This was my first read by Emma Lord and I was not disappointed! Her prose was charming and easy to read, and her character development was beautiful. Definitely recommend!

This was a cute childhood friends/crushes to lovers (maybe second chance but they were never really a thing in the first place). It would be the perfect book to read during the summer if you want something nice and easy.

Now, you could tell immediately that Levi and June had a connection that seems to be hanging on from when they were teenagers. So there were many moments where it seemed like their connection was getting stronger, but “it’s all not real”.

I liked the story, it had some adorable moments, but it kind of seemed to go on for a while, like the pacing was a bit off? And there was no big conflict, it was a bunch of smaller conflicts. Which I suppose makes it more natural, but it seemed like we were kind of going nowhere. And things were a touch overwritten and over explained.

But hey, this fake dating romance between childhood crushes was cute!

I've tried getting into this book on about four different occasions since I received the ARC months ago, and I think I've finally come to the conclusion that I just don't think this is the one for me. I'm very sad because the synopsis seemed right up my alley, I just don't think I could get into it unfortunately. Maybe one day I'll be in the mood and try a fifth time, but for right now I'll say it's a no. I gave three stars because I don't think it's a bad book from what I read, it's just not the one for me.

Title:  The Break-Up Pact  
Author:  Emma Lord        
Genre:  Romance       
Rating:  4 out of 5

June and Levi were best friends as teenagers—until the day they weren’t. Now June is struggling to make rent on her beachside tea shop, Levi is living a New York cliché as a disillusioned hedge fund manager and failed novelist, and they've barely spoken in years.

But after they both experience public, humiliating break-ups with their exes that spread like wildfire across TikTok rabbit holes and daytime talk shows alike, they accidentally make some juicy gossip of their own—a photo of them together has the internet convinced they're a couple. With so many people rooting for them, they decide to put aside their rocky past and make a pact to fuel the fire. Pretending to date will help June’s shop get back on its feet and make Levi’s ex realize that she made a mistake. All they have to do is convince the world they're in love, one swoon-worthy photo opp at a time.

Two viral break-ups. One fake relationship. Five sparkling, heart-pounding dates. June and Levi can definitely pull this off without their hearts getting involved. Because everyone knows fake dating doesn’t come with real feelings. Right?

This was a cute read! I loved the banter between June and Levi, and their interactions were both sweet and funny. So many good secondary characters in this! These added a lot of believability to the story, so June and Levi weren’t operating in a bubble. I love the idea of the tea shop, although some of the scone flavors mentioned—Red Bull?—were not to my taste. A fun weekend read!

Emma Lord is a bestselling author. The Break-Up Pact is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

I love Emma Lord. I love the depths of the characters and the roller coaster of emotions that her books take me on. I find myself smiling when I am reading her books. They’re fun and light but also land heavy on emotional topics. I’ve loved every book of Lords. Each one I cannot stop reading and they all illicit the same butterflies and fun feelings that make me want to dive deeper

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

In The Break-Up Pact, former best friends June and Levi are recovering from humiliating break-ups, which have taken TikTok by storm. Both back in their beachside hometown, a photo taken of the pair on the beach one morning makes everyone, including talk show hosts, think they're together, and putting aside their differences, they decide to roll with it and convince everyone they're a couple, if only to help June with her store - which has had more custom in the past few days than ever before - and make Levi's ex jealous. They know each other inside out, so it won't be hard to convince the world that they're in love. The hard thing will be convincing themselves that it's all 'pretend'.

I have loved all of Emma's YA books, so seeing that she had an adult book coming out, I knew I needed to get my hands on it. As soon as my eARC arrived on my kindle, I had to dive in, and it was so worth it! Levi and June were the best of friends all throughout their childhood. But a misunderstanding in their senior year led to a break in the friendship that has never recovered. Facing public humiliation at the hands of their ex's, and both home, they reminisce on the beach one morning, and a would-be pap's photo soon goes viral. Rather than face more humiliation, they decide to let bygones be bygones and have a bit of fun with it all. Pretending to be in love isn't hard when there's always been feelings there, and a few well time photos will help convince the world that they're over the break-ups, and don't need any more pity. This book had one of the best fake-dating plot lines that I've ever seen, and it's always better when there's a past there to give the romance stronger foundations. The book isn't all fun though, there's some really hard hitting plot points, especially with June's struggles with the tea shop. However, Emma executed them carefully, and they helped the story, rather than hindering it. Such a solid adult debut from one of my already favourite authors!

June and Levi were best friends, but after a careless comment and a big misunderstanding their friendship fell apart.
Levi has now moved back to their small Town of Benson Beach, to focus on his writing, and to escape the constant attention following his very public and very humiliating breakup.
June, wouldn't you know, has also gone through a very public and very humiliating breakup, and as though things couldn't get worse, her landlord has given her a deadline to amp up business at her beachside cafe 'Tea Tide', or move out.

When an innocent photo of Levi and June begins circulating, they are dubbed "the Revenge Exes" With all the attention, revenue is up at Tea Tide and Levin wonders if this is enough to win his ex back.
So the pair lean into it and start their fake dating journey.


This book was cute albeit predictable.
My main issue was with the characters. While entertaining, they felt very one dimensional. Nothing made them special, you could replace one character with a different character from the book and the story wouldn't change.

Thank you NetGalley and smp for the gifted copy. My opinions are my own.

I had a lovely time. I think this book did a great job of exploring the grief of losing a sister.

I kinda wish there were more fake dates and a revenge plot where I got to see some good justice happen.
Loved the callback to the pop rocks and the running at the beach.

Overall, super cute and fun.

Thank you for the advanced review copy NetGalley and publishers! I listened to the audiobook from my library. I wasn’t sold on this romance with the history between these two main characters. But as I listened, I liked them together and enjoyed listening about the things they did together as “the revenge ex’s.” I didn’t love how June’s insecurities impacted their relationship. I get her past fears, but it felt over the top. Overall I liked this one and will be recommending for sure.

I wanted to like this book, but I could not care about the characters. I know others will enjoy this book. I will not be posting about it on my social media accounts. I have loved other books by Emma Lord so I will be reading her next book.

I thought this was decent, for Lord's first foray into adult romance.

June has a tea and scone shop on the beach in the town she grew up in. It was a dream she shared with her sister, who has unfortunately passed away. But business isn't great, and the only boost she's getting is that her ex broke up with her on a reality show, and the clip went viral, bringing the lookie-loos to her shop. One day she finds out her childhood best friend, Levi, is staying down the street, hiding from his own viral moment after his girlfriend cheated on him with a famous actor. Problem is, June and Levi haven't spoken to each other in years.

Eventually a truce is called and they decide to capitalize on their unexpected notoriety by pretending to date each other and making sure it's all over social media. And you know how fake dating usually turns out....

This wasn't the best, but I enjoyed reading it. The social media stuff is a little silly, but not completely out of pocket. But there is the cloud of June's sister's death that hangs over the entire story. Lord tries to handle the grief the characters feel, but after reading a lot of Abby Jimenez this summer, her efforts pale in comparison. But I do look forward to see how Lord hones her adult romance craft.

Like almost anything Emma Lord writes, this is not to be missed! I always always love fake dating and friends to lovers, and this one certainly delivered that. I loved the dynamic between June and Levi and found myself laughing out loud quite a bit. While I would have loved to see a bit more romance, and the beginning was a bit slow, but by the middle, I was hooked! Loved this one and I can't wait for even more Emma in the adult romance space!

June and Levi were best friends, but a lot has changed in the ten years since they last saw each other. June's sister passed away unexpectedly, and June is left to run Tea Tide alone. She's confronted with the possibility of closing shop since she's barely affording rent.

Reconnecting with Levi has its perks, at least for the sake of saving Tea Tide to keep her sister's memory alive. June was recently dumped by Griffin since he's so in love with someone else. Levi has been dumped by Kelly since she's decided to fall into the arms of someone else. Both of these break ups are public knowledge, and June has become the ultimate meme. What better way than to get back at their exes than revenge exes!

Such a cute, charming book, second chance romance in a seaside town. reconnections from the past that develop into more than revenge. definitely recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I'm a sucker for anything with the fake relationship trope, but Emma Lord handles it really well in this one. Obviously, there's a suspension of disbelief with the viral videos and circumstances, but the relationship between the main characters is worth the price/time of admission.

Unfortunately this book was just not for me. I got about half way through it before I started skimming the pages instead of actually reading them. While it was technically an adult romance, it still read like a young adult romance which wasn't for me. The storyline felt a little too been there done that for me. In fact, I recall reading a very similar storyline earlier this summer. I ended up giving it two stars simply because I do love a second chance romance trope. I just wish the second chance romance had played out a little differently.

✨𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰✨

“𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪.”

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 🌶️🌶️
𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫: 15
𝐒𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧: 57%
𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬: Small town romance, fake dating, childhood friends-to-lovers
𝐏𝐎𝐕: 1st person, Single POV
𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Single
𝐊𝐔: No

The premise sounded cute but overall, it wasn’t what I was expecting. I typically enjoy romances with some emotional depth to them, however the romance seemed to take a back seat to the grief and loss depiction.

Both MCs had recent viral breakups with significant others who cheated on them. The MMC spent about half of the book hoping he would get back together with his ex. I was not a fan of that at all. It took so long for the MCs to talk to each other, and they had so many issues individually that I honestly don’t see these two making it past the epilogue.

Overall, this might work for some people, but it was a miss for me.


⚠️𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬:⚠️
One open door scene with explicit descriptions
Strong language

I’ve been a fan of Emma Lord’s YA novels for a while now, so I was excited to read her first adult rom-com novel. I enjoy her writing style and can always depend on her to make me crave sweets (in this case, it was cookies masquerading as scones).

While I had trouble connecting with the characters and plot (possibly a me problem), this was overall a cute and fun summer read. I think this might’ve just been a case of the “right book, wrong time” for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/St. Martin’s Griffin for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this! I thought it was super cute that they both were still in love with each other after all those years. I loved the small town setting and how it was close to the city. I loved the friend and the brother and I loved how it all ended.

This was my first Emma Lord book and I was so happy to receive an ARC because I’ve heard great things about her writing! This was her first adult romance novel and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Her writing kept me completely invested in what would happen next

The supporting characters were great and I wish we had more of them and I loved the coastal town - perfect easy summer read!

Tropes:
- friends to lovers
- Fake dating
- Second chance romance

**Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the ARC and chance to read and review. All opinions are my own**

AHHHH we love a fake dating trope!!
June and her childhood friend Levi embark on a fake dating scheme to boost her business and help Levi win back his cheating fiancée. (although, why would ANYONE want to do that?! is beyond me...) Their relationship pretty much breaks the internet and Emma Lord takes us on an amazing ride through all these fun dates that June and Levi go on. If it's drama the people want, it's the drama they get! And an even better bonus is that there is extra business coming in for June's shop and both of their ex's are actually getting jealous! (which hello, is what we WANT!)
While also being a friends-to-lovers-trope, we see humor as well as entertainment in ways that might make people wanting a more "solid" resolution so to speak. June and Levi find not only find each other, but along the way, they also find themselves. Such a cute and heartwarming story all around!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with this eARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.