Two former best friends pretend to date after humilating viral breakups. June wants to make her shop popular again and Levi hopes that his ex get jealous.
Will it turn into the real thing?

Love the humour in this book. I like June and Levi and feel bad for their breakups. Love their chemistry. A terrific fun read.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

3.5 stars

First, let me just say that I adore Emma Lord’s novels. Her stories are both whimsical and yet poignant. I was thrilled to receive an early copy of her Adult debut, The Break-Up Pact. It contains her signature style of capturing both the goofy and lightheartedness of relationships, while acknowledging all the emotions and baggage that come with them.

I loved how real June’s and Levi’s feelings were in the sense of their hesitation to fully commit to their relationship. They had very valid fears based on their past interactions with each other and other relationships. However, while I enjoyed this level of openness, as an adult relationship it fell rather short. Several things stood out to me that to me seemed more appropriate in a teenage romance than what you’d expect in an adult one. First, by their own admission, June and Levi have barely spoken over the last 10 years. That means their last meaningful interaction was when they were 17/18 years old. Babies! What their story doesn’t encompass is how much growth they would have gone through during that time. The plot leaves little time to embrace their adult selves and gives almost an insta-love vibe. To me that seems unrealistic as they really don’t even know each other. I’d like to think I’m personally nothing like my 17 year old self. I would hope my experiences since then have allowed me to grow and change as I’ve experience life and learned. This critique made me think of Ashley Poston’s novel, The Seven Year Slip, where the love interest even accuses the MC of loving a past version of himself that doesn’t exist anymore. That’s how I felt about Levi and June’s romance except that was never one of the things they discussed. I’d just like to see more acknowledgement of that change and growth that would mean relearning everything about each other.

Did I still enjoy the novel though? Absolutely! I hope Emma continues to write adult novels and relationships as she is the gold standard for teenage ones and I think she is capable of capturing the all the layers and depth of adult relationships.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

3.5⭐️

I was interested to read Emma Lord's debut adult romance novel. I love (most of) her YA romances and this book had a lot of the same characteristics - found family, character growth, heart, etc.

This book follows former best friends June and Levi, who reunite after barely speaking for 10 years, after both go through viral breakups. They make a deal to fake date - her to help her struggling tea shop and him to get his ex back. This is billed as a fun and emotional book, which I agree with, but a lot of June and Levi's actions relate back to grief and the loss of someone they love.

For what I didn't like: I struggled with why they hadn't talked in 10 years (as I usually do when characters who were best friends stop speaking for that long). And while I know Levi wanting his ex back was a premise of the book, he pulled a Gus in the last 3rd of the book, which really soured me on him. I wish this had been dual POV as I think that would've helped me understand him a lot better than I did.

For what I liked: Again, this was an adult version of her YA romances. Not very spicy, but I did like the characters, even if the main ones could annoy me. June and Levi were sweet together. I loved that the person they lost was not painted as perfect. It could be emotional and fun and did have some angst. It was an adult version of her YA romances. I probably do prefer her YA ones and I flip flop between 3 and 4 stars, but still enjoyable.

Trigger warnings: grief, cheating (not the main couple)

I knew this was a romance book, and because of the cute cover in my mind this was a rom-com but there is a lot of pain here! Don’t get me wrong there are sweet, cute and funny moments but a lot of the story is surrounded by their grief, their misunderstanding when they were teens and their exes.

I honestly wish there was a POV from Levi, I would have like to see more of his feelings and just understanding him better!

I love how June comes to herself little by little, her love story with Levi comes together beautifully and it will give you all the feelings!

Fun story with heartfelt growth. I liked the supporting characters as much as the main characters, and they made the heavier parts lighter. I will definitely read books from this author again!