Finished the ARC of #TheBreakUpPact and it’s SO. GOOD. Just the right amount of a cute romance, with a twist of drama and a drop of spice. I loved June and Levi’s story! The beginning is a smidge hard to follow, but after the first few chapters it straightens itself out. I was fortunate enough to get the audio and an ebook copy, and they were both sooo good. Definitely recommend if you need a sappy romance with good laughs, too! Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, Emma Lord, and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC!

Thank you to St Martins Press & NetGalley for an ARC of this book; in exchange for my honest opinion.

I’d like to preface this by saying I’ve read Emma Lords YA books, and I really enjoyed them. I know this was her first Adult Romance, so I wasn’t expecting it to be perfect. But honestly, this book was a tumultuous, long winded, and juvenile story.

I can usually read a book in 2-3 days; this one took me over a week to get through because I dreaded picking it up. The characters did not seem connected to me whatsoever, the storyline was super bizarre and felt unrealistic, and the characters inner monologue just screamed juvenile.

I think if you can get past a whiny FMC, and buy into the extremely bizarre plot of the book, and long winded chapters full of monotonous information, you may enjoy this book. But it was definitely for me!

I feel like I finished this one just to say I finished it. It had so much potential, but I really wasn’t invested in the story or either main character.

2.5/5 ⭐️

June and Levi are both nursing broken hearts. To make matters worse, their breaking hearts have made HEADLINES. They haven't been close in years, but they decide to join forces a la "no publicity is bad publicity." They could both use the boost, and if feelings never develop, this should be easy! They fake date for the press...with an expiration date. But getting close brings up the past, and suddenly, nothing is as easy at it seems!

This reminded me a great deal of an Emily Henry book. We delve deeply into the pasts of these characters, mining tragedy and shared events to foster revelations and personal growth in the present. Ultimately, this fell a bit flat for me because the (figurative) ghosts of the people who were haunting Levi and June weren't particularly compelling. I felt confused as to why June and Levi cared so much for their exes, as well as the mutual friend they lost. A great deal of this book was made up of characters talking about the people they'd lost who never seemed that great to begin with. Relationships are complicated, so it makes sense, but still, it didn't feel rich enough.

There was some chemistry. There was some fun. There was some sort of abrasive writing at times that took away from my enjoyment of the story. Though deep, it didn't quite provide the emotion I was looking for, and I didn't have as much fun with the lighter scenes as I'd hoped.

I'd like to thank St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the eARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

This book had all the makings of a book that I would love (THE BEAUTIFUL COVER, fake dating, viral social media tie in, childhood friends to lovers, mutual trauma, FMC baker/business owner, and small town vibes) but it ended up being a little lack luster for my liking✨

3.25⭐️

Synopsis:
Two best friends who haven’t spoken in ten years pretend to date after break-ups with their respective exes go viral, in this delightfully fun and deeply emotional novel. 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?

Special thanks to Macmillan Audio for the gifted ALC #MacAudio2024

⭐️THE BREAK-UP PACT, out AUG 13⭐️

As you are likely aware, there is an active boycott of your publishing house due to the failure of St. Martin’s Press to ensure the safety of their Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian influencers. Over 7,500 influencers to date have signed the petition demanding that St. Martin’s Press meet the incredibly reasonable demands below.
Address and denounce the Islamophobia/racism from their employee.
Offer tangible steps for how they're going to mitigate the harm this employee caused.
Address how, moving forward, they will support and protect their Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab readers, influencers, and authors in addition to their BIPOC readers, influencers, and authors.

Firstly, I would like to call out that the publisher after 10 months has still not addressed the issues which have continued the strike, and I feel like that is not a good thing. Silence on an issue that people very much care about is not a good look. However, that being said, I have looked into the situation myself, and have decided that while I disagree with the way that St. Martins Press has gone about this situation, I also believe that the full boycott is not the right answer. So, please, St. Martin's Press, do something.

With that being said, I have personally decided that I will start reviewing books I receive here on Netgalley, however, I will not be talking about them on my social media. A particular disappointment to such an amazing book.

I have loved every single Emma Lord book, and I have read them all (and been lucky enough to get two now as ARCs). The lowest rating is a 4 star, which if you knew me and know how rare my five stars actually are is honestly a miracle in my eyes. Emma Lord is definitely one of my current favorite authors, and so I was particularly excited for The Break-Up Pact, her first venture into the adult space.

5 stars. Amazing. Wonderful.

If I had to critique something (and note that these critiques are extremely surface level and did not change my enjoyment of the story at all) I would say that the writing still feels young, especially when these characters are meant to be in their 30's. And secondly, I wanted more of the third-act reconciliation (not the break-up part, which I felt was one of the strongest parts of the book)

I loved these characters. This was a world I wanted to dive head first into, and the charming small town and charming cast of characters were definitely the reason for that. I loved the quirky scone and tea shop, and how it got a little more serious with the connection of everyone and everything to the memory of the sister. The romance was sweet, and just spicy enough for me, and I loved how June and Levi reconnected and became a sensation.

I hated who I needed to hate, I loved who I was supposed to love, I went through the gamut of emotions, from laughing so hard I fell off my chair (true) to crying due to recent grief (also true, sadly) to melting into a puddle of love.

I truly loved this book, and would wholeheartedly recommend it.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Thank you to #macaudio24 for a copy of this audiobook. I would like to thank NetGalley and Wednesday books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book! I thought the two MC's really had the right amount of chemistry and the fact that they were such close friends growing up. They have tragedy that joins them together and it adds a lot of depth to the story. I loved the fact that both characters communicated. I also enjoyed the flashbacks to the high school. When they both go viral for getting broken up with a fake dating pact feels like the perfect option for everyone involved. Chemistry ensues. I really enjoyed the audiobook narration. I felt like it enhanced the story and really immersed me into the story. I loved the dual narration.

I love Emma Lord's writing and I'm excited to read more by her in the future!

I really wanted to like this book, I really did but I just don’t. I don’t know if it’s because this book is written in first person POV and it’s only the FMC’s POV but I felt like June was way more interested and invested in a relationship with Levi than Levi was with her. I never felt like his feelings were as strong as hers and I felt like he was way too considerate of Kelly and not of June. Especially when he went to go live with Kelly while he was “with” June and continued to do so even after June experienced the fallout during the interview. I was in no way rooting for June and Levi throughout the book. I was hoping June would move on and meet someone better.

One thing I do love was the friendship between Sana and June! Sana was the true MVP and BFF to June and I loved every aspect of their friendship.

Thank you NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review

After two very public and tearful break-ups, June and Levi (former best friends and maybe crushes??) find themselves back in Benson Beach. After getting a lot of media attention, the two jilted lovers make a plan to fake date to capitalize off their recent fame. Can these two keep it platonic of will it become more?
This book wasn’t as I good as I expected. There were so many good tropes and story lines but it just fell flat for me. It was an enjoyable book that was cute and has a great happy ending.

I tried reading this ARC in both ebook and audio formats, and it turned out that it's just not for me. I really enjoy Emma Lord's YA novels, but I don't think I am quite the audience for her adult books, and I ended up DNFing about a quarter of the way through.

I wanted to get invested into these characters and I just never got there. I found myself constantly checking what percentage I was at. I love the fake dating trope, but it just never fully sucked me into the story. I wanted them to hate each other a little. more or fall for each other a little faster. I just kept feeling like there was just to many tropes but never fully connected to them completely.

This story follows June and Levi as they reconnect after years apart, both fresh off break-ups, finding themselves back in their hometown of Benson beach. June is working to keep her tea shop, a dream of her late sister's, above water. A picture of them goes viral in a suggestive position, and they enter into a fake dating relationship with the hope their exes are jealous. I thoroughly enjoyed the banter between the two while also learning about the misunderstanding that kept them apart for so long.

I felt like this was very much been there, done that. It felt too familiar like a story I’d heard many times before without anything to make it memorable.

2.5 rounded up. The Break-Up Pact kept me on my toes. The cover and fun synopsis do little to convey the emotional depth this novel has. I appreciated how it showed how relationships are messy, and that there isn’t just an easy fix for things. To me, that’s where this novel really shines. If you can sit with the angst and flawed characters in this book, I think it pays off. It shows that as much as people can try to fix or help you, it won’t work unless you put in the effort yourself.

Both the FMC and MMC frustrated me at times (maybe more often than not). It’s not that June and Levi are unlikeable, *cough, cough* but maybe Levi is *cough*, but that they’re flawed. There were numerous times I just wanted to grab June and shake her! After reflecting though, it’s hard not to see myself in some of the flaws she had. I want to think I would react or speak differently in her shoes but, in reality, I know that’s unlikely. Levi, it’s not me, it’s you. Sana was easily my favorite character, a best friend for the ages!

Two best friends reconnect after 10 years when both their partners break up with them. June went viral after her boyfriend broke up with her for being "crying girl" and Levi's ex-girlfriend moved on with someone famous. They decide to fake date since it would be advantageous to both of them and along they way they reconnect.

I love Emma Lord's YA novels. This is not a YA but I felt like it still sort of felt YA at times. I always enjoy a fake dating trope and I like friends to lovers so this was a good story but I did feel like it dragged on a tad bit. I enjoyed their relationship and how certain things were handled but this wasn't a home run for me. This would make a good summer read though!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy. 3.5 rounded up

Emma Lord is a favorite YA author of mine and I was so excited to read her adult romance debut!! Unsurprisingly it was FANTASTIC!! Two former high school friends who have both been recently and publicly dumped team up to fake date in this small town summer love story.

Full of heart, emotional depth, great chemistry and EXCELLENT on audio narrated by my very fav, Natalie Naudus. I loved this a lot and can't recommend it enough. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

CW: death of a sibling (off page)

It just wasn’t for me :( I wanted to like it so bad but I found myself bored throughout. I’ll try something else from this author eventually!

Thank you Netgalley, publisher St. Martin's Griffin, and author Emma Lord for providing this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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The Break-Up Pact is a cute beach read with all the tropes: fake dating, forced proximity, second chance, found family, friends-to-lovers, small-town romance, beach-town romance, summer love... There's probably more I'm missing. Some might even argue this is "trope soup", but I think inside this book there is a good story, and reducing it to "trope soup" feels a bit unfair. This is an easy-to-read, mostly-feel-good story with plenty of angst from the FMC dealing with her lingering feelings about the (off-page) death of her sister, and the fickle nature of fleeting TikTok virality.

Characters that aren't June or her childhood friend-to-lover, Levi, seem to have a maximum of two personality traits. June's brother, Dylan, seems totally left out of the grief process, despite the fact his late sister, Annie, was also his wedding planner. Dylan has major wake-up-at-dawn-for-fun, golden retriever energy, and his fiancé, Mateo, has quiet studious professor energy right down to the sweater vests that have a secret fan account on Instagram. They're cute, but there's no depth. The same can be said for June's BFF, Sana. Sana pops up with a snarky quip and a camera, ready to turn a candid into a viral tweet, and then disappears for a couple chapters, while she mutters about her dream article she has to write so she can land her dream job. June's ex that dumped her on a reality TV show and turned her into a viral meme only seems to have one personality trait: douchebag. In fact, in the epilogue, it's revealed that he continues to do spin-offs of the reality TV show, and embraces his "villain" era for the cameras. Kelly, Levi's sorta-maybe-ex who made him go viral due to a paparazzo catching her in a compromising position with a high profile real estate client, also has one personality trait: femme fatale.

Despite all characters not named Levi and June being fairly lackluster, I still maintain this is a cute beach read given how easy the plot is to follow along with and the chemistry/tension between the fake couple. Their staged fake dates lay the foundation for real conversations and real intimacy. The sub-plot revolving around the fate of June's beachfront tea shop, Tea Tide, introduced some stakes that weren't romance-focused, and provided a cute backdrop for many a conversation over a nice cuppa tea (because coffee is, according to June, Evil with a Capital E). Tea Tide also serves as a constant reminder of June and Dylan's late sister, since she was the original owner before June took over.

This review might make it sound like this book has a lot of moving pieces: there's internet fame, revenge, fake dating, a sister to grieve, a tea shop to save, a wedding to plan, and (insert Princess Bride reference here) a wife to m*rder and Guilder to frame for it. But, somehow, it all works together.

This book is very millennial-coded. To the point where I'm not even sure other generations would enjoy it. At it's core, there's nothing wrong with having a target audience in mind. If you're a Kindle Girlie who will die on the hill of side part over middle part, and you're looking for your next beachy romance with a single mild chili pepper (one scene, open door, lots of metaphors and euphemisms), this is it. I liked The Break-Up Pact, but I think it lacks the depth or power to be anything other than a beach read, even with all the angst.

This book was not it for me. The plot was minimal to begin with, and it went way too quick for me. In addition, I didn’t love how young everything sounded, not to mention the annoyingly frequent mentions of TikTok… I’m 30, I don’t TikTok. There was no character development and they were actually pretty annoying. Idk how books like this get trad published but great authors don’t… will never under

I'm so excited that Emma Lord wrote an adult romance! She's one of the few YA authors I always pick up. I loved this book. It is sweet and funny and a little steamy!!
I liked that even though the main plot is their relationship, both June and Levi were figuring out their careers, their relationships, and continuing to grieve the loss of June's sister and Levi's best friend, Annie. This is not a fluffy, fun romance at all times. The fake dating and second chance trope come into play here and for the most part are done pretty well, fake dating especially.
I didn't love always love how insecure June was, but we all have traits that are less appealing. I also get very frustrated by communication or lack of as a plot device, for two people who seemed to know each other so well even after 10 years with minimal contact, they seemed to make a lot of snap judgments without consulting the other. Just talk to each other!
BRB, off to lounge on the beach and then grab a scone at Tea Tide!