I thought this was a cute read. It’s a light romcom with some funny moments and a little bit of spice. At times if felt a bit slow, however i did feel very invested in the characters journey and I wanted them to have a “happily ever after.” This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and I would continue to read more based on my experience with this one.

Thanks to Netgalley & St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion. I loved this book it was so cute and fun.

I have not read anything by this author before, but I will definitely be looking out for their work in the future. I loved seeing the story unfold and seeing the characters grow.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this arc. I loved this book so much. I loved reading the story and all the characters. It was so cute!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for a Netgalley ARC in an exchange for an independent and honest review.

This book breaks my heart for several reasons. First and foremost, I wanted to LOVE this book and I think it had the set up and potential to get there. I really did. However, it just never got there. I kept hoping to see and feel a little more passion out of the characters and the storyline, but all we ever got to was 'luke warm' emotion and withheld feelings/opinions from our two main characters.

After having years of history and backstory as best friends, June and Levi definitely had the foundation for a slow burn romance after ten years apart and then coming back together on the heels of both having gone through highly publicized breakups. Both characters had more then enough reasons to resent each other, the past, time they lost together, but I felt that both of them never showed any passion or feeling towards each other about how they actually freaking felt. It was easier to sweep things under the rug or leave feelings unspoken, and eventually, that got really annoying from a readers perspective. I'm not actively seeking the drama (am I the drama here?) but I want SOMETHING that helps make sense of this all the sudden lack luster reunion of old friends that should have been old flames. I just wasn't buying it because there didn't appear to be anything on the surface of their relationship that warranted such a strong and quick reunion or for the behind-the-curtain pining June was doing for Levi. I guess long story short, I was missing the emotional connection with the characters and with the book.

Also, unrelated to the story, but I feel it also needs to be mentioned, there were a lot of syntax errors with this edition of the book for it to have come this far and still have so many grammatical issues. There were times when I would get completely thrown because a word was entirely incorrect, or removed, or typed out twice. Some letters were even just missing at some points. I'm hoping or assume this book will have a couple more edits/reviews before publication, but in all honesty, it just threw me off as I was reading and I had to slow down to figure out what word should be there or what was missing as to not entirely change the meaning of the intended sentence structure. This is really the fist time I've encountered that issue with an ARC.

All in all, I have to give a solid 3 stars because I can see where this book could have gone and it would have been great, but I think it fell just short and is really missing some important story arcs that could have been better vetted out to instill more raw emotion into the storyline. I spent most of the time wanting to shake June and Levi and yell "Give me something! Anything that tells me you have an opinion on something and are willing to stand up for yourself and said opinion!"

That being said, I'm grateful for the early sneak peek, and will keep an eye out for more by Emma Lord as this was my first read of hers.

If you like romance, this one is a fun take on viral breakups and turning lemons into lemonade. It was light and cute but lacked real depth and I'm not sure I really got to know any of the characters. I started to feel a connection towards the end, but it wasn't quite a 5 star read.

This book is perfect for anyone that loves a good breakup story! The two main characters both just had viral break ups and are dealing with the after math. They are old friends that haven't talked in a while and there is a bit of a rift between them over their silence.

You can expect themes of grief and moving on after the death of a loved one as well. I enjoyed hearing about Annie but again, the characters were more surface level for me.

Still worth a read and there were definitely parts I found really unique and engaging and loved.

Thanks to netgalley for an ARC to review.

3.5/5 stars

This book was a fun pool read. While I enjoyed it I did feel it fell short in a few areas for me, mostly in flushing out the main characters lives, particularly those closest to the female lead. I wish we had more time with Sana, Dylan, and Mateo, and the community as a whole, as I think they could and should have been a bigger part of June and Levi's story. Overall I would recommend this as a fun Rom Com, friends to lovers type story.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Griffin for this advanced readers copy!

When I first started reading this book I absolutely fell in love with the writing. Emma Lord really knew how to describe a moment in such capturing detail that I was immediately on board!!!! I loved the character Sana, she’s an icon and my scone daddy forever. I really enjoyed how detailed each character was. I felt like I understood the intentions from the beginning of the book!

Unfortunately, I found myself becoming really frustrated with this book the more and more I read. I really wanted to like this book more than I did. There were a lot of motives and plot points that I thought were uncalled for in the grand scheme of the book. I’m a sucker for second chance romance/“enemies” to lovers so that was interesting in this book. I think this books formula just wasn’t for me. This will absolutely in no way deter me from reading more of Emma Lords books!

Parts of this book were great, but ultimately the book left me wanting more. The indecision and miscommunication by the characters drug on for so long that I had problems connecting with the characters. I had such high hopes for the small beach town setting, parts of this book just dragged on. I struggled to pick a rating because it has some great moments in it and I love the premise.

This is one of my new favorite books! I laughed. I cried. I didn’t want it to end. I loved June and Levi together — the chemistry that they had was incredible, and I found myself rooting for them from the very beginning.

I did find Dylan and Mateo to be kind of one dimensional in the first half of the book, but by the second half, it felt as though they were given more dimension. Also, the first half was pretty slow and could probably be trimmed down a bit, but I sped through the second half!

The Break-Up Pact was a cute short rom-com read that included all my favorite tropes. Good communication? Friends-to-lovers? Beach Tea Shop? Fake dating? She fell first but he fell harder? LOVED IT.

Thank you for the opportunity of receiving an eARC, and I am leaving this review willingly.

The break up pact is the perfect summer book with great characters and even better side characters. With the common tropes of fake dating and friends to lovers Emma was able to put her own twist and make it a new and exciting experience for readers. I would definitely recommend as your next summer read!

First, I'd like to thank Netgalley, Saint Martin's and Emma Lord for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was the second book that I have read by Emma Lord. The first one "You Have a Match" was really good (It's a YA book)! With that in mind I was super excited to be able to read this ARC copy!

At first I loved this book! It was cute and fun until it wasn't.

I am currently sitting at 91% and I'm wondering if I should bore myself with the rest of the book. I felt like sometimes she was just trying to meet a word count. I found myself skimming past some of the details in the book as it was predictable and drawn out.

Also, just a reminder that this is ADULT and not YA. Chapter 15 was one sex scene. I'm not a prude but I'm not a huge reader of "smut" and I felt like almost a whole chapter to sex scene was a lot. I'm not calling the book "smut" but Chapter 15 is SPICY!

Again, cute but also boring and predictable in some parts. Even though I feel middle of the road about this book I will definitely go back and read some of her other books when time allows.

Such a cute read! I got to read this book early through NetGalley and I think it will be a perfect beach read this summer!

Fake dating and friends to lovers are two of my favorite tropes so throwing them together with hints of baking, small town vibes, and the beach was perfect!

The only thing that would have made this book better was if we were able to go to David and Mateo’s wedding after all the build up with the planning through out the book. I was so excited to see how that played out.

All in all though, definitely suggest this as a sweet and cozy book to read this summer!

I really wanted to love this book. Friends to lovers/fake dating are two of my all time favorite tropes, but this one was not it.

When I read the description, I immediately added this book to my tbr list. And then I got the arc and couldn’t wait to get to it—until I actually got to it and had to force myself to finish it. 🥲

Don’t get me wrong, I did laugh and I did have the butterflies a couple times while reading it, but at the end of the day I just couldn’t wait to finish it and get it over with. :(

Rating it 3 stars because I actually did manage to finish it!

A cute, light rom-com of a story that hits on the zeitgeisty aspects of living in a modern age of tiktok and flash-in-the-pan fame due to humiliation, along with the timeless classic tropes of fake dating, ex-lovers-to-lovers, and close proximity. Sometimes, you just want something that gives you exactly what it's promising.

WOW. 4 stars.

This story reminds me a bit of a Hallmark movie but with modern ages (aka TikTok etc.). I really thoroughly enjoyed and was pulled into the story immediately. I loved both characters and how they developed throughout the book. And ah, I just love their love.

I felt like something in the plot was missing though, not sure what but just something minor. I also did not see too much of a significance of bringing up the sister and her not wanting the two characters together, since it never really gave any background to it or why. It felt thrown in with the rest of the details and just did not seem to make sense to me besides to show "why" they ignored each other... which is also ignorant, but a lot more of that is my rant of the book versus any actual 'problems'.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for letting me have an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was far too slow paced for me. But just because it wasn’t for me doesn’t mean you won’t like it.

Also, drink a sip of water every time the name “Benson Beach” is written and you will be well hydrated!

Fake dating always hits for me. Add in the layer that they were friends growing up. And a slow burn? Chef’s kiss. This was a fun romcom that will definitely be an end of summer favorite.

This was such a sweet book. I love a fake dating trope and this one was so good. It’s a slow burn with a good amount of miscommunication. I read this while in bed sick and it definitely pepped my spirits up. All the characters were lovely and it made me super hungry for a scone.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC to review.