Thanks for the ARC on NetGalley.

When u started this book I was not in the romance mood so it took me a little longer to get into the book, but once I did I couldn’t put it down, when I wasn’t working or sleeping. I was able to be transported to a little beach town similar to the one I grew up in.

If you love a good story with scones that make you want to have them like “The Levi” or “The June” then look no further. Now I want to learn hope to make scones just to make those two.

The development of characters is great and it made me wanting to see where everyone ends up.

Hello Fellow Readers,

So I was so excited about this book, I've heard nothing but great things about Emma Lord's books and fake dating is one of my absolutely favorite tropes. Now, while I don't usually love books I do tend to enjoy them. The Break-Up Pact, unfortunately, not so much. If I had to put my finger on it, it would have to be the disconnection I felt from the Main Characters, especially June. She was just really bland and I guess nice but come on, she was just a mess and not even a hot mess.

I do understand that her sister has died and she's trying to save her failing business, but I still couldn't empathize. Levi was also just not my cup of tea. He was a cup of lukewarm day-old water. I also just didn't feel their chemistry, we were told multiple times that they were steamy together but I didn't even feel like I got one drop of condensation from them. Maybe it's just me and the whole friends-to-lovers trope just isn't for me.

Overall, just not one for me.

I absolutely loved this. I was expecting YA because Emma Lord is one of my fav YA authors but seems like she great at “real” adult reads well too.

This one follows June and Levi, childhood besties that unfortunately grew apart. They come back together when they both go through devastating viral break-ups with their respective partners cheating on them. June is deemed “crying” girl and Levi has to run back to his hometown from NYC. In order to overcome being laughing stocks and redeem their reputations they end up in a fake dating pack and are deemed as the “revenge exes”.

What I liked:
1. Childhood besties to lovers (oops spoiler)
2. Realistic fake dating despite the less realistic viral breakup
3. Supportive friends (Sana!) and family (Dylan and Mateo)
4. Set in a cute beach town. ( I love myself a good beach town read).

What I didn’t like:
1. Levi sometimes was unbearable, the whole help me decide my life thing was a little tiresome.
2. The sadness of Annie just always hanging in the air.
3. Being a tea shop instead of coffee haha. Just wasn’t relatable enough for me.

June and Levi were close friends as teenagers. Fast forward a few years later. June is struggling to keep a float her beachside tea shop, Levi is living a NY cliché as a failed novelist turned hedge fund manager. They haven't really spoken to each other.

They both experience public, humiliating break-ups with their exes that spread across TikTok and live tv. Making June a 'viral meme'.

Levi and June unintentionally make gossip of their own in the form of a photo that has the internet convinced they're in love. 'Revenge exes' is born. They decide to put aside their complicated past and make a fake pact to fuel the fire. Pretending to date will help June’s shop, and it will make Levi’s ex realize that she made a horrible mistake.

My Thoughts:

It was a really cute book. I loved the idea of the tea shop. There are a few things I wasn't a huge fan of, though. I wish there was more spice. The one very quick spicy scene made it seem more YA than anything.

Another issue was that some of the characters didn't really handle certain situations maturely. (I'm looking mostly at you, June!)

Lastly, the 'POC' was one dimensional and needed more than just writing articles about diversity. We started to see a small change in the end, writing wise for Sana's Fizzle article, but by then, it was too late.

This was my first book by her. I will read more of them. This book won't deter me.

This book was very cute! But not my favorite sadly and I did not love it.

I was so interested in this book for the fake dating trope and it was well done. The reasoning behind the fake dating was great as well.

My issue with it was that it didn’t consistently keep my attention. There were parts where I was like, oh my gosh this is so cute, I must keep reading and other parts (a lot more than the former) where I was just kind of meh about it. I also felt like it was entirely too long.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 ⭐️’s rounded up to 4 for me!

After a decade of not speaking due to their friendship being abruptly left in shambles, June and Levi find themselves thrust back into one another’s lives, and in a big way. They’ve both been publicly dumped and humiliated when a photo starts trending of the two of them together creating opportunities for both of them - and Revenge Exes are born.

June and Levi’s journey is full of ups and downs as they navigate their new friendship, process their childhood friendship and what caused its crumble, share their grief over their sister/friend Annie, and find their future thanks in a big part to their close friends, family, and they’re exes!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC - I enjoyed it!

I had truly high hopes for this one, but I did not enjoy it at all. I didn't feel the relationship between the characters and I just could not get into the story. I had to DNF.

Loved the fake dating and secret pining! However, as a POC the way the best friend character was written did not sit right with me. I'd rather have no representation instead of enforcing stereotypes and is there simply to provide a POC. Just write them as a normal person instead of fueling the white saviour complex and micro-aggressions.

This book is a light and easy read. I enjoyed June and Levi's chemistry, their job issues, the exes messing up things for them, and the connection they had from their past. If you like friends-to-strangers-to-lovers or fake dating, this book is for you!

This is the first book by Emma Lord that has found its way into my hands, but it won’t be the last. I requested this book via NetGalley thinking it would be a fun little frothy read. Wow. I was so right and so wrong as well. I loved this book in ways I can’t even put my finger on. But let’s try to figure that out…

June and Levi go internet viral for horrible public break ups (with other people) and end up back in their hometown. Friends since childhood, but estranged for reasons that aren’t really clear through most of the book (on purpose), they reconnect and fall back into their friend zone when a paparazzi photographer catches a moment that looks more romantic from the outside than it does from the inside, Internet viral again, but as a couple, they lean in to fake dating while Levi tries to reconcile with his ex and finish his first novel, and June tries to save her floundering small business. This story pulls in a long shared history of a close childhood friendship, and weaves in the struggle of loss. June’s sister, Annie, was Levi’s best friend as well as Annie’s. Annie’s sudden death, before the happenings of the book, brings in a thread of loss and regret and a little survivor’s guilt. June trying to live up to plans made with Annie while feeling the guilt of living a life Annie won’t ever see brings a depth to the character that you don’t often get in this genre. Levi feels Annie’s loss as well, but is also struggling what he gave up long before - pivoting his dreams to care for his family.

Of course the fake dating turns to reality and real feelings come out. I expected all of the trope-y scenarios, but was pleasantly surprised that the plot didn’t twist in that way. For people who have had a “one that got away” in their life- this book will stir up some feelings. In my life- I had “one that got away” but in the end we reconnected, and have been married nearly 25 years.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and wish I could grab a scone at the new Tea Tide. I will say though, you missed a fantastic throw back reference… why the Tea Tide mobile when the Scone Mobile is *right* there? All I can hear in my head at this moment is the Gnome Mobile song from the movie (1967- fantasy/comedy)? It even takes place in a magical forest (there’s a further tie in there- seriously.)

I’ll get over the lack of a Scone Mobile. And I will be picking up Emma’s previous books. Go read this book.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Are you a lover of Hallmark movies? Then this is the book for you. I can definitely see Hallmark making a movie based off of this book.

It was a cute story with everyone ending up exactly as you’d think and with who they deserved.

Perfect beach read! Although I read it in the freezing snowy icy Massachusetts weather!

This book was very cute! But not my favorite sadly and I did not love it.

I was so interested in this book for the fake dating trope and it was well done. The reasoning behind the fake dating was great and I really liked the fake dating aspect of this story overall. Beyond that I didn’t love much about this book.

My issue with it was that it didn’t consistently keep my attention. There were parts where I was like, oh my gosh this is so cute, I must keep reading and other parts (a lot more than the former) where I was just kind of meh about it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book from beginning to end. There was romance, but also humor, and I found myself enjoying all the little interactions. I know the focus was on June & Levi, but I wanted to see more of everyone - Sana, Dylan, Mateo. Would definitely read anything else that comes out of this universe.

At this point, I’m convinced Emma Lord is perfect at creating incredibly poignant and beautifully written contemporary romances. This book had all of my favorites—fake dating, friends to lovers, a golden retriever love interest, and seaside, small-town romance, all centered around a charming tea shop. While I came into this expecting a heart-warming romance with a hint of spice, I didn’t expect the themes of grief and self-discovery woven throughout the book, but it was so well done, thought out, and truly provided an extra layer of depth to the story.

Now craving scones, haha! Excited to read more from Emma in the future!

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Precious! I loved this book and thought the author did a wonderful job of including small details that all came together. This was my first Emma Lord book, but will not be my last! I knew within the first chapter that we shared the same since of humor!

Fake dating, grief, pseudocelebrity/normie dating, mentions Lgbtq relationship
Tension: 🦋🦋
Spice: 🔥🔥
Humor: 😆😆
Not a suitable read for teens.

This was my first book by this author. I’m sorry to say I didn’t love it as much as I wanted to. That said, if you love a slow burn romance, and limited spice, definitely give it a try.

The Break-up Pact by Emma Lord: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice:🌶️
Tropes: Slow-burn Romance, Friends to Lovers, Fake Dating, Small Town Feels

I so desperately wanted to love this book in its entirety. It has so many loveable and gut-wrenching moments, but I just could not get as involved with this book and connect to the characters as I do with other cute and sappy romance books. It took me over a week just to finish The Break-Up Pact and I am the type of girl who can binge 600 pages within 1-2 days.

Enter June, our Tea shop owning, dessert-loving, and viral meme as the ‘crying girl.’ She was publicly humiliated and broken up with on national television by her boyfriend of ten years, Griffin. She is struggling to keep her shop afloat, but then she reconnects with Levi, her childhood crush and best friend whom she has not spoken to in years. Levi was ALSO publicly broken up with and is now being talked about on talk shows and tabloids. An out-of-context photo of Levi and June together goes viral, and the two of them devise a plan to become the ‘Revenge Exes’ and start fake dating. Levi hopes with this scheme to get his ex, Kelly, back, and June wants to use the minute of fame to help her shop stay open.

Now, onto my thoughts:
Let me preface this by saying I have heard so many amazing things about Emma Lord and I was SO HAPPY when I got approved to read this ARC because her books have been on my TBR for a while now. This book is not an end-all-be-all for me because I still plan to read her other books and do not believe this is a representation of all of her work.

That being said, I think Emma should delete the mature content and label this as YA. It has so much potential to be an adult romance, but this reminds me a too much of the YA romance novels I would read in high school. 16-year-old me would have ATE THIS BOOK UP.

I loved the concept of this book. I love fake dating and friends-to-lovers tropes. However, the characters seemed very two-dimensional and there was no real character development. It seemed as though on one page June was heartbroken and kind of a weak FMC, and then on the next, she was completely over Griffin and strong-willed. She forgave him so fast, I was honestly upset when she agreed to the interview and then just left him behind??? (It was not one of those love-to-hate moments either) That was not the ending to June and Griffin I needed and June deserved her moment to shine and get HER revenge.

I felt that she was hot and cold with her feelings, and they would switch on a dime with no real explanation. She would be doubting her future; all it took to change her mind was looking at Levi or him telling her sweet things. I also strongly disliked how badly Levi wanted to get back with Kelly, AFTER SHE WAS PUBLICLY CAUGHT CHEATING ON HIM?? Then when Kelly and her movie-star lover break things off, she runs right back to Levi and how does he react? LEVI GHOSTS JUNE THE ENTIRE DAY AFTER THEY SPEND THE NIGHT WITH EACH OTHER. It just did not sit well with me. There were certain things about this book that should have been written a bit differently/ more cohesively. We get multiple pages of the day June is ghosted, and then what feels like half a thought when Levi sees her the next day. But, this is the type of reaction authors want from their readers, I am just too caught up on wanting more from June that I thought of it more as a con.

This book had one scene of spice, and it was verrryyy over-explained that I had to re-read certain lines over again because they were a little confusing to keep up with. I LOVED the build-up and slow burn that led to the desperately awaited moment.

All in all, even though my review seems more on the negative side, I really would recommend others to read this book if you like fake dating, slow burn, friends to lovers tropes. Emma Lord wrote such a great concept and amazing ideas, it just wasn’t a writing style I enjoyed. I feel as though this is going to be a highly anticipated release and deserves to receive the hype on BookTok.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the Arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

This is a difficult review for me to write. I have loved everything EL has written and once she even convinced me to buy jam(!), but this book just wasn't up to par with her others. I'm not sure if Annie was too prominent or the other supporting characters were just lacking. June and Levi had chemistry so maybe it was just the world built around them... It was an ok read...I guess I'm just expecting the WOW and it never came. I'm walking away feeling indifferent.

**Thanks to St. Martin's Press via NetGalley for providing me this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars
I really loved the writing style of this book, which makes me excited to read more from Emma Lord! This story was a cute, second-chance romance with the most perfect beach town setting.

I am such a sucker for childhood friends, second chance books, especially when the reason the two MCs have drifted apart is slowly revealed throughout the story. It's my favorite kind of plot and The Break-Up Pact was a great mix of second-chance, mutual pining, and fake dating.

June and Levi both are going through their own very public, very humiliating break ups. June was blindsided by her longtime bf, when he broke up with her on a reality TV show and Levi's fiance leave him for a celebrity. After not being the close friends they once were for over a decade, June and Levi get swept up in a fake-dating plan after a picture of them together goes viral. They both have their reasons for going along with the crazy plan, but one major perk of the ruse was the friendship they once shared coming back in full force.

WARNING- SPOILERS!

The thing I wish I saw more of in this book was groveling- from both parties! Levi goes from dating a girl for years and years, wants to marry her, goes along with this plan to try and get her back, still talks to her constantly WHILE fake dating June, and then suddenly is all "I never stopped loving you".. June was so angry to see Levi at first and was so sassy (yes!) but then literally instantly forgave him for him practically ghosting her for years. I just wish we got more angst/ begging/ pining. I also would have lovedddd for this book to dual POV.. but beggars can't be choosers with that one.

Thank you NetGalley for the early copy!

This was good for what it is: a simple romance. That said, it just felt like there were a lot of cliches. I was let down overall but only because I’ve liked Emma’s other stories more. I don’t know how to put my finger on what was different but it just wasn’t my favorite.