.

What happens when love and friendship collide?

Kora might be willing to give Bailey a kidney. But what about a baby?