Emma Lord has long established herself as one of my favorite authors. Not only is she one of my auto-buy authors, but I have made my husband read every single one of her books as well. Lord has been writing young adult books for the past few years, but she moved into the adult realm with The Break-Up Pact. It is so surprise that I absolutely loved it.

Two of my favorite romance tropes are friends to lovers and fake dating. Both are used prominently in The Break-Up Pact. Even though they haven’t spoken for years at the start of the book, June and Levi’s relationship is colored by their history. Their banter is immediate and their chemistry undeniable. That depth of their relationship is evident and makes their story compelling.

The Break-Up Pact includes everything I’ve loved about all of Lord’s other novels. Lord has a beautiful way of blending humor with emotional depth. June and Levi make each other laugh coming up with silly games to rank paintings, but they are both working through grief over the loss of June’s older sister, Annie. June is running her sister’s tea shop and is afraid to let the memory of her sister down. Lord’s stories are reminders of how laughter and loss can coexist.

Another signature of Lord’s work is a strong group of friends who are central to the story. The Break-Up Pact, June’s brother, Dylan, and his fiancé, Mateo, are core to the story. Lord does a wonderful job painting them as three dimensional characters even though they are not the protagonists of the story. The reader learns about Mateo’s sweater vests, and how the college students he teaches keep track of them on Instagram. Dylan is described as, “what happens when the Energizer Bunny has an affair with the Hulk and their love child subsequently marries a gallon of cold brew coffee to make another child.” This world-building makes every element of Lord’s work come alive.

In a similar vein, I am always floored by Lord’s vivid and specific imagery. She describes a moment between June and Levi, “I can’t remember the last time I felt like this electric, buzzing with so much energy it feels like I am outside the edges of myself, soakingnin everyone else’s happiness along with mine.” She paints such a picture that the words just jump off the page.

One of my favorite little Easter eggs in The Breakip Pact is that Lord referenced one of her own viral Tweets. While June and Levi are at a bar, someone gets onstage and says, “DO YOU THINK GOUDA GETS UPSET ABOUT GETTING OLDER? NO. IT JUST GETS MORE EXPENSIVE AT TRADER JOE’S…BE LIKE GOUDA! KNOW YOUR WORTH.” Lord Tweeted this in September 2022, and it made me laugh so hard to see it appear in this book.

I absolutely loved The Break-Up Pact. I cannot wait for it to officially be out in the world, so I can make everyone I know read it.

"It's only a story, June," he says. "We get to make our own endings."

This is a solid 3 star for me! I enjoyed reading it, but there wasn't the wow factor that I want to see when I am reading a romance book. Levi was a total strike out for me. I just felt like his ex factor was misleading and kind of strange. Sir, she's making you look bad. Move along please.

I suppose June was fine, but like she just blamed the universe on things that she maybe could have controlled with a little effort.

Quite honestly, this was one giant miscommunication from ten years ago that they could have easily fixed if they would have just been upfront and honest with each other, & I just cannot stand the miscommunication trope. I need something more.

Thank you to Netgalley & St. Martin's Press for the e-arc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this novel. The characters were well developed and the plot flowed in a way that made sense. I would recommend this book to others and look forward to reading others by this author.

Emma lord is one of my fav all time YA authors but unfortunately she should have stayed in that genre. These characters were extremely immature in my opinion. I get that grief plays a big part in their personality/choice of actions but most of this book could have been solved with a conversation (I know it’s fiction). Loved the setting of Benson Beach and of course yay for fake dating but this book was unnecessarily long and dragged on at times. However it is absolutely hilarious and I definitely laughed out loud multiple times. Do I still loved Emma Lord? Yes. Will I be recommending this one? Probably not.

Two estranged childhood friends reconnect to fake date after being dumped in publicly humiliating ways which become viral.

In Emma Lord's adult debut, 'The Break Up Pact', June Hart and Levi Shaw agree to become 'revenge exes' so June can save her late sister (and Levi's best friend) Annie's struggling tea shop and Levi can win back his ex Kelly who dumped him for a movie star. The two fell out ten years previously and haven't spoken since. Despite June's anger and hurt over their estrangement, she finds herself fighting her attraction to Levi, reminding herself he's still hung up on Kelly.

This book had me hooked from the start and I devoured it in one sitting. I loved the insight into June's thoughts and how she needed to protect herself with her feelings about Levi. Levi was also caring and supportive, but also challenged June when she needed it, such as her reasons for hanging onto Annie's dream. June also supported and pushed Levi to reclaim his earlier writing instead of writing what he thinks people expect him to write. When they finally started communicating their feelings, they did it openly and honestly. Despite a decade apart, its clear the two of them were the perfect complements for each other.

I do wish, however that June put down her enmity and confronted Levi earlier about the reasons behind why they fell out. I would've also liked more of an exploration of both of their feelings about Annie's role in their estrangement. It was a missed opportunity to see how that newfound knowledge about their dead loved one affected their grief.

Lord writes well-rounded characters, including supporting ones. I adored Dylan and Matteo. I also found the plot developments refreshing, particularly in relation to the outcome of Tea Tide. I do, however, wonder if perhaps June should've let it go entirely. Also, while I wanted to shake Levi for his stubbornness to win Kelly back despite his attraction to June, I actually appreciated where that plot went. Levi needed to properly overcome why he was hanging onto Kelly, even if it hurt June in the process.

An entertaining and well-paced second chance friends to lovers rom com packed with poignant moments and refreshing plot development.

Thanks to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

"The Break-Up Pact," by Emma Lord is a quintessential friends to lovers story. June and Levi, highschool best friends, lost touch and resorted to very occasional texts. Ten years later, they both become the victims of viral break ups. When Levi returns to his hometown, he and June devise a plan to pretend-date, in hopes that it will bring business to June's struggling scone shop, and make Levi's cheating ex-girlfriend interested in getting back together. They did not expect sparked memories and feelings to return.

While, I love the friends to lovers trope,, I found the story to be long, drawn out, and, at times, unnecessarily complicated.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

3.5 stars rounded up! I thought this was super cute and I loved that it didn’t all just get super dramatic and then get nicely wrapped up in the last 80%. Friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes and I love how this book also explored themes of grief and self-exploration. Cute, lovable read.

If you loved Tweet Cute, you will certainly enjoy The Break-Up Pact, which similarly balances the lead character's journey to find her way and what she wants with the romance. This is also an homage to the power of family -- especially siblings -- and how strong those relationships can be for some, though it is mixed the the grief of losing one of those relationships. Highly recommend.

This book unfortunately was not for me. It was a bit too cheesy for me and I didn't love the characters.

The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord is a second chance fake romance friends to lovers Rom Com. Both of the MCs (June and Levi) have viral public break ups and end up together in their hometown. She is trying to salvage her tea shop (a dream with her late sister). He is trying to finish his novel (writing is also a dream with June's late sister - his best friend). It is a pretty slow paced book for all the things that are happening. And there is a little bit of the "well maybe you should have had a conversation" frustration. The characters are all pretty likeable, And I didn't dislike the book. I just didn't LOVE it. Perhaps it is the fact that they were friends and both single, so when the faux relationship heats up, it was hard to understand why they were still waffling. If you like friends to lovers you might well love it. I thought it was ok. (I received an ARC)

Thanks to #NetGalley for allowing me to read this book! I give ⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5. It’s the perfect quick romance book. Levi and June are cute and sweet. I wish there would’ve been just a little more. But overall a great, easy read when you need to remember that you love reading and need to get out of the book funk.

I enjoyed this book but I felt like it dragged on a little. Also, there were so many times when the characters were so frustrating! 3.5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

I've really enjoyed Emma Lord's other novels and was excited to get a chance to read The Break-Up Pact as an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher.

When her sister dies, June takes over her tea shop and in the middle of grief for her sister, and struggling to get the shop out of the red, her boyfriend publicly dumps her and she becomes an internet meme, "The Crying Girl". Levi is a writer, one of June's oldest friends and the object of her unrequited affection (or was he?) and back in town because he too, was dumped by his longtime love, Kelly. June and Levi, after not speaking for years, decide to fake a relationship so that June can capitalize on the unexpected surge in business and hopefully Levi can get Kelly back.

June fights the return of those feelings for Levi and maybe he feels something for her in return.

I really enjoyed the secondary characters Matteo, her brother Dylan, and her best friend, Sana. They brought the laughs to the storyline that I thought were really needed. I enjoyed the book, but think that it really seemed to drag a lot. It was obvious that June and Levi had feelings for each other and it seemed to take forever for them to get together.

All opinions are my own.

A solid read that kept my attention. The characters are cute and relatable. I would have liked to have seen more of the back story. It felt too huge to be glossed over so quickly.

loved this friends to lovers who try and figure their relationship out but start fake dating to get over their exes. loved the food mentioned and that he was trying to write a novel. loved the family and friends and hope to see sansa in a romance. loved that they came together and found a way to work out.

I didn't quite connect with this book like I had hoped to. The characters are good together but the story didn't flow to easily and keep my attention. I do love the cover! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you for the chance to read this NetGalley!
I genuinely loved this. As someone who has had that 'will they won't they' best friend relationship in the past, this ticked so many emotional boxes for me. June and Levi are once best friends who fell apart for many years, drawn back together by shared trauma, who must finally confront their long ignored feelings for each other. This focuses primarily on the best friends to lovers and fake dating tropes, both of which I tend to really enjoy.
I thought this also did a really good job navigating their relationship once they took that step: it was very complicated and nuanced, but never felt forced. I thought they could have pushed more into Levi's trauma from the death of June's sister, I would have loved a few head-hopping scenes in another POV. The spice/steam was JUST the right level.
Overall it was a really fun, quick, and moderately steamy read!

The fall out of breaking up on social media! I liked that June and Levi reconnected over both of them having had unfortunate breakups. I think they were what each other needed to heal and rediscover themselves. The adults they have had become from their teenager selves. This book was both light and dark but well done. Sana was definitely the best friend every girl needs. Thank you to NetGalley for this free advance copy. I’m leaving this review voluntarily

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

To be fair, second chance loves and friends to lovers isn’t my usual romance trope. However, I thought I would give it a chance. Lord’s writing style is unique and very self-aware. There were times when I laughed or smiled reading through this story, but about halfway through I was rushing the read. June and Levi’s romance is very sudden and needed more fleshing out. I wanted a little more angst and anger between the two. I also wanted to feel like June cared for her shop more. It felt very obligatory (which is fine) but I needed to just get more of how she really felt about it. I wanted Levi to have more of a presence! I’m not sure who he really is. But overall, I give this book three stars because the writing was pretty top tier.

Overall I’d say I found this book super cute and enjoyable. I will say that I found Levi a bit unbearable during the “ex returns to town” part of the plot - how difficult would it be to just send a text? This did feel a bit more like insta-love than I would typically prefer, but generally I still really liked it. Fun, quick read.