I wanted to like this book, but I could not care about the characters. I know others will enjoy this book. I will not be posting about it on my social media accounts. I have loved other books by Emma Lord so I will be reading her next book.

I thought this was decent, for Lord's first foray into adult romance.

June has a tea and scone shop on the beach in the town she grew up in. It was a dream she shared with her sister, who has unfortunately passed away. But business isn't great, and the only boost she's getting is that her ex broke up with her on a reality show, and the clip went viral, bringing the lookie-loos to her shop. One day she finds out her childhood best friend, Levi, is staying down the street, hiding from his own viral moment after his girlfriend cheated on him with a famous actor. Problem is, June and Levi haven't spoken to each other in years.

Eventually a truce is called and they decide to capitalize on their unexpected notoriety by pretending to date each other and making sure it's all over social media. And you know how fake dating usually turns out....

This wasn't the best, but I enjoyed reading it. The social media stuff is a little silly, but not completely out of pocket. But there is the cloud of June's sister's death that hangs over the entire story. Lord tries to handle the grief the characters feel, but after reading a lot of Abby Jimenez this summer, her efforts pale in comparison. But I do look forward to see how Lord hones her adult romance craft.

Like almost anything Emma Lord writes, this is not to be missed! I always always love fake dating and friends to lovers, and this one certainly delivered that. I loved the dynamic between June and Levi and found myself laughing out loud quite a bit. While I would have loved to see a bit more romance, and the beginning was a bit slow, but by the middle, I was hooked! Loved this one and I can't wait for even more Emma in the adult romance space!

June and Levi were best friends, but a lot has changed in the ten years since they last saw each other. June's sister passed away unexpectedly, and June is left to run Tea Tide alone. She's confronted with the possibility of closing shop since she's barely affording rent.

Reconnecting with Levi has its perks, at least for the sake of saving Tea Tide to keep her sister's memory alive. June was recently dumped by Griffin since he's so in love with someone else. Levi has been dumped by Kelly since she's decided to fall into the arms of someone else. Both of these break ups are public knowledge, and June has become the ultimate meme. What better way than to get back at their exes than revenge exes!

Such a cute, charming book, second chance romance in a seaside town. reconnections from the past that develop into more than revenge. definitely recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I'm a sucker for anything with the fake relationship trope, but Emma Lord handles it really well in this one. Obviously, there's a suspension of disbelief with the viral videos and circumstances, but the relationship between the main characters is worth the price/time of admission.

Unfortunately this book was just not for me. I got about half way through it before I started skimming the pages instead of actually reading them. While it was technically an adult romance, it still read like a young adult romance which wasn't for me. The storyline felt a little too been there done that for me. In fact, I recall reading a very similar storyline earlier this summer. I ended up giving it two stars simply because I do love a second chance romance trope. I just wish the second chance romance had played out a little differently.

✨𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰✨

“𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪.”

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 🌶️🌶️
𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫: 15
𝐒𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧: 57%
𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬: Small town romance, fake dating, childhood friends-to-lovers
𝐏𝐎𝐕: 1st person, Single POV
𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Single
𝐊𝐔: No

The premise sounded cute but overall, it wasn’t what I was expecting. I typically enjoy romances with some emotional depth to them, however the romance seemed to take a back seat to the grief and loss depiction.

Both MCs had recent viral breakups with significant others who cheated on them. The MMC spent about half of the book hoping he would get back together with his ex. I was not a fan of that at all. It took so long for the MCs to talk to each other, and they had so many issues individually that I honestly don’t see these two making it past the epilogue.

Overall, this might work for some people, but it was a miss for me.


⚠️𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬:⚠️
One open door scene with explicit descriptions
Strong language

I’ve been a fan of Emma Lord’s YA novels for a while now, so I was excited to read her first adult rom-com novel. I enjoy her writing style and can always depend on her to make me crave sweets (in this case, it was cookies masquerading as scones).

While I had trouble connecting with the characters and plot (possibly a me problem), this was overall a cute and fun summer read. I think this might’ve just been a case of the “right book, wrong time” for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/St. Martin’s Griffin for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this! I thought it was super cute that they both were still in love with each other after all those years. I loved the small town setting and how it was close to the city. I loved the friend and the brother and I loved how it all ended.

This was my first Emma Lord book and I was so happy to receive an ARC because I’ve heard great things about her writing! This was her first adult romance novel and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Her writing kept me completely invested in what would happen next

The supporting characters were great and I wish we had more of them and I loved the coastal town - perfect easy summer read!

Tropes:
- friends to lovers
- Fake dating
- Second chance romance

**Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the ARC and chance to read and review. All opinions are my own**

AHHHH we love a fake dating trope!!
June and her childhood friend Levi embark on a fake dating scheme to boost her business and help Levi win back his cheating fiancée. (although, why would ANYONE want to do that?! is beyond me...) Their relationship pretty much breaks the internet and Emma Lord takes us on an amazing ride through all these fun dates that June and Levi go on. If it's drama the people want, it's the drama they get! And an even better bonus is that there is extra business coming in for June's shop and both of their ex's are actually getting jealous! (which hello, is what we WANT!)
While also being a friends-to-lovers-trope, we see humor as well as entertainment in ways that might make people wanting a more "solid" resolution so to speak. June and Levi find not only find each other, but along the way, they also find themselves. Such a cute and heartwarming story all around!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with this eARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

The plot of this one didn't blow me out of the water. Overall - it was an average story plot line. I didnt connect with the characters as much as I would have wanted to. There is some humor but the story just dragged. Loved the book cover and I think most people will enjoy this even though it wasn't my favorite. Thank you to Netgalley for this EARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I loved Levi and June's friends to lovers story - plus a beach town setting? Yes please! This was such an easy read... I'll take ten more, please!

This was such a great summer read and I really enjoyed it! Such a good balance of rom-com and true feeling. The only thing, and it’s definitely a me-problem, was the heavy social media presence, but I guess that’s to be expected in this day.

Overall I think that this book was okay, but not great. I didn't fully buy the romance between the two leads, and the plot was confusing in the way of not feeling realistic, but not unrealistic enough for me to suspend total belief?

The breakup pact was a very cute rom-com perfect read to get you out of a slump. I enjoyed it very much.

Unfortunately this wasn’t a hit for me. I didn’t feel like it offered anything new or exciting. It took me a long time to finish it and I really only pushed through because I had an ARC. There were some great lines, but overall wasn’t an exciting read for me.

Quick read! Cute and sweet book! I really enjoyed the characters and I really hope this author does more adult fiction in the future. One of my favorite reads this year,.

As someone who loved Emma Lord's YA stuff, I was really excited to pick up an adult romance by her and it did not disappoint! Such a sweet story with a great balance of heat. Highly recommend.

Unfortunately has to DNF this one at a little over 50%. I typically love Emma Lord but this was not working for me. It just felt too slow and drawn out and I found myself skimming pages. I couldn't imagine reading another 45% of it and being interested enough in what happened.