June has just been publicly embarrassed — a video of her reaction to her (ex)boyfriend telling her on a TV program he’s found someone else has gone viral. And, as it so happens, her childhood best friend she has hardly spoken to for a decade has just experienced a similar fate. When Levi comes back to Benson Beach to work on a novel, June is angry at him. But her current best friend convinces the two of them to pretend to be dating and control the narrative about themselves online.

June and Levi go out together around town, and June’s friend snaps photos and gets them posted. Soon, everyone is shipping the Revenge Exes. And June is enjoying her time with Levi. They’re having fun. They’re talking. And she’s feeling some serious attraction to him. But he made clear when they were teens that he wasn’t into her “that way.” She can’t allow her heart to be broken again.

Meanwhile, June’s tea shop is doing better. With all the crowds it’s attracting, she can get caught up on rent. And hopefully, Levi can make progress on his great American novel. Things should be going great all-around. But eventually, the fake-dating will end. And what will happen then?

I’ve enjoyed most of Emma Lord’s young adult books (favorite is still Tweet Cute!), and now she’s venturing into adult romance, much like the very popular Emily Henry did (I loved her early magical-realism YA romance the best). The Break-Up Pact should satisfy that audience pretty well. It has a nicely done fake-dating trope, two longtime best friends who have a lot of chemistry, and a spicy sex scene. Of course, that last part is where my particular interests stop. But overall, enjoyable.

June is a break-up meme that has gone viral and garnered her all kinds of unwanted attention after a nasty breakup. Her best friend from their teen years, Levi, has also gone viral after his girlfriend leaves him for a famous movie star. Despite being estranged for the last ten years, June and Levi find themselves in close proximity back in their home town helping to plan her brother’s wedding. They come up with a plan to fake date. For Levi, it will help his ex see what she is missing and he can win her back. For June, it will draw attention her way on her own terms, bringing business to her failing tea shop. As they go through with the scheme the two draw as close as they once had been, old feelings resurface, and sparks fly like they never had before.

—————-

This was a very ok-ish take on the fake dating trope. The longtime friendship between the two mains came across as full of mutual love and trust and shared memories and grief. I could feel how their past resonated with them, and loved the ease that they fell back into their friendship with. It was so lovely that I could hardly get a sense of any sort of romantic relationship at all. They just didn’t have sexual chemistry and heat with each other. At best, it seemed like they had crushes on each other. Not once was I rooting or cheering for these two to get together and I didn’t feel invested in their relationship. I thought the social media and going viral angle of the story was unique, the setting was fun, the side characters fully fleshed out, and the plot line of June’s sister and their shared grief very relatable. Ultimately this was just a middle of the road romance for me.

This adult contemporary romance by Emma Lord feels exactly like one of her young adult novels, but with slightly more adult content. I could tell immediately who had written the book because her easy reading style was the same, and her characters were likable, dramatic, funny, and totally relatable.

June is keeping her sister Annie’s dream alive by running her tea shop Tea Tides, and using her newfound TikTok fame to help pay the rent. When Levi re-enters the picture she is faced with not only dealing with why they haven’t talked in ten years but also dealing with the feelings from her sister’s death. This novel has tons of layers taking the reader on a journey as June navigates her future. So when you pick this book up be prepared to laugh, but to also connect with your own feelings.

This is one of those it gets worse before it gets better kind of reads. I almost DNFd it but committed to at least 20%. Full transparency, it took a good 50% in my opinion to at least be a 3 star book, and I’m happy to say that the story did get better and pick up speed through the last half, settling into a nice 4 star romance read I’d recommend (with the caveat that you may think the first 40% is poorly written).

Some things I loved:

🏝️ T H E • S E T T I N G
A tea shop in a small beach town. I definitely wanted to be there!

🫖 S C O N E S
I am a sucker for books with cozy food as a focus, and the main feature here were the scones! I now have “learn to make scones” on my to do list.

♥️ T H E • R O M A N C E
I actually really liked June and Levi and their history that goes back to their youth as close friends. Their HEA was one that everyone can root for.

😂 T H E • B A N T E R
I giggled so much throughout this read because the banter was just so good. This is something that I think Emma Lord has done really well.

Things that weren’t it for me:

🌎 W O R L D • B U I L D I N G
I just thought this was done really poorly. There was a lot of telling versus showing, and things often got jumbled and confusing as the author attempted to build the characters and their relationships for us. There were a lot of flashbacks to things that apparently happened earlier in the day or the week or their lives that happened too often and drug on too long that I wouldn’t realize it was a flashback or I’d forget and then feel confused that I had missed something “because I thought they were in the car, but when did they get to the tea shop?”

I’d recommend to anyone that enjoys:

Fake Dating
Friends to Lovers
Third Act Breakup
Cozy Setting
Food Features
Character Growth

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy of Emma Lord’s The Break-Up Pact.

Thank you to SMP Romance for the advanced reader copy and to Macmillan Audio for the complimentary audiobook. These opinions are my own.

June and Levi have both gone through horrible and horribly public break-ups. Because of the newfound celebrity status of their exes, they have gone viral. And it's quite a coincidence since they are from the same small town and were friends (maybe with crushes?) during high school. Cue the fake dating!

I really enjoyed this adult debut from Emma Lord. I love all of her YA books. This captured some of the same magic and fun but with adults who are 10 years out of college. I think she made the transition seamlessly. I especially enjoyed all of the fun excursions that June and Levi took, and that the photos of them revealed their true feelings. And wow, I want some of the scones June created for her cafe.

The secondary characters were neat. I especially liked the friends, Sana and Mateo. But I wanted a bit more exploration of June's relationship with her brother. There are some deep themes, especially around grief and how to move forward after losing a loved one. I found a good balance of funny and deeply intense moments. And I appreciated how the third act was written.

There was absolutely amazing narration by Natalie Naudus to the extent that I paused and replayed to admire portions of it. I had a great time listening and reading. I listened during a hard day, and this book got me through.

4.5 stars rounded up

This was my first Emma Lord book and it was a great summer read! June Hart and Levi Shaw reunite in their small beach town, after dealing with public breakups. They decide to fake date to get back at their exes and revamp their public image. Of course, their childhood crushes come back to life and they end up falling for each other. I loved watching June and Levi’s relationship grow. I wish we had known more about June’s deceased sister and what lead to the estrangement between June and Levi.

Read if you like:
Friends to lovers
Fake dating
Slow burn

The Break-up Pact features one of my favorite romance tropes: faking dating. As teens, June and Levi were once the best of friends…these days not so much. These days June is struggling to keep open her Tea Shop and Levi is struggling to be a writer. Recently both suffered extremely public and humiliating breakups which has them squarely in the public eye. As the two begin to tentatively rekindle their friendship, an incident occurs that leads to them getting caught in a photograph leaving many with the impression they are now a couple. They decide to play into it, hoping the publicity will help June’s business and perhaps make Levi’s ex realize she made a mistake. I’m a sucker for fake dating romcoms so I was predisposed to enjoy this one, but I must admit that while I enjoyed it I wasn’t totally sold on these two main characters. Not sure I can put my finger on it, but they didn’t totally work for me. Don’t get me wrong. Overall I enjoyed the story, but it just wasn’t my favorite of Emma’s books. 3.5 stars. I’d like to thank St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review and eARC of The Break-Up Pact.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R18Q7IG7XLPVX3/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_SRTC0204BT_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

*Title: The Break-Up Pact-a standalone

*Release date: 8-13-24, Read: 8-12-24

*Author: Emma Lord-I've read The Getaway List and gave it 5 ⭐

*Format: E-book and audiobook

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Macmillan Audio for the ARC and ALC! I voluntarily give an honest review, and all opinions expressed are my own.

*Narrator: Natalie Naudus voices all characters. The narrator's voice fit the characters with standouts from Levi and Sana. The reading style brought the text to life, and the author and narrator worked together perfectly. The pacing and flow allowed me to get lost in the story. The narrator paused and announced new chapters and there was a table of contents which helped me follow along with the E-book and audiobook.

*Run time: 9:18

*Setting: Benson Beach

*Genre: Rom-Com, Women's Fic

*Tropes: sister's BFF, small town, friendship, fake dating, reality TV, viral moments, LGBTQIA+ rep, Asian American rep, second chance

*Look out for: death of a sibling and BFF, the hero and heroine are cheated ON, side character had cancer

*Synopsis: Two friends June and Levi haven't spoken in ten years, but when both their break-ups go viral, they reunite. June runs Tea Tide and owes rent money, her BFF Sana is a freelance writer in need of money, and Levi wants his fiancée Kelly back. June and Levi agree to fake date using the paparazzi, but they have unfinished business from high school.

*FMC: June Hart-runs seaside tea shop in honor of her deceased sister Annie who ran it before her. She just broke up with boyfriend Griffin Hapler-a famous reality TV star on "Business Savvy." He cheated on her and now the world knows. Her brother Dylan is also getting married, and she is helping with the arrangements.

*MMC: Levi Shaw-lives in NY as a hedge fund manager. He is also a writer. His fiancée Kelly cheated on him with superhero movie star Roman Steel. They are separated with the hope of getting back together.

*Review: June and Levi knew each other since childhood along with June's older sister Annie and her younger brother Dylan. For a second, I thought Levi would confess to being in love with Annie, but he only had eyes for June. They liked each other in high school but their pride got in the way, and they became estranged. The attraction between them was still there, but they had to reconcile the past to start anew.

*Rating: 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
*Spice level- 3/5 🌶️🌶️🌶️

When two former best friends, June and Levi, each go through a very viral and humiliating breakup with their significant others, they devise a plan to recover. Levi wants his ex back, and she wants to save her tea shop she opened with her late sister. The decided to go viral again, except this time, they control the narrative as the "Revenge Exes". They create a steamy, fake relationship to get what they want. There are a few complications though...they have to actually talk and get along. After ten years of increasing distance, there is definitely some patchwork to their former friendship that needs to be done. One of the main drivers to the widening gap in their friendship is that each of them thought the other wasn't being true to themselves. For two people who had known each other for most of their lives, they don't really know how to communicate. They instead build walls and push each other away. It also doesn't help that June's sister, who was very close to both June and Levi, had a very big hand in pushing them away from each other and trying to force her desired paths for their lives onto them.

Through some tough conversations, hysterical "fake dates", tears, and a lot of running, they somehow manage to meld the new versions of themselves into the old ones they used to know. They begin to truly see each other for the very first time. They both don't realize their fake dates are real to those around them and actually to themselves as well. They have always loved each other, but for different yet intertwined reasons, they never admitted it. They find themselves and each other, and they become the absolute best versions of themselves.

June's sister seemed a little toxic for me, and it really couldn't be addressed because she had passed away two years earlier. She was a revered character who everyone walked on eggshells around. To a point I understood this, but it was hard watching these two kind people forget about their own wants and needs for someone who was kind of manipulative. I loved the viral aspects of both the breakup and fake relationship. It was comical and relatable in the age of social media. I liked the shared past of the main characters. I think this set the tone for the amount of respect and honesty that would come out of these two. I loved how much they grew for themselves but also for each other. They had to get to the right time in the right place to get what they both knew deep down what they wanted and needed.

Fake dating? Check. Second chance? Check. Small town romance? Check.
This one was definitely a short, quick read that was perfect for summer. I love that the central message of the story was about how important it is to stay true to yourself, or work on yourself, if need be, before committing to a relationship. Love is all about communication and who you chose to be with, even if it’s messy.

If you want a super quick and easy summer read, this is it. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and SMP for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

June & Levi were best friends as teenagers, but life took them in separate directions. Now they have both experienced humiliating breakups as adults and life brings them back together again. Enter a fake dating scenario and we all know where that ends up - second chance romance.

Unfortunately, I did not finish this book. I read approximately 50% and decided I just wasn't connecting with the book. I didn't feel any connection with June or Levi and it was hard for me to feel vested in their relationship. I don't think there is anything wrong with the book, I just personally did not connect with it.

This is the first time I have read a book by Emma Lord and I am so glad I was able too!

June and Levi were best friends in their teenage years. However, due to a misunderstanding, Levi left for college and didn’t talk to June again. Years passed and then when both June and Levi go through public breakups, fate seems to bring them back together to mend their long lost relationship.

I enjoyed Levi and June’s story! It was a cute, quick read with some great tropes including friend to lovers, fake dating and slow burn! I would recommend this book to anyone who loves romance and needs a quick read this summer!

3.5⭐️

Happy release day to the Break-Up Pact; a solid read, where the main characters dealt with finding themselves and recovering from grief, along with becoming closer romantically.

While this did make the story more serious, I did enjoy it for that reason. It helped add depth to the characters, and I was interested in seeing how Levi and June would sort through everything.

There were a couple things that took me out of the story though, like the “viral moments” they always seemed to magically sustain, or even June and Dylan calling each other “sis” and “bro”. I promise most siblings do not say that unironically !!

I did love all the soft moments between Levi and June, and always love a good friends-to-lovers vibe. Great summer read as well, so thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review💫

I’m a fan of Emma Lord’s YA novels. Tweet Cute and Begin Again are two favorites of mine. So it was a no-brainer to pick up her adult debut. And no surprise that I really enjoyed this fun rom-com! The combination of friends to lovers, second chance, and fake dating worked really well and their shared loss added some depth to the story. Plus, there are so many fun details in the book.

“The way we have always been able to see deep into the cores of each other, to feel the depths of the other’s hurts and triumphs and everything in between. A thread between us that kept its pull even after all these years apart, too steady to break, too strong to unravel.”

The Break Up Pact is a great summer read! It balances humor with emotional depth and includes many lovable, relatable characters.

I've positively LOVED some of this author's YA books (Begin again, when you get the chance and tweet cute) and couldn't wait to dive into her new adult/contemporary romcom debut!

I love the childhood besties to we're actually pining for each other and every one knows but us estranged friends to reconnecting as adults to now fake dating but we're still pining to lovers. Like this is probably my favorite trope (I've always said friends to lovers will be my story one day) I just love the longing and the history and the ugh everything that comes with it. 🥰🥰

I love the premise of this story, June and Levi both had very, unexpectedly viral, break ups. They reconnect when he returns to their home town after being estranged for a number of years. But when a picture of them then goes viral, they lean into it, because who doesn't love a fake dating story line?

The story had some meltworthy moments, sizzling chemistry, a couple you want to root for from the beginning, and a perfect for their love story epilogue. But so much of their story is rooted in their past friendship prior to reconnecting and we don't really get to see that. The story dives right in and the reader is left with a number of assumptions about their history. There was a slight depth that was missing that I think the story really needed.

All in all though, with some of my favorite tropes, this was still a fun one sitting read and I can't wait to read what comes next from this author!

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my review!

First off, Happy Pub Day to Emma Lord for The Break-up Pact. Go grab a copy today and a scone. Trust me on that last one, if you don’t you’re going to wish you had!

The fake dating trope is the basis is of this book, so high five right away for that! One of my favorites! June and Levi haven’t spoken in 10 years, but get thrust together in their hometown after break ups with exes go viral for both. Both of these two are struggling to be their authentic selves through out the book. It’s definitely a lesson in being who you are and following your dreams. June runs a tea shop, started by her late sister and they make scones. Those scones really come into play in the second half of the book and honestly, I’m ready to quit my job and go open a bakery that makes scones! I do love to bake so it really struck a chord with me. But I must confess that I have never had a scone until today. I just so happen to have some in my freezer and while finishing the last few chapters knew today was the day to make them. They aren’t half bad and my mind is racing with ingredient combos that could be put together!

Back to the topic at hand. Love rekindles between these two, or maybe never really died away. You will love the cast of characters in this one and find yourself smiling throughout.

Now off to go eat more scones!

Loved this one! I adored this book! When June and Levi reconnect the reader becomes immersed in their plans to save the bakery that June owns. Our couple is a bit stubborn in their journey, but I found the story worth the journey! Thank you for this one! It is definitely one I will reread in the future.

I’ve been a fan of Emma Lord for many years. Unfortunately, this book was a HUGE miss for me. Emma has always written in YA before this, and so her romances are sweet and have kissing only. When I saw this was a change from that and featured slightly older characters, I had a thought of “what if she’s pulling an Emily Henry and going from YA to adult and this from sweet romance to spicy?” and then I promptly forgot that thought and didn’t do any further investigating. Well, I should have. This books is open door, which is disappointing to me. When an author has a lane that they’ve written in, I feel like they owe it to their readers if they are going to make a change like this, and give us a heads up.

Aside from that, I just honestly didn’t like the book. I didn’t connect with the characters, and I found them annoying and frustrating. Supposedly they hate each other at the beginning, and yet they are both eyeing each other and having lusty thoughts about the other from the outset. The romance really seemed to lack the characteristic Emma Lord charm, and that was honestly saddening to me more than it being open door. I can skip those scenes if the love story is otherwise there, but that wasn’t the case here.

I honestly can’t think of anything I enjoyed about this book. I rated it 2 stars because I did actually finish it rather than DNF. I just hope that Emma doesn’t leave behind YA for good, because if she does and this is indicative of what she will be writing from here on out, then she has lost a reader.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free advanced e-book. These opinions are my own.

Huge thank you to St Martins Press and NetGalley for allowing me to be an ARC reader on this one. All thoughts & opinions are my own!

My first book I’ve read from Emma Lord and it was super cute!

I loved the small town setting and the second chance with fake dating! The combination of tropes I think was my favorite part. I loved that the characters had a history and had a connection through friendships in the past. I also liked how the book handled grief. The book talked a bit about themes of grief that I haven’t really seen in other stories and it was done very well!

There were some parts of the story that I didn’t particularly connect with/thought dragged a bit but overall I thought the story was still enjoyable!

If you’re looking for an easy small town read with some themes of grief I’d definitely recommend checking out this book!

The Break-Up Pact was a really cute and enjoyable read. I liked the cute backstory Levi and June had, both crushing on each other in high school but due to misunderstandings never had gotten together. I also really enjoyed the storyline of June and her sister Annie and their tea store, Tea Tide. I loved that June wanted to hold on to the store, as if keeping it alive would somehow being keeping Annie’s memory alive.

This is my third Emma Lord read and it’s easily my favorite so far and her most adult romance book, breaking out of the YA genre. I felt there was good depth and insights to the characters, good secondary characters to keep things interesting, good detail of their community to help you feel invested in the storyline. Overall, a really enjoyable book! My one small note would be the digital ARC seemed to have a few grammatical errors in it, which I assume and hope were edited out before print. I will be going out to buy the print copy of the book now!

Thank you for the opportunity to read this advanced copy in exchange for my thoughts and opinions!