The Break-Up Pact is Emma Lord's upcoming release and one I was so excited for. Set to hit shelves in August 2024, this is also Lord's Adult Romance debut.

In this story, we follow June and Levi, who were best friends as teenagers. A misunderstanding just prior to Levi departing for college, resulted in a falling out, and the two have essentially lost touch ever since. Now as adults, they've both returned to their hometown of Benson Beach.

June is struggling to maintain the beach-side tea shop opened by her sister. She also has just had a very embarrassing, very public break-up, resulting in her being dubbed 'the crying girl' on social media. Humiliating!

Levi has returned to town after an equally public break-up, wherein his long-time girlfriend left him for a celebrity. Everyone is talking about it. Trying to escape the limelight for a while, Levi flees NYC and returns to Benson Beach, where he can focus more on his writing.

As Levi and June come back into each other's orbit, 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. If it's drama and intrigue the people want, it's drama and intrigue they shall get. The bonus being extra business for June's shop and both of their ex's getting jealous.

I love a fake-dating trope and I thought it was well-executed here. Both June and Levi were compelling characters and I enjoyed learning about their past history, as well as watching them learn about each other all over again. They are both dealing with some fairly serious adult issues, with their careers and their recent break-ups, and the examination of those things does take up a good portion of the narrative. Because of that, this has a much more serious tone than Lord's previous works, IMO, but it makes sense.

In an adult world, adult things happen. It's not always sunshine and rainbows. Businesses end up in trouble. You end up in a career you aren't passionate about. You worry you wasted time with someone who was never going to be the one for you. You worry that you are never going to find the place you really belong. You lose friends, you lose loved ones; these are all things that most of us can relate to...

My concern for this novel is that people will go in expecting a super punchy, witty, fun Rom-Com and they'll be surprised by the more serious tone; maybe causing them to not rate it as highly. I would pick this up expecting an Adult Contemporary with a convincing fake-dating trope. It's not all giggle and laughs and swooning; although there is some of that too.

In my eyes, this is a successful transition into the Adult space for Lord. I thought the characters were very well-developed and it did fill my heart watching the evolution of their relationship. I feel like as far as couples go, Levi and June are perfectly matched. I did enjoy how this was paced. I thought it had a fun introductory section and then it slows down a bit as we get into the meat of their relationship. As the fake dates begin, it does pick up again and then as we get closer to conclusion, it speeds along at a great pace.

In addition to the likeable main characters, I loved the side characters in this as well. June's best friend, who helps the couple with their plot, and June's brother and his fiance, all had fun-loving, supportive roles, that truly added to the feel of the narrative. Overall, I think this is a very solid, heart-warming story. I enjoyed going on this journey with both of these characters as they found themselves, and each other at the same time.

Thank you so much to the publisher, St. Martin's Griffin, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I adore Emma Lord and will continue to pick up everything she writes. This was super cute and I'm proud of her for branching out into the Adult Contemporary space. Well done!!

The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord
Publishing date - 08/13/24
Rating (4/5) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC. Perfect summer/warm weather read! Second chance and small town romance … very Hallmark movie vibes. It was my first book by this author and definitely not my last.

I enjoyed this book. It took me a little longer to get into than I had expected but was a quick read.

While This book has fake dating, friends to lovers, sort of a second chance, humor and some cute romance it just didn’t hold my interest.

I just couldn’t get into the characters and it dragged on for me a little bit. I do appreciate the opportunity to read this book.

This will be a perfect summer/warm weather read. It wasn’t too serious, but still had meaning and stakes for the characters.

Thank you to @NetGalley for letting me read the advanced ebook in exchange for my honest review.

One of my favorite trope is fake dating so this book was right up my alley! However, the reason behind the why they weren't friends for 10 years was so insane that I almost rolled my eyes out of my head. The banter between the couple was cute and made me laugh out loud in a couple pf points. Overall a cute story, but the ruined friendship/history between the main characters just didn't make any sense.

This book was so good!!!!
I absolutely loved the best-friends to lovers trope. There’s something so magical about best friends realizing there never was anyone else but their bestie.
I also really loved the “revenge exes” and fake dating!! All those tropes together in one book made it such a good book!
It was my first book by this author and definitely not my last!

I had quite a few issues with this book unfortunately. The book is both too fast and too slow for me. The pacing was all wrong. The MCs go from seeing each other for the first time in about 10 years to fake dating about 30 mins later… and yet every feeling that was had by the FMC was described thoroughly. Just over the top. I honestly forgot what I was reading with all of the descriptions to try and summarize a feeling or thought.
The MCs were two dimensional and I really didn’t care for either of them. There wasn’t any chemistry. I love fake dating but this did not work for me. Emma’s YA books are much better in my opinion. I have to give it 1.5 stars

This book was not my favorite that I've ever read. It was really hard to get through. The book reminds me of a Hallmark movie, predictable romance. I will give this author another chance, but this one fell flat for me.

This book was pretty disappointing for me. Part of my disappointment was because I read it between two books in a series that were very engrossing/action packed. But I think even without that context I would have been unimpressed, which was extra disappointing because I loved Emma Lord's young adult's books. I really disliked the character development, it felt like everyone in the story was in on the backstory except me the reader, and then when they introduced the backstory it was just like one sentence with not a lot of detail either. The characters had so much history and the reader wasn't really tuned into it ever.

I took a week long break and when I came back I had to drag myself through the last 40 pages.

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC for my honest review.

Whew. I would like to break up with this book. The premise is our FMC Jane is now famous crying meme because her dirt bag boyfriend broke up with her on the taping of a reality show he's in. Coincidentally, her estranged high school best friend, Levi, had a similar viral social media thing happen when his girlfriend broke up with them. So, of course they decide to band together and fake date to get that social media nonsense behind them. This will help her preserve the memory of her dead sister tea and dessert shop which Jane now runs and is running into the ground. And help Levi get back his ex? The motivations were kind of weird.

Anyways, this book was pretty joyless to me, I did not connect with either of the leads, the side characters were blah, and the big, bad thing that "destroyed" their friendship in high school was such a let down.

3.5 stars!

Fake dating is my favvvvvv trope, so I was pumped when that was the premise for this book. Especially when it’s to get back at gaslighting exes.
I loved the friendship between June and Levi, along with all of the other characters in the book! Dylan and Mateo are cuties.
I also was appreciative of the way they discussed grief and loss throughout the book. It was a beautiful way to wrestle with a tough experience.
It was a little too cheesy for me at times, (and maybe that’s a me thing so so sorry for that!!!)
But overall, a v cute book. I enjoyed Tweet Cute and this one, so safe to say Emma Lord is an auto buy for me now!

This one was totally fine. It was a bit tough to keep some of the characters and their connections/back-stories straight initially. I really loved the beach front scone shop, although not as much time was spent discussing that. The creative scones were the highlight of the book. Interesting premise but the story didn't set me on fire for the couple. I appreciated why they got together and what kept them apart but I just had trouble believing it all. Not a bad story but one I won't be shouting about from the roof tops. Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I find myself a little disappointed with this book. I love Emma Lord’s books, love the friends-to-lovers/fake dating trope, but this one just wasn’t it for me. It was still a cute story, I adored the setting and the plot was fun, but I wasn’t as hooked as I was like with other books.

For whatever reason, I couldn’t find myself connecting to June and Levi, and I really wanted to! While this wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, I’m sure this will be for someone else.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

Emma Lord’s novel tries to spark up a second-chance romance between June and Levi, but falls short of delivering. Lord drops the reader into this awkward fake-dating situation between two people who couldn't make it work in the past without creating any sense of depth or connection between the two. Second-chance romances require a lot of good plot explanations to come across as believable, and I don't believe The Break-Up Pact succeeds. Another area that felt lacking was world-building. Much of the novel lacked personality when it came to locations. The writing style felt generic instead of lush and did not draw me into the world of a seaside cafe owner.

WOW. Easily a 5 star read. This was lighthearted and fun in so many ways. Even though this book deals with the impact of grief and loss, the author does it in a way that really captures how it can sneak up on you when you’re least expecting it. She captures how you can continue to live your life and move on while still honoring your lost love one. And, while that was happening as the undertone of the story, one of the quaintest fake dating tropes was center stage. The connection between June and Levi was evident from their very first interaction. The tension was screaming off the pages. There was moments that I really felt everything to my core, but also moments where I was hysterically laughing (Catch me making a bracelet that says be like Gouda). The side characters were also woven into the fabric of this book in such a beautiful way that truly allowed them to be a huge part of it and not just an afterthought. I loved everything about this!!

I absolutely abhor what I’m about to do. It pains me and I do not say this lightly. Keep in mind that Emma Lord is one of my favourite YA contemporary authors. She writes extremely moving stories about young love, growing up and figuring out what makes one tick. She writes characters that are quirky and relatable. Her stories are just filled to the brim with heartfelt emotions.

I DNF’d this at 28%. I thought maybe it’s me and I’ll come back to it. For the life of me I cannot motivate myself to pick this back up. This is Lord’s first foray into adult romance. I thought because she had the tools in terms of writing such wonderful charming characters and emotions that moving into adult romance would seem like such a natural next step. It didn’t work. Somehow as her characters aged and dealt with more “adult” circumstances, they became more juvenile, naive and less likable.

June and Levi are estranged childhood friends. Brought back together after each suffering viral break-ups, the natural next step is for them to fake date each other until the attention dies down. Their behaviour didn’t really seem all that believable and they both never really questioned each other’s past actions. Their interactions with each other felt constantly contrived. They both lacked the charisma and charm to make me want to continue reading.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing an ARC. All opinions are my own.

Childhood friends and fake dating is a recipe for a cute story. There was some miscommunication between June and Levi that was frustrating, but overall an enjoyable read

Ah, this book. Beach-y cover? Check. A cute little shop? Check. Friends-to-lovers/ fake dating? Check. I should have loved this one - it should have been a home-run for my tastes. But unfortunately I just could not connect with story or main characters and ended up skimming the last 100 or so pages.

The Bad: I personally could not connect with the main characters and did not believe their relationship. It took too long to figure out what the fight that lead to them drifting away. Their reconnection was needlessly drawn out. The chapters were also LOOONG. Long chapters in a romance novel is a hard sell for me, and this book did not sell it well.

The Good: I will try any book with a bakery/bookstore/coffee shop ect. Give me all the cozy vibes.

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced reader copy, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I didn’t enjoy this one and it ended up being a dnf. The characters were just not people I wanted to read about.

Unfortunately this just wasn't for me. I think fake-dating stories need to have a really solid reasoning, especially in contemporary novels, and this just didn't have that.

All the social media talk, combined with the fake-dating just made our characters seem immature.

Also June. Her ex boyfriend of ten years cheated on her with his reality tv costar, and then broke up with her on television. Yet she can't bring herself to be mad at him?! WHY?! He humiliated her on purpose, and she's all like 'if I think about it, I'll have to blame myself as well for all the read flags in our relationship'. Like no, you ignoring warning signs is not the same thing as him cheating on you.

Thank you to Netgalley and publishing team for the ARC in exchange for an honest review