★★★★★ 5 Stars ★★★★★NOW LIVE!Oh my lordy, this was an amazing, beautiful and sexy read - it was an angsty friends to lovers story that gave me the feels in all the right places.Linden McGregor is a sexy Scottish helicopter pilot and is best friends with both James and Stephanie. Living in San Fran, they are a threesome in their mid - late thirties who are navigating life and dating. Whilst drinking one night, Linden & Stephanie make a pact that if they are both single by the time they hit 30, the...

“The two of you in a marriage? World’s pickiest woman with the world’s biggest manwhore? Yeah, have fun with that.” In a sea of stories about young lovers sharing their firsts—first loves, first heartbreaks, one and only forevers—there finally comes a story about single people in their early thirties desperately searching for that rare, almost illusive connection with someone that would make them feel a little less lonely in the world, a little less stranded, all the while trying to r

DNF at 82%I can't take anymore. I normally don't rate books I haven't finish but this one annoyed me to such a degree that I couldn't help but give it one star.I wish I had waited for more reviews to be posted before buying and starting this book. If I had, I would have quickly realized this story wasn't for me. I'm not a fan of plots where the main couple spend a good portion of the book in relationships with other people, use contrived scenarios to keep the romance from progressing, or feature...

::: FULL REVIEW NOW POSTED ::: ^^^ that's who the author cast as the hero!! *swoon* If you're looking for a new book to fall in love with, this friend-to-lovers romance was fun, hot, a little angsty, and kept me glued to the page from the minute I started until the end!! I loved it! Linden and Steph were best friends since they first met and were both tired of a never ending stream of bad dates. So one day, when they were both in their mid-twenties, they made a pact and agreed that if neither o...

1.5 stars!Here's the thing: I love the friends-to-lovers trope. It's my catnip. No lie. Just look at my Read shelf here on GR. I love them. I usually devour them and they always -- well, almost always work for me. It's fairly hard for me to dislike a book with this trope because no matter how silly or improbable the situations are, I always end up liking them. In other words, I don't think I could ever dislike a book with this trope. It's almost impossible. I was wrong. The Pact just proved it.F...

2.5 starsTo my buddy read friends, :)) I can't believe I didn't end up liking this book. Karina Halle is my favorite author if you consider that I've given 15 of her books 5 star ratings. I basically rated the entire EIT series as well as the Artist's trilogy 5 stars. This is why it kills me to give one of her books a low rating. It just wouldn't be me to not be honest, in addition to the fact that this book in my opinion is not a great representation of what she is capable of writing. I don

3.5 ARGH Stars***Spoilerish Ranty Review***This book is a hard one for me to rate. The writing was strong and flowed beautifully and I enjoyed the first eighty percent up till that point it was somewhere in the 4 plus star realm. ”I just want to be everything to her. I want to be the best and her only. I want to make her want me, crave me, yearn for me, all the fucking time. I want her to know what it’s like to want and I want to know what it’s like to be wanted by her.” The story in a nutshel...

4.5 StarsThe Pact was a fast-paced, friends to lovers romance with a little twist. It was light, fun, and steamy with just a enough emotional turmoil to satisfy my need for angst. This was an enjoyable read for me, with likable characters (with the exception of 'he who shall not be named')and a storyline that kept my heart racing.Linden and Stephanie are best friends, and in their mid-twenties, neither one is having much luck in the love game, so Linden suggest a pact. “How about if we don’t f...

5 Pinky Swear StarsI feel like I am like a little share bear lately, but oh well, here goes! I met my husband when I was eighteen years old, right out of high school. He was the “shift leader” at the video store were we worked. Now that special title earned him $6.75 vs my $6.25 an hour so I knew I had to make him mine. Kidding. In all seriousness, I don’t believe in love at first sight, but the second I saw him I knew I would marry him. It makes no sense, I was eighteen and wasn’t even thinking...

Having first met Linden and Stephanie in The Play….I actually didn’t read this trilogy in reading order…..I was eager to delve into their story.Linden McGregor is a sexy and charming helicopter pilot, a loyal friend, fun to be with but he’s also egotistical, selfish, self-centered, and arrogant and spends his life having lots of meaningless and fleeting sex hookups.Stephanie Robson is beautiful, ambitious, witty and fun.These two have been friends for years and enjoy a close friendship. Celebrat...

"If I seem to recall, you had your tongue down some tiny chick's throat half the night.""Tongue in the throat, cock in the c**t, it's all the same," he says. You know, I really do like a lot of Halle's novels - especially Sins & Needles, Shooting Scars and Dirty Angels - I like them because they're dark, gritty and push boundaries. I like the unlikable characters. And I especially admire Halle's talent for creating flawed female protagonists who get drunk, make mistakes and sleep with all the

2.5 Stars!SPOILERS AHEAD....Well that was......I was a bit hesitant to read this one to begin with. I feared the angst but I liked the premise. Sadly there was only about 20% of the book I did like. My first problem was the fact that Linden and Steph spend the first 45% of the book......sleeping with other people! Most of the time they weren't even together, even to hang out. Secondly.....James, James, James!I did not like James at all, not once at any point during the entire book. And especiall...

Yayyy it's live and it's 99 cents for a limited time!!! http://www.bit.ly/ThePact-Kindle WOW AMAZING <333 4,5 STARS Every time I read a new book from Karina I feel so happy..This woman is like a god for me...She is on top of my favorite authors.She is so talented!Once again, she has made me fall in love with her writing all over again!!!Now you can understand why I love her so much!!And you can imagine how I felt when I won an ARC :)) It was like a Christmas present for me!!!I start it immediat

DNF at 60%Sigh.Yet another disappointment.I feel so guilty for DNFing another book. I shouldn’t feel that way, should I? I should read whatever I want and stop whenever I want. I read to enjoy, not to get so goddamn angry that I have to put the book down.Let’s talk about the situation first.The book starts out on the heroine’s 25th birthday. She’s celebrating with her best friend, the hero, whom she’s known since she was 21. They’re both the same age.Now, the hero has a best friend, James, who i...

4 BABY BLUE STARS! ★★★★ "Nine years. I've been waiting nine years for this. Nine years to finally have you the way I've always needed you." When I think of Karina Halle, her EiT series easily comes to my mind and I get the instant chills recalling how I nearly peed my pants reading On Demon Wings, no doubt bringing out the grit and the horror. But with The Pact that comes in a form of a fun and sexy read with a dose of angst, Karina Halle proves that she can move out from her comfort zone and

A full-length, standalone, sweet and sexy (oh my lord, Linden) friends-to-lovers romance. It's not new adult, since the characters are in their thirties, but that still doesn't mean you have a clue what you're doing when it comes to love. That shit messes you up at any age. This was a joy to write, a lot of fun, and I hope you all enjoy it too :)Note: there are no crazy mindfucks, plot twists, people being raped or killed or dying for no reason or totally heart-wrenching scenes that will leave y...