I thought this book was fine. It wasn’t bad but it also wasn’t amazing.

I found the characters very hard to connect with, because most of their stories were being told to us rather than shown. Childhood friends to lovers is a great trope, but I didn’t care for their relationship (or much of what was happening) because everything about their relationship happened before the book started. The scenes where they would reminisce lasted forever and they were quite boring.

Her sister being dead was also just kind of unnecessary? I think the discussion of loss and mourning was good, but none of the sister stuff was really that clear or relevant to the story and I kept forgetting who Annie was and her being mentioned as some tie to their relationship constantly was kind of annoying. Another aspect that was apart of their relationship that took place before the book started.

I thought the fake dating was really cute and I liked all their antics. I loved the setting and her bakery. I just needed more from the story overall. I also found the third act breakup and the conflict with their exes predictable.

Thank you for this early copy.

this book unfortunately was a miss for me, i was onboard with the blurb and the tropes- who doesn’t love fake dating and second chance!? I also liked that it was set in a more modern world of course, but it felt like there was no depth to the MCs for me..

some things didn’t make sense to me and could have been cut out of the book (ie the sister) and the ending felt rushed to me.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book!
All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Two best friends who haven't spoken in ten years and go viral from their break ups unite to get back at their exes? This story sounds awesome and parts of this novel truly are so much fun and a delight to read, but a lot of it is too quick paced. These characters are jumping and moving so quickly that story development feels like a jumbled mess. The female main character was often annoying and hard to like. I realize that sad life circumstances have put her in the position she's in, but she needs to find a way out and through, even her landlord thinks so. Overall, this book was a miss for me.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for allowing me to read this advanced reader copy of this title.

This was a sweet book and I liked that they eventually learned to communicate with each other about what they wanted or needed. I think it's a bit unrealistic to have been hurt by someone's absence then have them slide so effortlessly back into your life, I would've enjoyed a bit more conflict about it.

Single POV was okay, but I would've liked to see some of Levi's perspective especially given that he could've reached out to June honestly at any point in the prior decade.

This book will be a perfect summer beach read! The storyline was a mix of sweet and sad. Sad that miscommunication can make people lose years of friendship yet sweet that there are second chances!

While reading it I was imagining myself walking on a boardwalk and stopping in to check out all the little local shops. Even though this book takes place on the East coast of the US, it reminded me of the PNW a lot. I miss wandering through sleepy beach towns along the Washington and Oregon coasts. Note to self, need to plan a beach getaway as soon as the weather warms!



p.s. Fleabag fans, let me know if you also thought of Fleabag's cafe and dead best friend while reading this book!

This book was so delightful. I loved the plot and characters. There were a few points where I wish there was more backstory. For example, more Annie, more June and Levi in high school. I found I had a lot of questions and wanted to know more (because of how loveable the characters were). Overall, I think this is an amazing qualm to have - wanting to read more about the world that was created on the page.

This book was filled with so much love, longing, and heartbreak. It was written beautifully and I did not want to put it down. A perfect friends to enemies to lovers romance to read. I loved the relationships and backstories of all the characters. All of the grief the characters were struggling with and the ability to grow in this book was beautiful.
The cover is super cute. The town's setting is beachy and such a vibe, I wish I lived there.

This was my first time reading Emma Lord and I was really fascinated by the premise of the book. I found that the author set up a lot of room for each of the characters to grow and gave them realistic issues to work through. I really enjoyed this attempt at making the characters more diverse and complex with these issues. I think personally, the pacing of the story was a little slow for my liking. I also don't think I was personally convinced by the chemistry between the main leads and that they had this complicated history together. Overall, this wasn't my favourite read but I did enjoy my time reading it.

Song of the book: ‘tis the damn season - Taylor Swift

I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. I remember being super excited about it when Emma Lord announced the premise ages ago on Twitter, but I’m afraid that when I actually got to reading it, I was just… bored. It took me such a long time to get through, as I found it difficult to get invested in the plot. I love romance novels, but I was just not entertained. I’m honestly pretty sad about this.

Additionally, I found it hard to buy that the internet would actually care or talk about the relationship between these two random people enough to get them as much press as they got or to get them attention for as long as they received it. I also sincerely doubted that they would get enough hype to translate into the crowds of customers that June received at her store.

I will say, I did appreciate that the main characters had some unexpected moments of emotional maturity. I was seriously anticipating a very annoying third-act breakup, and we did get some tension, but I was pleasantly surprised when they actually talked things out instead of ignoring each other (which they had already done for ten years, so the bar was low).

Thanks to NetGalley for advanced access to this book. I am a follower of Emma Lord and have loved reading her prior books. This didn’t quite live up to the same level of charm as her other books but remained similar topically. Like her other books, this told the unique story of family, friend, and romantic relationships. The setting and career pursuits of the characters made for interesting plot effects. One of my favorite Lord characteristics is how she writes and handles grief and this book tackled it too. I enjoy reading how different characters respond to and grow from the grief and it was central to this story. This wasn’t my favorite Lord book but I’m still eager to read her next.

June and Levi were best friends in high school and haven’t talked in 10 years. After they both experience public, humiliating break-ups with their exes that go viral they decide to pretend to date to take advantage of the public’s interest in their love lives.

Second chance romance. Fake dating.

This book was an emotional rollercoaster that I didn’t mind riding. While there are funny moments that feel like a romantic comedy there are also moments that had me wanting to give June the biggest hug to help her feel better. June is barely keeping her beachside tea and scone cafe afloat, the shop she inherited after her older sister passed away. June struggles with how to keep the shop in business while also honoring the dreams her sister had for it. Every chapter had me rooting for June, not just for her love life but for her life and happiness in general.

This was a wonderful read and I highly recommend it.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Fake dating, friends to lovers what could go wrong. When June and Levi were in high school they had a falling out when they told each other they didn’t like one another. Forward 10 years and they are both publicly broken up with so with June, Levi and June’s friend Sana create a break up pact to fake date to try and win their significant other back but turns out that may not be what they truly want

I picked this book up because I had read a couple other books by Emma Lord and I was in the mood for something light and fun. This book certainly delivered. With a fake-dating plot line and delicious descriptions of the scones our main character June was making, plus the cozy beach town setting - this book combined some of my favorite tropes in a way that was delightful. Even though this book was as light and fun as I had hoped, there were also deeper themes throughout around grief and how to find oneself after you have compromised too much in life. This will be a perfect summer read for so many people!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for a digital advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest feedback.

June and Levi are childhood/high school best friends who haven’t spoken in 10 years. They also both have endured very public break-ups. When Levi return to their beachy hometown to escape the media and finish his manuscript, he and June instantly reconnect and those old feeling June thought she buried are in fact still there.


This was such a cute story. I’ll admit, that the fake dating trope is not always my favorite, but Emma wrote it really well! You were rooting for June and Levi the entire time. It’s well written and the story flows really well. There was some spice, but Emma definitely left me wanting more.

The only thing that left me a little confused was Annie, June older sister and Levi’s best friend who passes away 2 years prior. Annie was like the awkward 3rd wheel in June and Levi’s relationship. Honestly I felt like June should have been more threatened by her than Levi’s ex-fiancé. It was just a little off for me. I did love Sana, June’s best friend. She was quirky and blunt and everything you want from a FMC’s bestie!

Overall it was a good read and I did enjoy it. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins for this ARC!

So I recently read 'The Break-Up Pact' by Emma Lord and it was exactly what I was looking for - a fun and easy read. The story follows June and Levi, two friends from high school who have messy breakups that end up going viral on social media. To deal with the rumors, they pretend to be a couple, which leads to some old feelings resurfacing. Overall, it's not a groundbreaking book, but definitely not disappointing either.

I’ll get right down to it. I hate this book. It made me anxious and angry, and not in a good way. We follow June and Levi after they both get publicly cheated on by their long term partners. They decide to pretend to date so June can do better with her tea shop and Levi can get his cheater back.

June has a lot of thoughts. Hundreds upon hundreds of words of thoughts she will never say out loud. I don’t want to read her thoughts when she isn’t expressing them to people. Instead she’s a carpet happy to be walked all over. She thinks up 3 large paragraphs and answers, “Do what you want.” Why do I have to read her thoughts when she doesn’t know how to speak?

Levi is an idiot. He makes such stupid choices and then acts surprised when they bite him in the butt. I hated both of these characters. This is the kind of relationship you know wouldn’t last a year in the real world.

I held on for Sana, who I wanted to know better. The two stars are for her.

This would have made a better novella and only without Levi’s ex constantly in the picture. Too much was happening in little details and side plots with nothing actually happening in the book.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for my honest review.

From the first pages, I quickly began to love the main character, June. Her struggles were met with a quick wit that was truly endearing. The Break-Up Pact storyline felt familiar, but the depth of emotion made it stand out from all the other fake dating stories. I felt like the ending of this story was one that I wish for in a novel. It didn’t just wrap up quickly with a happy ending. The author took her time and truly allowed us to see the growth of both the characters. Read it and throw back some pop rocks as you do it!

Emma Lord is really good at cute rom coms with typical dating tropes. If you’re going into the novel looking for something that will speak to your soul and stand the test of time, this is that - and that’s okay! She creates easy to like characters with a catchy story that moves quickly. When the book closes, everything is as it should be.

I thought The Break Up Pact was a cute friends to lovers rom com. I liked that the main characters were actually former best friends who had drifted apart and found themselves drifting back together again after their own individual break ups. I was rooting for them from the beginning and enjoyed following along with their journey, challenges, and growth.
While I liked the supporting characters and how they tied into the overall story, at times they felt a bit flat and I would have liked a more detailed arc for them. Some of the dates that took place in public places were cute, but predictable. I would have liked more intimate scenes with Levi and June trying to figure out their feelings vs another public date. (Loved the dance club scene, but the bar scene felt like it was forced.)
Overall, I liked this book and would recommend it.

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"The Break-Up Pact" by Emma Lord is a delightful rollercoaster ride of fake dating, friendship, and unexpected romance that will leave you smiling long after you've turned the last page.

June and Levi, former best friends turned estranged acquaintances, find themselves in a predicament when their respective break-ups go viral, thrusting them into the spotlight once again. With the world convinced they're a couple, June and Levi embark on a fake dating journey filled with swoon-worthy photo ops and sparkling chemistry.

Emma Lord crafts a story that is equal parts heartwarming and hilarious, with characters you can't help but root for. June and Levi's banter is electric, and their journey from reluctant partners to something more is both entertaining and emotionally satisfying.