The Break-up Pact by Emma Lord
I love a cute fake dating story!

A very public and messy breakup is what June and Levi have in common. They return to their hometown to sort out their lives and heal; meanwhile of course, they rekindle their childhood friendship. Social media fallout means both June and Levi continue to face inquisitive people and running public commentary on their daily interactions. Media savvy, best friend Sana pushes them down the path of fake dating; and as expected sparks fly!!!

What else I loved about this story:
-beach setting,
-tea shop,
-side characters

What I didn’t love:
-the revenge focus,
-Levi’s indecisiveness,
-the slow start, and most of all…
Where are the scone recipes?

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and the author for this ARC

IG post to come!

4 stars

I love that this was a fake dating and second chance romance book! Levi and June are so cute together. The only issue I had was that sometimes the characters were a little immature.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an e-ARC of this book!

This is a refreshing and heartwarming young adult romance that explores the complexities of friendship, love, and self-discovery.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC.
This was a cute story! If you love the fake dating trope this book will be perfect for you! June and Levi are such good characters. This would be the perfect book to read on the beach. I would definitely recommend this book.

This book had a lot of elements I love – fake dating is always a favorite, friends to lovers, I love a main character who bakes! I liked June’s friend/family group, but I wanted to see them fleshed out a little more. I loved that they shared the running hobby.

While Levi definitely had a nice swoony quality about him, their relationship pushed the limits of my frustration tolerance too far. They were both pretty crappy to each other multiple times, and I was basically rooting for them to just move on.

I have loved Emma Lord's YA and was so excited to get my hot little hands on her new adult romance. Unfortunately, it wasn't love for me.

I like me a good childhood friends reconnect to lovers story, but this one just didn't feel cohesive. There were reasons why they fell out of touch, but it was a lot of miscommunications over a lot of years. And I just didn't feel the chemistry when they did start getting together. I am a sucker for a fake dating trope and this one just didn't do it for me sadly.

Sometimes in stories, there needs to be a mystery or something that you don't have the full context on to keep going. I get this. But one of my pet peeves is when this feels contrived and cryptic for the sake of being cryptic instead of a compelling reason. This book definitely suffered from that for the first probably 60% of the book.

I will say that I do appreciate the growth that the two characters do go on toward the end and there is some healing/growth separately. I did like that they both needed to figure some stuff out and recognized that.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

I have seriously mixed feelings about 'The Break-Up Pact'. This was a solid 4 star read for me and then they got together and were happy and I looked down and I was only 61% in. I knew right then that I would be annoyed for a good portion of the rest of the book because it would likely be unnecessary drama and miscommunication. AND I WAS RIGHT. I seriously almost DNFed for the next 20-30% of the book. So much back and forth and ridiculous doomsday thinking and even when Levi was like, "hey let's talk about it" June was a whiny baby child and acted ridiculous. At one point June went along the lines of, "good thing we have unwavering trust," and then literally the next page she had no faith in him or their relationship at all. It made me want them to actually be broken up and stay that way. And let's be real, both Levi and June need therapy (ESP June) so they can properly deal with her sister's death.

Overall, pretty dissapointed with this one from Lord and I'm hoping she can bring back the good stuff for her next one.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I just did not connect with this title or this romance. The set-up seems so implausible to me. They were both dumped online/had a super personal moment on social media? The whole thing just seemed super clumsy to me and I did not enjoy the plot.

This book was so good. I didn’t stop reading until I was done! It was a relatable heart warming story that had be tearing up at some scenes and laughing out at others. This is the first book I have read by this author but I can’t wait to read more!

So, this didn't work for me at all. I never felt any kind of connection between the two main characters and the third-act break up almost made me throw somthing.

So, we have two friends from high school who haven't seen each other in about ten years. They've both gone through public break-ups, where they have both been on the 'dumped' side of the equation. I still don't really understand or care how either of these break-ups went 'viral' but that's not the problem.

The problem is the two leads (I literally don't remember their names) are both stupid.

June is running a tea shop and Levi is pretending to write a book.

Levi is back in their hometown and is sitting out side June's tea shop. She says some dumb things without knowing he's there and it's all really overly dramatic. I'd been thinking they were both in their mid-twenties at best, I honestly assumed they were both fresh out of college or something for how childish June acted for most of the book. Anyway. It's clear there's 'something' between them and their little reunion is filled with tension and a bit of awkwardness.

But then in the very next chapter they're acting like nothing happened and they're BFFs again. It's so strange. Anyway. They have this brilliant idea to fake date so that June will get more business at the tea shop and Levi can win his ex back. Yeah. That's. That's the whole plan. We all know what's going to happen. Anyway.

So, decide to stage fake dates, and June's friend documents them and 'leaks' the pictures on social media. I'm too old for this kind of thing. Honestly, they were too old for this kind of thing. They're 28 and 29. What?

Levi and June now have to plan her brother's gay wedding. Why? Who knows. The plot knows. The plot had to make up stupid reasons for these two idiots to spend time together. So, they go cake taste testing. And they go to a club to see if the DJs good. Because everyone knows, that a club and a wedding reception are the same thing. Oh, and they KNOW this is a good DJ because he knows the exact moment the crowd is hyped up enough to play Uptown Funk. *eye roll* You're a bunch of twenty-something white people. You can play Uptown Funk at anytime and you'll probably go crazy. Give me a break.

Can we also discuss the wedding cake? I hope I read something wrong, and I'm definitely not here to critique anyone's wedding vision. I really don't care what you do, as long as the couple loves it, but I want to know in what world a cake, frosted in blue and yellow looks good paired with red roses? I'm trying not to judge, but I'm utterly baffled.

There were supposed to be five dates. I remember 3... I think. None of them were necesssary. None of them were fun. I'm so confused by what this book wanted to be. So many people have it tagged as slow-burn but June was lusting after him from their second encounter and Levi was more than flirty with her the whole time. There was no slow burning. There was no longing, no lingering glances, no almost touches. It was 100% toucjy-feeling fake dating from the moment they both agreed to the idea.

I can't talk much about the second half of the book without spoiling it. But, like Tweet Cute (which I really didn't enjoy either) it felt like the book didn't know when to end. And the third act conflict/break up was so childish. I understand that June was hurt, but the way she handled was so stupid. I honestly was going to give the book two stars until that plot point. It honestly just showed that June hadn't grown at all through the book.

Overall, the book was okay. Some of the banter between June and Levi was okay. Most of the book I struggled with. I never really understood the motivations the main characters had, or what they really wanted. Even the ending left me disappointed.

I'm sure TONS of people are going to love this, but I was not one of those people.

(This review is also posted at Goodreads)

This is your classic romance- friends to lovers, second chance romance trope. I loved the beach setting and the locally owned tea shop. The TikTok and current social media references in the story were a bit cringe.

The story lacked a bit of depth, and I personally didn’t feel the chemistry between June and Levi. Things moved too quickly

This would be the perfect summer beach read

I always love Emma lord's books. But this one... I just couldn't get in to the characters! The beginning was sooo slow and nothing felt very original... This one just wasn't for me.

It is always fun to read an Emma Lord book. They are just feel good books. I loved this story of two old friends coming back together in this fun fakeship. It is a fun read for sure.

While I did enjoy this book, I feel like the climax came at about 80% through, and the last 20% was all fluff. Meaning - the author could have wrapped up the ending more succinctly and I probably would have rated at least 4, if not 5 stars. I did enjoy the social commentary on what affect social media is capable of producing in our lives, and how misguided the internet mob can be, ultimately being able to make or break someone’s business and life. The author may not have intended it to be that deep, but it definitely made me think about those people who don’t choose to be famous, but have one moment of their lives go viral and are forever changed.

Finally, I read a full book by Emma Lord, and it’s not like I don’t like her work it’s just that they don’t get me fully invested, which I have to say it’s kind of what happened with this one too.
Lord’s writing style is flawless, nothing wrong with it, with a good pace, entertaining to read. But I realized that my problem with her stories is the characters. There is no connection between them or with them and the reader.
Now, with this story, I wasn’t fully happy with both main characters. They were a little too annoyed and honestly, they made it difficult to root for them. It was painful to read about them and many times just I rolled my eyes. Also, what gets on my nerves: Cheating is not okay, ever! And I guess in this case humiliation neither.
I received an ARC from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. And I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I had to sit and process this book for a bit after I finished reading it. I was used to Lord's Tweet Cute and the YA, quick feel to it, and while The Break-Up Pact also had a fast pace, the romance was anything but YA. I'm not even referring to the spicy scene, either, but the emotional connection and the depth of their love story was so much more than that teenage love.

The thing is, I don't feel like I've read a lot of romances with this type of connection. Yes, the authors always make it clear their characters are in love. But I don't see too many that go so in-detail with how much their characters are connected, especially when comparing this one. There was so much love they had for each other and the descriptive ways Lord wrote it was beautiful. I mean, June mentions the specific type of trust they have in each other, you can see their bond in everything they do/think, and it feels so different to the things I've been reading recently. I don't even know how to properly explain it without direct quoting from the book.

I could have gone without the several mentions of TikTok and how fast the two suddenly reconnected and were fake dating - we could definitely use a bit slower of a pace right there - but the rest of it was gorgeous.

thank you Netgalley for the arc

Reading this book made me want to be on the beach!

I thought this book was a lovely story about two best friends coming together and helping each other out. I was rooting for June and Levi to be a real couple the whole time! The author does a great job showcasing their chemistry. Honestly, thank god for their break ups, it brought them close again!

There’s little to no spice in the book but it was a good story.

I absolutely loved this book! I was so invested in the relationship between June and Levi. I’m a sucker for the fake dating/second chance romance trope, and this book did not disappoint!

This fake dating / friends to lovers book missed the mark. The reasons for fake dating were odd and the friends to lover trope didn’t give fuzzy feelings of second chance love. It was filled with wrong intentions, making me not care for either the main characters. Be prepared for a slow burn and a quick conclusion.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Griffin for the advanced release copy in exchange for an honest review.
Releases on Aug 13, 2024.

- Emma Lord knows how to write things that will cradle you in their hands, break you open, dip you in the sea, and then very gently patch you up and set you on your feet. I’ve read all of her YA books (also phenomenal), and this was exactly what I expected from her adult debut. She is so good at writing characters finding themselves and finding each other. Highly recommend if you like Kate Clayborn (and you should, so go read both).