After two flop reads, this easy contemporary romance was a welcomed gift. The trope, the main characters, the setting was everything and more!! This one had been sitting on my Net Galley shelf for too long and I am so glad that I finally got around to it.

I know that fall typically is the slow adios to romance reads, but if you need a quick pallet cleanser book definitely add this one to the top of that list!

This book was so fantastic! What's not to love? Small seaside town, childhood friends to lovers, viral breakups, fake dating. It's got it all! And June and Levi are such a great couple. This is such an excellent read.

I usually love Emma Lord, but found this one to be exhausting. All of her ya are 5 stars !
I never cared enough about the characters.

I wanted to love this as it has one of my fav tropes and I have enjoyed Emma's previous YA romances. Unfortunately, I didn't and I truly struggled finishing the book. The 2.5 stars are because the book is well written (as expected); however I didn't really connect fully with the characters and that's super important to my enjoyment.

Huge thanks to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

I usually really like Emma Lord's writing, but I struggled to connect with this book. It might have been that I was tandem reading a Lynn Painter book that was SO GOOD, but I just had a hard time with the lack of chemistry between June and Levi. I probably didn't give this a fair chance reading it when I was already so invested in another book, but these characters and the story line just failed to ever pull me in.

Well. Emma Lord has done it again. Every single book I've ever read by her has never failed to make me laugh and cry all at once. She creates characters that are so fun to read, while giving them depth. Her character banter is always incredible, never fails to make me crack a smile or giggle while reading. The plot is top tier, she always has an amazing main plot, something that is usually not based around the romance part.

<i>When you love someone the way I love Levi, it becomes every bit as much a feeling as it is a part of your own soul.</i>

ANYWAYS! I absolutely loved this book. June and Levi, childhood besties turned rivals(ish) turned 'The Revenge Exes' (fake dating) turned true couple, one filled with so much unconditional love for each it makes me sick. (I love them.) Basically we follow June's perspective, and she has been turned into this giant internet meme because her asshole boyfriend broke up with her on a reality TV show and they sent it out for the world to see. (I have mad beef with a character who isn't even real.) Levi, also happens to get cheated on because his girlfriend went for this famous actor guy idfk. Since his gf was out doing who knows what with this guy he returns home, and June and Levi basically end up rekindling their friendship (after 10 years of not speaking btw) and somebody gets a picture of them rolling around on the beach making it look like they were a couple, and hence they get labelled as 'The Revenge Exes". They plan to fake date to help make their (ex)partners jealous and to help bring in money to June's tea shop.

Overall, this book was amazing. The depth these characters had was incredible, the banter they had was even better and the cherry on top of this was the amazing communication they had with each other. Highly recommend!!

Thank you so much to the publisher for giving me and ARC in exchange for an honest review :)

The Break-Up Pact is a fun, heartwarming and humorous rom-com by Emma Lord. June and Levi are childhood friends, who haven’t spoken in 10 years (😣 because of miscommunication), when they both find themselves in very public break-ups. So what’s the solution? But to fake date of course! Overall, this is a fun beachy read, but also deals with heavier topics like dealing with grief and the sudden loss of a loved one. I definitely enjoyed the tension between these two, the dates, and was very happy to not have to suffer through a 3rd act break up. Definitely recommend picking this one up and adding to your TBR!


I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book provided to me through NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Emma Lord and St. Marin’s Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book!

I DNF'd this about 100 pages in or so. The themes, characters, and overall vibe was not for me. I can see other people liking it but my definition of insanity is trying a new rom-com hoping it'll be good and then being disappointed every time.

"The Break-Up Pact" made the perfect fun read! I couldn't put it down and loved the unlikely romance. Add this one to your summer reading list!

Super light, super fast read. It was just okay, and I kept having to remind myself that's it's probably because it's YA.

Thanks for the advanced reader copy St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin & Netgalley.

I believe this is Emma Lord’s adult debut but it still felt very much like a YA romcom. On top of that, the writing was very surface level (even for a romcom), there is absolutely no depth to June or Levi. I really struggled to finish this and it ended up taking several weeks because I just kept putting it down in favor of other reads.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!

I did not finish this book. I have revisited this book on a few different occasions to give it a fair chance, but have ultimately decided it's just not for me. I read about 62% of the book before deciding to DNF.

I felt that there was not much substance or development to the two main characters beyond their recent breakup and their childhood relationship. Being that I still felt that way at ~60%, I lost momentum in my reading. The premise and plot is unique but it wasn't giving what I anticipated it to.

So cute! A fun rom-com with summer vibes. Grab it! You won't be sorry you did.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the arc. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and the author for sharing this book with me in exchange for my honest feedback!

I was so excited to hear that Emma Lord was diving into the world of adult fiction after reading her amazing young adult books, and The Break-Up Pact did not disappoint!

June Hart and Levi Shaw are both going through insanely embarrassing and public breakups. June was dumped by her trash ex on his reality TV show, and Levi's fiance left him for a bonafide movie star.

June and Levi were childhood best friends, but for the past ten years, they've been anything but friendly. June owns a local tea shop that she took over after the passing of her sister. Business is not doing great, and she needs any kind of publicity to get people in the store to save her sister's shop. Levi is taking a break from his city life and has come back to their small town for the summer to work on his new book.

Both friends are going around on the internet so much that they're very recognizable. So while they're trying to lay low, a picture of them surfaces online that makes people think they are together to get revenge on their exes. Levi and June don't correct them. If people start talking about them, June can hopefully save her shop and Levi can make his fiance jealous and win her back.

While all this is happening, Levi and June are also working together on June's brother's wedding planning, as the maid of honor and best man in the wedding party. At first, they thought the viral photo of them would do all the work to sell their fake relationship, but now they're having to spend all of this time together getting everything ready for the wedding at the end of the summer. Surely they can go on a few dates and take a few posed photos to drum up some fake publicity right?

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I really love Emma Lord's writing and her stories. This one included! I think the only thing that kept me from giving it 4 stars was because of the miscommunication trope. Ten years of not speaking at all when they're best friends because of one tiny thing that definitely could have been discussed and moved past? It just drives me crazy when people don't talk to each other, especially with this being an adult fiction book. Adults need to have grown up mature conversations, not ignore each other for a decade because of miscommunication.

Overall I really enjoyed this story and will definitely be looking for the next release from Emma Lord!

the banter had me! I couldn't get enough of this one. it was super cute and the perfect amount of heavy/light. the main characters had great character development and the plot kept me entertained.

The Break Up Pact really missed the mark for me. I never truly felt sucked in at any point, and instead found myself thinking about my next read while wading around at surface level through the chapters. While the romance was good, the fake dating and friends to lovers was good, none of it grabbed me in a way that made this memorable for me. Because I found the characters so hard to vibe with, I’d struggle to pick this one out of a line up of similar troped novels. I will still give Emma Lord another try! Maybe just all the pieces of this one weren’t fitting together for me.

This was a decent romcom with friends to lovers and fake dating tropes. I felt like it was slightly lacking and I'm not sure exactly where. Maybe I just didn't feel the chemistry between the two mains as much as I wanted to. Overall cute.

I was so excited to hear that Emma Lord was venturing into adult romance! While YA isn't exactly my cup of tea anymore, I've loved her characters and concepts in many of her YA novels, so I had high hopes to see her take on an adult novel.

The Break-Up Pact fell really flat for me, unfortunately. I was waiting to feel that spark between her characters that I've found in her YA books, but it never hit for me. The romance in this book felt forced, like I was being told how perfect they were for each other, but never shown it. The chemistry was just not there, and I honestly didn't really care if they didn't end up together... which I don't think is a great sign. :/

There were so many plot points jammed into this book (the tea shop, the sister who recently passed away, the brother getting married, our MCs public break-ups with previous partners, our MCs fake-dating, the childhood history together, the male MC's writing, the friend trying to break into journalism, etc.), that none of it felt fully developed. I would've loved to see this pared down to something smaller, more cozy, that allowed you to get at the heart of the characters.

Not a total miss for me, but not a win, either. I'll definitely be giving Emma Lord's adult fiction a try again, if she writes more!

Let me start by saying that I'm normally a HUGE fan of Emma Lord. Unfortunately, this one just missed the mark for me. I had trouble connecting with both June and Levi and didn't feel the spark that makes me want to read THIS romance (as opposed to the thousands of others out there). Don't get me wrong, it's a cute read. But the spark in both the story and the characters was just missing for me.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

DNF

So disappointed to put this book down without finishing. I have loved this author's work in the past, but this one was an immediate miss.

My main issue is that the book's complicated premise is all laid out before the first chapter is even over. It's like drinking out of a firehose. This premise has potential, truly, but we need a couple more pages, or chapters, to lay it all out. I don't like everything happening so fast. There are so many characters, so much history, and high stakes all within the opening paragraphs.