This book has everything you need in a beach read! I really enjoyed it and will definitely be buying the physical copy. It was hilarious, heart-warming, romantic (adult rated) and just an overall easy read. I'm not sure if I've ever read anything by this author before but I definitely want to now.

June and Levi have a long history of friendship, but have long since gone their separate ways. This wholesome and spicy story of long lost friendship, loss and healing is unraveled with witty banter, viral internet videos, and everyone taking steps out of their comfort zones. This is a perfect summer read!

This was my first Emma Lord novel and I'm pretty torn about it! Things I liked: the writing and prose - Lord writes beautifully and it's lovely to get lost in her words. I also enjoyed the banter between characters and the setting. As for the plot, I needed more. Why was June SOOO upset at Levi for leaving home? How was she able to jump into a fake relationship with him when she was just so irate with him (for whatever reason?) 10 minutes before? Levi was so desperate for his ex to want to get back with him and for what reason? He is a good looking dude who could get anyone he wants --- I needed more background as to why he was so obsessed with making that work. It just didn't add up for me. It was pretty simply a fake-dating trope book with little substance beyond that. June is grieving her sister, but I didn't feel that grief with her. I ended up DNF'ing a little more than halfway through because nothing was improving, and I was ... bored.

**I will not be sharing this review publicly out of respect for the author! Thank you for the ARC!

I absolutely loved the concert of this book although I found it quite predictable. The characters were well thought out and the love story was the perfect amount of spice. Would definitely recommend this book!

I wanted to love this. I really did. But I just did not feel connected to the characters what-so-ever. June was a little insufferable. Levi did not make me fall in love with him. The miscommunication trope is also over done.

The Break-Up Pact was a cute read. I would have loved for there to have been more depth to the characters. It was a bit difficult for me to relate to them. I thought the concept was cute with the fake dating, June owning a small business, potential second chance romance but it fell a bit short for me.


Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Griffin for the ARC!

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy. It was a truly sweet story of childhood best friends and coming home. Some grief mixed with hidden love & heartache. I loved the plot line revolving around the initial internet break ups & revenge exes. I do think Levi was a tad insufferable, but we managed! The trivia scene and the scene afterward was sooooooo good. All in all 3.25 stars ⭐️

I really enjoy this book. The character development throughout the entire book was Really well written. You really felt the relationship between the two characters five out of five now one of my favorites!

The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord was a funny, sweet book that I wanted to love, but ultimately, I couldn't. I dropped this book several times. I wanted to like it. I wanted to like the characters. I was curious about their journey at the very least. I think the problem with this book is that overall there is a tone problem. There are a lot of subplots and little things happening. I want to say that is so truly life as we know it. You don't get a chance to chill out, you have to roll with the punches, and there are so many. But my issue with that is that it made this book something it is not. The book is marketed as a quirky romance novel. It is not. It is a story about a group of family and friends getting over the death of the main character's sister. They are all moving on with their lives, and overcoming the grief of moving on without someone you love is a huge part of the story. I'd say that the main character getting over her grief is bigger than the romance. Not only is it bigger, but it is also a part of the reason the main character and the love interest are even exploring each other again. Which is why the tone of this is so off. This story is not about what it is claiming to be about and it is obvious as a reader.

When you add in the odd elements of social media and New York and TikTok sensationalism and celebrity status and all of that nonsense, the whole story just feels like too much. There is too much happening. I don't believe that these things would happen. I am sure that there is some kind of inspiration, whether that is real people or not, for these characters, but their lives are so oddly conveyed that I just can't believe that any of the events have actually happened. I think the ideas of this story are cute, but too much. While I think art should mimic life, having too much going on in a book does not help to tell a story. Stories should focus on one thing and be about one thing because they're not real life. They're an escape for a lot of people.

Anyway, I admire the way Emma Lord wrote this book. I think it's incredible that this book exists. I think the ideas themselves are great, but mashing them all together made the book a bit of a mess. Regardless, I'd recommend this book to anyone who's lost someone close to them and enjoys romance novels.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Breakup Pact by Emma Lord. June and Levi are relatable characters that you can’t help but root for. To recover from very public breakups, the two childhood friends decide to fake a relationship to not only save June’s Tea Shop, but also to try and show Levi's fiancé what she is losing.

This open-door romance touches on so many topics that people face in everyday life. Life and love after a tragedy, rekindling old flames, social medias effects/pressures on relationships, and following your passion. Lord put so much detail into not only June and Levi, but side characters like Sana were my favorites. I loved following June and Levi on their path towards authenticity and love.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!!

The Break Up Pact is a deliciously funny and heartwarming story surrounding two childhood friends whose world’s unexpectedly collide after not seeing each other in ten years.

June Hart and Levi Shaw grew up together along with June’s siblings. They came of age, conquered their fears and spent most waking moments together. Until they didn’t. An overheard conversation on the beach a decade earlier spirals June and Levi’s relationship into oblivion. Until now. 10 years later. Both end up back in their hometown spiraling from very public break-ups. When an intimate photo of the pair spreads across social media indicating they are the “Revenge Exes”, the two make a pact to go along with the disillusioned internet and squeeze out every single benefit before the ride ends.

Despite any missing details I would have loved to have, this book is an endearing story about love, loss and finding yourself after the numerous storms of life. Pick this one up if you love a not so sappy second-chance love story.

My only qualm is I would have liked to know what the conversation on the beach entailed. It felt like the details were missing and the reader is left to guess. I would have personally liked a little more development in this area.

But make sure to read the about the Author at the end to give yourself one final chuckle! I’m glad I did.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley and Emma Lord for providing me with a digital reviewer copy in exchange for my honest review.

*Publishing date: August 13, 2024*

I had really high hopes for this book since my bar for romance books is almost on the ground, but I could not get into this book. While I liked the premise of two old friends that both had very public break ups, but I was not a fan of the execution. I immediately had to remove a star for the diverse best friend there simply to be a token of diversity in an extremely white book, it is one of my biggest pet peeves. The subplot of grief was not executed properly, especially as someone dealing with my own grief journey I was not a fan of how this was treated by characters and simply felt out of place in a romance book. While I get that some authors want to try to do something impactful with their stories, it takes a certain type of author to do it properly and I don’t think Emma is that author.

Emma Lord has done it again. You want a feel good book, but with the deep emotional feelings, then you definitely will get that with Emma Lord's books. June and Levi were best friends, but haven't spoken for 10 years. Both June and Levi have a very public break-up and Levi arrives to their hometown to hide out from all the hub bub. However, them hanging out has caused quite a stir for the public which makes them form a pact to get a rise from their exes.

Thank you #NetGalley for the advance copy!

The description of this book sounded so good, the cover was cute and the title was perfect to grab you. All around the book seemed to be off to a good start, however the story itself fell short. Personally I’m not hard to please when it comes to Rom Coms, so when it falls short I’m pretty disappointed.

The characters are a integral part of Rom Coms because honestly most of the storylines can be very similar to others you have read, so the characters have to stand out, in order to bring you into this specific story. So when I reflect, I think this was one of the biggest flaws.

The Main Characters were dynamically lacking and their chemistry needed to be built up stronger.

This was not a winner for me but Thank You NetGalley for the opportunity to read the ARC and share my feedback.

I wanted to live this story about exes in a second chance romance. Unfortunately it fell a bit flat for me. But I am always so thankful for these arcs!

Save this for your vacation read when you want something light that does not boggle your mind.

Levi and June, high school friends who drifted after school, coke together to fake date after going through viral breakups. A cute romcom of how friends become lovers.

This was a story of a couple of friends who were humiliated in public by their significant other’s in a break up. So what do you do, you get together with your best friend and form the breakup pack.. this was well written and had me engaged from the first page. I truly enjoyed it and look forward to reading more by this author!

June and Levi were best friends growing up until the day they stopped talking before Levi went off to college. Now, June is struggling to keep her tea shop open in their small hometown, while Levi works as a hedge fund manager while working on a novel. When the two each go viral for the way their exes dumped them in the same week, they cross paths again and decide to use their current fame to fake date to help get what they want. The social media buzz can bring customer’s to June’s shop and help Levi win his ex back.

This was such a cute story; I loved June and Levi and couldn’t help but root for them the whole way! This is overall a light beach read but with some heavy emotions – June’s sister died unexpectedly a year or two before the events of this book, and she has to deal with grief and moving on. If you like friends-to-lovers romance, check this one out!

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this advanced reader's copy and the opportunity to review. All opinions are my own.

June and Levi have always been best friends, until one day they weren't. Now June is struggling to make rent payments for her beachside tea shop created by her late sister, and Levi is a failed novelist living in New York.

But after two embarrassing viral breakups, a photo of them together has the internet talking. June and Levi decide to go with the rumors and pretend to date. This break-up pact will allow June's tea shop to get back on it's feet, and make Levi's ex realize she made a mistake and want him back.

I am giving this book 3 stars, because I had some trouble with the pacing despite my investment in the characters and fun beach setting. This was the first book I've read of Emma Lord's, and I really liked the writing. The Break-Up Pact had a friends to lovers and fake dating trope, with themes of determination and courage from the characters. I did connect with the characters, and thought June and Levi's story was so sweet. I loved the transformational journey that June goes through, and thought it was really realistic.

The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord will be released on August 13.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. I can always count on Emma Lord for a cute and light book. Levi and June were friends in high school and then they drifted apart. But then they come back because of their break-up pact. I found the characters lacking. I just wasn't that interested in them.