I almost DNF'd this a couple times but powered through. Both the FMC and MMC annoyed me at various times. And the animosity in the beginning seemed very unwarranted and childish. Also, I couldn't help feeling like the MMC was cheating on his ex, and wasn't emotionally ready. It just seemed so fast to move on.

It took me a minute to get into this friends-to-lovers, second-chance romance, but after the first few chapters, I became thoroughly engaged and ended up loving it. The characters are strong, and I loved the relationship between Levi and June and how their past informs it. The author develops the main characters' journey convincingly throughout the story: the way that each navigates loss in their lives, both the grief of losing Annie and their failed relationships. I became very invested in their love story and in June's learning to let go of guilt and failure from the past, finding her own path instead of trying to live the life her sister would have wanted. This is the first book I've read by this author, and I've already ordered all the other novels she's written!

June and Levi were best friends as teenagers. A misunderstanding just prior to Levi departing for college makes it where they haven’t spoken since. Now they are both adults and are both in their hometown of Benson Beach. after both having a public breakup. Levi and June end up “running into” each other outside her tea shop and they begin talking and catching-up. After a picture of them caught in a very suggestive position goes viral, they decide to go along with the charade and pretend to be a couple. this was a fun and witty adult second chance/childhood friends/fake dating rom com but there was some very deep and emotional moments the beginning moved a little slow but after i think it was paced well the writing style reminded me of emily henry. i love June and levi but the miscommunication in the book almost done me in but i not the biggest fan of miscommunication. i LOVED sana, June’s best friend and i loved that the side characters were down so well. i liked the book i wish i could have seen more revenge on griffin but i think it ended well. 3✨

• two victims of viral break-ups decide to fake date to save a tea shop & maybe win back an ex
• second chance romance, but the reason for the tension & break up was so underwhelming, it kind of deflated the plot
• the writing felt very emily henry-esque, & was ultimately a quick read, just fell a little flat

☕️Book Review☕️
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Summary- 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?
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Rating- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
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My thoughts- I have such a massive book hangover from this beauty! I loved loved this book SO much! It was so sweet and I just fell head over heels in love with Levi and June. The most lovable main characters , the sweetest setting in a beachside scone shop 🥺, and discusses grief in a really profound/relatable way. This book is so good, special thanks for @netgally and @macmillianaudio for the advanced copy!
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QOTD- what is your favorite sweet treat? Since this one took place in a scone/tea shop!

This was a cute romance. Emma's books are usually cute beach reads and this one is like the others. The difference this one is more adult and steamier. I didn't find such great chemistry between the 2 MC's so it was hard for me to be invested in the book. There was also a lot of back and forth with the 2 MC's as well.

Thanks to Net Galley for an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review as always, all word are my own.

This book was super sweet and an easy read… but it just took me a hot minute to read it. I just wasn’t hooked the entire time.

I love a good friends to lovers - fake dating - business owning book. I loved the concepts of a tea/scone shop that June works at. I liked the concepts of getting back at your ex - but it didn’t stand out compared to some of the others with the same tropes.

I think if you’re looking for a fun end of summer read - this is a sweet one to pick up.

I have been a fan of Emma Lord’s YA novels and was excited to read her foray into an adult romance.

June and Levi were friends as teens. They were connected by her sister, Annie, who has sadly passed away. Now both are back in their hometown after their break-ups with their exes went viral. They decide to fake date to get back at the exes and help June with some needed funds for the tea shop she owns. Spending more time together gets hearts involved, and they must decide if a chance at love is worth the risk of heartbreak.

Emma Lord writes messy characters well and writes their love stories even better. June and Levi are perfect for each other. They both have messy lives, but they work great together. The two together had a lot of chemistry which led to a lot of funny moments. June did irritate me a bit sometimes, she just seemed all over the place, and so stuck, but there was also a reason for who she was. She was living the dream of her sister.

I loved so much about this story. Both June and Levi are struggling in their own lives and with the help of each other are reminded of who they are and what they want. I did feel at times these characters acted a bit younger than they were. They are around 27 years old and I felt that they read closer to 22, especially with some of their communication and avoidance.

Overall this was a cute premise, that is perfect for a small town lover. I continue to enjoy Emma Lord’s novels and can’t wait to see what else she writes!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a copy of this book. All opinions are 100% mine.

read if you like: fake dating, second chance-ish, friends to enemies to lovers

I am a huge fan of Emma Lord's YA romances--she's particularly good at balancing the messiness of an emerging romance with the messiness of figuring out who you are--and I was eager to read her first adult romance. This book's characters are older (and more worried about their work), but recognizably messy. June is trying to keep her tea shop open (and keep her dead sister's dream going); Levi is trying to complete his first novel. They're both unfortunately viral for the way their exes just broke up with them, and they're also former best friends who haven't spoken for ten years. They decide to come up with an even more viral fake dating plot as vengeance (the Revenge Exes).
Unfortunately, even though they're ten years older, they haven't successfully left high school behind--everyone in this book has too much history with each other (whether that's long-term friendship, long-term longing, or just as sense of who everyone used to be). While that plays into the book's theme of figuring out who you really are, it felt more restrictive than the usual discoveries Lord lets her characters make. I understand the theme of returning home--and sometimes reassessing home at the same time--but I wanted the characters to have more new possibilities and less unresolved ones. I also wanted the characters to be more grounded in their current lives (Tea Tide, the tea shop, is important to the plot, but June's working hours so often got reduced to scone recipes. Levi's writing and life is even fainter.)
It's still a satisfying story, but it feels a little under risen.
Thanks to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for my free earc in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are all my own.

I just didn't get into this book as much as I anticipated. It's a fake dating story, set up to show their ex's revenge. Old friends, fake dating, it's got a lot of tropes going on. The premise was great, I just think the actual story fell flat for me. I tried to root for the MCs, but I didn't even care enough to want them to get together.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review.

Former best friends June and Levi both find themselves in the same situation--very publicly dumped by their significant others. Now, they decide to fake a relationship together in order to turn public favor to them.

I LOVED this romcom! Here's what I loved:

June and Levi: They are perfect. Both are funny and flawed. Together they are even better than apart. Watching them realize how much they actually mean to each other made my day.

Second Chance(ish): While they were never together to begin with, this does feel like a second chance. They were best friends who were (obviously) secretly in love with each other. I loved getting little bits of their past friendship.

The humor and the heart: This book had a perfect combination of humor and heart break. All of the characters are dealing with the death of June's sister which affects them in so many ways. But they still have a good humor to everything they do. I also adored the beach town and all of its inhabitants.

All in all, I added this book! It's a perfect romcom!

Thank you to the author and publisher for the gifted copy.

Such a good read! June and Levi are old friends who haven’t spoken in years, but each have been dumped and gone viral. They begin to fake date and are known as “revenge exes”.

I really enjoyed June and Levi coming back together. I of course hated Griffin- I’ve known men like him and Emma Lord does a great job writing him as well as all the characters!

3. 5 stars. Overall I enjoyed this book. There was about 20% where June drove me crazy and it really ruined my pacing of reading. I was super invested and flying through it until this one moment where the decisions she was making really irritated me. However, I pushed through and she did pull it around. I was surprised by how much I liked the ending after how frustrated I was with June. I pushed through because I knew the character was going through grieving and that looks so different for everyone. I love Emma Lord's YA books and this was a good intro to adult romances for her, though it doesn't match her YA for me. I did love the small town and I think it could have been flushed out more.

The characters were extremely unlikeable in my opinion. Childhood friends that hadn’t talked in many years found themselves together again at a funeral. June’s sister and Levi’s best friend. Fun….said no one ever.

The two then decided to use each other (I mean fake date) to gain something on each end. June needed to get more publicity for her small-business that her (dead) sister originally started and Levi wanted to make his ex-girlfriend (who cheated on him) jealous so that she would want him back. LIKE, WHAT?!

June was afraid to move on after her sisters death which, believe me, I can understand but if her sister was still here, she would have wanted her to expand and do all the things with her tea shop. And as far as Levi goes, that man is dead to me. He was pining after his ex who CHEATED on him. Obviously this a romance book so we know how the fake-dating scenario worked out but good Lord, WHY?

This romance was a bit unbelievable considering the quickness they both agreed to fake date. And, Levi's reluctance to let go of the women who cheated on him was bothersome. This couple's relationship didn't feel genuine at the end.

Thank you, St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin

This book was pretty boring unfortunately. It was cutesy at times with a could be cute setting but just fell so flat. I think introducing fun locals into the bakery would have been neat.. make the story feel more whole. Like a fun grandpa that comes in to buy scones and chats your ear off or something. I just felt nothing for any of the characters which sucked.

Thanks for the earc in exchange for an honest review.

DNF @ 21%. Couldn't get into this. Thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press & MacMillan Audio for advance copies.

Great book for an easy read to get your mind off things and just have a good time while reading it This book will have you laughing and giggling like a good romcom should Overall, five star read that everyone should give a chance

What a cute summer read. I really did enjoy the book it made me laugh, and cry. There were some parts that felt rushed and could have been expanded. The choices that Levi makes in the book a didn't agree with but I understood them.
I enjoyed the topic o dealing with losing a love one. June's choice to do everything on her own kind of bites her but in a way I think she needed to have it happen.

Emma Lord shines in her adult contemporary romance debut, The Break-Up Pact!

June and Levi were connected summers ago by one person: June's sister Annie.. With Annie's death, June is now running the family tea shop and trying to stay afloat in the coastal town. While she's got some help being known as the one dumped and crying on social media, it won't last her forever. Cue in Levi, who's back in town working on his novel after also being publicly dumped and left for someone else. June needs the funds and publicity to keep her tea shop alive and Levi wants an ex back for good. What better way to solve both issues than with a "break-up" pact.

I adored reading The Break-Up Pact and could not put it down. The humor, the little nods to Emma herself and the scenes pulling at my heartstrings had me flipping the pages to find out how both June and Levi's story unfolds. I adored the side characters and the overall setting, feeling right at home in the small coastal town. I was rooting for June to find herself and honestly, for Levi's portion of his "pact" to downfall because ew, his situation. Fans of romantic "beach read" comedies will adore Lord's debut adult romance and want more from her as soon as possible!