A fun, three star, summer read! I devoured Emma Lord's The Break-Up Pact in a little over a day. This was an easy, bingeable read that is great for those who enjoy a tropey romp of a summer read. I did not go into The Break-Up Pact with high expectations, which was the perfect approach for this book. There are moments of disjoined, almost suspense of belief, however, I think that is to be expected of most rom-coms today.

My biggest qualm with this book is that the two main characters, who grew up together and had deep ties to the same community, just ceased speaking for YEARS. Their families stayed in communication with each other but the two main characters just go silent. Yet, we as the reader are to believe that they are INSTANTLY reconnected and tied at a deep, visceral level. The progress of the relationship between June and Levi felt like warp speed, even with the stereotypical miscommunication subplot found in a lot of rom-coms today.

I wasn't fully connected to the characters nor the subplots of their personal lives (the tea shop storyline actually really annoyed me), but I think as a whole this was a cute read. I think was able to read it so quickly because there lacked real depth to the storyline and the characters.

June and Levi were childhood best friends, until one day they weren’t. They haven’t spoken in ten years when the timely break ups with their respective exes go viral. Levi returns to his hometown where June owns Tea Tide, a struggling seaside cafe. When images of a June and Levi reminiscing on the beach hit the internet, suddenly they are known as the Revenge Exes. Could this mistake work to their advantage? Levi wants to win his ex back and June is trying to save her failing business so a little PR wouldn’t be a bad thing. 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?

Where are all my Every Summer After and Love and Other Words girlies out there?! This one’s for you. I love a good friends to lovers, secondish chance romance and it screams summer reading! The Break-Up Pact is @dilemmalord breakout into adult fiction and I look forward to reading more!

Read this if you enjoy:
🫖 Fake dating
🥐 Friends to lovers
🫖 Beach reads
🥐 Small town romance
🫖 A little bit of spice

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord.

This story is about June and Levi, who fake a relationship to get back at their respective exes, after they both had very public breakups. I really wanted to like this one, it has some of my favourite things, including childhood friends to lovers, beach setting, and lots of scones! However I couldn’t get into it, and I’m not sure why. I found the secondary characters likeable and enjoyable as well, but the book didn’t draw me in and make me want to keep reading. I did find that the constant references to June’s sister Annie distracting – I know it was important to the storyline but it felt out of place for me. Overall I didn’t enjoy the book and I am unlikely to recommend it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this heartfelt novel about June and Levi set in the quaint town of Benson Beach. After childhood friends June and Levi have fallen out of touch for several years, they are reunited after their public breakups go viral on social media. They both have their own reasons for deciding to enter the “break up pact” where they pretend they are dating. I loved the slow burn of suppressed feelings leading to a swoon-worthy first kiss. While, I know this can be an unpopular opinion, I love a good miscommunication trope thrown in there with the build up leading up to the truth being revealed.

A review will be posted to our Instagram account on 8/12 and will post to our story on pub day :)

- Fake Dating
- Former Friends to lovers
- Second Chance-ish
- Grief/Healing

Overall I thought this was a cute, fake dating romcom with a good message of being true to yourself and living your life for yourself and not for someone else. It definitely had a bit of a Hallmark movie feel to it. I personally wasn’t a big fan of the miscommunication/lack of communication explanations throughout, but I can’t say I expected much else.

Excellent set-up and narrated by one of my favorite audiobook narrators, Natalie Naudus. We have a single POV novel with June having been dumped on national TV, turned into a meme, and now dealing with her struggling tea shop on a beachy boardwalk. She runs into childhood friend Levi, who has also been virally dumped recently, and somehow they get caught up on a social media storm calling them the Revenge Exes. They decide to awkwardly follow through with some fake dating so that June can get more customers in her store and Levi can show his ex-fiancee what she’s missing. It’s messy and complicated, especially when we factor in June’s teenage crush on Levi, and his rejection and radio silence for the past ten years. We also get a fun cast of supporting characters in the form of June’s brother, his fiancee, and another one of June’s best friends. This book is funny and sweet and cute and steamy and emotional, all in one.

This book had such a fun premise! Fake dating each other to get back at their exes after their break ups went viral? This would be a good beachy read. There was lots of humor and entertainment, and I really enjoyed those parts!

I wanted to love this book so much, but I ended up feeling just okay about it after finishing it. I didn’t fully connect with the main characters or their relationship (WAY too much miscommunication), and the plot dragged at times. This was not a bad book; I just expected to love it a little more than I did.

A friends to lovers fake dating novel set in the time of social media gone wild. June and Levi were both publicly dumped by their partners and have been living under the shadow of being memes. Now they've teamed up to fake date and post their own adventures in the hope of making those partners regret what they've done and to help June's struggling tea business. it's light to be sure but know that these two convey, despite being in their late 20s, as teens. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I've been a fan of Lord's YA novels but this one didn't quite hit the mark for me.

2.5 stars, rounded up. This was a light romance that was a little too social-media heavy for my preferences. Two estranged friends each have gone viral for bad break-ups when they decide to fake date to get revenge on their exes. June runs a failing tea room on the beach, and Levi has taken a break from a finance career to write a book. The pacing of their relationship felt really off-kilter for me, when they go from reuniting after years of estrangement to deciding to fake date over the course of a few paragraphs. If you like scones, you will probably like this book, as there are a lot of scones mentioned throughout. I'm not sure a page went by without the word scone on it. June and Levi are fine but forgettable. I'm glad they got their HEA, but I finished the book last night and already had to go look up their names to write this review. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin for a digital review copy.

I really enjoyed this book! It was more than a rom com. It explored grief, loss of a loved one, loss of friendships, learning to communicate, and much more. I loved the revenge exes fake dating premise. This would have been higher rated for me if we got Levi’s POV. I love a dual POV.

Unfortunately this just did not work for me. I was SO bored of the plot and the characters, and the premise was something I was really drawn to, but there were too many factors that caused my dislike of this book besides it being mega boring.

The characters - i just did not connect with either of them. They both had a shared grief but idk I just didn’t like the way it was written? I feel like I didn’t really see the impact of grief on them as much as I wanted to and how it actually changed their actions in life. They were also allergic to communication, granted a miscommunication trope I can get on board with but this was not one of those times. It was just so frustrating to see what pulled these two apart in the first place.

The exes. Oh my god I hated how big of an impact they had up until the very end. The only plot was the question of if they were going to go back to the ex and I just hated that I wanted them gone so fast.

And lastly too many tiktok and twitter references. I usually don’t mind them much but this was just so excessive.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the arc!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

This was entertaining and funny, but it dragged on for quite a bit at times. I feel like it harped on the miscommunication between June & Levi. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t dislike it and think it could have been condensed some.

This is a great starter romance for that high school/college girl who wants to read on the beach a little, but will also take weeks, maybe months, to actually finish the book. The plot line, the dialogue, the ANNOYING back and forth hesitancy from the protagonists. My God, the gorgeous man that you’re in love with it telling you he loves you, why are you doubting it and throwing a big stink like a toddler! There was no real conflict in the book, nothing that had to be overcome. Longgg drawn out descriptions about June not knowing what Levi wants. SNOOZE. Ended up reading dialogue for the last 30%.

I was curious of I was going to like this. I love Emma Lord’s YA books and I’m happy to report that this book was just as good as the others (although the smutty scene did take me by surprise). This is perfect for anyone who wants a lighthearted read!

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

Emma Lord has written a w inner! This book will transport you to the lives of the characters and take you along for a wild ride

I've only read one of Emma Lord's books before and I wasn't dazzled. But sometimes I just want a gooey, cheesy romance and this checked all the boxed I wanted it to. This was a sweet tale of estranged friends June and Levi, both back in their hometown of Benson Beach after living most of their adult lives away. Both have recently gone through very public break-ups and are trying to figure out their way in the world as individuals. One day, a picture is taken of the two of them in a very suggestive position and it goes viral--they become dubbed the "Revenge Exes" and then we get the whole plot of this novel! There are some underlying plot lines, like the success of June's small business, the relationships Levi and June have with June's siblings, and Levi's attempts at writing a novel. All of which contribute very well to the story and just added to the enjoyment of reading it. It covered the fake-dating and "friends first" tropes well, which are two of my favorites! This was a easy, quick, fun summer read.

Thanks for letting me try this book. It's just not right for me right now. Emma writes great YA and I hope for the best for you.

UGH I loved this! I loved the element of the TikTok viral breakups, the 2nd chance element was so fun, this was just delightful, sparkling, fun and electric.

This was my first time reading one of Emma's books and I now feel like I need to go back and read all the others!

The Break-Up Pact is a fun, easy read and at the same time hits on some big topics. Honestly, in some ways it reminds me of a Katherine Center book. The writing styles are different, but it left me feeling similarly to the way hers do. This one overall ended up being 3.5 stars for me. Right between I liked it and I REALLY liked it (I know my rating system could prob be better). Rounding it up to a 4 for this review.

Definitely recommend if you're looking for a sweet, quick rom com!

This book really packed a punch. June and Levi are childhood best friends and after being apart for 10 ish years, have finally crossed paths again and, oh boy, was the tension good.

The whole premise of the book (two breakups going viral on TikTok) was cute and clever and provided a fun little reason for this whole fake dating scenario.

I was glued to the pages of this book: the pacing was great, these characters are fantastic, and the writing is clear and smart. I loved the banter in this one; it was so high quality and had me laughing out loud. Levi and June are obviously made for each other, but each have well-developed growth and motives. They have a great community around them and I loved the Tea Tide realm and all of the scones. (But can we please have some recipes to accompany this book? It made me very hungry.)

Levi irritated me towards the end because he was a little too broody, and that is the only reason its sitting at a four star rating instead of a three.

If you loved Swear on this Life or Love and Other Words, then you'll love this one!

Tropes: second chance, childhood friends to lovers, fake dating, forced proximity, small town romance, and found family.

*I received a copy from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review.