This was a short beach read. The book was confusing for how everyone knew each other and the random dead sister that was there, but not really explained. It was on okay second chance romance.

A cute romance that is easy and breezy. It's a cute second chance romance that allowed for each character to grow and grow together. Best friends will always find their way back to each other, an adorable summer romance book!

Thank you to St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel. This was a cute romance with unexpected backstory in the sister of the main character having died previous to the start of the book. June and Levi growing as the book went on was well done and I did enjoy the ending with it all tying together. While some of the plot points were a bit hard to believe, the overall message came through and was a quick read. 3.5 stars.

First, I was immediately confused by how everyone knew each other. Supposedly, these two life-long friends both go through public break ups with famous people (what a coincidence) and then both reconnect in their home town and decide to fake-date to make people pay attention to them? It was a little far fetched as a concept. It almost would have made more sense if they were strangers and not life-long friends. Throw in a dead sister (who we learn NOTHING about) and...still not sure. There are references to her and all of them growing up together, but some of the stories make it seem like she was the one with the crush on Levi but that is never addressed. It also took me half the book to realize the sisters were not twins. I also needed more backstory on why a tea and scone shop. I always like reading about characters re-connecting and realizing their feelings, but it could have been better done here with better communication. Even though the characters are 30, they come across as still immature and acting like they did around each other in high school.
All in all, I like the concept of the book, I just found the connection lacking and the length too long.

A sweet story about a two friends who grew apart only to come back to their home town and find each other again. Second chance in life and in love.

Fun summer read. Love the beach setting and the relationship between the characters. This is based on the fact that best friends will always come back together. Loved the banter and funny situations these 2 got into.

Being humiliated online is bad. Getting humiliated deliberately is worse. Humiliated during a public breakup is the worst. June is trying to endure her 15 minutes of notoriety, hoping that the “silver lining” might be that the extra business at her bakery will finally put it in the black. And- at least she isn’t Levi, her former friend from high school, who just had something similar happen except he’s sort of standing by his woman and waiting for her to return after she finishes her fling.

June and Levi were very human. Sometimes I wanted to encourage them, sometimes their characters irritated me. Levi especially made dumb decisions, but I think they’re decisions a person might actually make even though the romance side of me might have written a more “heroic” character trait.

June had a lot of grieving and coming to terms with how to go on with her life. I applaud the ending, but will say that I sometimes didn’t feel the emotion in her struggle. I think the book could have been more powerful with more emphasis on her growth and change. This sub-plot was important.

I give this four stars.

I'm usually a pretty big fan of Emma Lord's books, but this one missed the mark for me in a lot of ways. It's the first that's marketed as an adult romance fiction, but it honestly felt exactly like her YA books but with added steamy scenes. While the steamy scenes were good, it just felt off when the rest of the book felt very young adult written. I liked both the characters, but it wasn't enough to keep me fully into it. I wanted so much more from their romance, considering Emma Lord is usually so good at building up her characters relationships. Next one!

Thank you to the publisher for the arc, The Break-Up Pact was a read I was saving for the last days of summer and while I did love the setting and premise, I could not get into the story, The romance between Levi and June was not quite there for me but I liked the friends to lover trope in a cute beach town. If you like summer romances with a beachy town setting featuring friends to lovers, try this out!

Loved the cover art, it was catchy and drew me in to start with. Sounded like a book I would enjoy a lot but it was very long and had to talk myself into picking it up and continue reading it. Just very long winded book. Both characters were coming in with a lot of family back story and having to work through issues. I keep telling myself I love these romcoms but most of the time as I’m reading I feel like I’m banging my head against the wall screaming to them, JUST TALK IT OUT AND ITLL SOVLE THE LACK OF COMMUNICATION and over half the book for the ending we know is coming, yall end up together once you TALK. But if they did that what story is there to write, right? So maybe that’s my own issue. I gave it a 3.5 star and would still recommend to my die hard romcom reader friends. Thank you to the publishers and netgalley.

I've had five stars and three stars with this author, I was very excited to see she's bringing out an adult novel but I can definitely see her history with YA in these characters and their decisions. It was okay, but not as strong as her teen books.

Emma Lord is one of my favorite YA authors, so I was thrilled when I saw that she was releasing an adult romance novel!! Friends to lovers is a trope that I love, but don't come across very often in the romance books I read. I loved the spin Emma put on this trope -- both MC's have recently experienced public breakups, then find themselves in the public eye after a photo of them together surfaces, making the public believe they are an item. This leads to fake dating (another favorite of mine!) and testing their ability to simply stay platonic.

I really liked both June and Levi. This was a fun, light-hearted romance that was perfect for my summer days at the lake!

I'm excited to see that Emma will continue releasing another YA and adult romance in 2025!

I wasn't the biggest fan of this book, but I definitely think that there is an audience for it. This book did, however, have moments that made me laugh out loud. There were plenty of lines that made me want to reread them. Overall, this was a cute romance that just didn't hit the mark with me, but I am sure that others would love this.

This one wasn't for me. I had a hard time connecting with the characters and it seemed more young adult with spice to me.

This was an awesome read! I really enjoyed it! I adored Levi and June’s second chance romance and just thought it was really cute and sweet.

Overall a great read!!

This fun read has some great tropes that I adore. Childhood friends, second chance and fake dating. I binged this books it was such an easy read. Especially since it has a fun group of characters that compliment the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord. This romantic comedy is a lighthearted, fun read with all the charm you’d expect from Lord's writing. The story centers on two friends who make a pact to break up with their significant others but end up discovering deeper feelings for each other. While the premise is cute and the banter enjoyable, the plot felt somewhat predictable, and I found myself wishing for a bit more complexity in the characters. That said, it's a quick, feel-good read perfect for fans of friends-to-lovers tropes and light romance. It’s enjoyable, but not particularly groundbreaking.

I wanted to enjoy this but I found the choices June made (meeting her ex) exasperating and Levi’s obsession with his ex not good.i did like Sana and would love to see a story about her. The ending was well done. Fans of Lord will probably enjoy this but it just wasn’t for me.

The Break Up Pact was a surprisingly deep and emotional second chance romance novel between two former friends. Both of them have been dumped publicly and want to get back at their exes and reclaim their lives. so they fake date to change the narrative. I really loved the way the story played out until about 70% in and then got super annoyed at Levi especially for not being really open and straightforward about what was going on. I am happy with the ending, happy I stuck it out but i do wish it would have been a little shorter and less complications at the end

I wanted to love this book. It has some great tropes (fake dating, childhood friends-to strangers-to lovers, *kinda* second-chance) but it just fell flat for me. There was so much miscommunication I just couldn't. I really hate to DNF books so I just skimmed the last few chapters just to get through it. This was my first book from this author and I'm sure she has some other great books, but I don't think I'll be reaching for her again.