Unfortunately this was a DNF book for me. I read nearly 30% and struggled to stay engaged with the plot. I found neither character drew me into their story and I frequently kept putting the book down in favour of something else. Sorry this one wasn't a hit for me.

I love a good fake dating story!

June and Levi were friends and now they both had very public breakups so they are monetizing it to save June's tea shop.

I wish we had been shown more of a connection between June and Levi. It felt like we were just told they were in love with each other instead of showing us. I still thought the story was cute and the storyline was great.

This is a charming and heartfelt novel by a new-to-me author. The story is well-written and entertaining and does a nice job of balancing humor and emotional depth. June and Levi are two former best friends who reconnect through a viral fake-dating scheme, creating a tale that is full of delightful banter and tender moments. The premise of pretending to date for personal gain quickly evolves into an exploration of their unresolved feelings, past regrets, and the possibility of rekindling something deeper. The chemistry between the characters feels authentic, and their emotional growth is both relatable and rewarding. A perfect blend of lighthearted fun and meaningful romance, this book was such fun to read!

I received a complimentary copy from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

3.75 starts. Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press. Overall I really really enjoyed this story. I enjoyed the story and all the different scones and the side characters were so much fun. .....But there were some parts where the MFC was beyond frustrating I might or might not have screamed at my phone Girl go to therapy more than once. The MMC was just so patient and understanding.

Wonderful story, great character development, great writing! Highly recommend this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it

Emma Lord is very popular with a good chunk of my female students, and I found The Breakup Pact to be such an easy, enjoyable read. I would recommend the to my high schoolers versus my middle schoolers (I would keep her middle grade/YA titles for them).

Lord captures grief, insecurity, hope, and love in this novel. For her first foray into adult novels, I appreciated that she approached it with the same candor and humor as she does in her YA books, while also channeling the raw emotions of adulthood.

Cute friends to lovers! I didn’t really connect to the characters that well! Overall cute romance! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

A lighthearted, cute read. It is probably best for the youngins who are into TikTok - you'll feel right at home in this story!

This was a really cute read and the characters were a lot of fun. I thought the story was sweet but I don’t think it was super memorable. I enjoyed it while I was reading but I don’t know that I will look back and it will stand out to me. Thank you netgalley for my free review copy.

This book had such promise. Best friends who end up fake dating--sign me up. But this fell flat. Both characters had a lot of past trauma to work through and that caused so much unwarranted tension between them. I skimmed the last chunk of the book to just get it over with and see if it would get better. I was wrong. This just wasn't it for me.

"The Break-Up Pact" was a very delightful read as a cute, short romance. June and Levi were very fun and interesting characters to learn about and I really liked how I was able to learn how both of them coped through public breakups as well as the death of Annie, June's sister and Levi's best friend. The characters were complex and underwent so much character development by the end that it really felt like I spent years getting to know them and watched them grow. I also found it very entertaining since it wasn't just a straightforward romance where they both found out they liked each other and then happy ever after. Instead, they had to work out what exactly they were feeling while also putting themselves first and wanting to be absolutely ready to give each other a chance. I also love the dynamic between Levi and June, both in personality and also in careers. Both of them pursue artistic careers, June in baking and Levi in writing which I think is really cute because they both make each other want to do their very best and also expand and explore into new things, without forcing each other of course and then their playful personalities work so well together, I absolutely adored their banter throughout the book. The modernization I found in this book with the Internet was definitely something I haven't seen used too much in books so i thought that was a really cool concept such as the use of TikTok. Also oh my god the side characters are to die for. Sana as the best friend is like the embodiment of what everyone would love to have, she's always there for June and somehow always knows what to do and say. I loved her formidable I can do anything attitude and also how she was all for getting June and Levi together. Dylan and Mateo are the cutest couple and I love Mateo especially as the professor, and the fan-page with his vests was a really quirky touch that I loveeee! The little dates that Levi and June went on were so beautifully created and I think they were just perfect in building up the relationship between them. Each time they fell deeper in love with each other and I could feel the sparks and the tension in the air and it felt like I was watching a play by play of the world slowing down around them as they looked into each others eyes. I also really enjoyed how June specifically dealt with the grief of her sister and also the regrets she had to come to term with of shutting people out of her life (Levi) and also the fact that she had to realize she was living a life that she wasn't happy with. She was just kind of on autopilot. I really liked the different takes of the perspectives of Levi and June when it came to their past relationships, Levi with Kelly and wanting to win her back, and June with Griffin and realizing that that wasn't what love is. Overall, the storyline and execution I think was really great for a fake dating romance, not the best I've read, but definitely super heartwarming and I would definitely recommend this read!

This book has been on my Netgalley for a bit and I haven’t picked it up. I haven’t been into romance in a minute, so I’m not the right person to review it anymore.

I love the fake dating trope, but don’t always like friends to lovers, so I’m not sure I would have taken a chance on this premise from another author. This was the fun, sweet rom-com I’ve come to expect from Emma Lord, but a bit more grown-up than her YA books.

I love Emma Lord and her way of writing humor and banter. The humor came through really well in this book but unfortunately I dislike the miscommunication trope. I’m not sure why it’s used so often when it tends to be a frustrating thing for a lot of readers.

I’m sure a ton of people will absolutely love this book and people who don’t mind miscommunications in a book should definitely read it. Unfortunately, it’s just something that I feel like takes away from what could’ve been a great story.

(I got an early copy of this through Netgalley, and it will be out on 8/13.) This is an extremely fun rom-com that I had so much fun reading. June and Levi are childhood friends who went through a falling out and haven’t spoken for years, but they have one new thing in common – they’ve both gone through incredibly public break-ups. The two run into each other at a tea shop June is the new owner of, taken over from her sister after she passed away, and a photo of June and Levi together goes viral as the Internet thinks that the two are now together. June and Levi decide to go with it, and use their new popularity to fake-date their way into what they went – June, to get back at her ex, and Levi, to get back with his ex. But as always, fake dating can end up with extremely real feelings! The story is so cute, but tackles deeper issues like death and grief and growing up really well, too.

Emma Lord, author of the adorable book, Tweet Cute, has once again created an imaginative story, with lovable characters who must re-discover not only themselves but also learn to live in the moment and let go of their pasts in order to have any kind of future, not matter how difficult that can be. The story is funny, sensitive and just lovable!

June is struggling to pay the rent on her tea shop which she and her late sister Annie created. On top of that, her boyfriend of years has left her for someone else and she was caught on a video having a complete sobbing meltdown which then went viral and now she is the laughingstock of the internet.

To add to all this, her childhood friend (and crush) Levi, who was also her sister Annie's best friend has come back to their seaside town after living in New York as a financial manager. When she sees him, she is shocked at the change. The old Levi was an imaginative writer who only wanted to create stories, but it seems something happened to him, and he stopped trying.

She discovers he is going through a bad break-up and after the two are caught unknowingly gazing into each other's eyes on a video and that too blows up on social media, well, they decide on a plan. Pretend they are falling in love and attempt to make their former partners jealous.

But what they never expected would be all the interest they would generate and the feelings it would bring up in both of them. But June and Levi are still trying to get over what they think are their past mistakes which continue to haunt them today.

So now, they must decide separately and together which direction their lives must go. They must reflect and try and move on both together and separately. One thing is for sure, they know they can't live in the past anymore and they know they can't try and fool each other either because when you attempt that, you only fool yourself. How honest are they both willing to be?

The Break-Up Pact is a tender love story which is filled with poignant messages about life, loss, moving forward and of course, love.

Thank you #NetGalley #GriffinBooks #EmmaLord #TheBreak-Up Pact for the advanced copy.

"The Break Up Pact" fell flat with predictable tropes, shallow characters, and a lack of emotional depth.

The Break-up Pact is a second chance, fake dating romance that is the epitome of summery and playful. Between being a viral meme and cafe owner, our female MC, June finds herself running back into her childhood friend Levi after he undergoes his own viral moment. They begin a fake dating scheme to help each of them with their own goals and fueled by their own motives. As time goes on, it becomes more and more difficult to maintain their illusion, and conversations must ensue.

I think this book has a really strong atmosphere and truly draws the reader into the world. Its inclusion of elements of the modern day were smooth and playful. I struggled a bit with the miscommunication trope, but it did serve to enhance the slow burn of the relationship. At times I felt that some of the side elements were not fully connecting for me as they planned a wedding for a family member, and I wish that their there was more with the side plots or less, but it fell into this middleness that felt meh. The banter, beachy setting and fun dates and other scenes really pushed the story along though.

This was not my favourite. I found some details really specific and random but other parts not detailed enough?

I had a difficult time connecting with the romance and character dynamics with the detail of grief just felt like an afterthought.

A random part that stood out to me each time was specifying the beer that the characters were drinking? Why did we need to know it was Blue Moon every time? This is very nitpicky but felt like the book was sponsored.

This is my least favorite Emma Lord book I have read. It is not her normal YA fun fluffy fare, but two adults who couldn't find healthy communication if punched them in the face. They are a bit insufferable and although they have chemistry, the scenes in-between their dialed up chemistry fall a bit flat. Emma Lord's other books I have read have atmosphere and a sense of place that are vibrant, and this book really was a bit dull in comparison.

Also, this book should have been titled The Revenge Exes. The break-up pact moniker felt forced into the plot. It wasn't well named. I'm very annoyed at poorly titled books lately.

Book elements: Internet sensations, High school besties-second chance romance, shared grief, close knit community, single POV, fake dating, entrepreneurship, making decisions for yourself

Content Note: 1 very open door scene, LGBTQ side story of planning a wedding, infidelity, grief

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and St. Martin's Griffin for the gifted title. All opinions are my own.