I’m still not sure how I feel about the initial premise of the book - the breakups of these non-celebrity couples going viral - because it feels a little far-fetched. BUT I loved everything about June and Levi’s story. No insta-love, no frustrating miscommunication… just two old friends reconnecting and tricking themselves into thinking they can fake date without acknowledging their feelings. I’ve loved all the YA I’ve read by Emma Lord, and I’m so glad she’s venturing into adult fiction!

Interesting concept but the writing style just wasn't for me. Plus, the typos made it difficult to read sometimes. Thanks for the ARC!

"Two best friends who haven’t spoken in ten years pretend to date after break-ups with their respective exes go viral, in this delightfully fun and deeply emotional new novel from New York Times bestselling author Emma Lord."

Thank you to Netgalley, the. Author Emma Lord and the Publishers for letting me read & review this advanced copy of The Break- Up Pact. This novel by Emma Lord is all around amazing in addition to being heartwarming, enjoyable, hilarious banter and off the charts chemistry. I read this on January 6th during the winter season but when it comes out on August 13th 2024 it will be a perfect summer/ vacation/ beach read. The Break- Up Pact has various Tropes people will love -> Forced Proximity, Friends to Strangers, Friends to Lovers, Fake Relationship romantic comedy book. My favorite part about this E- ARC was how the author writes thoughtfully about their past and present. The past shows the two main characters June and Levi's backstory and their present story of their current lives.
The two main characters the story revolves around are June and Levi, whom were best friends as teenagers until they stopped being friends all together and became strangers. June and Levi were best friends as teenagers—until the day they weren’t. Now June is struggling to make rent on her beachside tea shop, Levi is living a New York cliché as a disillusioned hedge fund manager and failed novelist, and they've barely spoken in years. They live very different lives but together end up experiencing embarrassing public/ global break ups with different people. Since the break up was global through social media people start putting photos of June and Levi together with wanting them to start being a couple. Both of them decided to let the past stay in the past resulting them to give in to peoples wishes, so they start fake dating.
Overall this was a slow burn 4 star read that I had a fun time reading.

Release date: August 13th 2o24.

This was my first Emma Lord book and it did not disappoint. The relationship between June and Levi was adorable and what you would hope would happen between two childhood friends as close as they were. This book was a nice light read and had very likable characters. My only issue was not reading this in the summer! I loved that the characters actually talked through their issues instead of there being a huge blowup. Overall- I would recommend this to anyone looking for a friends to lovers read.

The Break-Up Pact is packed with tropes that will appeal to lovers of the genre and author. This is a solid beach read for anyone looking to add a bit of romance to their shelves this summer. The emotional growth of the main character particularly stands out in this novel. While most romances leave their impact through the couple’s development, June’s experience with grief and the stress of running a small business left behind by her loved one is the more remarkable through line. This is a fun read that will do well with book clubs or shared among friends.

I've really enjoyed Lord's other novels, and this one was also fun and engaging throughout - witty dialogue, realistic characters, and a host of secondary characters that enhanced the plot. I did feel that there were moments that could have been edited a bit more, details on things that were fun but not super relevant to the plot overall. I'm still giving this four stars for an enjoyable and well crafted read.

I love Emma Lord! Her books are so cute and fun with tropes that I look forward to. This book was no different. I enjoyed the friends to lovers trope as always and Emma delivered.

This book was a great take on the "friends to lovers/second chance" trope. I can honestly see this being made into a movie. I would love to see the "crying girl" meme for real. :)

Overall, I give this 3 stars. The inner dialogue was a little wordy for me at times, and some details were over explained, while I was still confused on others. I don't want to give out spoilers, so I'll leave it at that. HEA as predicted, but isn't that why we read romance novels?

I would totally recommend this book to any rom-com lovers. I'll be reading more of Emma's books after this as well.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

The Break-Up Pact is the fourth Emma Lord book I’ve read, and is my new favorite of hers! I love RomComs and this checked off so many things I love about a good RomCom read:
Fun to read✔️ Likable main characters✔️ Childhood friends to adult lovers✔️ Second chances✔️ Fake dating ✔️ Past misunderstandings ✔️Romantic tension with a little spiciness✔️ A plot with substance✔️ A HEA✔️
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for gifting me this enjoyable digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Zippy Summary: childhood besties both go thru very publicly humiliating breakups, fake date in revolt only to find a heartwarming merging of their past and present (and future).

Rating: a surprising ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice?: half a 🌶 (fairly modest)

I liked this book way more than I expected. There was definitely some laugh-out-loud funny writing here. Levi and June were great characters in that, despite some miscommunications, they did actually try to talk and be honest with each other. Fear held them back more than anything. They were very endearing characters. The book did a lovely job dealing with grief as well. The only thing that felt a little weird was the fame aspects of this, which are critical to the plot line but didn’t seem like it really mapped to Levi and June’s personalities.

Read if you liked Beach Read, Will They or Won’t They or The Charm Offensive.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first book by this author, and I am in love. She has the perfect amount of romance elements and villains that you loathe. The villains are Exes that do our main characters wrong by cheating.

The plot moves at an enjoyable pace and is bingeworthy. The main characters have such depth with back stories and healing that needs to happen independent of the romance plot. I really enjoy characters that are layered and developed. And this author nailed it.

This author has a degree in psychology, so she has a knack for writing toxic Exes, and overcoming traumas. Also she includes LGBTQ characters in a happy and successful relationship.

Very cute story between June and Levi. I loved the banter and their dynamic. However, This book was FULL of scone details no one wants or needs (you read that right…scones), pages and pages of obnoxious wedding prep for secondary characters, that again, nobody came for, and PAGES AND PAGES of the FMC and MMC getting walked all over on by their cheating exes. Again, at the core, a cute story, but it felt like the author was trying to hit some page number quota so the fluff was overpowering. The book could have been half as long.

Oh dear lord this one was cute. Like cute cute. Like sickeningly cute almost. And I loved it. Emma Lord has been doing the hits lately it seems and this one is no exception. Thanks for the arc

This was my first read by Emma Lord and let me tell you I will be scrambling to read everything she's written. This book is *perfect*. Five beautiful stars.
The Break-Up Pact is about two people who find themselves coming back to each other after missing out on their friendship for the last 10 years. June and Levi both went through public / embarrassing break ups and are determined to make this break up work in their favor by fake dating and drumming up some press. Along the way they find out that their break from each other was not what either wanted and discovered how much they enjoy being with each other as friends and possibly more.

I think the part I loved the most about this was the honesty the characters shared with themselves but also each other. They didn't hold back and have the dreaded miscommunication trope. They put it all out there (although this development did leave me in tears multiple times).

I laughed, I cried ( a lot but I'm a baby), but I also finished this book soooo happy for the main characters. I just..I just loved it so much. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. It was such a delightful read.

I very much enjoyed this book. When I read the description I thought I knew exactly what I would be reading. I've read plenty of books with the same idea and I've loved them all! The Break-Up Pact took me down a familiar path, but the story was so well done and I found myself pleasantly surprised a few times. I love the added level of depth to the story between June and Levi- not just in the present, but their past. Kudos to Emma Lord for allowing her characters to talk about their grief and to express all the emotions that come along with it. As I got closer to the end of the book, I thought I knew how it would end. I'm happy to report I was wrong. I appreciated the realistic characters and scenarios in this book. I've already searched for other titles by Emma Lord and have added them to my TBR list.

June Hart & Levi Shaw are both back in their beachy hometown fresh off of humiliating public breakups (#CryingGirl). When they decide to strike up a fake relationship to get back at their semi hi profile exes the #RevengeExes are born. A series of Instagram worthy dates, with June’s bestie documenting a la paparazzi style, turns them into a viral sensation. When the lines get muddled, as they usually do in a fake dating/friends to lovers trope, will June end up as broken-hearted as she was at 16?

This was my first (but not my last) by Emma Lord. While the story, as lots of romances, was predictable at times & the revelation of why these two had a falling out all those years ago fell a little flat for me I really loved the characters (although I wanted to shake Levi at times) & their small, seaside town. I do wish we were along for the wedding of June’s brother that the characters spent the entirety of the book planning. I mean, who doesn’t love a wedding?!

All in all this sweet romcom, with its anticipated release date of Aug. 13th, has the makings of a top beach read this summer.

Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martins Press for this ARC & the opportunity to soak up a little summer sunshine during a snowy New England January!

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this advanced reader copy!

The Break-Up Pact had me hooked right from the start, following June’s journey of a messy and very public break-up after a 10-year relationship. She is also struggling with keeping a bakery afloat that she and her now deceased sister dreamed up.

Levi comes back to his hometown after also enduring a very public break-up and is determined to win his ex back. With the help of June’s friend, they hatch a plan to pretend date each other to gain publicity for the bakery and to catch the attention and win back Levi’s ex.

As one of my favorite friends turned lovers tropes goes, June and Levi soon develop, or rather, redevelop feelings for each other and deal with the ramifications of their pact.

4.5
I thoroughly enjoyed this read! I thought it was light and funny, warm, nostalgic. All of the above.
Sana was probably the funniest best friend a girl could have. Levi and June’s relationship was pure and aside from one blip, so truthful. A past experience kept them at distance for far too long, and I found that so relatable.
I would 100% recommend this to anyone to read.

Big thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the chance to read this ARC!

This was my first Emma Lord book, and I had high hopes for it because I love second chance romance/friends to lovers. I’m struggling with how to rate and review this book more than any other I’ve reviewed. While it was well written, had lighthearted and funny parts, and had a good premise, there were quite a few things that made it difficult for me to enjoy.
The characters were not very likeable, especially Levi. I have a hard time with any book where one of the characters is in a relationship because it feels like too quick of a turnaround for them to enter a new relationship. This one was just off putting to me since he was pursuing his ex-fiancée for over half the book. Instead of the reader getting to see why Levi was such a catch, we were just told by the FMC over and over that he was a trustworthy and great guy, as he’s doing some not so great things right before our eyes. The “third act breakup” was too long and drawn out, and pretty anticlimactic. It felt like the characters were never really broken up but also not really together either for 40% of this book. It made it feel weird and made me not want to root for them, and by the end I was just ready to be done with their problems. I felt like the first half of this book flew by and was entertaining and sweet, and the second half was slow and a little convoluted. Too much was going on and yet almost nothing really happened. There was too much description of how the FMC was feeling and viewing the situation instead of just letting the situation play out. I needed less telling and more showing.

I don’t want to dump too hard on the book, because it had a lot of good aspects to it and it made me interested in reading more of Emma Lord’s books, however this one wasn’t my favorite.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this book just wasn’t for me, but I think other readers may enjoy it. There did not seem to be very much character development and the pacing was slow. It did not keep my attention and I found myself picking up other books.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.