You'll love this friends to fake dating story and it will make you crave scones!

Best friends in high school then don't speak for 10 years until they both end up in their hometown because they both just had very public breakups. To get back at their exes they decide to make an revenge exes pack and start fake dating.

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

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press, and of course the always amazing Emma Lord for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.
I would give it a 4.5 stars out of 5, I rounded up for the rating.

Part of my love for this book was the personal connection that I had to the main character. I lost my mother at at very young age, so I related to the themes of grief, finding yourself, and the guilt of moving on. The FMC, June lost her sister before the book begins, and both her sister and my mom were named Annie ironically. I liked Levi as well. I've been a pushover most of my life, just following along with other people's plans and ideas because I could never commit to what I wanted in life, so I connected with that as well.

The BEST tropes are here: second chance, friends to enemies to friends to lovers, small town, beach town vibes, found family.

I wasn't a huge fan of the current social media name drops in here. I would expect that more so in a YA, but the good totally outweighed this here.

For more - see my review @bookish_starry_skies (and yes, I'm fully aware I just complained about the social media name drops and then DROPPED MY INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT on here, insert face palm here)

I can't wait to read more Emma Lord!

Standard fake romance, rekindled friendship. The spice is lower end. This was a good ready, you feel for the characters, losing a loved one and the grief that comes from that.

The main characters were good, lots of little details about them give you the warm fuzzies at moments. The secondary characters were wonderful, and I wanted more of the mentioned secondary characters wedding. So much more.

I was hooked on June’s story from the beginning. So many parts of her life were so relatable that there were moments I found myself yelling at her, getting choked up or my face hurt from smiling. Loved her relationships with everyone in the book. I couldn’t put it down.

I adore a good little rom-com and this checked all of the boxes. Also the cover is so cute, and drew me in from the very moment I saw it. Excited to explore more of this author’s writing in the future.

This book was such an experience to go through!! There were so many parts of this book that had me actually laughing out and just smiling widely while reading. This book felt so real and close to home despite me not experiencing this or anything similar in real life. I also love how everything was so slowed down and meaningful. I don’t know if I would call this a slow-burn but it truly was just a passionate journey to go through with the characters. Even the one spicy scene was so slowed and meaningful throughout it that it made it feel so much more raw and engaging rather than rushed and horny. I will say that were were certain parts where I wish there was more angst and more explosive feelings, but this could also just be the characters’ personalities which were a bit frustrating, but it was still something that kept me reading and looking for more. This book was such a fun introduction to this author and I am so excited to read more of her work. (Also, even the author’s note at the end had me laughing, I love her writing style for sure!!)

I will always grab a book by Emma Lord. I loved “Tweet Cute” and I adored “The Breakup Pact!” I could not put this book down! The characters were fun and fresh, flawed and lovable. I loved the interactions. Dialogue was well-written, paced moved fast enough but didn’t feel rushed, and there was enough description to picture the scenes without going overboard. Definitely a show-don’t-tell novel that kept me hooked. I highly recommend!

Loved the premise of this book - two friends fake dating after their respective break-ups go viral. Unfortunately, I stopped reading this book about 25% through, I just didn’t connect with the main characters which made it hard to want to keep reading. However, this book does move quick if you’re looking for a quick read!

I really enjoyed this story of Levi and June. I was immersed in their world of books and tea and was rooting for them every step of the way. I smiled a lot while reading and there may have been a time my eyes sprung a leak, only a little. 😉
I’ll gladly recommend this gem!

Many, many years ago, someone told me “you’re a nice girl, but you think too much.” That came to mind as I read the novel, a fake dating/friends to lovers/second chance romance. Centered around two friends with unrequited crushes in high school reconnecting 10 years later after humiliating break-ups that went viral on social media.

Overall, I enjoyed the story, I liked the characters, but I felt it dragged a bit as the main characters obsessed about all their life choices. Nonetheless, I would happily read more by this author..

thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for the digital ARC in return for an honest review. .

1.5 stars

I had a hard time getting into it with the characters. I felt like they were forced and both held on to a lot of grief and couldn't see past it. The book was slow burn to the extreme and also very long but slow moving. Second chance romance, misunderstanding, kinda 3rd act breakup ish, best friends to lovers. The steamy scenes were kinda cringe. Sana is the best character and I loved her so much.

Thank you St Martin press, Emma Lord and NetGalley for the ARC

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

I was really hoping to like the book as the trope is right up my alley and the cover/summary really caught my attention. However, certain things made it tough to enjoy it but it may work for other readers!

The relationship the main characters have with their ex-partners didn't do it for me. June has been with her (ex) boyfriend for about a decade, Griffin, who also grew up in their beach town. Wanting to get away, he applied for a reality show and got in. That led to him cheating on June, bringing both the girl he cheated on her with and a camera crew to June's house and humiliated, creating her into a meme. With all of this, June still wants to be the bigger person and say, "He was my best friend." Please grow a spine. Then, Levi and Kelly were together for years as well and Kelly cheated on Levi with some older celebrity. This also became publicized once the world found out that Kelly was engaged. When asked about the break-up, he said no one broke up with anyone and they're taking some time apart. And swears that he understands why Kelly cheated on him as if it's his fault.

Both characters really lacked self-respect and it was hard to read. Also, once they finally hook up, Kelly is on her way to their town the next day in which he proceeds to ignore June for a full day and is seen out with Kelly. When they have a conversation on Levi no longer being with Kelly, June just forgives him as if what he did was okay.

I think the ending was lackluster and was hoping for some kind of 'one up' on Griffin but he ends up getting the shot he needed for the show, don't understand why she would do it for him (oh right because she still has love for him...). I haven't read any other books by this author however this might have been the odd one out of the catalog for me.

First, the cover for this book is absolutely gorgeous!!

June and Levi experience break ups of their long term relationships around the same time. They were friends back in high school and through a series of events they create a pact to fake a relationship and document their revenge relationship through social media.

I think the premise was really creative. I struggled connecting with the story for the first half of the book. Though, once I got into the last half of the book, I felt the pacing of the story really picked up and reading through the later half was a breeze. As much as miscommunication can be a common element used in storylines, I did appreciate that there were moments where June and Levi were very forthcoming and direct rather than allowing miscommunications to be drawn out.

If you enjoy a fake dating or second chances romance, this would be a book to consider checking out. I’m excited that Emma Lord wrote an adult romance and would definitely check out a future one!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this was a fantastic read! There was enough build up and twists that made it not feel like the normal formula for a romance and kept me reading! A perfect read for a cozy Friday night in - couldn’t put it down!

This book is sweet. Sickening levels of sweet. Hallmark movie levels of sweet. Just the way I like it.

Was an ok read, June and Levi have had feeling for each other years ago. Both date others in high school, moved away, come back after many years to fate date to get revenge on their exs...

The Break-Up Pact is the first book that I have read of Emma Lord’s, it also is her debut novel in the Romance genre as she typically writes YA books.

The Break-Up Pact was a cute, modern, romance about two ex-best friends, June and Levi, who are facing a mutual struggle where both of them have very public break-ups that go viral on the internet. The break-ups circulating social media platforms and news outlets, then puts them in a situation where they can either come together again after all of these years, and embrace the 15 minutes of fame for their benefit, or allow it to bring them down.

Throughout the book I truly appreciated the comical banter between the main female character, June, and her best friend, Sana, as well as the loyalty both women have for each other. I especially enjoyed the underlying theme of the book that brought up the topic of loss and the grief that it brings those who experience it. Emma did a great job addressing what it is like to lose a loved one and all of the emotions that it can cause. However, I felt as though the book fell a little short.

The setting and timeline seemed to get lost in the writing and I found myself having a hard time visualizing where the characters were, how long it had been between one conversation and another, which then made it difficult for me to fully emerge myself into the story. The transitions from one setting and conversation with one of the characters to the next also seemed rushed – at one moment June is speaking with her future brother-in-law and the very next paragraph, she’s somewhere else, speaking to Levi.

The book also uses the trope of miscommunication and I found myself thinking that the miscommunication was not significant enough to cause two long standing friends, who seemed to have been incredibly comfortable around each other, to no longer speak to one another for a decade. Especially with how intertwined their lives seemed to have been.

Overall, I did like the book; it is a lighthearted, easy read. I laughed, teared up and enjoyed the personality that Emma Lord wrote into her characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC!

Fun quick rom-com about two former high school friends who both find themselves back in their home town helping to plan a wedding and end up fake dating each other after breaking up with (very publicly) with their respective exes. June is struggling to run her deceased sister Annie’s tea shop while Levi is trying to write a novel he has giving up on writing after seeking a job as a hedge fund manager. I would say this one was a little sadder then I would normal expect in a rom com however it made me more invested in the characters and how their story was going to end up (legit had tears in my eyes with the epilogue). This is a perfect summer beach read that was read in the dead of winter!

A cute fake dating story with all the emotions. A little slow to start, but then sped up and couldn’t put it down.

I've absolutely loved all of Emma Lord's YA titles, so I was extra excited to get my hands on her adult debut, especially since it has so many of my favorite tropes (fake dating, estranged childhood friends, small town)! This book really packs in the swoons as June and Levi grow closer and closer together as adults, but it still deftly tackles more complex, tougher topics. The cast of secondary characters was fun and vivid -- this was the perfect beach read!