I've struggled to get into Lord's college and YA offerings, so I wasn't sure what to expect with this one. However, the description (and cute cover, I won't lie) convinced me to give it a try.

Now that I'm finished, I'm struggling a bit with how to rate and review. I liked the setting. I liked the characters. I liked the core storyline and romantic tropes. But, I often found myself struggling to get through the chapters. The book felt long, much longer than the 300+ pages it ends up at.

I think my issue comes with the fact that there is a lot more about this story than what the description offers. June, the FMC, has become a viral meme after her break up, yes, but she's struggling more deeply with her grief over the loss of her sister. Levi is also newly viral after his girlfriend cheats on him with a Hollywood star, but he's also grappling with career issues and his lack of feeling settled (though Levi's character feels underdeveloped, this is a single POV from June's perspective).

Maybe the evaluation of the book suffers from the disconnect between how the book is being pitched and the seriousness of June's more important storyline.

* Thank you to St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for access to the eARC in exchange for my honest review! *

The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord

I love Emma Lord’s YA books, and so it was easy to dive into her adult debut novel.

You should read it if you love:
▪️Fake dating
▪️Second chance romance
▪️Beach reads
▪️Strong friendships

Personally, despite Emma Lord’s lighthearted style dealing with difficult topics (grief, break-ups, hurt), I didn’t love it as much as I hoped. The story hinges on the fake dating trope which I know a lot of people love, — and if you are a person who loves it, this book is for you — but I found it a bit tedious at times. I think I’ve just discovered that it isn’t my favourite.

Overall, The Break-Up Pact is a cute, sunny getaway of a novel, but one that wasn’t for me.

I love love love all of Emma Lords YA books so this came with a level of expectations that I did try to contain and unfortunately I just didn’t love it.

My biggest issue with it was it didn’t feel like an adult romance despite the characters being adult there was far too much cheese and not enough realism.

The Break- Up Pact is the heart warming story of relationships of all kinds. It follows June and Levi as they navigate the stages of their relationships from friendships, to losing touch to fake dating and everything in between. June and Levi were inseparable as teens but they haven't spoken in years. However, when both of them go though really nasty breakup they decide to convince the world they are a couple. What could go wrong? The Break-Up is a heartfelt romance that will tug at your heartstrings.

4.5 Stars

Emma Lord’s YA books are so full of hope and promise and self discovery (not to mention yummy treats that make your mouth water), so I was intrigued to see what her first adult novel would be like. GUESS WHAT? The same! Emma proves to us that hope, promise and self discovery are tenants of life no matter the stage of it you are in, and that love will always be lurking when you least expect it.

With The Break-Up Pact we get a second-chance-ish romance, as two childhood BFFs are thrust together, after a decade of no talking, all thanks to both of their exes having very public affairs. After a chance run in, they get papped and are dubbed The Revenge Exes. Together they use this fake-ish dating scheme to move forward their own goals, making them blur the lines of former friends with feelings into full on OMG DO WE HAVE ACTUAL FEELINGS NOW territory.

And as with all of Emma’s other books, there is a prominent delicious treat that helps propel the story forward (like how we previously had grilled cheese in Tweet Cute): scones. I swear I’ve never wanted scones more than I have ever ever had while reading this book. And the “June” scone??? NEED MORE THAN I NEED AIR. It’s a chocolate orange scone with pop-rocks. Yes please.

This book is swoony and fun and heartbreaking and hopeful and has lighthearted moments with depth throughout the main story. I truly enjoyed it and cannot wait to see what Emma writes next.

Triggers (for me) included: breast cancer, grief, gaslighting, manipulation, sudden death of a character (off page)

2.5 stars

Having read a lot of Emma Lord's books, I came to this one excited for some good characters and a charming storyline. I'm finishing this one...underwhelmed.

June and Levi were close in high school, drifted, and now have found each other again, conveniently as they are both going through breakups. While both of them have lives outside of this reemerging relationship, it's tough to get invested in them because the development is too limited. There are important features, including but not limited to June's grief over her sister's death (this happens prior to the start of the novel and is not a spoiler), that impact these characters. However, these details get mentioned and then not fully connected or made particularly interesting. For me, the characters were just so shallow.

While this book is mostly a PG-13 romance, the few intimate moments just did not work for me. My thoughts on the related dialogue and descriptions ran, "Hmmm. AWKWARD," versus, "Okay! Steamy!" Ick.

I enjoy this author overall, but this book, for me, was a pretty brutal letdown.

June's world was turned upside down when her sister died. She returned home and took over the tea shop they had dreamed of, but Annie had created. Levi has been living the life he needed to, but forgot to actually live in the process. Dylans wedding brings Levi back to town & the former best friends are thrown back together & fake dating ensues in a public, viral way.
Though this is a romance, it felt like the romance was secondary to a tale of battling a grief that drowns June & Levi. A death that changed the core of their existence while stunting their ability to grow & embrace a future. The focus for me was the journey through it & learning how to honor the dead by learning to live.
Some areas were a bit too repetitive about the past & the childhood, and I felt like the trust and understanding was rebuilt a little too quickly to be realistic. The writing is good and the read entertaining. Favorite character: Sana.

This book felt very predictable and cliché to me. The characters were not tangible and the beginning was underdeveloped.

Overall Rating: 4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

First, I would like to give a big thank you to #NetGalley and #St. Martin’s Griffin for this wonderful ARC of #TheBreak-UpPact in exchange for my honest opinion.

Ever since I read “Tweet Cute” I knew I would enjoy reading what Emma Lord writes. When I saw that she had a new story I was so excited to read it and safe to say this story did not disappoint.

This story had a wonderful mixture of comedy and romance. June and Levi’s relationship from friendship to eventually lovers was adorable. What I wished I saw more of was June taking revenge against her ex Griffin and Levi taking revenge against his ex Kelly. I felt like there was something missing from there. Overall this story was a quick and fun read. It also was really adorable. If you are looking for a fun time I would definitely recommend picking up “The Break-Up Pact”.

This was hilarious! A fun summer romance perfect for beach or vacation reads! The writing is tame but the characters are great. Humor, heart, and happy love!

FAKE DATING WINS AGAIN

AHHH THIS BOOK!!! I literally devoured this read

Tropes:
- Fake Dating
- Second Chance
- Childhood Friends
- Slow Burn
- Miscommunication

Things I loved:
THE CHARACTERS! I loved getting to follow June and Levi through their fake dating journey ! I also loved that both characters supported each other!! Normally I'm not a fan of romances with single POV but I felt the author did so well at letting me into Levi's head without actually being there. I really loved that. The story sucked me right in, I consider this a fast paced book, I love those kinds of reads but if that's not your jam this might not be for you. And yes, there is some miscommunication *tiny spoiler maybe* (view spoiler)

Things I was meh on:
The sisters role felt a little weak to me. I wanted there to be a stronger background and there just wasn't besides being a tool to explain why the characters ignored each other.
also maybe it's a me thing but every time I read the word *tiktok* i cringed a little

Overall, this book was sooo cute, sweet, and emotional. I cried, but I cry at every read as you all know lol. I can't wait to have this book in my hands!!!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. Special Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Emma Lord, for sending me this ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book!

I am a huge fan of Emma Lord's YA novels and have all of them in my classroom library, so of course I was thrilled to read her adult debut! I enjoyed this book--the friendships and romance were great, the beach town setting was fun, but I think my favorite part was actually how grief played a role in many of the character's relationships and growth throughout the story. June's sister died two years prior, but since they were close in age they were part of the same friend group growing up. This of course means that Levi (fake BF turned real BF) knew and loved her sister too. I found June's journey to come to terms with what her life was going to look like moving forward without her sister to be moving, sad, but ultimately hopeful.

The fake dating was also lots of fun, as was the social media/internet meme layer of the story!

Emma Lord has been one of my auto buy/read authors since reading Tweet Cute.
The Break-up Pact, I had a love/hate experience while reading. I love the characters, as well as most of the side characters. But what was missing was while, Annie, was a big part to their history, I feel there was more to the story why I kept them a part. I wish there was a little more closer, it was definitely glossed over. Good, quick read, would recommend as a beach read or a good palette cleanser between heavier books.

This book was so up and down for me along the way. Let me start by saying that I love Emma Lord's YA books! With this one I struggled to connect with the MC's in the beginning. I also just didn't vibe with the fact that Levi seemed to still want to be back with his ex for at least half of the book then changed his mind. Maybe if this included his POV it would've been easier to believe their relationship. Once I did start to root for them the conflict set in and I just eyerolled through the remainder of the book.

Unfortunately, I will not be recommending this one, but I will continue to recommend her YA books.

I will read anything by Emma Lord, and The Break-Up Pact affirmed that. While this isn’t my favorite of hers, it was a good transition into adult fiction for this YA author. The book does what I expect from Lord: realistic characters, more depth to fun tropes, and quirky locations/jobs. I loved the tea shop and the “revenge ex” storyline, but I just wasn’t as invested in Levi and June’s relationship as I’ve been in other of Lord’s characters. The stakes didn’t feel as high, personally or professionally, which left me wanting more. Overall a fun read but with a bit less of Lord’s usual charm for me.

There was nothing wrong with this book but it just wasn't for me. I found the story really bland and just very generic. Maybe if this was my first Ron com I would've liked it more, I'm sure I would've. But it just didn't bring anything new to the table for me. I do think other people will enjoy this book, it definitely had Emily Henry vibes.

Gives Emily Henry vibes, two estranged friends find their way back together and revenge fake date against their public breakups. It was a journey for Levi and June to get to know their adult selves and reignite the mutual feelings they’ve had since high school. I found this book to have emotional impact and character depth. Side characters were fun and added some interesting elements to the book as a whole.

June y Levi eran los mejores amigos cuando eran adolescentes, hasta el día en que no lo fueron. Ahora June está luchando por hacer el alquiler de su tienda de té junto a la playa, Levi está viviendo un cliché de Nueva York como una gestora de fondos de cobertura desilusionada y novelista fallida, y apenas han hablado en años. Pero después de que ambos experimentan rupturas públicas y humillantes con sus ex que se propagan como un reguero de pólvora a través de los agujeros de conejo de TikTok y los programas de entrevistas diurnas por igual, accidentalmente hacen algunos chismes jugosos por su cuenta: una foto de ellos juntos ha convencido a Internet de que son una pareja. Con tanta gente apoyándolos, deciden dejar de lado su difícil pasado y hacer un pacto para alimentar el fuego. Fingir hasta la fecha ayudará a la tienda de June a volver a ponerse de pie y hará que la ex de Levi se dé cuenta de que cometió un error. Todo lo que tienen que hacer es convencer al mundo de que están enamorados, una foto digna de desmayarse a la vez. Dos rupturas virales. Una relación falsa. Cinco dátiles brillantes y palpitantes. June y Levi definitivamente pueden lograr esto sin que sus corazones se involucren. Porque todo el mundo sabe que las citas falsas no vienen con sentimientos reales. ¿Verdad? Estuvo entretenido, no lo negaré, pero no me gustó como se manejó lo de la exnovia de Levi. Tenemos al tipo que empieza a sentir cosas por June, sin embargo, cuando aparece la ex se olvida de ella y hasta la ignora; esas no son acciones de alguien que está confundido con sus sentimientos, son acciones de alguien que sabe a quien quiere (a la ex).

Para pasar el roto está bien, pero si quieren algo romántico harán muchos corajes.


Gracias NetGalley, al publicista y al autor por proporcionarme el ARC.

June and Levi were best friends who haven’t spoken in ten years. After they both experience awful and humiliating breakups that go viral across TikTok, a photo of them goes viral. Before they know it, they’ve been dubbed the NICKNAME. They make a pact to pretend to date and use the attention to help June’s shop and make Levi’s ex jealous.

This book has adorable romcom vibes. The plot has a ton of potential, and ultimately, I just didn’t vibe with it. Both main characters were unrelatable for me, and I didn’t understand either of their actions. Levi seemed like he was still into his ex instead even while saying that he loved June and June was still trying to be friends with her ex who cheated on her and publicly humiliated her for some unknown reason. I found it to be repetitive and a bit too wordy.

Many thanks to the St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the advance copy.

This was...not great. (Spoilers below)
The FMC, despite her best efforts, was so flat and pick me, it was exhausting. She was wholly unlikeable. WHO SPENDS 10 YEARS WITH SOMEONE SHE HAD ABSOLUTELY ZERO CONNECTION WITH. Plus she's a scone baker by the sea. C'mon. There was so much opportunity to explore her grief and make a beautiful story with depth and instead it was a half-baked (pun intended) fake dating overly tropey story i've seen a million times before. It doesn't do it any favors that I just read Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez which traversed a similar peak with much more nuance and care shown for our MCs and even our side characters. Overall, this book was flat and I was ready for it to be done.
Thank you to Net Galley for the Audiobook and Digital ARC.