A hilariously, sweet and cozy romance. 3.5 ⭐️

My favorite thing about this book was the setting. The Break-Up Pact takes place in a small beach town and the vibes are giving. After her sister passed away, the FMC takes over her sister’s tea shop called, Tea Tide (are you kidding me with this cuteness?), located on a boardwalk overlooking the ocean. The story captured me right away with the picturesque seaside setting and engaging cast of both family and found family characters.

The story did lose me a bit towards the second half with its heavy handed use of miscommunication. I had the urge to shout at the characters multiple times to JUST TALK TO EACH OTHER ALREADY. Still, I cared about the characters enough and was rooting for them even though it was frustrating at times.

All in all a delightful story definitely worth picking up if you’re into scones, childhood friends to lovers and fake dating!

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC!

I love the fake dating trope so this book was a fun read for me. I always love seeing how they’ll come together.

you can always count on emma lord to give you swoon worth romance novels! i particularly really loved this one. i thought the story flowed wonderfully and the characters were likeable. 4.5/5!

Spoilers ahead: There was things I really enjoyed in this book and a few things I didn't. I really hate the miscommunication trope when it's like "oh that night meant nothing to me," "oh, me too" and they were both lying. It's maybe one of my least favorite things in romance novels, so that probably shades my feelings about this book. Also, the fake dating portion of the book was made to seem like really important, but was really just a blip in the scheme of things. Some of the getting together in their relationship was super vague - I kept feeling like I was missing some details. But overall it was cute and I liked the MCs. I will say that I find a scone food truck finding great success to not be very believable.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review of this book.

I was excited to read this book as I love second-chance romances and beachy settings. The story follows June and Levi, former high school friends turned viral social media dumpees turned fake daters.

As much as I tried to connect with the plot, there was too much going on too quickly. I didn't feel like there was enough character development to feel any kind of connection to the two main characters. Why are Levi and June's exes so famous? Why is everyone they went to high school with so invested in their situation? Why would the paparazzi care that they were dating? Add in a dead sister, a gay wedding, and a business in need of saving... it felt hard to focus on the budding romance with so much going on.

Sweet story of childhood friends, June and Levi, who start a fake dating pact to get back at their exes. Both of them went viral on social media because of disastrous break ups that happened in the public eye. It took a bit for me to get settled into the story; I was a bit confused at the backstory with the sister. But once I made it through the first quarter of the story, I was really invested and enjoyed my first Emma Lord book. There were many great light and funny moments among the real and tough moments that I always love in a rom com with depth. This one also had so many of my favorite tropes.
I’ll for sure reach for more of Emma Lord’s books in the future. Thanks NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this lovely ARC experience. This book comes out on 8/13 and I think it will be a great addition to anyone’s summer reading list!

I am a big Emma Lord fan and really wanted to love this book. However, it fell flat for me. I really struggled to get into it or care about the characters. Truthfully, I don't even remember their names. The story focuses on a girl who is running a struggling tea shop and a guy who's run away from NY after his girlfriend traded him for a celebrity. The girl also had a public breakup, but I was never very clear about what made her ex famous. They were on a reality show, but the show is never explained. All we know is that they traveled a ton. The idea was there, but the execution didn't deliver for me. It almost felt like Lord was trying too hard to be like Emily Henry. It didn't have Lord's signature voice or multi-dimensional characters.

There is a spicy scene that was VERY cringy for me. Like bad porn descriptions. The scene felt unnecessary and could have been a fade to black and still impacted the story the same way. I usually don't mind spice in books, but this one was uncomfortable.

Overall, this is one I wouldn't spend money on and wouldn't recommend to others. If you're looking for something fluffy and chill this could be a good book for you. If you're looking for Lord's signature charm, I'd skip this one.

My first Emma Lord book- cute setting, fun characters but I just never really go into this one. I did finish it but just didn’t love it. I kept waiting for it to get better and It just fell flat for me. Not horrible, but nothing I would overwhelmingly recommend.

Thank you NetGalley & St. Martin’s Press for this ARC!

thank you to netgalley for this e-arc!

ended up dnf'ing this -- the setting was fun, i liked the cute town and occupations of everyone, i just couldn't get into it.

story didn't feel real and the characters just felt like caricatures of stereotypes, always running from the paparazzi's that for some reason are obsessed with capturing the two MC's together.

it just didn't hook me. something felt missing.

this was my first emma lord novel, might look into reading more of her work but this one didn't grasp me like i wanted it to.

I wanted to like this book. It had all the ingredients of a good love story, but it felt like the author tried to give the characters a level of depth that was unearned. I felt like she wanted me to feel the weight of the tension between these two characters, but she didn't provide enough of a set-up for me to buy in. I wasn't particularly rooting for them, and about 3/4 of the way through, Levi does something messed up that he never really has to answer for. Towards the end, the story just kind of meanders and the thread of the love story feels lost.

The Break Up Pact is about two estranged childhood friends, Levi and June, who have both just undergone very public break ups. After a photo circulates of them together and people dub them the “Revenge Exes,” they agree to fake date. For June, it’s to boost sales for her failing tea shop that she inherited from her sister who passed away a couple years prior. For Levi, it’s to try to win his girlfriend back, who cheated on him with a movie star.

I am a sucker for the childhood friends to second chance lovers pipeline. Add in some fake dating? All about it. And my god, I don’t know what it was about this book but I ate it up like one of June’s Revenge Ex scones. (And yes, there are a lot of references to scones throughout so probably a good idea not to read this too hungry).

Apart from the romance this book centers on, the book also deals with grief and guilt in multiple ways. I won’t explain this too much because doing so will give away some plot points but the main exploration of grief is June’s for her older sister, Annie. By the time the story starts, June is an age her sister never reached, struggling to keep a static dream they had, but that June has outgrown, alive. It is not a heavy read by any means and it doesn’t really explore the darker places grief takes people to (it is a romantic comedy, after all) but it also doesn’t shy away from the fact that it’s not something that goes away, even if the weight of it gets easier to carry with time.

Was I frustrated with the miscommunication? Yes, very much and always and yet multiple of my favorite reads this year (including this one) have involved it so I’m not sure what to make of that except maybe to admit that it works when it’s really well written? Maybe the point is to be frustrated and we just have to lean in to the discomfort??? I struggled with the duration of some of the conflict that takes place but I understood its purpose and the necessary character development it enabled.

Overall, this was a really sweet and fun romantic comedy that also made me teary eyed at times. It was beautifully written and I loved it!

Thanks very much to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wasn't written from the heart. There was no passion and nothing drawing the reader in to make them care for the characters.

I really enjoyed this book. I love that she's a meme and he's heartbroken because of a reality show. It's a cute concept. This book is definitely a slow burn, maybe a little TOO slow, but worth the wait, I would recommend it to my friends.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

After reuniting after not speaking to each other for ten years, high school friends Levi and June hatch a plan to get back at their exes after each was dumped got someone else by very publicly fake dating in a social media obsessed world.

In the newest YA novel from Emma Lord she mixes, what she does best, the modern digital age with a likable YA romance. Is the ending transparent? Yes, but the journey is worth it.

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I dove into 'The Break-Up Pact' by Emma Lord seeking a breezy, enjoyable read, and it delivered just that—nothing groundbreaking, and kinda disappointing.
As a fan of the friends-to-lovers trope, I appreciated the cozy setting, but I felt the relentless focus on the characters' physical attraction was excessive. We got it—they're attracted to each other; there was no need to belabor the point.

Centered around June and Levi, childhood friends whose messy breakups become social media sensations, the plot takes a twist when they decide to play along with an online rumor suggesting they're a couple. This situation leads to a rekindling of old feelings amidst the backdrop of a charming beach town. (I do love that)

My biggest issue lies with June, whose judgmental demeanor grated on me from the outset, hindering my feelings about her overall in the book. It's challenging to enjoy a story when the main character fails to resonate with the reader...

Nevertheless, there were still pockets of sweetness in the story that I savored, making it a decent overall read. If you're seeking a light-hearted romance set against a beachy backdrop, 'The Break-Up Pact' might just fit the bill.

This is the first Emma Lord book I’ve read, and I definitely enjoyed it! June and Levi are former best friends who fell out of touch, lost their mutual best friend (and her sister), and both ended up back in their beachside hometown after very public breakups. Enter the fake dating romance trope, and the entertainment that always accompanies it!

I cruised through this book at a pretty good clip – it seemed like there was always something to look forward to. I also thought the author did a good job of describing grief and all the assorted emotions that go with it. I enjoyed the characters and their interactions. This was a solidly written romance that I think fans of contemporary romance will enjoy.

Thanks to St Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the advance copy. 4 stars, recommend.

June and Levi haven’t seen each other in years. But when they both go through extremely public break ups and need a break from the negative media, the two agree to fake date. Can they keep their distance? Or will fake dating become real feelings?

Im so torn on this one. Everything was just fine. June and Levi both had moments that I struggled with and some that I really liked and the same goes for their relationship. The hardest part for me was how fast they jumped into fake dating. It’s a shorter book so I understand but after not seeing each other for ten years they immediately start this ruse. It was a a good light hearted summery read and I’m glad I read it! But I also wasn’t blown away.

Quick read for me! Excellent story. Loved the characters. Found a new author to add my to must read list! Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

<i> Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for the ARC of this book. This does not affect my review.</i>

This week, I cried watching Abbott Elementary twice so no surprise this had me shedding tears as well. (I blame overall election stress or something) Grief runs heavy through this, this time the unexpected death of June's sister (and Levi's best friend) and it got me having all kinds of feels about siblings being suddenly gone. But the central relationship was moving for me to, and because I think Emma Lord is so good at YA books, it really helped propel this book into a more genuine territory with respect to June and Levi. Their relationship complexity integrated nicely with what was happening in adulthood and never felt it leaned too heavily on the juvenile, and the characters felt adult despite their long history.

A couple things I was tangled in and didn't quite work though-one- relationships with exes are complex, and the exes in this turned a little too one-dimensional and easily resolved in this one. The second thing that I kept snagging on is that paparazzi were central, and these two had "famous" break-ups. One seems to be from an Apprentice type reality TV show, and the other would have been from a cheating with a Hollywood Heartthrob situation. I kept wondering why they were so interesting. These are not any kind of "listers" yet their snapshots at the beach when they'd be generally unrecognizable kept going viral? In a small town--a town so small in fact that the landlord can tell rent-payers that their biz isn't up to the vibe (it's not problematic in this book in the way I can imagine this could be the complete cartoon villain, but uh wow)???

That said, snippets of this writing and the feels help really pull this one off. Just not as strongly as it could've been, without some aspects to the credibility that even had me saying "really?" Still, given my emotional investment and my suckertude toward second-chancey in love with each other forever friends, I'd be willing to revisit, so it's a 4. But just.

The Break Up Pact by Emma Lord⁣
⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣
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This was a cute rom-com and I believe Emma Lord’s first outside the world of YA. It centers around two high school friend/frienemmies who have lost touch and are both having viral break up moments at the same time. ⁣
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As the story unfolds we learn about their past connections and that their idea to be #revengeexes might have some interesting repercussions. ⁣
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It’s a cute and funny rom-com with the expected bumps and twists along the way to the #hea. ⁣
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Thanks to #netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. This will be a good beach read when it hits shelves in August!