June and Levi are former close friends who have known each other since they were kids traipsing through the woods and playing on the beach, along with June's sister and brother. They haven't spoken much in the years since Levi left for a job, and a future with his long-term girlfriend, in New York City. June is back in their hometown after many years traveling the world on crazy adventures with her own long-term partner, Griffin. When both of these old friends are involved in viral social media breakups, they decide to turn the tables on TikTok, reality TV, and all the rest by starting a fake relationship with each other.
I enjoyed both of the main characters and their individual growth throughout the story, as well as the ways in which they were able to come to terms with many different things that happened in their shared past. June and Levi know when to push each other, and when to give each other space, as only those who have a real understanding of each other can do. I loved the supporting characters in this story. Dylan, Mateo, and especially Sana, are the kind of friends and siblings anyone would be fortunate to have in any circumstances.
The Break-Up Pact will be a fun summer read for romance readers, so be sure to grab a copy for your beach bag when it comes out in August!
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I’m a huge fan of Emma Lord’s YA novels, and her debut adult novel just confirmed that I will read anything and everything that she writes. I LOVED this one!

She immersed me in the world of a coastal beach town tea shop and kept me on my toes with the fake dating/viral relationship situation.

June and Levi were so sweet, and I felt like they were mature enough to not frustrate me with any avoidable miscommunication. The backdrop of figuring out your new dreams after losing someone you love brought emotional layers to the story.

If a fake dating, small town, and friends to lovers second chance romance with a side of scones and cute banter sounds like a good time, READ this one please!!

This book has all my favorite tropes - fake dating, second chance romance, & childhood friends to lovers.

This book was a cute and fun read for me. I found myself laughing at certain points (hello, scream poetry!), and also sad & heavy in the grief of June losing her sister. I wouldn’t be mad if there was a sequel following Santa’s story, she was such a fun character I wanted more of.

Thank you to NetGalley & St Martins Press for providing me with the ARC!

This one fell a little flat for me. I didn't really like either character and feel like there wasn't much plot. It was just fine. I do like the cover though!

Wow! I was pleasantly surprised with this novel! The characters were hilarious and brought in the sort of drama that makes you want to keep on reading. I was a big fan of the way Emma Lord created her storyline and kept the characters alive on the page throughout the whole novel. Great read!

Emma Lord's break-out adult novel was a joy to read! I started following her work as a young adult author and am so glad she decided to cross over into adult. For any young adults that want a smoother transition into the next "level" I would recommend this as a good new adult read.
June and Levi were best friends growing up, coupled with her sister and brother they were an unstoppable team. That is until Levi upends the post high school graduation plan and goes off on his own. Skip forward a couple years, and June is struggling to keep up on her rent for her beachside tea shop and Levi is a failing novelist in New York, and the two have barely talked in years.
Is there anything that going viral for a couple of publicly humiliating break ups that TikTok can't fix? Levi finds himself running back home in wake of the drama, looking for a calm place to write. Looks like that will be hard to accomplish when the internet gets a hold of a picture of him and June reconciling and thousands are convinced that they are together. Suddenly the benefits of letting the people believe what they want holds more appeal as the tea shop is getting more business and Levi might be making a certain ex jealous. Separating the fake dates from real life will be a breeze, especially because their history and current situations would make navigating a real relationship very difficult. And anyways, neither of them feels that way about the other... right?

"I ache for both my sake and hers, because I never wanted to imagine a future where we weren't each other's first lines of defense."

The Break-Up Pact is a solid example of how the Contemporary Romance genre can use its tried-and-true tropes to provide a comforting read while allowing the reader to explore more abstract topics of grief and healthy engagement with social media.

This book beautifully addresses the complexity of losing a close relative. June's compulsion to preserve everything exactly how her sister left it, and guilt at wanting or needing to do something different. The way home doesn't feel the same now that the person she lost is not around. The way she clings to the things within her control when there is so much in the world that outside of it.

The framing device of the viral social media breakups, while implausible, is a unique way to bring two estranged friends back together - you can see Emma Lord's digital media background in how this part of the story is written. The fake relationship trope is alive and well in The Break-Up Pact. But as much as I thought I would roll my eyes at the stereotype, I don't mind it so much? Because the dialogue is funny and the chemistry between June and Levi is more than believable. I buy their shared history and think it serves the narrative well. I would not. be. sad. if Emma Lord decided to write a whole book on Sana (a la the Soulmate Equation followed by True Love Experiment) because I 100% want to read more about that lady. The characters have human, complex reactions to their emotions and (generally) make mature, non-impulsive decisions.

The aforementioned (generally) is what kept this from being a 4-star book, in my mind. Where I, for the most part, applauded June and Levi for using their words in times of conflict and stress, there are moments where it doesn't feel as consistent throughout the book. There are more stereotypical rom-com "misunderstandings" that, while eventually resolved, don't jive with the thoughts and actions of the characters during the previous chapters. While humans are imperfect beings and characters in contemporary fiction benefit from being less perfect than most, I still want my characters to use the lessons they learned in earlier chapters to inform their behavior in future ones.

All that to say I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys contemporary romance. Fans of Emily Henry and Christina Lauren will feel right at home. Of the books within this genre I've read so far this year, The Break-Up Pact is one of the better ones. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go buy a scone.

**Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.**

This was such a warm and wonderful book that felt like a big hug! I loved June and Levi, as well as the entire side character cast. Everyone was so well fleshed out and just fun to read! There were a few dated millennial lingo references that jumped out at me in a not so good way but honestly i don’t even care, this book was so lovely. I loved June and Levi’s chemistry and I loved that the premise was funny but executed beautifully and with such depth. Probably my fave Emma Lord book yet

This book was really hard for me to read. I found myself rolling my eyes multiple times. There was no chemistry between the main characters and the whole premise was not done well in my opinion. This book just doesn’t hit the mark for me.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I had to DNF this book. I got through 50% of it, but I couldn’t connect with the characters, and it took me a while to reach that point because I didn’t find myself reaching for it or wanting to read it. I felt like it dragged to actually get to them faking dating. I really wanted to stick it out but couldn’t anymore.

There is nothing inherently wrong with this book; it just wasn’t for me. I simply couldn’t get into it. I was confused at the beginning, and social media was all the rage throughout the chapters I did get to. I just didn’t enjoy.

The Break-Up Pact follows June and Levi, two former best friends who both experience near simultaneous humiliating (and viral) breakups. The two haven't spoken for years until Levi suddenly appears outside of June's struggling beachside tea shop. When a photo of them is leaked and the internet is avidly interested in their supposed relationship, the two decide to use it to their advantage; June in order to generate income to save her shop, and Levi to cause his cheating ex girlfriend to reconsider her choice in partner. Thus begins the fake dating extravaganza with the all important break-up agreement.

As a lover of all things *fake relationship* this story drew my eye immediately. And honestly, it was good. Great even. My heart was pulled from the beginning by both characters. I was rooting for them, hurting with them, blushing along side them. It was an enjoyable read that I think of fondly.

Unfortunately, this story gets 3 stars from me. The reason for this is two fold. #1 I'm not a huge fan of the miscommunication trope. This is entirely personal preference and could easily be something I breeze past if it weren't for #2 the ending DRAGGED. The climax of the book felt like it came around the 50% mark, meaning the last 6+ chapters weren't relationship building or conflict resolution or any of the other important aspects of a contemporary romance. Instead the last fourth of the book comprised of putting metaphorical pretty bows on everything. Each chapter was fine on its own, but taken together it started to feel like a Tedtalk of everything Emma Lord thought the reader could learn from the characters. It was still an enjoyable read, don't get me wrong, I just wish the end was more succinct.

This was actually really cute! I went in with kind of low expectations because I saw some bad reviews but I was pleasantly surprised! Who doesn’t love an “it’s always been you” with some fake dating?!

The characters were fully fleshed out and I loved them. June is sassy and so loving but dealing (or not dealing) with the grief of losing her sister. She has to learn how to come to terms with her loss and let go of the past. Seeing her figure out her grief and how to look towards the future and what SHE wants rather than what her sister would want was everything you’d want in a FMC.
Levi is such a lovable little push over until he finally figures out how to live for himself and decide what he wants with his life. I, so badly, wanted chapters in his POV! We could get little glimpses from what June thought she was seeing in his expressions but I would love to have heard from him what exactly was going through his head during their Revenge Ex dates!

I thought the story wrapped up nicely. We got the MCs to finally speak freely with one another and clear the haze from their eyes to realize they can stop hiding their feelings. I want more! (Please leave Kelly and Griffin out of it 😅)

Ah, the age-old miscommunication trope twinned with a fake-dating scenario. One of my favorites. Whatever could go wrong? To be fair, this one was far less of a 'main character didn't listen to the whole conversation or seek clarification' incident than a 'teenage boys can be jerks' miscommunication. Much more palatable. Overall, I very much enjoyed the Break-Up Pact. The main characters June and Levi were likable, the banter was funny, the supporting characters were amusing, and the writing flowed. I liked the underlying storyline of both main characters working through their grief, and how their re-introduction to each other spurred on that process and made them individually reassess their goals. I loved the initial premise that June and Levi started dating because they both had viral break-ups. However, there was a point where it felt like the story was plodding along. Two people fake-dating can only do so much wedding planning for another couple before every situation begins to feel repetitive. And, yet again, here are two grown adults unwilling or unable to have an adult conversation about their relationship, leading to even more miscommunication. Ultimately, though, this was a perfectly enjoyable romcom full of funny quips and playful adventure that I have no problem recommending for a light-hearted read.

4.25⭐️
2.5🌶️

The Break-Up Pact is the first book that I’ve read of Emma Lord’s despite owning her other works for quite some time. As far as I know, this is her first adult novel after a few books in the YA genre.

I really enjoyed this book! It had a little bit of a slow start, but I think that helped the story to develop and character connections to blossom. Going in, I didn’t realize that there was a subplot of sibling loss. If I would have known this, I likely wouldn’t have ever picked up this book. The topic wasn’t handled in an exceptionally sad way, but I still would have avoided this if I had been aware. For this reason, I deducted 0.75 stars.

The prose of this book reminded me of “Beach Read” by Emily Henry. The way that the characters interacted, the way the plot moved, and the writing style. This book and story felt familiar to me in a really good way. I also felt like the romance between the two main characters was reminiscent of an adult version of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” by Jenny Han.

This book is the perfect summer read, and I think that it was really well done. I’m definitely hungry for a scone after reading this one!

My favorite quote from this book was: “The way we have always been able to see deep into the cores of each other, to feel the depths of the other's hurts and triumphs and everything in between. A thread between us that kept its pull even after all these years apart, too steady to break, too strong to unravel.”

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Emma Lord for the opportunity to enjoy this advanced reader copy.

Content Warnings: sexual content, death of a sibling, grief, infidelity, bullying

A hilariously, sweet and cozy romance. 3.5 ⭐️

My favorite thing about this book was the setting. The Break-Up Pact takes place in a small beach town and the vibes are giving. After her sister passed away, the FMC takes over her sister’s tea shop called, Tea Tide (are you kidding me with this cuteness?), located on a boardwalk overlooking the ocean. The story captured me right away with the picturesque seaside setting and engaging cast of both family and found family characters.

The story did lose me a bit towards the second half with its heavy handed use of miscommunication. I had the urge to shout at the characters multiple times to JUST TALK TO EACH OTHER ALREADY. Still, I cared about the characters enough and was rooting for them even though it was frustrating at times.

All in all a delightful story definitely worth picking up if you’re into scones, childhood friends to lovers and fake dating!

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC!

I love the fake dating trope so this book was a fun read for me. I always love seeing how they’ll come together.

you can always count on emma lord to give you swoon worth romance novels! i particularly really loved this one. i thought the story flowed wonderfully and the characters were likeable. 4.5/5!

Spoilers ahead: There was things I really enjoyed in this book and a few things I didn't. I really hate the miscommunication trope when it's like "oh that night meant nothing to me," "oh, me too" and they were both lying. It's maybe one of my least favorite things in romance novels, so that probably shades my feelings about this book. Also, the fake dating portion of the book was made to seem like really important, but was really just a blip in the scheme of things. Some of the getting together in their relationship was super vague - I kept feeling like I was missing some details. But overall it was cute and I liked the MCs. I will say that I find a scone food truck finding great success to not be very believable.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review of this book.

I was excited to read this book as I love second-chance romances and beachy settings. The story follows June and Levi, former high school friends turned viral social media dumpees turned fake daters.

As much as I tried to connect with the plot, there was too much going on too quickly. I didn't feel like there was enough character development to feel any kind of connection to the two main characters. Why are Levi and June's exes so famous? Why is everyone they went to high school with so invested in their situation? Why would the paparazzi care that they were dating? Add in a dead sister, a gay wedding, and a business in need of saving... it felt hard to focus on the budding romance with so much going on.

Sweet story of childhood friends, June and Levi, who start a fake dating pact to get back at their exes. Both of them went viral on social media because of disastrous break ups that happened in the public eye. It took a bit for me to get settled into the story; I was a bit confused at the backstory with the sister. But once I made it through the first quarter of the story, I was really invested and enjoyed my first Emma Lord book. There were many great light and funny moments among the real and tough moments that I always love in a rom com with depth. This one also had so many of my favorite tropes.
I’ll for sure reach for more of Emma Lord’s books in the future. Thanks NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this lovely ARC experience. This book comes out on 8/13 and I think it will be a great addition to anyone’s summer reading list!