Two former best friends pretend to date after break ups with their respective exes go viral.

I enjoyed this one, though not as much as Lord's young adult books. Our main characters June and Levi jump into fake dating after not talking for ten years. I liked seeing them fall back into their friendship, but their miscommunication over why they stopped being friends in the first place was irritating. There are still funny moments, a great group of friends, and lots of scone references that will leave you hungry.

Overall it's a light-hearted summer read. I'd recommend if you're a fan of fake dating and second chance romance.

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for my advance copy of the book.

I think this is a perfectly fine contemporary romance. Nothing about it feels unique but it satisfies the desire for this type of romance. They have all the typical problems of a fake dating trope. I spent so much of the book just wishing they could be honest with each other, which is expected but still frustrating.

Pick up THE BREAK-UP PACT for:

Childhood friends
Fake dating
Seaside town
Second chances

June and Levi reconnect after being dumped by high-profile partners. They make a fake dating pact to capitalize on their viral social media presence. June needs to bring business to her failing business. Levi wants his ex to realize what shes lost. But being together in their hometown makes it too easy for the feelings they've hidden since they were teens to complicate their Break-Up Pact.

Regrettably, I was not invested in the story at all. There was so much emphasis on time June and Levi missed being apart, or the nostalgia of what they had as teens that I didn't feel they worked as a couple in the present.

This book may be a miss for me, but you should add this to your shelf in you're looking for a beachy summer read. Or if, like me, you love the fake dating trope.

Thank you Netgalley & St. Martins Press for this advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I’ve enjoyed Lord’s previous books, but this one fell short for me. The friends to lovers trope is usually one of my faves, but this time the story seemed to drag and be overly complicated. Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy.

REVIEW: The Break-Up Pact ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I am a sucker for a good fake dating trope, so I was very excited to start The Break-Up Pact.

June and Levi have been close friends since they were little. However, they lose contact with each other and their friends due to changes such as shared loss, moving somewhere else, and dating others. When both characters are embarrassingly and publicly broken up, Levi returns home to see June. With help from one of June's friends, they decide to make a pact to pretend to date each other to get back at their exes and improve June's tea shop business.

The Break-Up Pact was a great contemporary romance with many fun tropes, such as fake dating, friends to lovers, small town, and second chance romance. I really liked June and Levi as the main characters. They both have shared grief they are trying to manage while also trying to discover who they are and where they belong. As childhood friends, they shared many memories. I enjoyed their playful chemistry together. The spice level is mild-medium but still satisfying. I even really liked the supporting characters in The Break-Up Pact. All the characters had backgrounds and unique personality traits, making each character more distinct.

The one little thing that could have been slightly changed for me was that the book started off really slow. However, once you get through the first few chapters, it picks up and is so good.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Break-Up Pact! It was a great combination of romance tropes, and I found the characters really thought out.

Thank you, Netgalley, St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin, and Macmillan Audio, for the free advanced copy for my honest review!

I thought this was a fun premise for a book. The characters feelings for each other were believable and the mishaps were also believable. I liked the setting the most and would love to visit the tea shop. The author did a good job of making me crave a scone on the boardwalk.

I loved this original take on the fake dating trope. I thought it was fresh and modern and fun. I wanted to love this one more, but unfortunately the story just didn't hook me in. There were so many fantastic summer romance coms this year, so I think I just had the bar set a little too high. It was a very cute read though. I loved the beach town setting and the cute tea shop though !!

I was able to read an ARC of this novel courtesy of St. Martins Press, the author and NetGalley.

I really did enjoy this novel and the fake dating trope. June and Levi were best friends as teenagers but drifted apart. They reconnect over time and people think they are a couple. They decide to run with the rumors, to keep Junes business afloat. Levi is attempting to get his fiancé back. There were times when this was so fun and hilarious to read and other times the pacing felt off.

I did enjoy this story but wanted a bit more. I didn’t really connect to the characters the way I wanted to.

Emma Lord kills it with this cute small-town romance of two childhood best friends who never were until they get broken up with by their exes ten years later and decide to embark on a fake dating scheme to help them with where they are now. The chemistry between June & Levi is inevitable from the first re-meet cute and leaves the reader so excited to see how and when they’ll realize that they’re the true OTP of their lives. Adding on grief management, learning who they are, and a whole lot of delicious-sounding scones, this romance is a great compilation of knowing yourself, knowing your community, and knowing when the ex you’ve been with for too long is simply just not the right fit for you. Can’t wait to read anything else Lord pens.

It took me a while to get into this book. Levi and June went from "we barely talked to each other for 10 years" to "let's pretend to date" in what felt like a paragraph. June also wasn't my favorite of Emma Lord's characters. That said, I did like how this book wrapped up and did enjoy it overall.

First off, thank you NetGalley, Emma Lord, and St. Martin's Press for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

Having eagerly anticipated delving into Emma Lord's work for quite some time, I was thrilled to be approved for this ARC. I couldn't wait to get a glimpse of her writing style and immerse myself in her storytelling prowess. The synopsis sounded incredible, featuring some of my favorite tropes: fake dating, friends to lovers, and second chance romance, all set against a beach backdrop. Who doesn't love that combination?! Plus the cover is so cute!! Unfortunately, this book was just okay for me. It felt merely average, which makes me extremely sad to say, given how much I was looking forward to it. So, what were my issues with the story? I found the characters to be immature and struggled to connect with them. The pacing was uneven and dragged at times, and the constant dreadful miscommunication made it even more frustrating. While it was a lighthearted rom-com perfect for a beach read, the execution just didn't live up to my expectations despite its potential. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Love the emotional intestate that the main charters shared with each. I loved the sweetness that Levi had. I just wish the premise was explained more bettering the beginning. it just seemed disjointed. I loved seeing their "fake" dates I thought that is when the true chemistry was really shown but the but there just seemed like too much noise with everything else that did add but was distracting for me at the end of the day.

An anxiously awaited 2024 summer read, you'll definitely want to get your hands on this one! Two viral public breakups brings two former best friends back into the same realm.

A little bit of spice, a lot of banter. I LOVED this one!! Highly recommend throwing this book in your beach bag!

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review! Out August 13th!

Emma Lord seamlessly transitioned her trademark internet-based shenanigans, heart-wrenching family dynamics, and bantering love interests from YA into Adult.

The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord was such a cute read! I read this while on vacation and what a fun vacation read it was!

June and Levi were best friends as children. They both ran in high school and spent a lot of time together. Something (explained in story) went awry at the end of high school, which sent the BFFs in separate paths, keeping them apart for 10 years.

June, who owns a scone shop on a quaint street on her beachside hometown, was recently dumped by Griffin, and she was turned into an internet meme.

Levi, a hedge fund manager in NYC, was also recently dumped, also in a public manner.

June runs into Levi in their beachside hometown. She isn’t happy when she first sees him, as it dredges up all sorts of surprises memories and feelings.

The two unite and make a pact to make their exes jealous.

This is a sweet story. I was rooting for June the entire time. Levi’s a good one, too.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

June and Levi had secret crushes on each other in high school but college and life choices end their relationship. They reconnect years later after they both had very public break ups. The story unfolds as a combination of fake dating and second chance romance. This novel includes a look at relationships between a close friend group and siblings and how time and perspective can change everything.

I struggled with the pacing of this book. The first half moved really slow for me, but I ended up liking the second half of the book. I also did not relate to the social media theme that was a strong presence in the book. Emma Lord brings an interesting added theme of grieving an unexpected loss in the book. I also liked the theme of starting over being brave when failure is looming.

A complementary copy was provided by publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. all opinions are my own.

I've only read one other book by this author and really enjoyed it so I had high hopes. I didn't really enjoy this one unfortunately. Not that it was bad, but it ended up being one of those books that kept me intrigued enough to want to finish and know how it ended, but not enough to be excited to finish if that makes sense.

3.5 stars
June and Levi, now in their late '20s, are former best friends who haven't been part of each other's lives for 10 years. After spending most of the past decade travelling with her boyfriend, June is back in the small town of Benson Beach where they grew up running a tea shop on the beach that she's struggling to keep afloat while Levi is taking a break from his high-paying finance job in New York City to try and finish the novel he has been working on for years.

After they both experience humiliating public break-ups that go viral across social media, Levi and June bump into each other on the beach and a photo of the two of them sets the internet afire with rumours that they are now dating. Recognizing the possible upside to minor social media celebrity, the two make a pact pretending to date in hopes that the attention will help June's shop financially and convince Levi's ex that she made a mistake. They have a swell of public support and the break-up pact appears to be having the desired result but can Levi and June pull this off without developing real feelings for each other?

Emma Lord's first romance for adults, The Break-Up Pact is a good summer read - a friends-to-lovers/fake dating romance with likeable characters and a fun beach town setting. I was expecting a light and fluffy rom-com but there's a bit more to it than that as both of the main characters are dealing with grief and other serious adult issues so the plot is as much about them working out who they are and what they want in life as it is about their romance. Fans of Emma Lord's are sure to enjoy!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sending a digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

3.5 🌟

Could have been good but the miscommunication troupe is so frustrating!

I can't imagine not talking to someone for years that you had a crush on and then randomly end up fake dating them?! I did enjoy watching June grow through this book and Sana, her best friend was 👌. Not my favorite of Lord's but still glad I had the opportunity to read it.

Thanks, Netgalley for the ARC of this book!

I didn't finish this one after about 50%. I was really into it at first and then I gave up because I just couldn't get past certain things I didn't like about the characters.

Also, the pacing was off. I wanted to love this one so much.