The Break-Up Pact is a quick and lighthearted read about June and Levi, ex-best friends who both separately went viral due to their recent breakups. To deal with the publicity, they decide to fake their own relationship so that June’s tea shop will get back on its feet after struggling for months, and Levi’s ex will realize she made a mistake and want him back.

Levi and June 🥹 I thought they were so cute and loved seeing their little moments of chemistry! Going on their cute little dates, walking on the beach, racing each other…. I ate it up. We don’t like a miscommunication trope but we do love a friends-to-lovers and second chance romance! I thought that June’s tea/scone business was a little quirky but overall the good outweighed the bad and I enjoyed this book.

3.5 stars rounded down.

This book was absolutely adorable! I have never read a book by Emma Lord, but I've since gone back and changed that after reading The Break-Up Pact. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, but it was a great story, charming characters, and a lovely backdrop of a beach town. The main characters were wound together through history, tragedy, and comedy, and that was a great mix to bring the book full circle. It was a quick read but a great read.

This book was a quick and easy read for me. I was able to knock it out in a few hours.
I loved how heartwarming and easy it was. However the plot didn’t flow as much as I’d have liked it to. I felt like everything was rushed and we went from one extreme to the other within a day.
I loved the tropes, which were enough for me to like it and read it quickly. Childhood friends, fake dating, etc.
The characters mostly felt like they were just there. It would have been nice to feel what they were feeling, or see what they felt. It was very said not shown, I felt.
I will probably read it again in the future just because it was such a quick and easy filler type book.

for the love of God, please stop describing June's reaction to Levi as warmth

"The warmth of it flood through me again"

"I feel the warmth of it spreads through me"

"The words fill me with warmth"

"The warmth in my chest spreads out"

"If it weren't for the warmth spreading out from under my ribs"

"Making me shiver with warmth"

Shall I go on?

There was so much potential with a fun viral twist but the chemistry and descriptions felt very amateur. Why does June not communicate with ANYONE? So many times she was complaining about her life and I just thought "why not call up your bestie Sana?"

Thank you to St. Martin's Griffin and Netgalley for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn't a huge fan of this title. I LOVED Emma Lord's other books, especially Tweet Cute so I was expecting something sweet and light-hearted again. I didn't care for the increased level in spice. I thought her books and writing were naturally good without that.

Unfortunately, this will be a DNF from me. The pacing of this is so odd, the inclusion of the mmc is so off balance, their past being brought up wildly and not fully and suddenly they’re just going along with these ruse though they’ve only seen each other like three times and we barely know the fmc at all which means I have no connections to these characters whatsoever to really care about what happens to them. Also, the inclusion of modern apps in books only works maybe 5% of the time and this would not be apart of the five percent. It’s unnecessary and overdone. This plot is too choppy and not fleshed out enough from the stare and we barely know these characters and suddenly they’ve been thrusted into this little scheme with barely any background.

Thank you for the potential arc!

Okay so. This book was REALLY cute. Very much wasn’t expecting it to get to me BUT in the VERY LAST chapter I was crying very real tears over how sweet it was ("All right," I say, drawing a starting line in the sand. The first one I've ever drawn knowing that it doesn't have a finish. "On your mark-get set-go.” SHUT UP!!) There were definite elements to this book that were maybe a little too cliche for me but overall I really enjoyed reading it and thought it was a solid romance novel with some really interesting dynamics and ideas (the art/bed game was really cute). Shoutout to Sana because every girl deserves a friend who will crack a beer with you at 7am.

I thought this book was so cute! I really liked both of the main characters, and how they got a second chance at love. I think the characters had good dialogue and good character development throughout the story. It was also just silly enough that I played along, like how the internet went up in flames about June and Levi. I think that stuff is just kinda funny, but it worked well in the story. I wish it was a dual POV story because I would've loved to hear what was happening in Levi's head, but I also see how that wasn't really needed. Overall, this was a really sweet and lighthearted read.

Quick read...perfect for getting out of a reading slump! Childhood friends, fake dating, secret feelings...all the usual romance tropes in one. This was a cute heartwarming story, but nothing too spectacular to set it apart of any other romance novel.

I absolutely adored this book! It was such a fun, comforting, and easy read. It has three of my favorite tropes - friends to lovers, second chance romance, and fake dating.
The book follows June & Levi, two childhood friends, who reconnect in their small beachside hometown after both experiencing traumatic and very public break ups. After pictures are taken of them together in their hometown, an online rumor starts assuming that they are dating and dubs them "revenge exes". They both decide it would be mutually beneficial to go along with this rumor, and the two start fake dating. They spend more and more time together and grow closer, but of course there is some miscommunication that hinders them along the way. I loved both of the characters, and their stories, but could get a little frustrated at parts because of the miscommunication and the friends to lovers trope was a little too drawn out at times.
Overall, I highly recommend this as a cute and fun lighthearted romance. Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and the publishers for allowing me to read and review this story.

This was my first Emma Lord book and typically am not a huge fan of rom-coms, but I devoured this like it was my last meal. Absolutely loved every detail--the tropes (which did not come off as too tropey), the storyline (I was concerned about plotholes but then they did end up being resolved), the copious references to social media (DID make sense and track with the plot), and the humor (literally laughed out loud numerous time).
It felt as every character and action was with purpose to create a cohesive world and storyline. Excited to read more from this author!

June and Levi, once close friends, find themselves at a crossroads as they navigate highly publicized break-ups. In Emma Lorde's newest novel, "The Break-up Pact," vivid and relatable characters draw readers in from the first page.

June's determination to save her struggling tea shop and Levi's quest for fulfillment in the face of personal and professional disappointment resonate with readers on a personal level.
With the author's ability to create a storyline filled with heartfelt emotion and lighthearted humor, this book is worth adding to your bookshelf.

Overall, this book was cute. I liked it ok, the characters were loveable and the setting was cool. I really enjoyed Sana's character. I loved her angle, how she found her inspiration, and how she executed it to take down the enemy! I loved the small town island vibes, the childhood stories and flashbacks, and how they juxtaposed together.

Unfortunately, I found the novel difficult to follow and there were a few spots where the plot lagged. It felt like nothing was going on in between each act. The plot seemed to be stop and go with a unappealing ethereal quality here and there.

The biggest issue for me, though, was at 68%ish where Kelly comes to the island. With the story being solely in June's POV, the details got sticky and unclear until much later on when. she and Levi finally have a heart to heart. A good bit of story happens in between and it felt like the story was on self-drive mode. I couldn't figure out what was happening or which direction the story was going in an uncomfortable way. I needed more, June explaining what was happening around her so that we could feel her emotions a bit more rather than feeling left out of the action.

I also didn't understand fully the relationship dynamic between the friends. What was the age difference in them? There were 5 characters that grew up together (June, Levi, Annie, Matteo, & Dylan- Sana was a later on friend I think) but usually the stories had 4 kids? Who was missing from the dynamic and why? This felt unclear, and as the story progressed I felt more and more lost.

Overall, I think the book has a lot of potential. I loved the relationship that built between June and Levi and how he fell first. I liked their backstory and how it tied in Annie. I found the virality of June and Levi's drama hilarious (crying girl memes- money!) I even liked the villain angle and thought it matched well with the tone of the book. I just think this book, as a whole, needed better editing to be great.

I am OB-SESSED with this book. It was such a well balanced romance. It had me up way past my bedtime, invested in every character, smiling and giggling at all the little things, and holding my breath.
10/10 would recommend

The Break-up Pact is a beautiful story about life after loss and second chances of all sorts.The characters are real and flawed. Emma Lord does a beautiful job of touching on grief and showing how it changes the lives and way of thinking for the characters. The story between Levi and June is absolutely beautiful. The banter spot on, but more than that, the thing that makes their love story so real and beautiful is the friendship showing through in every part of their romance. Their connection is undeniable from the first time we see them together on the page. This story had me laughing out loud, giddy with joy and includes some of my favorite tropes. Highly recommend giving this one a read if you enjoy second chance romance, friends to lovers, or fake dating tropes.

I've loved Emma Lord's previous young adult novels so I was excited to read her foray into adult books. Although The Break-Up has beautiful writing, I felt mildly bored throughout. The book still has a young adult feel to it that I struggled with. I enjoyed the characters and the hijinks they got up to, but it didn't feel enough to counteract that young adult feel.

Absolutely adored this book! Such a heartfelt and delightful and emotional romance! June and Levi are a pleasure to follow as we see them navigate their lives, both together and in separate ways, as they pretend to date while having real feelings. I really loved this!

I can say I did end up enjoying this book than I thought I was going to. I was a little worried at the beginning, but eventually, I found myself getting into the story and characters.

I will say June felt very relatable and realistic. Her worries and insecurities were vaild and voiced what a lot of us feel when we aren't very reassured about things happening in life.

Levi irritated me a bit by not being transparent and forthcoming enough, causing unnecessary stress and worry for the MFC. I hate that trope.

While there was no 3rd act breakup, there was a lot of conflict going on, and it all felt a bit all over the place and very stressful.

This was a pretty cute read at times, but it was more emotionally heavy than I expected it to be. Took me by surprise. Overall an enjoyable read.

I love that the author was able to talk about grief and how people deal with that differently while also writing a sweet love story. The chemistry between June and Levi was fabulous and the humor was super enjoyable. I also loved the setting, nothing gets me like a beach town romance. My only complaint was that some of the chapters felt unnecessarily long and I didn’t personally feel connected to the characters but it was still a very enjoyable read!

I was really excited to get to read the ARC books f this book. I’ve been seeing it on Goodreads giveaways and was intrigued.

I really enjoyed it! I am definitely making scones soon. I loved seeing June grow and change throughout the book. I was proud of her for facing her grief and being confident in herself.

I felt the “fake-dating” was done really well. It did not feel forced or developed too quickly.

This will be the perfect late summer read when this releases in August.