This book was so delightful. I loved the plot and characters. There were a few points where I wish there was more backstory. For example, more Annie, more June and Levi in high school. I found I had a lot of questions and wanted to know more (because of how loveable the characters were). Overall, I think this is an amazing qualm to have - wanting to read more about the world that was created on the page.

This book was filled with so much love, longing, and heartbreak. It was written beautifully and I did not want to put it down. A perfect friends to enemies to lovers romance to read. I loved the relationships and backstories of all the characters. All of the grief the characters were struggling with and the ability to grow in this book was beautiful.
The cover is super cute. The town's setting is beachy and such a vibe, I wish I lived there.

This was my first time reading Emma Lord and I was really fascinated by the premise of the book. I found that the author set up a lot of room for each of the characters to grow and gave them realistic issues to work through. I really enjoyed this attempt at making the characters more diverse and complex with these issues. I think personally, the pacing of the story was a little slow for my liking. I also don't think I was personally convinced by the chemistry between the main leads and that they had this complicated history together. Overall, this wasn't my favourite read but I did enjoy my time reading it.

Song of the book: ‘tis the damn season - Taylor Swift

I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. I remember being super excited about it when Emma Lord announced the premise ages ago on Twitter, but I’m afraid that when I actually got to reading it, I was just… bored. It took me such a long time to get through, as I found it difficult to get invested in the plot. I love romance novels, but I was just not entertained. I’m honestly pretty sad about this.

Additionally, I found it hard to buy that the internet would actually care or talk about the relationship between these two random people enough to get them as much press as they got or to get them attention for as long as they received it. I also sincerely doubted that they would get enough hype to translate into the crowds of customers that June received at her store.

I will say, I did appreciate that the main characters had some unexpected moments of emotional maturity. I was seriously anticipating a very annoying third-act breakup, and we did get some tension, but I was pleasantly surprised when they actually talked things out instead of ignoring each other (which they had already done for ten years, so the bar was low).

Thanks to NetGalley for advanced access to this book. I am a follower of Emma Lord and have loved reading her prior books. This didn’t quite live up to the same level of charm as her other books but remained similar topically. Like her other books, this told the unique story of family, friend, and romantic relationships. The setting and career pursuits of the characters made for interesting plot effects. One of my favorite Lord characteristics is how she writes and handles grief and this book tackled it too. I enjoy reading how different characters respond to and grow from the grief and it was central to this story. This wasn’t my favorite Lord book but I’m still eager to read her next.

June and Levi were best friends in high school and haven’t talked in 10 years. After they both experience public, humiliating break-ups with their exes that go viral they decide to pretend to date to take advantage of the public’s interest in their love lives.

Second chance romance. Fake dating.

This book was an emotional rollercoaster that I didn’t mind riding. While there are funny moments that feel like a romantic comedy there are also moments that had me wanting to give June the biggest hug to help her feel better. June is barely keeping her beachside tea and scone cafe afloat, the shop she inherited after her older sister passed away. June struggles with how to keep the shop in business while also honoring the dreams her sister had for it. Every chapter had me rooting for June, not just for her love life but for her life and happiness in general.

This was a wonderful read and I highly recommend it.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Fake dating, friends to lovers what could go wrong. When June and Levi were in high school they had a falling out when they told each other they didn’t like one another. Forward 10 years and they are both publicly broken up with so with June, Levi and June’s friend Sana create a break up pact to fake date to try and win their significant other back but turns out that may not be what they truly want

I picked this book up because I had read a couple other books by Emma Lord and I was in the mood for something light and fun. This book certainly delivered. With a fake-dating plot line and delicious descriptions of the scones our main character June was making, plus the cozy beach town setting - this book combined some of my favorite tropes in a way that was delightful. Even though this book was as light and fun as I had hoped, there were also deeper themes throughout around grief and how to find oneself after you have compromised too much in life. This will be a perfect summer read for so many people!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for a digital advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest feedback.

June and Levi are childhood/high school best friends who haven’t spoken in 10 years. They also both have endured very public break-ups. When Levi return to their beachy hometown to escape the media and finish his manuscript, he and June instantly reconnect and those old feeling June thought she buried are in fact still there.


This was such a cute story. I’ll admit, that the fake dating trope is not always my favorite, but Emma wrote it really well! You were rooting for June and Levi the entire time. It’s well written and the story flows really well. There was some spice, but Emma definitely left me wanting more.

The only thing that left me a little confused was Annie, June older sister and Levi’s best friend who passes away 2 years prior. Annie was like the awkward 3rd wheel in June and Levi’s relationship. Honestly I felt like June should have been more threatened by her than Levi’s ex-fiancé. It was just a little off for me. I did love Sana, June’s best friend. She was quirky and blunt and everything you want from a FMC’s bestie!

Overall it was a good read and I did enjoy it. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins for this ARC!

So I recently read 'The Break-Up Pact' by Emma Lord and it was exactly what I was looking for - a fun and easy read. The story follows June and Levi, two friends from high school who have messy breakups that end up going viral on social media. To deal with the rumors, they pretend to be a couple, which leads to some old feelings resurfacing. Overall, it's not a groundbreaking book, but definitely not disappointing either.

I’ll get right down to it. I hate this book. It made me anxious and angry, and not in a good way. We follow June and Levi after they both get publicly cheated on by their long term partners. They decide to pretend to date so June can do better with her tea shop and Levi can get his cheater back.

June has a lot of thoughts. Hundreds upon hundreds of words of thoughts she will never say out loud. I don’t want to read her thoughts when she isn’t expressing them to people. Instead she’s a carpet happy to be walked all over. She thinks up 3 large paragraphs and answers, “Do what you want.” Why do I have to read her thoughts when she doesn’t know how to speak?

Levi is an idiot. He makes such stupid choices and then acts surprised when they bite him in the butt. I hated both of these characters. This is the kind of relationship you know wouldn’t last a year in the real world.

I held on for Sana, who I wanted to know better. The two stars are for her.

This would have made a better novella and only without Levi’s ex constantly in the picture. Too much was happening in little details and side plots with nothing actually happening in the book.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for my honest review.

From the first pages, I quickly began to love the main character, June. Her struggles were met with a quick wit that was truly endearing. The Break-Up Pact storyline felt familiar, but the depth of emotion made it stand out from all the other fake dating stories. I felt like the ending of this story was one that I wish for in a novel. It didn’t just wrap up quickly with a happy ending. The author took her time and truly allowed us to see the growth of both the characters. Read it and throw back some pop rocks as you do it!

Emma Lord is really good at cute rom coms with typical dating tropes. If you’re going into the novel looking for something that will speak to your soul and stand the test of time, this is that - and that’s okay! She creates easy to like characters with a catchy story that moves quickly. When the book closes, everything is as it should be.

I thought The Break Up Pact was a cute friends to lovers rom com. I liked that the main characters were actually former best friends who had drifted apart and found themselves drifting back together again after their own individual break ups. I was rooting for them from the beginning and enjoyed following along with their journey, challenges, and growth.
While I liked the supporting characters and how they tied into the overall story, at times they felt a bit flat and I would have liked a more detailed arc for them. Some of the dates that took place in public places were cute, but predictable. I would have liked more intimate scenes with Levi and June trying to figure out their feelings vs another public date. (Loved the dance club scene, but the bar scene felt like it was forced.)
Overall, I liked this book and would recommend it.

🌟🌟🌟🌟
"The Break-Up Pact" by Emma Lord is a delightful rollercoaster ride of fake dating, friendship, and unexpected romance that will leave you smiling long after you've turned the last page.

June and Levi, former best friends turned estranged acquaintances, find themselves in a predicament when their respective break-ups go viral, thrusting them into the spotlight once again. With the world convinced they're a couple, June and Levi embark on a fake dating journey filled with swoon-worthy photo ops and sparkling chemistry.

Emma Lord crafts a story that is equal parts heartwarming and hilarious, with characters you can't help but root for. June and Levi's banter is electric, and their journey from reluctant partners to something more is both entertaining and emotionally satisfying.

I was super excited to receive this as an arc but it did take me longer than usual to finish, like really long!
I don’t like DNFing books so I pushed through, only because I love me a good fake dating romance and wanted to love this so bad. I personally could not connect to the characters I was reading about. The storyline is good the storytelling wasn’t.

A sweet romance filled with long lost, and then found, love! The main character’s story was adorable and now I want to eat all the scones. The fake dating was cute and gave them a chance to reminisce on the past which was a fun way to learn more about their love. A quick, fun, and easy read!

*Wanted to thank NetGalley and the publishers for giving me a ARC of the book, but my review is honest nonetheless

3.5/5
I have been on romance book mood and I ate this story up. I also finished this book in a day or two. It helps that the story is somewhat on the shorter side but also I just couldn't put down the book with all the shenanigans the cast was up to. Also it's friends to lovers and when it's specifically childhood friends I just can't not read. It's literally my favorite trope.

This book is set in a smallish beachtown and it got me in such a giddy mood. It made me want to do all the fun things they did and I cannot wait for spring to be in full blast. The ambiance and setting is perfect, although everyone is adults it gives a childlike ease to it that made me love everything.

June and Levi were so cute and I loved the whole premise of fake dating to get back on their exes, and just falling in the process on a foundation they had previously already built, which made them following in love pretty quickly explainable. Although their romance is the big reason the story was also about grief of losing someone close and moving forward with life without them and trying to keep their memory alive but also being yourself which I thought was handled very well in the story.

On top of the main plot there is an amazing cast around June and Levi, who I just loved to pieces, their friends and family were funny and rooting for them which I appreciated because sometimes your friends know before you do.

Their "problem" was pretty annoying and I am not the biggest fan of miscommunication and retaining information, but it's something that happens so I can't be a hater about it. What I do like though is that they didn't immediately moved forward I appreciate that they grew and worked on themselves which I never see in romance books so it was a breath of fresh air.

This book comes out on August 13, just in time for the end of summer and I would highly recommend it for an easy fun read. It made me happy and it would be so perfect for a vacation or just afternoon in the sun. I would recommend not just for the romance but also because life has issues and problems but we always have support in the end.

I really wanted to finish this and to love it but I got 35% of the way through the book before I decided it’s just not one for me. The book starts out with multiple characters and it was very confusing trying to figure out the who’s who and put together what’s happened to them.
Thank you to Net Galley and Emma Lord for the opportunity!

What a delightful book this was! I loved everything about it, the characters, the setting, the second chances. June and Levi was flawed in their own ways and the way it was worked through in a believable way really resonated for me. I’d also like to live in the beach so those scenes were so nice to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.