I was very excited when I able to read the ARC of The Break-Up Pact. It sounded quirky, fun and romance galore! But at the end, I felt like I was needing more from the story to pull me in.
I am a big fan of second chance and small town romances, and this book contains this. I did find that the connection between the characters needed more spark and fire, at times their chemistry felt a little stale in my opinion....and I needed more banter!
Overall, good plot and concept, I just wanted more from the main characters, but that is just my opinion.

Thank you to St Martin's Press and Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review. #Netgalley

June and Levi were best friends in high school, he moved to New York and they drifted apart. He comes back to Benson Beach after both he and June have very public break ups with their partners and decide to fake date for their own gain. Childhood friends to lovers, fake dating, second chance romance.

After 10 years of not speaking the fake dating and how fast they agreed to it made me raise my eyebrows. After I got over that blasphemy I actually did enjoy the book and their connection. I was smiling and giggling at the inside jokes that Levi and June had. I wish we got Levi’s POV, I thought everything flowed nicely with the timeline of them falling in love, loved the side characters!

*3.5
This was a solid book! I liked how the characters in the relationship communicated with each other because I'm so tired of seeing silly misunderstandings break up relationships in books! The story was also more than a romance which was nice; there were clear friendships the characters had outside of the relationship. It did take me several months to read this book because I was invested, but it failed to hold my attention. Overall, I enjoyed the book, but I would definitely rather pick up something else as a summer read.

This is the first Emma Lord book that I’ve read. I’m still on the fence on whether I enjoy the writing or not. I will definitely need to attempt other Emma Lord works to determine this.

June is running a teashop that’s on the brink of going out of business, all the while she has become a meme due to her recent. At the same time Levi, an old friend of June, is also experiencing a very public break up and has come back home to avoid the publicity of it all.
The two were once childhood best friends until they lost contact/stopped connecting with one another. Now they’re thrown together in a ‘fake’ relationship to better their image in the public eye. Unsaid past feelings begin to surface and the two start to question whether things are fake or real between them, and their exes seem to also be budding in continuing to cause drama in their lives.

This was a slow burn romance in my opinion. But I did find June and Levi’s relationship to be very cute. I honestly wish there was more drama that occurred when their secret was revealed to the public, or that June and Levi were able to better tell their side of the story to the public. I also found certain portions of the story to be a little over drawn, there were a lot of moments where there was such a deep explanation of the scenario, as well as times where we’re stuck in June’s thoughts in such a way that I found did not really help the storyline progress. I also would’ve preferred a deeper explanation to June and Levi’s fall out, and not just ‘I panicked and lied and you overheard the lie and it was too late to fix things.’ But all in all I did quite enjoy the story, and have now been opened up to reading other works of Emma Lord.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

June and Levi were best friends as children but grew apart. After they both get dumped on very viral and public scales, they decide to capitalize off their misery and become "Revenge Exes". Chaos, romance, and hijinks ensue.

I absolutely flew through this book. I thought the writing was very well done and compelling, and I liked the way the author wove the main characters' history as friends into their future as something more. The subplots were well-done, and I rooted for the characters in every aspect of their lives.

I would definitely read another Emma Lord book! This book was all sorts of fun when it called for it, but also had more serious and thought-provoking subjects woven throughout.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the e-ARC!

Forgot to review this, but it was such a fun book! I’ve read another EL title. I definitely keep her name in mind when searching for new titles. Thank you!

This was very very cute, very pop culture. I loved the way they dealt with the exes, and the twists and turns were believable enough to be satisfying.

This book was a fun, quick and easy read. The friend to lovers trope was cute but the emphasis on them being attracted to each other was a little much. I didn’t feel like it was a natural development of a relationship, it felt like the author was force feeding us them falling in love. It was still really cute and I enjoyed it.

A fun, comfy read with major hallmark vibes. If you need a lighthearted rom com, this is definitely it.

June is upset to find that her recent breakup crying face has turned into a viral meme. Her long lost best friend, Levi, has also gone through a very public, embarrassing breakup. A photo of them together causes rumors to start, pegging them with the name: Revenge Exes.

I’m always a fan of fake dating, and while this one wasn’t exactly my favorite, I did still enjoy it. It was a very quick read, and I recommend giving it a shot!

Read if you love:
-friends to lovers
-fake dating
-slow burn
-scream poetry
-lots of social media references

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for my advanced copy!

This was a cute friends to lovers story. June and Levi were estranged childhood friends who both find themselves in the public's eye over a recent breakup. They try fake dating to take the sting off themselves, and eventually find love.
The characters were great, loved the beach town setting. I just felt at times the plot became repetitive and moved a little slower than I like.
Overall an enjoyable beach read.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Break-Up Pact has a great premise and an interesting plot line. I enjoyed the book overall, but I did find a lot of it to be a bit wordy. There was quite a bit of inner monologuing, and I felt it lacked enough relationship building between the main characters. There was not a lot of banter, and the relationship seemed to rely heavily on the characters' shared past without going into much detail about it. I also felt some parts of the story were oddly unrealistic, particularly the one "spicy" scene.

However, this book was a very cute and quick read. If you are looking for a quick and easy romance, this one is for you. It featured a fun friends-to-lovers storyline and an abundance of scones.

This was giving me Hallmark vipes but also it was so cute and modern. It was my first by this author.
I'm a sucker for the friends-to-lovers trope, and the setting of a beach town added a cozy touch to the story. However, I found the constant emphasis on the characters' physical attraction and connection to be a bit overdone.

Two best friends have a falling out with their exes and are faced with a hard decision. They both decide to fake date to make their exes jealous and for a way to boost their likeability with the public. They plan to not have feelings but as they find out that is hard to do!

3.5/5 ⭐️
This is the book I needed to read right now! I love a good chick lit novel, and I liked all the characters really but specially Sana, Dylan and Mateo, they were so fresh and great to read about them. This was overall a great read.
Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for this ARC.

I enjoyed the book, it definitely was a slow burn, Levi and June are very likeable and from childhood friends to fake dating to falling in love. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

tiktok and miscommunication which is a big no for me (genuinely want to die when an author mentions tiktok). the tiktok thing also felt like a repeat of the tweet thing in tweet cute, which was way better than this book. the story and the characters also felt super unrealistic, but they were funny at least.

the setting was still fun and cute, the story too, but it really fell flat to me. it wasnt a dnf but it wasnt a great read, which is a bit disappointing.

What if you and your bestie lost touch? And it took ten years and a unflattering viral video to get your back in touch?

June is living in her small beach town, hustling to make a living and keep her dead sister's dream alive. Levi is in the city working as a hedge fund manager. They were best friends growing up, along with June's sister and brother.

This story would EASILY adapt to a Lifetime type movie. A little predictable and a little mushy and occasional cringey moments keep me from rating 5 stars. A quick and comfy read.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Griffin Publisher, and Emma Lord for the ARC.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Best friends to lovers and second chance is one of my favorite combination of tropes, so when I saw the synopsis of The Break-Up Pact, I immediately wanted to read it. Even though I enjoyed this book, I feel like it got a little too repetitive at times. Did I like the book? Yes. But, I feel like the book could’ve focused more on June’s relationship with her family & friends after she figured everything out. The ending kinda felt rushed, and even though I loved the end, I’d love it even more if we could actually see the development of the relationships between June & the rest of the group. Overall, it was a cute book.

I really enjoyed this book. It was different than anything else I've read recently. I couldn't put it down! I will keep an eye out for this author's future work!

Emma Lord has done it again! This is a super cute, keep turning pages, romance that was a perfect read for me while traveling. If I got interrupted, okay, I knew I could just pick this up later and keep going. Levi seemed adorable and June would probably be a good friend but the peripheral characters-Sana, Mateo and Dylan-would have been great to get to know better. Still it was an enjoyable read for me.

Thank you to #netgalley, #stmartins and @dilemmalord for this ebook to read, all opinions are my own.