Thank you for the ARC!

Once I got into the book, I was hooked by June and Levi’s story. I like the common thread of Annie and their unique relationships with her. I did keep feeling like something bad was going to come out about Annie and Levi. I think this was due to the author not always painting her as agreeable.

The chemistry of the childhood friends turned lovers was a slow burn with unique twists and turns. The premise of Levi’s book was unique! A male fantasy writer?

Would recommend if you like a slow burn of childhood friends with a modern spin on media expose!

The Break Up Pact by Emma Lord is a contemporary romance that is about June and Levi who are childhood best friends. But aren’t friends anymore in the eyes of June. It’s a good childhood friends to not friends to lovers. June took over her sister’s business Tea Tide which is now struggling to stay afloat. But she is determined to make it a success.
Levi is a writer coming back to his hometown after a viral breakup and new inspiration for his work. That’s one thing these two have in common coincidentally they both went viral when their relationships broke up. When both are seen together in a situation that looks suspicious they are quickly becoming known as the revenge exes who fell in love. They decide to run with it by fake dating. Is it all fake though? The elements of working through change and ending and starting new relationships are difficult.
It has faking dating. It seems like old feelings are still there from one side but is it one sided?If you like small towns, especially small beautiful beach towns you’ll love this. I love how close knit the characters are. They’re family of course but all of their quirks you fall in love with all them. I think it would be a good beach read or summer read.

AH omg the epilogue was so cute. I loved it. Their last scene together was absolutely perfect. The best race ever.

Thank you Emma Lord for this wonderful book, thank you Netgalley and thank you St. Martin’s Griffin for this arc.

The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord, has such a unique premise. The concept of digital/viral humiliation is very relevant. The writing is engaging and fun to read. The characters each had separate storylines to understand who they were as characters. They also each had a different response to grief which helps make them seem more individual. The story was cute, and I liked that there were little snippets that came back around in the end of the book. My only complaint about this book is that there could’ve been more angst between the main characters. When writing a second chance romance/fake dating the angst between the main characters should be palpable. Overall a cute fluffy rom com read!

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this book. I absolutely loved "The Breakup Pact" by Emma Lord! This book had me hooked from the very first page and I couldn't put it down. The characters were so relatable and well-developed, and the storyline was both heartwarming and engaging. I found myself laughing out loud one moment and tearing up the next. Lord's writing is witty and captivating, making for a truly enjoyable read. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun and heartfelt story about love, friendship, and finding oneself. Five stars all the way!

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars

Read this if you like:
🌊 Slow burn
🫖 Hallmark vibes
💘 Second Chance Romance
📸 Fake Dating

This one didn’t give me all the feels, but it was really cute. I thought Emma Lord’s writing was so beautiful throughout and there were so many quotes I loved. I just wanted a little more between Levi and June. I think that could have been accomplished with dual POVs and I really wish we had gotten to delve deeper into Levi’s character.

It took me a bit to get into this book, the story was alittle all over the place for me but I did enjoy it overall. The storyline did feel like a bit of a stretch at times but I get it because it’s a book things like that happen. I have always enjoyed Emma’s books but this one fell a bit short for me! I would still give it a chance as long as you don’t read into it too much and just let yourself enjoy the ride.

2.5 rounded down. This should not have taken me NEARLY as long as it did but I could barely read a page without getting distracted. The main characters are so clearly in reciprocated love from page one that it just sucked any potential tension out of the story and left me feeling like I had no reason to keep reading.

I did start to enjoy this more around the 65% mark when June and Levi’s insecurities really started to manifest, but that’s sadly also when the timeline started to make less sense. Maybe it’s just me, but I think it’s INSANE to skip the wedding you’ve been planning the entire book and just recap it in the epilogue.

The thing that does really work about this book is the banter, and some of the details about their community and background were excellently fleshed out. I definitely believed that these two were childhood best friends with a great amount of intimacy and shared history, and all their supporting characters reflected that as well. I think there was a lot of potential here but I could have used more conflict in the beginning and a more concrete understanding of time and space in the end.

4.5⭐️ 1🌶️

This took me a long while to get through but once I got into it, I LOVED it. June and Levi have so much chemistry and it had me giggling and smiling the whole way through! The childhood friends to lovers/second chance romance trope is one that I wasn’t a fan of until really recently and I think this one was done so well. The characters were surprisingly mature and it never felt too dramatic. I loved that we got to see growth in both characters and I loved that even when they called each other out, there was still love there. Such a great read!!!

However, I really didn’t like Annie as a character. I was annoyed with how bad of a friend and of a sister she was. I also spent way too long thinking that Annie and Levi were actually secretly lovers. I think the beginning and the introduction of their relationship could have been written better. It made the book too slow to start for me and I almost wanted to give up. This didn’t really ruin the book for me in the end though because I do appreciate that they explore the complexity of grief and I liked how the characters had the same journey with their grief and their anger with Annie.

Overall I really liked this book!! Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!! Definitely one that I would buy a physical copy for my trophy shelf :)

I loved this book! It was a really fun read and I am definitely craving scones now. I laughed and I cried. This was my first Emma Lord novel and it won't be my last.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you, St. Martin's Press.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the chance to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this second chance, friends to enemies to fake dating to lovers story. But there really was a LOT happening here. Not all of it fully fleshed out- but also too many pieces that felt unlikely. We read for escape- so realism isn't always uber required - but the likelihood that two childhood besties would both be scorned on a national stage is a stretch.

I will absolutely say that there are many redeeming qualities and if you can sit back and not over think it- you're golden. The setting is dreamy- loved loved loved the supporting cast. I would LOVE a Sana follow up story!

This was a cute book, but unfortunately it wasn’t for me. I love fake dating and friends to lovers. I did enjoy the fake dating part of this book for the most part. However, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Levi. June was okay, but Levi definitely rubbed me the wrong way. Levi didn’t know what he wanted and that simply irked me. Emma Lord does a great job with banter, and I’ll forever recommend her books when it comes to that. I just hate that I couldn’t really vibe with this one.

3.5⭐️ I have mixed emotions about this one. I freaking loved their chemistry but I hated the drama..

*I received an ARC of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review with my honest opinion.*

I was so excited to have the opportunity to read this ARC!! I jumped in the minute I was notified! I love a high school crush, fake dating, “I had no idea you felt the same way” plot. Love, love, LOVE. However, this book just didn’t end up being for me, which sucks.

Let me begin by saying that this book started off really sweet and fluffy. I was immediately hooked on Emma Lord’s writing style. I loved the small beach town vibe, the friendships and family dynamics, and I was really intrigued with how these two scorned exes were going to get their revenge. June’s best friend Sana was amazing and I think she truly stole the show 🙈 and I loved the representation in this book. Dylan and Mateo were the cutest 🥹

Now, by the time we hit the 50% mark, and June and Levi finally have some movement in their relationship, I’ve zoned out. I needed so much MORE from that grand declaration/realization moment!! I needed “how did you not know I WAS IN LOVE WITH YOU!!!??”. I wanted big emotions. I think what it all comes down to is that the chemistry was non-existent to me. I wasn’t feeling connected to June or Levi. June’s inner monologue began to feel really repetitive and it didn’t feel like we were getting any growth or development from either of our main characters. It was very much being TOLD and not really shown. And it all felt really one-dimensional and static.

I was also torn between it feeling really YA (juvenile thoughts/actions, honestly it didn’t feel like two grown adults in their late 20s) and adult with the pretty descriptive spicy scene. I think it would have worked better as a fun YA romance set a few years after high school 🤷🏻‍♀️

This is by no means the end of my Emma Lord era. I’m excited to give her work another go soon! I think if you love a cute, easy romance read with fake dating this is worth a go! Just because it wasn’t my favourite doesn’t mean it can’t be yours 🫶🏼

Thank you so much SMP for the eARC of the Breakup Pact. Sadly, this one didn’t super click for me although normally I devour everything that Emma Lord writes.

This threw a lot of names and subplots out there right away, especially when I was trying to understand what the actual plot was and who they were. I felt like I was struggling to grasp what was going on and powered through to understand, but not my favorite read of the year.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord
Pub date: August 13, 2024

Thank you @emmalord, @stmartinspress and @netgalley galley for this ARC.

I am fully in love with this book. I’ve been home sick for a few days and this was just what I needed/wanted- an instant comfort read. Great banter, reasonable tension, and such a fun twist on the ol’ fake dating trope.

Ugh, this is so good!! Reading this book felt like I was watching a rom-com on TV. It’s giving childhood friends to lovers AND fake dating with a hint of second chance. . . Say no more, I’m in!!

While I adore this book, the first chapter was definitely a little slow and not easily captivating for someone to continue reading. Apart from that, June Hart has returned to her small hometown to take over the Tea Tide business following the death of her sister. It's also a good thing she stuck around because her breakup went badly and her sobbing face made her an online meme. People began to visit Tea Tide expressly to see her after the split. Concurrently, June's former closest friend and childhood crush, Levi, returned to the small town following the public revelation of his own relationship breakup brought on by his fiancée's infidelity with a movie celebrity.

Now that they were both back in town, a scheme to pretend to date emerged, benefiting them both equally. In order to raise the funds required for Tea Tide to continue operating, June would bring in more customers, and Levi would be able to get his former flame back. As their time together grows, their former childhood crushes resurface, and occasionally it seems like they've forgotten they're just pretending to be dating. They soon discover that their fictitious courting has become genuine and that the emotions they experienced a decade ago have persisted, and they must now decide how to handle the situation.

I really really really wanted to love this. I love Emma Lord’s YA novels and I was excited to hear she had an adult romance coming out. I think the problem is a personal one, with me wanting her YA style of book but with spice. I just didn’t find June and Levi super interesting, which left me feeling I invested in their relationship. I didn’t like the decisions either of them made, which I know makes them flawed but for me it also made them annoying. Do I still love her and her writing? Absolutely, this one just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195790535-the-break-up-pact

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Emma Lord for an eARC copy of The Break-Up Pact via NetGalley.

June feels like her life is falling apart. She was dumped in a very public way (with her emotional reaction becoming a viral meme), her tea and scone shop is on the verge of going out of business, and Levi is back in town. Levi was June's older sister's best friend growing up, which made him her best friend as well, but they had a falling out ten years ago and have barely spoken since. The weirdest part? Levi also had a very public breakup around the same time. The two devise a scheme to get back at their exes, with the option to end it if the plan is no longer beneficial to both of them. They have no doubt that they will come out of the fake-dating pact with no feelings involved, but with their history is that actually the case?

There were some fun parts when reading this book, but overall it just wasn't my taste. I obviously hate saying that, especially when I have the privilege of reading a free advanced copy, but I of course accept that copy with the promise of an honest review.

I did enjoy June's friendship with Sana, and the way Sana often worked in the background to capture the candid moments between June and Levi. The names of the scones were cute and creative, and it was fun to see how she used events in the books to inspire the flavors, though sometimes I was curious if they would actually work well together. I am also a fake-dating lover by nature, so even though I didn't enjoy it as much, I will always be mildly entertained by the trope. It's important to me that I acknowledge that for someone who has written YA only up to this point (as far as I know), her spice was spicing in my opinion. I typically haven't seen very detailed open-door scenes from someones early dabbles in adult romance, so I wasn't expecting it, and was surprised by how well it was written.

Ok, now to touch on what I didn't care for as much. The vibes were completely off on everyone's experience with and feelings about June's sister. Obviously they loved her, but often times it felt like they were shit talking every time she was discussed, very much like "she's totally bossy and overbearing, but of course we loved her and miss her." That was the takeaway I had throughout the book. I know that even if a person is often a pain to deal with when living, loved ones will still grieve and miss them, but that doesn't seem like the type of scenario that was needed in this romcom. June put her entire life on hold and refused to change the store even though it was failing, all for the sake of keeping it like her sister initially envisioned it. It just seems like a large contradiction of behavior compared to how they discussed her.

June was a crappy sister to her brother. There was very little involvement of her brother through the entire book; only a few instances of him asking her to come to the bar with him, her scheduling a bar hangout only to show up on the wrong date and not be able to go when he had planned, and just generally ignoring him. It was addressed later in the book with a very short conversation where he confronts her about it and she apologizes, but it felt like he was only included so that his wedding could provide events for June and Levi to attend as their "dates". I wish this wasn't how Lord chose to have June treat him, it makes her come across as self-centered and though I know she's grieving, it's not really acceptable because they're living in the same town, it's been two years since her sister's passing, and there was no legit reason or decision that she wasn't spending time with him, just that she basically "forgot".

The romance between June and Levi felt very immature. They had their huge miscommunication ten years ago, which is a long time to not speak to someone, and it felt like they just went right back to being good with one another after only a couple of awkward conversations. They were basically children when they had the fight, and would be completely different people ten years later, so the thought that they could love each other after only a few weeks (and more importantly the fact they allude to the love actually never having went away), is not plausible. As someone who haaaaates insta-love, this was teetering a very thin tightrope for me. I'd also like to note that though Levi seems like a golden retriever/perfect man, he withheld very important information (the sharing of their fake dating plan to his ex), and made the choice to move back in with her "for closure reasons" immediately after sleeping with June? Hellllll no. The relationship wasn't given time to become healthy, if it ever could, before the book ended. The ending of their love story felt rushed, and it felt like there were too many liberties given to one another without much hashing out of their behaviors towards one another.

Of course, these are just my opinions and takeaways when I was reading it, maybe I mistook meanings when I was reading and I'm off base with some of my opinions, but I stand by the fact that this one just wasn't my cup of tea (see what I did there?).

Overall, I would recommend this to fake-dating and second chance romance lovers, but with the caveat that there are some emotional shortcomings and that it may not be the perfect example when thinking of books within the scope of those tropes.

"Hey Siri, play Uptown Funk!"

This book is like the Levi scone: an amalgamation of tropes baked together into a delicious story. We have revenge, fake-dating, friends-to-lovers, and second chance romance all wrapped up in a cute costal tea shop setting. I have read some of Emma Lord's YA works, and really liked how her writing style translated into an adult romance.

June and Levi had a relatable love story. I found the themes of fear of confrontation, miscommunication, and grief were explored in an honest way that felt true to how I might feel in these situations. There was definitely malicious intent of some fringe characters, but never between the main characters. Also, without getting into spoiler territory the behaviour it is called out for what it is and I appreciate that clear language in the writing. I love a story of self growth, and June truly transforms from the beginning of the book to the epilogue.

This would make a great vacation book, especially for a beach trip or a trip involving lots of good food. Would recommend!

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book. The Break-Up Pact gives fake dating and friends to lovers in the world of social media and going “viral” in a small beach town. I loved the setting and the characters, and as someone who does not usually enjoy social media in books (I do not personally TikTok), I thought it was done very well. There was a lot that happened in this book, and while some have mentioned it made it fly by, it took me much longer than usual to read this book. I am glad I made it though because the ending and watching Tea Tide progress may be my favorite part.