I would like to thank NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the author for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

this was brutal for me🙃 this book definitely lacked steaminess big time.. I found it extremely difficult to connect with the characters. Reading this felt more like an actual job than a nice enjoyable read.. connecting with this one was just way to hard🙃

I would like my next vacation to be to Benson Beach! To walk outside and be at the beach, what a dream!

I really enjoyed this story!! Super well developed, the community was fun, great side characters, and the love story was so sweet. I love that the two main characters have history! I love that they got their Happily Ever After!

I look forward to more adult romances from Emma Lord! 💓

Hey there! So, I just finished reading "The Break-Up Pact" by Emma Lord, and let me tell you, it's a real gem!

So, June and Levi, who used to be inseparable as kids, haven't spoken in years. Funny thing is, they've both just been dumped, and it's all over social media.

June's back in her hometown after her sister's passing, taking care of the beachside tea shop they always dreamed of owning together. But she's hesitant to make any changes out of guilt and loyalty to her sister's memory. Trouble is, the shop's struggling, and if things don't pick up, it might have to shut down.

Then Levi shows up out of the blue, and while June's hurt they drifted apart, she's secretly thrilled he's back. And when a pic of them together surfaces online, suddenly everyone thinks they're dating – cue the "revenge exes" label. June's bestie suggests they play along to boost their public image and save the tea shop. Fake relationship, anyone?

As they dive into this pretend romance, old feelings resurface, but so do past misunderstandings that could tear them apart for good.

This book really digs deep into insecurities, loyalty, and family ties, and the supporting characters are an absolute delight! If you're into rom-coms that explore human nature, this one's a winner. Trust me, you won't regret picking it up!

Thank you to NetGalley for the E-ARC!

I loved this book. Emma Lord is hilarious! I giggled, cried and cackled! The banter is so good!

I enjoyed the first 70% of this book. I sped through it in about 2 hours. Then I felt like it lagged a little between 70-90%. And then the last 10% was magic again!
I will be adding Emma Lord to my TBR with all the rest of her books.

June and Levi find themselves publicly dumped at the same time and overnight they are TikTok famous. But not in the good way.
They were friends when they were kids and decide to make a pact to fake date. From then on it is funny and cute and makes you feel like the first day of spring when flowers bloom, birds return home and the sun decides to come back out. If you like any of those feelings you need to read this book.

This was an enjoyable read for me, but at times, I lost interest. I especially felt like the ending dragged on and could have been wrapped up a little quicker. Through the middle, though, I was so invested in June and Levi's story that I couldn't put it down. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys a summer romance about friendship and second chances.

The Break Up Pact is a love story between two childhood friends that drifted apart (through stubbornness and fear) during college and have hardly seen each other in 10 years, but we find that their spark they had back then is still burning.
Both Levi and June have rather public break ups, they run into each other a few weeks after and still in the aftermath of the publicity of it. Someone catches a photo of them in a seemingly flirtatious act in the sand where they are virally deemed the “Revenge Exes” which is where our title comes into play. Levi wants to win his ex back, while June just wants to move and get more business into her shop, so they agree to use the Revenge Exes to their advantage, and they agree to “break up” the second it isn’t helping either of them out anymore.
They go on fake dates to keep the momentum going while June’s friend Sana photographs them but all their caught in the act photos to draw attention to themselves for the sake of exploiting their situation are genuine candids not all caught by Sana.
While this story is a friends to lovers kind of romance it is also a story about the ebbs and flows of grief which was wonderfully done to see both sides revealed from the sister and best friend of the deceased and the guilt and love they both carry for her about moving on with their lives while accepting that she doesn’t get to do that along with them.
This was a good, quick (for me), tear jerking story that I would recommend. I just wish we got to actually see some of Dylan and Mateo’s wedding that we watched Levi and June plan, but I guess since they resolved their issues before that it wasn’t necessary but I still would have liked too see it, Also the epilogue with their last race, I loved that!

What better way to make things in your life better than to fake a relationship? June and Levi will fake it to use the internet fame they found themselves in to make things better at work and hopefully bring back an ex. This romance is swoony and I love Emma Lord’s shift from YA to adult, all of her sweet with a little spice.

It was quite repetitive and boring. The leads had no personality and the supporting characters felt like caricatures. This disappointed me as a BIPOC reader. The premise seemed interesting, but the execution fell flat.

First, thank you to Net Galley for the ARC. This book publishes on August 13, 2024.

Secondly, it took me over a month to get through this book. I felt like all the tropes were in this book - fake dating, best friends to lovers, and so on. The writing felt super rushed. Although I did really enjoy Levi as a character, the story was a little rushed throughout. If you are into a romance with all the tropes, this one is for you.

I did really like the parts focusing on the “best friends” portion of the romance, they were really well written. These parts were 4 stars.

Review also posted to GoodReads!

Friends-to-lovers, fake dating, rom-com.

I was in a reading slump, so I thought a rom-com would pull me out as it always has. Not this book, it dug me even deeper into that slump.

Something was just missing. It was lacking any sort of steaminess. Maybe they fell in love too quickly and I was hoping for a slower burn? Idk. I found it hard to connect with the characters. Then you throw in all the grieving when it should be a happy story. It just felt all over the place.

It took me awhile to finish the book, so I’m having a hard time writing a review. It just wasn’t my cup of tea (pun intended). The main character’s best friend was the best part of this book. If the author did a spinoff of Sana and Aiden’s love story, I might give her a second chance.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin for the digital reviewer’s copy in exchange for my honest review.

*Thank you to the publisher for the advanced digital review copy.*

tropes include: fake dating, social media viral, childhood friends to lovers, slowburn romance, she falls first.
TW: talk about a family member (sister) that passed.

What I liked about this book: the nicknames he gave her made my heart melt, the pop rocks in the food as pranks, cozy vibes, it feels relatable as a love story.

I don't often read friends to lovers but who am I kidding? They're great!!

SLOW BURN IS SO UNDERRATED. All the tension, the scene on the dancefloor!!! THE FIRST KISS. Oh my. Very much worth the wait ;)

The beautiful way June wants to remember her sister, clings to memories and keep the Tea Tide just as Annie dreamt it made me tear up. It very beautiful.

Overall, the book was really good, there was no moment where I thought it was slower or dull, I wanted to keep reading all the way. Not in a "I need to binge this book in a day" kind of way, but still, I was bringing it everywhere and sneaking in pages whenever I could.
Emma Lord's writing speaks to me, it's easy, it flows really good and I enjoyed it a lot.
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SPOILER:
I think June loosing Tea Tide, creating the Tea Tide mobile and getting back the original spot was such a full circle moment and I lover her so much for her.

Emma Lord is back on track for me... after her last book not quite hitting the mark for me I am happy to report that I absolutely loved this story!

Thank you for the opportunity to read early!

The book follows June and Levi who were once high school friends. They both recently went through a very public break up and have that in common when they reconnect years later. A rumor gets spread around their home town that they're a couple and they decide to role with it in both benefiting from the situation.
I had a hard time getting into this one, fake dating/friends to lovers can be such a fun one, I just wanted finding that here. I had a hard time connecting to either of the main characters and found myself getting distracted often while reading. There were some good, fun and sweet moments throughout the book, very much light hearted. If you're looking for an easy lighthearted read in a beauty setting you might just enjoy this read! I feel like this would have been a good summer at the beach read and instead I read it in the cold winter.
2.5 rounded up for me.
Thank you NetGalley, St. Martins Press, and the author for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!!!

This book was so fun and I binged it so quickly. The only thing missing is I wish I was reading it on the beach!

I definitely can’t wait to read more by this author.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

First of all, this book has a gorgeous cover!

I really enjoyed the first 60% of the book! However, when Levi and June actually got together that’s when the book started going downhill in my opinion. I didn’t like the exes coming back into it or all of June’s sudden doubts about Levi. I felt like for those doubts to feel more real to the reader, it would’ve needed to be explored in more depth detail earlier on in the book. I really enjoyed the revenge ex part and their fake dating!

Having just read and loved The Getaway List, it's hard to believe The Breakup Pact was also written by Emma Lord. Don't get me wrong, the book wasn't bad, but it also wasn't necessarily good. It just was.

The Breakup Pact had a lot of potential, some interesting topics, a cute tea and scone shop, friendship, and of course romance, but unfortunately the usual Lord charm I'm used to was missing. In bullet point form her charm elements were there, but that's all they were, elements.

I'm a little disappointed but perhaps this one just wasn't for me. If you haven't read Emma Lord's work before, don't start with this one. If you have read her work, what did you think of this one?

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance e-copy of The Break-Up Plan by Emma Lord in exchange of an honest review.

"Although 'The Break-Up Pact' provides a fast and easy read, the story lacks the depth needed to fully immerse the reader in the journey of the main characters. While the premise of friends-turned-lovers and fake dating holds promise, the execution feels formulaic and predictable. The author's writing style falls short in capturing the emotional nuances and inner thoughts of the characters, leaving the reader longing for a stronger connection and chemistry. However, the book does offer a light-hearted escape and can be read quickly for those seeking a beach read or a dose of second chance romance." This was a 3.5 Star read for me.

I instantly loved these characters. I struggled getting through the book though. It’s not that I didn’t like it, it just wasn’t anything new? I thought it was entertaining but long.

While I enjoyed the overall plot and tropes in this book, something about the writing made it difficult for me to connect with the characters. It felt like we stayed very surface level with their backstories when the opportunity was there to dive deeper with their connection to Annie. I also felt like we very quickly glossed over what caused them to not speak for 10 years. June admitted that she overheard something Levi said and he said I’m sorry I didn’t mean that and then it was never brought up again. I felt the ending was a little lackluster. I was expecting some point of contention between June and Levi but him going back to New York to figure out the apartment and job didn’t feel like enough.

The Break-Up Pact is what you'd get if you threw Gilmore Girls, a hurt/comfort fanfic, and a dash of a Hallmark movie into a mason jar and shook it up.

It's not a perfect book by any means, but for me, this second-chance, fake dating, slow-burn was pretty close. Maybe it's because every single one of those tropes are some of my top five favorites. Maybe it's because I'm coming off one of the worst books I've ever had the displeasure of reading, but I ate Emma Lord's newest book up like it was one of June's cookie-disguised-as-a-scone-monstrosities. (Seriously, can I please get a Tea Tide scone??) Maybe there's just a little bit of magic in The Break-Up Pact that makes it a cute, fun read. Whatever it is, I loved it.