REVIEW: The Break-Up Pact ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I am a sucker for a good fake dating trope, so I was very excited to start The Break-Up Pact.

June and Levi have been close friends since they were little. However, they lose contact with each other and their friends due to changes such as shared loss, moving somewhere else, and dating others. When both characters are embarrassingly and publicly broken up, Levi returns home to see June. With help from one of June's friends, they decide to make a pact to pretend to date each other to get back at their exes and improve June's tea shop business.

The Break-Up Pact was a great contemporary romance with many fun tropes, such as fake dating, friends to lovers, small town, and second chance romance. I really liked June and Levi as the main characters. They both have shared grief they are trying to manage while also trying to discover who they are and where they belong. As childhood friends, they shared many memories. I enjoyed their playful chemistry together. The spice level is mild-medium but still satisfying. I even really liked the supporting characters in The Break-Up Pact. All the characters had backgrounds and unique personality traits, making each character more distinct.

The one little thing that could have been slightly changed for me was that the book started off really slow. However, once you get through the first few chapters, it picks up and is so good.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Break-Up Pact! It was a great combination of romance tropes, and I found the characters really thought out.

Thank you, Netgalley, St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin, and Macmillan Audio, for the free advanced copy for my honest review!

My Rating: 3.5 ⭐️

In The Break-Up Pact, two childhood friends, June and Levi, who haven’t be in touch for 10 years, are reacquainted after their break-ups with their exes go viral.
Accidentally making some gossip of their own, the friends decide to make a pact and fuel the internet fire. By pretending to date, their hope is to convince Levi’s ex that she made a mistake and to help June’s failing tea/ scone shop get back on its feet.
As the two try to convince the world they’re in love, feelings from the past creep in and they discover not everything within their pact is fake.
There was some depth brought into the story with not only self growth and discovery, but also in the characters journey to heal after the loss of a loved one.

Over all, I thought this was a cute, summery read with relatable characters, a lovely setting and unique storyline.

I read via audiobook, and I thought the narrator did a great job in bringing the story to life.

Thanks so much to St Martin’s Griffin for this ALC to read and review.

I thought this was a fun premise for a book. The characters feelings for each other were believable and the mishaps were also believable. I liked the setting the most and would love to visit the tea shop. The author did a good job of making me crave a scone on the boardwalk.

This new release by Emma Lord felt like a combination of several of my current reads! This book is an absolutely adorable romcom set against a charming small-town beach backdrop!
June and Levi's fake dating scheme is the perfect blend of humor and heart as they both are trying to navigate their way through pretty public breakups! Plus the whole fake dating thing allows them to rekindle a lost childhood friendship that faded not long after their mutual best friend, June’s sister, unexpectedly passed away.
Definite disclaimer! This book did have more spice than I usually go for and some MA language. While it was easy to skip past the spicy chapter I feel it’s important to let those who prefer closed door romance (like myself) know!
Overall the journey from friends to lovers is so engaging and fun. If you love fake dating, friends-to-lovers, and a dash of beachy vibes, this book will keep you entertained from start to finish!
Huge thank you to Macmillan Audio and @netgalley for the advanced audiobook copy

Trying to decide if I liked or disliked this book. I honestly am not sure. Spoilers ahead. I can’t speak about the book without them.

June and Levi were best friends until they weren’t. After they were both dumped publicly for all the internet to see they reconnect and team up and start fake dating. After not talking with our MMC that she’s been in love with since high school who just up and left and her decides they should team up to show up their exes. June never once questions him about why they stopped talking and just goes along with it and that’s all within the first chapter. Seemed very rushed. I wanted more angst. I need authors to stop with the miscommunication trope. Readers hate it. I LOATHE it. June saying all the right things in her head but can’t say anything to Levi. A majority of their problems could have been solved with just speaking and communicating.

And Levi… Even though he’s in love with our FMC he still thinks about staying with his cheating ex. Have some damn respect for yourself man. Also lets talk about how he and June jump on the good foot and did the bad thing and the next day goes to meet his ex and doesn’t communicate (shocker) with the FMC and ignores her the whole day making her question everything. That was a hard no for me.

What I did like was the premise. It gave me everything I wanted fake dating, friends to lovers, second chance romance, small town and just the right amount of sexy time. I also loved the narrator for the audiobook. She kept me engaged and made it worth sticking it out. I didn't hate it just didn't love it but I will be checking out more of Emma Lord's work as I liked her writing.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC.

I tend to avoid reviewing books that I did not like because I feel so bad for the authors who put their heart, soul, and time into writing for so long just for a random girl on the internet to read it in two days and decide it was awful. Alas, I received The Break Up Pact from NetGalley, so review I must. The premise of this one is so good. Childhood friends to lovers, second chance romance, fake dating, in the public eye, and it takes place in a small town. However, it is done so poorly, there was no point while reading that I found myself caring if they main characters got together or not. I did not feel like June and Levi had any chemistry at all and the couple of random story drops from their childhood really did not work to convince me of their romance. (It is like season 3 Bridgerton all over again, give us the FLASHBACKS people!) Which brings me to my next point; there really was no romance. Everytime it felt like the characters were going to start to become likable- or like this might actually become a romance, they miscommunicate, yet again, and we find ourselves back at square one. Don’t get me wrong I love a good slow-burn will they or won’t they, but you have to give us SOMETHING. Fans of Abby Jimenez will appreciate the shared grief/trauma that our main characters are working through, and fans of Sarah Adams will like the YA-esque writing style but neither of those things really worked for me here. What did work? Sana- I loved her character. I didn’t love that it felt like throwing in a person of color just to have a person of color without actually building out that key piece of her character. But I loved Sana and her realness. I loved the narrator for the Audiobook! Natalie Naudus did an excellent job at keeping me into the story; if not for her, I probably would have DNF’ed at 70% because I was just that over it. I will definitely give Emma Lord another try in the future as this was her debut adult romance but I would not recommend this one, unfortunately.

The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord was such a cute read! I listened to this while on vacation and what a fun vacation listen it was! Natalie Naudus is an excellent narrator. Thoroughly enjoyed listening to her.

June and Levi were best friends as children. They both ran in high school and spent a lot of time together. Something (explained in story) went awry at the end of high school, which sent the BFFs in separate paths, keeping them apart for 10 years.

June, who owns a scone shop on a quaint street on her beachside hometown, was recently dumped by Griffin, and she was turned into an internet meme.

Levi, a hedge fund manager in NYC, was also recently dumped, also in a public manner.

June runs into Levi in their beachside hometown. She isn’t happy when she first sees him, as it dredges up all sorts of surprises memories and feelings.

The two unite and make a pact to make their exes jealous.

This is a sweet story. I was rooting for June the entire time. Levi’s a good one, too.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I loved this one and will be buying a copy as soon as I can! Already recommended it to a few friends!

Loved the narrator for this audiobook! When I first started reading this book, I thought “I read this book this year already, and it’s called Funny Story by Emily Henry.” But as the story went on, I enjoyed the way the narrative unfolded. I felt the characters were a little underdeveloped.

An easy coming of age beach read with a lot of charm, but at times lacks intrigue and depth. I would have loved to have seen more of an arc with less overt layers to our characters. I would still recommend this as a read to the lovers of this genre. It's worthwhile, but unfortunately not overly memorable.

I got this as an arc from NetGalley.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were great and the story itself was interesting. I think the clearing up of a miscommunication went well and I enjoyed the peeks into their past. There was also a great description of grief, loss, and living up to what was thought to be lost.

Definitely recommend this book!

3.5 stars for me - I listened to an advanced audiobook (thanks NetGalley & MacMillian Audio!) and found it to be a quick, breezy listen. This is my first book by the author as well.

Overall, I thought the story was a bit half-baked (pun intended!) and I just didn’t connect with the MMC very much. The FMC did have some depth that I liked! But the story as a whole was just… lacking. To be fair, I’m not a friends-to-lovers fan, and these MCs were bffs growing up. So right off the bat, I wasn’t attached to them. The exes were not fully fleshed out, I definitely didn’t understand the FMC’s previous relationship.

The story, already not hooking me, also dragged on and became rather repetitive. I do like the ending and the characters’ & relationship’s growth! The setting was also sweet and made for a nice summer-y read :)

This book was the perfect beach read! A cute tea shop, friends to lovers, fake dating, and a bit of spice? What more could you want?!

Big shoutout to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the awesome opportunity to dive into this book! Thanks for letting me join the adventure early!

This was a quick, fun read that I'd recommend to fans of these tropes: fake dating, second chance romance, friends to lovers, and small town settings. While I enjoyed it on a surface level, I can't say that I felt attached to the characters or that the storyline was anything special.

The narrator was great and made listening to the audio more enjoyable. Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the audio ARC.

I really enjoyed this cute fun story. The audio was great and I really liked the narrators. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher.

3.5 stars.

This was Emma Lord's foray into the adult romance genre, having previously written a few YA novels that I've read. June and Levi used to be bffs in high school until they had a falling out (miscommunication). Several years later, they both wind up in their hometown following humiliating public breakups.

Lord has a thing for dessert, which she weaves into all of her books. In this case, June owns a bakery/coffee shop. I think the dessert thing works for YA, but I didn't love it in this. I did appreciate Lord's signature wit and humor, however. Overall, I would say this was a cute and heartwarming summer read. I'd recommend it to fans of the following tropes:

*Fake dating
*Friends to lovers
*Second chance romance
*Small town
*Mild spice

Thank you to Macmillan Audio, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for audiobook and ebook arcs to review!

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.

This was a super cute book light and easy to read and follow. I'm a big fan of fake dating so I enjoyed that part of the book. I loved watching June and Levi's relationship grow and begin to mean something.

The miscommunication in the book drives me crazy though you could have saved so much time if you had of actually spoken in the beginning.

But it was a really fun read and I'd be happy to recommend it to others

I enjoyed listening to this book narrated by Natalie Naudus! I wish I had this one before the ARC because I think I would've enjoyed it more listening the first time.

I look forward to reading more books by Emma Lord. I see that she writes more YA rom coms but I think this was a great debut contemporary romance!

Thank you NetGallet, Macmillan Audio, and Emma Lord for the ALC of this title!

I'm one of the biggest Emma Lord fans out there! Emma Lord typically writes YA romcoms, but this one is her first adult rom com. To me, Emma Lord is the Emily Henry of YA romance. Less spice of course, its YA after all.

I fell in love with "You've got a match," "tweet cute," "begin again" and "The Getaway List" (coming 2024) and was excited to hear that Emma Lord was trying her hand at Adult romance.

The Break-Up Pact is a friends-to-enemies-to-lovers romcom about Levi and June. These two were childhood friends until a misunderstanding destroyed their friendship. Now they're back in the same area and both going through difficult breakups. They come up with the plan to fake-date and make their exes jealous. What could go wrong? Look I'm all for a fake dating plot, but I'm not sure I would do it with someone I had a falling out with. Ahh, its a book so it works.

To me, Emma Lord's novels work because she is able to balance the fun lighthearted romance with some heavier storylines that make you feel something and reflect on your own life decisions. This book is no exception.