June and her sister always planned to own a tea shop in their hometown. Her sister opened the tea shop while June was traveling the world and going on amazing adventures with her boyfriend. However June's sister dies, and then her boyfriend dumps her on national television and June becomes an internet meme. Now June is back home, running the tea shop and nursing her broken heart.

That's when she runs into her high school best friend Levi. Levi went off to New York to work in finance, but he was also an aspiring novelist. Until his girlfriend starts dating a celebrity. He returns home to work on his novel where he runs into June. Someone recognizes them and snaps a suggestive picture that ends up going viral. So they decide to feed into the viral moment and make it seem like they're really a couple. As since this is a rom-com, you can probably guess what happens next.

Reading this, you can tell that Emma Lord has previously written YA. Even though they were adults, this felt like a romance between two high schoolers. I didn't really connect with any of the characters but found it to be a sweet story about second chances with a friend who should have been more. It was a quick read and while I enjoyed it while in the book, but this isn't one I can see myself recommending except in very specific cases.

Overall: 3.25 rounded down

This was a sweet book and I love books by this Author. They are always good palette cleansers for me. This one did not disappoint.

This is my first Emma Lord read & it was cute! I love a friends to lovers/fake dating romance so I was excited to read this one and I had been hearing about it for awhile! June and Levi’s relationship and communication with each other felt a bit immature at times so it was hard to connect at times.

A Childhood best friends to lovers that turns fake dating.... Need I say more? This books was absolutely adorable. This is Emma Lords Adult Romance debut and she hit it out of the park in my opinion.

June and Levi were the best of friends up until Levi was about to leave for college and they have a falling out. They lose touch and have now both come back to their home town as adults! Both are newly single and still licking their wounds from very public breakups. They just need some solace! When the two are caught in a suggestive position after they start to talking and re connecting, everyone thinks they are together so they decide to just go with it and pretend to be together. It is sweet and comical and just the right kind of romance novel you need

Super sweet with a side of spicy, The Break-Up Pact is the perfect little summer romance.

Old friends with a mutual past loss, reunited and forced into a fake relationship in order to get back at their exes. Loved the setting of this story, in a beachfront town with a little tea shop. Enjoyed their “fake dates” that ultimately led to them developing a new type of relationship.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for this arc in return for my honest opinion.

Pub date: 13 August 2024

Felt like there was a lot going on that didn’t wrap up until the very end and still felt like something was missing. I liked the storyline but felt that Levi was too much a side character and not much of a H for a romance. As for the good stuff, I’d say only one open door scene that wasn’t until about half way through. In that respect, it was a slow book story wise and took some time to push through. Thank you to NetGalley for a chance to read and review this book.

I was so excited to read this book, but unfortunately, it fell flat for me. I love the fake dating trope, but I felt like something was missing in this story.
I couldn't connect with the characters, and the miscommunication was driving me insane.

Overall it's an okay book, but just isn't for me. At least not now.

However I don't want to discourage anyone from picking this one up! Just because it wasn't for me doesn't mean it cannot be for you and you won't end up loving it. 😊 And maybe I'll give it another shot in the future.

Also, this cover is so pretty!

This is the perfect summer romance, and I enjoyed it so much. And this is an author who always delivers the romance! The breakups June and Levi experience at the start are so relatable-- so many of us have been in similar situations (perhaps without the going viral bit). Then they have a fake relationship, which is so much fun for this friends-to-fake-dating scenario. I loved the honesty in the writing, and the earnest way these two communicate as they lean what they can be to each other. The beach setting is gorgeous, the friends excellent side characters, and the relationship so believable. I'm here for these two, and would love to read more adult romance from Emma Lord! Highly highly recommend for a summer romance you'll grow attached to.

This was a perfectly fine read. I tend to enjoy the fake relationship trope, so chances were that this book would be enjoyable. There was a very strong sense of place, and how our ties to family can shape who and what we become. There wasn't a ton of sex, but what there was fairly steamy. Overall, a good escapist read for a busy time of year.

*Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the egalley.

3.5 stars

I can’t really explain why, but I didn’t enjoy this. It’s not necessarily poorly written. It has decent dialog. I like the characters for the most part. But while I was reading it felt incredibly long and I couldn’t wait to be finished and that holds a lot of weight in my rating. June and Levi, childhood friends to lovers, just didn’t manage to capture my heart. I never felt the decades old depth that should have been there. And so many of the conflicts were frustrating and needless. The author explains the emotional depth of sibling loss and unrequited love, but I never felt any of it. I wanted so much more.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC to review.

I enjoyed the author's voice, but wasn't drawn to these characters. I also found the scenario to be a bit forced. The story didn't feel natural. I lost interest pretty quickly.

Loved the cover though!

I was really excited to get this ARC, but unfortunately was left wanting more with kind of a meh feeling at the end. While the premise was a great concept, and the author is a high quality writer, generally you pick up a romance because you want to feel that chemistry between the main characters, and I just didn't feel the spark. 3 1/2 stars (rounded up). Will definitely give Emma's next book a try as she is an excellent writer - something that is missing from romances!

This wasn't my favorite book that I read. I really don't like the miscommunication trope. These 2 friends literally stopped talking about a misunderstanding! I mean if the sister had a chat with Levi why didn't she talk to June about the conversation since half of it was about her! Don't get me started about the landlord. She literally wanted to pull her out because she couldn't get a scone....a FRICKEN SCONE! Idk it was all over and I didn't enjoy it.

This is the first time I have read any of Emma Lord's work and I really loved it. It was sweet and poignant, It made me laugh out loud and literally cry - both happy and sad tears.

I really enjoyed this book by Emma Lord. This was the first book I have read from the author and was quite impressed. I usually enjoy the fake dating trope, and this was no exception. It is a great beach read with a somewhat Hallmark feel to it. I loved getting to know more of the back story along the way and the added humor from the side characters. I will be recommending this author and looking forward to future releases.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc to review. All opinions are my own.

I am new to Emma Lord books and I must say I actually devoured her whole back catalogue after reading this one, This was such a joy to read and was much more than the light fluffy book I had been expecting, it dealt with grief and did it quite well, something that i appreciated this year.

A wonderful book, and i had the added surprise of receiving it in my afterlight box this month so now i have a gorgeous edition to add to my shelves!

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I forced myself to keep reading it and at a certain point, I just couldn’t do it anymore. Honestly, I don’t think there is anything that particularly stood out to me about this book that was so bad.

I really like to read fake dating tropes but I can be pretty picky about them. I think this one was just kind of silly. I didn’t feel connected with the characters. Plus, when you add on the second chance romance, I feel like there was too much going on. I’m not the biggest fan of second chance romance but it can definitely be done well sometimes. I just didn’t like that my favorite trope and less favorite trope were put together.

I don’t know if there was anything inherently wrong with the book, I just wasn’t a fan.

Such a fun read! Highly recommend.

Many thanks to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

This was my first Emma Lord romance, and won't be my last. The author does a great job at balancing a compelling romance with individual character growth in a way that makes you hang on to every word while reading. It's very reminiscent of an Emily Henry novel in that the romance does take a backseat to the each character's struggles, which is honestly what I loved most about it. That said, it certainly doesn't fall in with the genre of "easy-to-read summer romances", and readers who approach this novel with that in mind may be let down.