Unfortunately I couldn't make it through this book. I DNFed (did not finish) it at 12%. I really liked the start of this book but couldn't continue reading it.
Thank you Net Galley and St. Martins press for the opportunity to read this book.

The Break Up Pact by Emma Lord was an okay read but I didn't end up loving it as much as her other YA books! I was quite excited about this adult romcom of hers and while it did have the usual humor, likable characters and an interesting plot, I was a bit disappointed by the romance - especially the ex drama. I love a good friends to lovers romance but I don't want one of the MCs to be actively considering getting back together with their ex for like 50% of the story 🙂‍↔️🙄

So, in this one, we have June and Levi who were childhood best friends but grew distant after high school and both of them are now internet famous for going through humiliating breakups in the public eye. June was dumped by her cheating ex after he took part in a reality show - and this was filmed and aired. Levi's fiancee was caught kissing a famous actor and he was being hounded by the paparazzi too. When Levi returns to Benson Beach to get a break from everything, he runs into June who's been running her tea shop there. And an accidental pic has them deciding to fake date each other for mutually beneficial reasons but there's no way they'd end up falling for each other right?

I really did enjoy the writing in this one because it was effortlessly funny and witty at the same time just like her YA books. The characters were pretty interesting on an individual level and they had their own things to deal with along with some shared grief. I think I felt more sorry for June since the book was from her pov - she had a lot on her plate but she was also a bit too forgiving at times. I think Levi was supposed to be a cinnamon roll at first glance but his indecisiveness and avoidant tendencies pissed me off. After so many pages of fake dating I was expecting a solid relationship but what we got was more ex drama or angst at weird points. I think their reactions to certain situations were authentic but it also ruined the romance for me.
In the end, it was an okay read for me and others might enjoy it more? But I'm gonna stick to her YA books after this.

This one also wasn't for me. I picked up you have a match years ago and have yet to find another Emma Lord book I like as much, maybe that one just hit me at the right time.

I Rachael Shaffer:
I love Emma Lord books. I really do. And I always say that I wish I could’ve read them as a teenager, because I would’ve been even more obsessed with them. So when I saw she was writing an adult book with characters closer to my age, I was so excited!

All that to say, it went into it with the right attitude, I promise.

I don’t know, I just don’t think this book was for me. It was too angsty without nearly enough resolution to make up for it. I think I was at about 80% when I started to question if we’d even get a happy ending…a satisfactory happy ending, that is. And we did, mostly. But holy cow, you’d think the books about teenagers would be the angsty ones! I also felt like the MC didn’t really make a ton of progress in overcoming the things that were holding her back, which was surprising again since Emma’s books are usually so great at that.

Things I liked about the book: her brother, the setting, parts of the romance.

I think you should still read it and decide what you think for yourself—it’s an Emma Lord book, after all—but this book was fairly average for me.

i liked! it was a fun rom com with a satisfying ending. i would recommend this to other readers looking for a light quick read.

I have read almost all of Emma Lord's previous books so I was very excited to receive an advanced copy of her first adult novel. I really enjoyed it, I love her writing and characters.

June and Levi have both had public and somewhat disastrous break-ups, when they decide to fake-date. They were good friends in high school but the tragic death of June's sister, also very close to Levi, has driven them apart in recent years.

I loved both June and Levi, as well as the supporting characters -- especially June's brother and his fiancé. I loved all the parts with the wedding planning -- they were fun and sweet.

I also love her setting descriptions -- I could picture them running and picture the shop so well.

As with Emma Lord's other books, the food descriptions in this one are great and I very much want to try some of the scones!

I will continue to be an enthusiastic Emma Lord fan and will read whatever she writes next. It was nice to read characters that were older and had more life experience -- I appreciated that in contrast to her previous books (which I also love!).

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

Love this debut in the adult romance genre! This
Book was such a fun summer read. I loved the characters of June and Levi. This story had fantastic banter and I just loved the fake dating aspect of the story. Also some of my favorite tropes childhood best friends to lovers, second chance romance made this such a likeable easy to read story. It was a great escape and perfect summer read.

This was a fun little summer romance. If you’re a fan of friends to lovers and fake dating tropes - definitely pick this one up! While it’s a little bit of a slow burn, the characters are endearing, there’s lots of funny moments sprinkled in with the sweet and ultimately it’s a feel good way to end the summer!

If you like the fake dating trope this book for you! It’s a cute romance about June and Levi, who were best friends in HS but never see each other anymore. June owns a scone bakery that her deceased sister started, and Levi is a finance guy who’s always wanted to be a writer.

They both went viral for their recent breakups, June’s ex is a on a reality show and Levi’s ex is a real estate agent who ran off with a movie star.
They decide to publicly fake date, “the scorned exes find romance.”
Levi wants to get back together with his ex, and June is hoping for publicity to help her business; her lease on the store is in jeopardy

Their relationship takes off as they spend time together, after a while maybe it’s not so fake anymore.
The book is well written and engaging, 4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley, I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I’m a big fan of fake dating and friends to lovers in romance novels, and was so happy to find them both in 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤-𝐔𝐩 𝐏𝐚𝐜𝐭! At times, I felt that the novel was moving a bit too slowly, which ultimately left me slightly disengaged. Still happy I had the opportunity to read this one with its charming beachy waterside tea shop!

✵𝖬𝖺𝗇𝗒 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗄𝗌 𝗍𝗈 𝖲𝗍. 𝖬𝖺𝗋𝗍𝗂𝗇'𝗌 𝖯𝗋𝖾𝗌𝗌＆ 𝖭𝖾𝗍𝖦𝖺𝗅𝗅𝖾𝗒 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗀𝗂𝖿𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗆𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖠𝖽𝗏𝖺𝗇𝖼𝖾𝖽 𝖱𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋’𝗌 𝖢𝗈𝗉𝗒 𝗂𝗇 𝖾𝗑𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗀𝖾 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗆𝗒 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗌𝗍 𝗋𝖾𝗏𝗂𝖾𝗐.✵

"Fake dating, it turns out, is a scam of a trope, because the effort of getting ready for the date part is still very real."

If you like books that are written purely for the tropes, then you'll like this one. Unfortunately, that's not me, and I had a hard time slogging through this one. I don't know why I keep reading "famous people" and expecting to like it, but it was hard for this Gen Z girl to imagine anyone caring about the Revenge Exes, but maybe I just couldn't suspend my disbelief enough. If you can, go for it! Enjoy this summery read with some pretty solid lines :)

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Charming, Heartfelt, and Full of Fake Dating Fun 🙌

Emma Lord, yet again, delivers an entertaining blend of humor and heart. June and Levi, once best friends, find themselves faking a relationship after viral break-ups. What starts as a ploy to save June’s struggling tea shop and mend Levi’s wounded ego turns into something deeper as sparks fly and old feelings resurface. 😏 There were so many laugh-out-loud moments with genuine emotion, making this a perfect read for fans of fake dating and second chances. It gave me similar vibes to Tweet Cute, but the adult version. Love!

I thoroughly enjoyed the last book written by Emma Lord so I was eager to check this book out. However, I found it hard to connect with the characters. For the most part they came across bland and I really didn’t understand how a book about a breakup pact seemed to include very little of the pact. It seemed like they barely talked to each other about their breakups and the issues they both struggled with were pretty low stakes. I had a hard time believing any of the struggles and sort of felt like the story just lagged. I guess it wasn’t for me. 2.5 stars rounded to 3.

This was so cute and funny. Not sure if this is a trigger for anyone like it is for me, but there is a lingering ex in the picture for a moment —which I didn’t expect! All i know is that June is better than I am!

As a content creator, I loved the social media aspect of this! So gossipy and fun. The wedding chaos was so relatable and overall June and Levi were cute together. Do I think Levi could’ve tried a little harder?! Yes. He’s giving B for effort and I’m looking for an A from my book boyfriends, but maybe this makes it more realistic.

This would be the best beach read ever. I didn’t want to put it down and it constantly kept me wanting to pick the book back up.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this book in exchange for an honest review.

There was something about this book that didn't quite hit for me.
I loved the set-up (two viral breakups), the setting (a small, sea-side town), and the main trope (fake dating), but it all kind of fell flat in the end. I think I just wanted a lot more back and forth before the couple decided to fake-date because it had been a few years since they'd last interacted in a stable capacity; it just felt really abrupt. I also wish the author would have delved a little further into the grief that June and Levi were both affected by and June's relationship with her brother! I think there were just too many things that felt a little half-baked.
However, I loved Emma Lord's writing style and her ability to convey so many emotions; I'm excited and hopeful to see what she does next!
Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Emma Lord for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

*3.5 stars*
The Break-Up Pact was set in a small, tight-knit beach town where everyone seems to know each other. We follow several things that are going on beyond the main storyline... June's tea shop struggling, Levi writing a book, June's brother is getting married, and June's friend Sana is trying to write an article worthy of being in a big magazine. There's a bit of a sad undertone to the story due to June's sister (and Levi's friend) Annie passing away two years ago, and I think both characters are still processing the grief of her being gone. The main characters were overall likeable, though sometimes I found it a little frustrating how much June tended to push Levi away. Both characters have been living in situations that are more to fulfill the dreams of other people instead of themselves, so there was some good character development as June and Levi figured out what they actually wanted for themselves.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for the review copy of The Break-Up Pact! All opinions expressed in my review are completely my own.

I enjoyed this cute friends to lovers story about childhood friend June and Levi. June agrees to help Levi win back his cheating fiancée. This is very cute story and I highly recommend this book for lovers of romance.
I want to thank Netgalley and St Martin Press for the opportunity to read this book. I give this book 3.5 stars

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for a copy of The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord. I was so excited to read Emma Lord's adult debut since I've really liked her YA but this book was disappointing.

I'm such a big fake dating fan, but something about their plan and fake dating was a complete miss for me. I also wasn't a fan of June and this book just wasn't for me.

Emma Lord has always been one of my favorite YA authors so I was excited to get a review copy of her adult debut, The Break-Up Pact. I really enjoyed this one too.

I love a good fake dating story. Make it a childhood best friends to lovers, second chance romance & I’m all in. This story was cute, filled with great banter, & just overall a good time!

The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord is a romance novel about two people whose break-ups went viral and decide to date. I thought this was a great summer romance that was very fun. The setting is on a cute beach town where the main character owns a tea shop. The main characters do have a bit of a history which makes the dynamic more interesting because it adds extra tension. This book does dive into some heavier topics than Emma Lord's other novels so be aware of that. The topic of finding your own passions in life and the realization you may have wasted your time with a career and people is a topic I enjoyed. I think this book is more of a contemporary novel than a romance but I felt like everything was balanced well. Overall, I thought it was a fun read!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for a review!