This story reminds me a bit of a Hallmark movie but with modern ages (aka TikTok etc.). I really thoroughly enjoyed and was pulled into the story immediately. I loved both characters and how they developed throughout the book. And ah, I just love their love.


The story goes along with fake dating and second chances, but something in the plot was missing though, not sure what but just something minor. I also did not see too much of a significance of bringing up the sister and her not wanting the two characters together, since it never really gave any background to it or why. It felt thrown in with the rest of the details and just did not seem to make sense to me besides to show "why" they ignored each other... which is also ignorant, but a lot more of that is my rant of the book versus any actual 'problems'.

This book was such a delight. I enjoyed watching the characters unfold while relishing in the memories of their pasts. Emma did such a great job writing each of these characters with such heart and depth while still making this a light and fun read for all. It definitely a book to add to your summer TBR. Make sure you read it as soon as possible! This book totally gave me all the warm fuzzy feels and I know it will for you as well!

I couldn’t get into the story just as I thought. Not disappointed but need more depth, I think. I can't remember when was the last time when I read a book in which the whole plot was 100% equal to what was written in the blurb and nothing more. There was no surprise there, no resolution to any of the plot threads and the whole story was blatantly predictable and painfully dull.

I felt the set up for this book was very convoluted. Two people who haven’t spoken in 10 years decide to fake date because the girl (June) was broken up on a “Shark Tank” like show her boyfriend went to be on. And her brought his new girlfriend with him to do it on live TV. A Meme of June crying goes viral. While the boy (Levi) has his real estate girlfriend cheat on him with a movie star she sold a penthouse to and paps photo of them kissing go viral online. Meanwhile June needs to save her deceased sister’s beach side tea shop. And them dating is going to help her shop somehow? And also them fake dating will make Levi’s not ex (because he says they’re just taking a break) jealous. All this just to get to them fake dating. Too much was going into just getting the MMC and FFM together. It bogged down the start of the book.

Perfect beach/summer read covering all the best tropes- fake dating, friends to lovers, and rom com vibes! Quick & fun read!

Best friends to estranged friends to fake dating to lovers......yes, give me all the tropes!!! This has such great small town, gilmore girls vibes to it. It goes even deeper than just a love story: it has dealing with grief, social media viral moments, and even finding new career moves. There was miscommunication, which I definitely did not like but it made for an interesting read. I love the creativity that June had! Loved Sana's articles too! It was so fun!

Usually Emma Lord is an auto-buy author for me. I struggled with this one more than her others but enjoyed the setting more than anything. Thanks so much for the advanced copy.

A perfect summer beach read! The Break-Up Pact is a swoon-worthy romance with charming characters, fake dating, and a cute beachside tea shop. The romance had me invested from the start, but it's more than a typical rom-com dealing with grief and finding your path as well. I couldn't put this book down and can't wait to read more from this author!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

This is my first book by Emma Lord. I liked it fine enough, but I found the plot to be incredibly slow (possibly to be more like real life) and the characters to be frustratingly stubborn. "He isn't being open enough with me after we froze each other out for years, so I'm going to give him the silent treatment and hope he figures it out."

This does make for a light and quick beach read, though. Pros and cons.

This was such a great read featuring fake dating and friend to lover’s romance. June and Levi haven’t spoken for about 10 years since high school graduation and now they have both have breakups that went viral on social media so they decided to fake date to help June with her struggling bakery and for Levi’s ex to regret losing him. I love the growth of the characters with June finally realizing that she doesn’t need to keep the bakery exactly how her dead sister had it and that she can change it to something she wants and still honor her sister’s memory and Levi has to let go of the life he had now which is not what he dreamed he would be doing but he changed to have a stable income since his mom got sick while he was in college and try to get back to what he really wanted to do which is be a writer.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Griffin and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

I was so excited to receive this arc late last year but i waited until the summer to read it because it felt like such a summery read, and boy was i right. The only thing i wish is that i had read it on the beach, I am an emma lord stan forever. her books never disappoint

June and Levi are childhood best friends who each experience public break ups gone viral. They decide to use this to their advantage and fake date, bringing lots of nostalgic feelings to the surface.

This book too long and slow in some parts but was overall a fun and summery read! If you enjoyed Funny Story by Emily Henry, then you’ll like this one too!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Grab your copy of The Break-Up Pact on August 13th!

The Break-Up Pact

3.75 ⭐️

I was so excited to get this ARC on @netgalley. Summer books set on the beach are always so fun.

When two childhood friends both get dumped very publicly, they decide to use it to their advantage and fake date. If you enjoyed Funny Story, this one was kind of similar!

These characters felt kind of young, which I get since Emma Lord does a really good job at YA books. In the first half of the book, I loved the banter and crazy situations June and Levi got into. The second half had a lot of miscommunication, and parts felt too slow while others felt rushed. Still a fun quick beach romance!

Highly recommended for fans of Kate Clayborn and Emily Henry. This is my first time reading a book by Emma Lord, and I really enjoyed it. One warning: the official synopsis on this does not mention that a major theme in this book is the characters dealing with the death of a sibling/friend, but it is done in a very moving and sensitive manner.

June and Levi grew up together in a tight-knit friend group which included June's sister Annie and brother Dylan. The two seemed destined to get together in high school, but a misunderstanding/fear of sharing their real feelings caused them to split apart and avoid each other for nearly ten years. Fast forward to the present, both are back home after dealing with very public and humiliating breakups with pseudo-celebrity significant others. Also tying them together is the sudden and unexpected death of June's sister, Annie. To turn the tide of social media obsession with their breakups -- and to build up business for June's struggling bakery that she inherited from her sister -- they agree to pose as a couple for the summer. Their former feelings are not so former, and soon they have to confront their past and decide what kind of future they want.

While there is certainly a Hallmark-type vibe on the surface of the story, I thought the character development and exploration of how everyone dealt with grief over the loss of Annie added significant depth to the story. June and Levi are very sympathetic main characters -- each feels lost and somewhat adrift due to major life changes and struggles to find their path forward. The fake dating trope has been done extensively, but here everyone involved saw right through it from the start given June and Levi's real feelings for each other. I also liked the small beach town setting, which makes it a perfect summer read.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for providing an ARC for review!

Firstly, Thank you NetGalley and Emma Lord for allowing me to read an arc of your upcoming book in exchange for my honest review .

I really loved this book. I felt it really connected with me in regards to grief and finding a way to move forward. I loved the connection between the MC’s and the side characters are just *chefs kiss* I gave it 4 star only because sometimes it felt very rushed and others like it was skipping/missing details. I would find myself a little confused at times or just plain wanting alittle more background. All in all though I’d definitely read again ❤️

I’ve read every book that Emma Lord has put out, and although I started out loving them, her last couple YA titles have started to feel more and more juvenile. After her last release being my least favorite to date, I was very hesitant to give this one a go but had already been approved for the ARC.

Thankfully, The Break-Up Pact had everything that her last couple books were missing for me. The setting of the book encapsulated me from the very beginning and I thoroughly enjoyed the story from beginning to end.

I did find the romance to be a little lacking, hence the four stars. I enjoyed both June and Levi as characters, but I feel like even at the end of the book, they still had a lot of work to do to be the best people for each other. However, I did love all of the smaller plot lines and characters in the story, particularly June’s brother and his fiancé, and I honestly really enjoyed reading a romance book that wasn’t fully centered around just the fmc and mmc (I feel like a lot of popular booktok books recently lose sight of plot in favor of how many smutty scenes they can include, which I enjoy reading sometimes as well, but this was definitely a nice change of pace).

I’d definitely recommend this one, especially for a summer read, and I’m looking forward to *hopefully* more adult novels from Emma Lord in the future!

This book was so cute and fun! I absolutely adored June and Levi's dynamics. They were childhood best friends who lost touch and are now reconnecting in their hometown while going through viral breakups. The pacing was perfect but at times it felt like everything was too perfect. There weren't any big conflicts but other than that I really enjoyed it!

Content Warning: grief, death of friend

I usually love Emma Lord books but I have to say this might be my least favorite of her books. Let’s start off with the things I did love. I loved when June and Levi finally get intimate with one another – the steamy scene was good. I also like this little beachside community that June, Levi and their friends grew up in – most of them stayed, some left and came back like June. But I liked that whole issue about leaving your hometown and maybe coming back after you’ve been out there in the world. Also, yes these people are in that time of their lives where they are settling down, or trying to figure out what their careers will be and all that, so that is relatable.

It’s got some fun tropes like fake dating and friends to lovers.

What I didn’t enjoy was the miscommunication between June and Levi which just created this huge riff between them. Life comes between them, they date other people, coincidentally they both get humiliated online and it goes viral – not sure how relatable that is, but Levi is still holding out for the girlfriend who cheated on him. That’s the current state of things in the story for most of the story which was frustrating. There is some fake dating, which gives us a chance to see the chemistry between them grow but honestly, I wasn’t feeling the fake dating and didn’t connect to the characters.

My Final Thoughts:

I’m bummed I didn’t love this one but I just wasn’t connecting with the characters and something was missing for me. I just wanted more from Levi at some points. The miscommunication trope has to be one of my least favorite in any book and it frustrated me in this one for sure. The story had some cute moments and even a good steamy scene but everything around that was complicated. Not my favorite but I’ll still be reading any books she writes!

“Something I’ll have to keep in check because there’s no point in denying it anymore. I can't help but enjoy while it lasts”. This book takes you on a nostalgic journey of childhood friends to lovers, a tale that's as heartwarming as it is relatable.

June and Levi, once inseparable as teenagers, find themselves in a shared struggle. June is fighting to keep her beachside tea shop afloat, while Levi is grappling with the disillusionment of a failed career and a broken heart. Their paths, once diverged, are about to intersect again, promising a chance at redemption and a rekindling of their friendship.

However, after both of them experience public, humiliating breakups with their exes, which spread like wildfire across TikTok rabbit holes and daytime talk shows, they accidentally create some juicy gossip of their own. A photo of them together has the internet convinced they're a couple. With many people rooting for them, they decide to put aside their rocky past and make a pact to fuel the fire. Pretending to date will help June’s shop get back on its feet and make Levi’s ex realize that she made a mistake. All they have to do is convince the world they're in love, one swoon-worthy photo opp at a time. As they embark on five sparkling, heart-pounding dates, they are determined that their hearts won't get involved. After all, everyone knows that fake dating doesn’t involve real feelings. Or does it?

June and Levi's journey, filled with ups and downs, had me completely captivated. Their struggles, their triumphs, and their undeniable chemistry made me feel every emotion. This book was a breath of fresh air, pulling me out of a reading slump. I'm grateful to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

As you probably know, Emma Lord is one of my favorites, so I was very excited to see she was delving in to the adult romance world with The Break-Up Pact. I was not disappointed! June and Levi were best friends growing up, until the day June's hope for more was crushed. Ten years later, they are reunited after they've both become viral after humiliating public breakups. This book has some of my favorite tropes- fake dating, second chance romance, along with a lot of soul searching and dealing with figuring out how you really want your life to be. Lord's writing transitions well into this more adult realm (definitely open door romance) but keeps the fun banter and deft writing that I've always loved. She continues to be an author I will always read in both genres.