Reviewed of NetGalley:

I have read all of Emma Lord's books, and she has a way of putting in just the right amount of heart, sweetness, and depth that makes for a wonderful read. The Break-Up Pact was no exception.

June and Levi, ex-best friends, losing touch after so many years, decide to team up as the Revenge Exes for a fun, fake dating romp.

I LOVED June's tea shop and cast of friends and the budding/re-budding romance between June and Levi.

A quick, delightful read.

this was a cute and fun summer read. I loved the writing, it was poetic, beautiful and reminded me a lot of how Emily Henry writes about emotions. second chance romances are always a hit or miss for me so I somewhat enjoyed this. I loved how easily June and Levi connected like they were just waiting for each other. the longing between them and the their relationship was written well.

June and Levi were so Alex and Poppy coded and it made me miss my babies😭 June is like this sweet, playful person who’s trying to make her mark in the world. when Levi, her ex-best friend comes back, she’s back to feeling everything she did for him. Levi, he just wants to be understood and have someone to love him and give him the closure he never got growing up.

however, there’s a lot I didn’t like with this book. for one, I wish there was flashbacks to how their relationship was before. I had a difficult time connecting with them in the present. I couldn’t feel Levi’s attraction to June and wasn’t convinced of his feelings for her, especially towards the end.

the end probably frustrated me the most. what Levi did was frustrating. It broke my trust and I watched as he ruined everything between him and June.

other than that, I still think this was an enjoyable read. the beginning was my favorite. It gave all the summery vibes and I had a fun time.

I loved this book. The story was sweet and shared so much more than a love story. This covers grief not in the moments immediately following loss but the living life without your person. I highly recommend reading this book!

I did receive this as a digital ARC prior to the release. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for this book. Look for it in August!

Eek I wanted to love this so much. It has all the right ingredients however it just misses the mark. Every scene even the sex scene is so long and drawn out. It feels like she just needed to reach a word quoata so kept repeating the same plot points over and over. The book could have ended completely at 90% and nothing would be missed. What should have been a cute quick read felt like a 700 page classic you force yourself to get through.

Usually I do not like fake dating as it is rarely done in a way that feels genuine. With that being said, Emma Lord poured something different into this novel! It did not rely on the fake dating to carry all the weight through the story, mixing in the small town and childhood friends tropes really helped this couple shine. I was rooting for them through the whole time. I haven't shipped a couple this hard since middle school! Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book, I am eternally grateful.

Emma Lord is a new to me author and she did not disappoint. I loved the setting of the small town beach side. Friends to lovers and fake dating set the scene. While the book struggled to hold my attention at times, it was still a cute little rom com read.

The Break-Up Pact was a sweet and nostalgic fake dating romantic comedy. The main characters had personal growth through the book, which was enjoyable to read as I began to connect with the characters. The supporting characters were well developed and enjoyable as well. Overall, this was a quick read that was a little predictable but fun and sweet.

This is a perfect summer read. I loved the small town by the beach trope, but I stayed because of the friends to lovers and the fake dating tropes. Individually, those tropes make me scream, blush and kick my feet in the air like a teenager, but together? It's a recipe for utter obsession.
I really liked the characters, especially the MMC. Their dynamic was fun and so refreshing to read, they were joking one second and having deep conversations a minute later. I had a few complaints regarding some of their decisions but overall, I thought they were relatable and had great chemistry.
I wasn't a fan of the third-act break up. I really don't like those in any way, but here it was more awkward than usual.

Read if you like:
- Friends to strangers to lovers
- Fake dating
- Cinnamon roll MMC
- Baked goods
- Small town

Final rating: 3.5/5
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Pub Date: 13 Aug 2024
Thank you so much to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and the author for giving me the chance to read this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thanks to Netgalley & St. Martin's Press for the E-ARC! OMG!! This was so cute! Loved the concept & the main characters. New favorite author!!

This is really 3.5 stars from me. I love Emma Lord, and there’s still a lot to love her even though it wasn’t my favorite of hers.

June and Levi are childhood friends, reconnecting after going viral for their humiliating breakups. They pretend to date because they can both benefit from extending their 15 minutes of fame, but pretending to date brings up lots of feelings they thought they left behind a decade ago.

Emma Lord has such a gorgeous writing style that makes me ~feel~ so very deeply. The parts of this book dealing with grief and longing are so lovely and grounded, the resolutions realistic.

I think the book could’ve benefited from more time in the front section (we fly through a lot of the going viral bits). I also think I would’ve preferred a dual POV here to get into Levi’s a head a bit!

But overall, still a dang delight.

This is my first book by Emma Lord, and at the beginning of it I assumed this was a debut novel, it was written with a kind of innocence that can either build a story or end up indicating that the whole book with lack depth…I’m happy to say it was the first. Lord has you on the edge of your seat, I think this book gave me “Will they, won’t they?” palpitations. There were no HEA guarantees and for awhile I began to come to terms with that and just an overall growth journey. Levi is a relatable MMC, my husband is the same away, and I felt his depth all the way through. The MFC knows she’s flawed and she’s herself for who she is, and it adds to the depth of the overall book. It’s a good one, and I would read Emma Lord again, thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

This rom com had the potential to be really really good but just fell flat for me. It felt very slow in the beginning and then picked up with some spice and then fell flat towards the end. 3.5 ⭐️

In Emma Lord's captivating rom-com novel, "The Break-Up Pact," we are introduced to June and Levi, two former best friends whose lives have taken divergent paths since a falling out during their teenage years. June is now the owner of a struggling beachside tea shop, while Levi is a disillusioned hedge fund manager and failed novelist living in New York City. A series of humiliating public breakups thrusts June and Levi into the limelight, and a mistakenly leaked photo of them together sets the rumor mill ablaze, convincing the internet that they are a couple. Recognizing the potential benefits, they decide to put their tumultuous past aside and embark on a fake dating pact. Their goal is to boost June's tea shop business and make Levi's ex-girlfriend realize her mistake. As they navigate this charade, June and Levi must navigate their evolving feelings for each other. They embark on five sparkling and heart-pounding dates, carefully crafting their social media presence to maintain the illusion of a blossoming romance. However, as they spend more time together, the lines between reality and pretense begin to blur. Lord deftly explores the complexities of modern relationships, social media's impact on our lives, and the challenges of finding love in a world where authenticity is often obscured by carefully curated online personas. With witty dialogue, charming characters, and a swoon-worthy romance, "The Break-Up Pact" is a delightful and thought-provoking read that will leave readers rooting for June and Levi's happily-ever-after.

RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5 (3.5/5)

The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord is about childhood friends June, who is running the Tea Shop her sister opened before she passed away, after a large meltdown while her boyfriend of a decade dumped her on national TV, and Levi, who after being dumped by his long-term girlfriend returns home to his small beach town, and the two reunite. They begin to pretend to date to get back at their exes, but are either of them actually ever pretending?

This was a cute summer read!! I loved June and really empathized with her as she tried to work through her grief, and realize she deserves happiness after losing her sister. My problem in this story stemmed largely from Levi however. I thought he had really poor communication skills, and a lot of the conflicts could have been cleared up if he had just kind of thought of someone else’s feelings for a little.

But the side characters in this one were really good, and I loved the beachy setting!!

Thank you Netgalley and SMP for an advanced copy of this one in exchange for an honest review!!

4.75 stars.
I am a big fan of Emma Lord's YA novels, so I was excited when I received this ARC through NetGalley.
The book did not disappoint! I loved the small town beach side vibes. Childhood friends to lovers is also one of my favorite troupes, so I was all in. The characters were so well developed I felt like they could be my friends in real life. It was emotional and laugh out loud funny at times. I would definitely recommend!

I usually love a good small town BAKERY set up but this was definitely the exception. This book missed the mark for me in so many ways. You know it’s bad when you’re paying your bills instead of reading. First, I am NOT a fan of a Tik-Tok set up. The fact that they both went viral on Tik Tok off of breakups seems COMPLETELY unrealistic. Two, the characters felt very immature. They were constantly having races, dunking contests, food fights, and playing truth or dare at the age of 27. Third, so many story lines were random and unnecessary to the plot (i.e Matteo’s sweater instagram and MATTEO/DYLANS WEDDING).Lastly, WHO HAS A TEA SHOP ON A BEACH BOARDWALK? The whole book just felt disorganized. As a romance reader, you want to feel the chemistry and the longing of the characters and I didn't. It was just overall dull. K? This may be geared toward a much younger generation (think like 18-19) but for me it was a snooze.



Thank you to St. Martins press for the ARC!

2.5 stars. Perhaps I was not in the mood for this book as at when I read it, but it felt like a drag. I had to push myself to finish it. I loved the concept, and I was enjoying it in the beginning but the execution seemed to be lacking. My first Emma Lord read was YA and this felt a bit too similar, grown adults who acted too much like children. It had it’s cute moments though.

This is a very cute story! Highly recommend if you love the friends to lovers and fake dating tropes! There is one spicy scene, but otherwise, if you are looking for a pallet cleanser, this is perfect! The only thing I didn’t care for is that the FMC went from hating the MMC to loving him (in a friend way) and from being angry at him and the situation to being happy with their friendship so many times I lost count.

Breakups to fake dating to maybe real dating?

This was a very cute book that you could kind of just fly through and thats perfect for me especially with the huge snow storm

I will say it was a cute plot but maybe a bit too modern for me with the addition of viral tick tocks but I give it a 3.8/5 I enjoyed it

FAKE. DATING. SUPREMACY.

like seriously, you guys. fake dating will always and forever HIT. ALWAYS!!! and especially here when we had it paired with childhood friends to lovers and a small town beach setting. June and Levi's relationship was just overall very fun to read!

i also wanted to add that after seeing mixed reviews of this book, that this is an ADULT romance novel. these characters are ADULTS and have ADULT feelings. this means their love is going to be ESPECIALLY messy. no easy to read chapters and neat little bows coming right after the characters actually admit they do have feelings for each other. they make you truly work for it and that weird disconnect and messiness added an extra deep and honestly refreshing layer to a contemporary romance novel.

and you guys...the grief in this book hit me like a ton of bricks. so beautifully written and eloquently said i truly did burst into tears after reading some lines about what it means to both have and be a sister. overall, i loved it.

special thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!