Break up pact

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Levi and June have both just gotten very publicly dumped by their long-time significant others. Levi comes back to Benson Beach to re-group where June is running Tidal Tea. When they run into each other on the beach, a plan to pretend to be dating to get some of the pressure off themselves. They become known as the Revenge Exes. But June was interested in Levi when they were younger. Old feels don’t go away so easily….

I enjoyed it. SPOILER: I didn’t really like how Levi was somewhat using this pact to try to get his ex back, even though June was aware. I think it made him a little less likable in my opinion.

ARC 8/12/2024

I was able to read an ARC of this story on NetGalley courtesy of St. Martin's Griffin Publishing! This book will be released on August 13, 2024.
I'll be so honest going into this book I was nervous because I am not the biggest fan of "fake dating" BUT this story had two other tropes that I LOVE. "Friends become more" and "slow burn" are my two favorite tropes and made this book a 4/5 star story for me! I really started to enjoy these characters about 1/3 of the way through and I truly couldn't put it down after that.

Levi Shaw was so well written and was the most perfect guy to fall in love with ( I want a guy that will bake me scones!!). June and Levi had such a cute story that had themes of grief, love, heartbreak, family, and friendship. This was my first time reading a novel by Emma Lord and she has a new fan!

This heart-touching story of two childhood best friends coming together after almost a decade apart was one that I could not put down. The whole ordeal started as a fake relationship with the goal to win back his ex-fiancé and to save her failing tea shop — but that seems to change when they catch feelings. It’s a moderately spicy novel that was an easy read. Would recommend!

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'.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for letting me have an arc in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5
I'm a simple woman - of Emma Lord writes it, I immediately want to read it. If she wants me to suspend my disbelief and join her on a wild ride? I'll do just that!
THE BREAK-UP PACT did everything I could ask for from a romance - it delivered protagonists that felt fully realised outside of the romanced, but worked oh so well together that you had to see the evolution of their relationship, it had the addition of a wonderful ensemble of secondary characters, a charming setting and a fun compelling plot. I simply could not put this down (nor did I wish to) and had the best time with it.
I fully support making it your summer beach read!!

Listen, I loved Tweet Cute. A cute little YA novel that made me feel warm and fuzzy. So I went into this book with the expectation that I’d be reading another YA book. WRONG. The adult content is what I lived for. Emma really shines with adult content and I will read more if she wants to write it (please). Love love love the setting of the book. This is one of those summer rereads for me. Can’t wait to own a copy!

This was my first time reading a Emma Lord book and its safe to say I'll be reading more! The Break Up Pact was such a cute quick read, taking place in a small beach town, this book made be feel like I was on vacation. If you love a small town feel, fake dating, and don't mind social media in books, this is the book for you!

I enjoyed the concept of this book a lot, however, it was just not for me. I felt like everything happened so fast. The main characters went years without seeing each other or talking to each other to fake dating right away. I also didn’t really like the female main character. I felt like she was annoying for most of the book. The writing is pretty good and I am so sad I didn’t enjoy the book like how I wanted to .
Thank you so much to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the arc in exchange for a honest review!!

I would give this a 3.8. I’m always a fan of rekindled relationships and fated second chances oh and making the ex jealous is always a fun add in. What was interesting in this book was the inclusion of “social media” or “viral” videos. We all know these can truly happen.
June and Levi seem to have a history but one that just never felt right. And somehow an internet mishap goes viral and they’ve teamed up for some real fun!
The romance heats up meeting the typical friends to fake lovers theme. I love that the author included a backstory on Junes sister, which played as an emotional connection between the two. It was a slow romance, one that kept you holding on to see how it eventually unfolds. There was cute ah moments and some moments were almost too typical, but still a decently written quick read.

Thank you Net Galley, Emma Lord & St. Martins Press.

June and Levi embark on a pretty standard friends to lover journey in this book after both are left wounded by their very public and viral breakups with their partners. While there were aspects of this book that I loved, it took me an unnecessarily long time to finish it. The miscommunication was palpable. All of the conflict between the two of them after their YEARS of no contact could have been fixed with the simplest conversation. It felt like every side character was just there to aid in their journey, none of them had their own personality outside of being a wingman. The wedding plot line could have been forgone entirely and the book would have been the exact same. That being said, there were some cute parts to this book. I really like the baking scenes and Levi’s character as a whole. This book was just average in my rankings, not overly bad but not fantastic. It wouldn’t be at the top of my list of recommendations, but I wouldn’t be adamant on making sure my friends strayed away from reading it.

You will like this book if you love:
- friends to lovers
- slow burn
- miscommunication
- pining
- fake dating

Thank you Netgalley for the Arc!

Thank you NetGalley for this arc.

This is a sweet little romance story about two old friends from high school fake dating to get back at their exes. Everything you expect to happen in a fake dating scenario happens pretty much. Not a mind blowing story but cute nonetheless.

I really found this book delightful overall! I enjoyed spending time with the main characters, and I think The Break-Up Pact does an excellent job of digging into deeper topics within a light romance without weighing the story down. The way June reflects on her late sister Annie feels incredibly poignant, especially thinking about how someone grieves a loved one while acknowledging their flaws. It’s a difficult and messy process, and I thought The Break-Up Pact truly did that justice.

I also felt like I believed the romance between the two characters, even though they both had their own issues to work out. I feel we don’t see enough main characters in romance books that have realistic backstories or struggles, it often feels overly specific or fantastical. But the idea of staying in a relationship that wasn’t working and then trying to figure out what’s next after it ends felt so relatable, and it created a conflict that worked rather than feeling overly manufactured.

I felt the writing was weaker than I hoped. More specifically, I felt the book over-explained things at parts and occasionally felt repetitive. It felt like the book was holding my hand a bit too much.

Still, I enjoyed The Break-Up Pact enough to put Emma Lord’s other books on my to-read list!

In "The Break-Up Pact," we follow June and Levi, two former best friends whose lives have taken divergent paths since a falling out during their teenage years. A series of humiliating public breakups thrusts June and Levi into the limelight, and a mistakenly leaked photo of them together sets the rumor mill ablaze, convincing the internet that they are a couple. They embark on five sparkling and heart-pounding dates, carefully crafting their social media presence to maintain the illusion of a blossoming romance. It has witty dialogue, charming characters, and a swoon-worthy romance.

Thank you Netgalley for the eARC!

The premise of this book is very cute. The two friends that must band together to save their reputation, the forced relationship trope, the journey to watch them fall for each other, it all works, absolutely. For me personally, I feel like this scenario is a bit overdone. The famous-ish friends that are in the spotlight and have to find a way to save face so they lean on each other and fall...I feel like I've read this a few times before. I think if I hadn't recently read another similar storyline, this would have rated higher for me.
The characters are likable, the connection to reality and the importance of social media in our lives was realistic, and they way they connect and come together in the spot light is super cute, but in the end, it's a bit overdone. Again, this could be because I recently read a similar book, or perhaps this just isn't my favorite trope, but all in all, it's a quick, fun read.

as someone who absolutely LOVED tweet cute (genuinely one of my favourite books) i hate that i couldn't bring myself to love this book but i just found it so insanely boring i can't even explain it

Viral moments neither expected.

Ex best friends with something to prove.

What could go wrong?

June and Levi were childhood friends right until they weren’t, an awkward night and even more awkward revelation setting them on different pasts. After ten years, the tragic death of June’s sister, and each of their exes publicly humiliating them in equally mortifying ways, June’s best friend Sana comes up with a PR-minded idea: fake dating for publicity. For June, it’ll give the chance to save her sister’s tea shop. For Levi, the chance to potentially make up with his cheating ex.

June and Levi are characters that I felt instantly drawn to each other; the same flavor of comforting that Lord is excels at in her YA come to life in an adult setting. The chemistry between them was palpable as the book went on and I easily believed that these two were best friends who grew apart with all the things they left unsaid. I was rooting for them to “shut up and kiss already” several times which to me, speaks to the strength in building that connection. The resolution with each of the exes felt unsatisfying but this felt by design: we’re not supposed to care about getting “back” at the exes, we’re meant to care for June and Levi. In this, Lord excels.

A few quibbles that I had really lie in what feels like Lord’s continual attempt to infuse diversity into her books, which is very welcome one, only to see it just miss the mark. Sana as a character feels less sketched out beyond being “the Asian woman committed to diversity” and while it’s an improvement to me that her relationship with June feels real, Sana’s appearances felt thinly drawn which was noticeable since it was her idea to fake date in the first place. Similarly, Mateo is a lovely character that I adored for his quirks and love story with Dylan, June’s brother, but the explicit mentions of his Latinx heritage felt as subtle as a brick. Even in writing this review, sharing this feels like a nitpick since Lord’s attempts at inclusion are leaps and bounds from the countless other attempts I’ve read in romance today. Nevertheless, Lord is trying and has even improved from prior works; I know she has it within her to integrate these worlds and characters together in a way that feels more seamless.

Lord has proven herself to be a star in YA and if this is any indication of her Adult works, I know there’s only great things to look forward to. Funny, warm, and as comforting as a hot cup of tea, The Break Up Pact has all the things that make Lord’s work worth coming back to again and again.

I received this book for free from Wednesday Books in exchange for my honest review.

I surprisingly like this book the development of the main relationship was really well done, and the chemistry was great and so was the banter. I also like the character individually and the growth that they went through. Levi as a love interest was a breath of fresh air, he was awkward, he wasn’t this brooding grumpy stoic sex lord he felt very real and thats one of the things I love about this book the characters felt very real and I was very invested in the relationship and the characters themselves, so much so that I got angry at some of the choices they made but everything turn out well in the end and I mean there is no such thing as a perfect person therefore the best well written characters wouldn’t be perfect and would make stupid decisions that you as the reader wouldn’t agree with.

One thing I didn’t like about this book though was the author excessive use of similes and comparisons. No joke every two sentence we get sentences like “my heart was beating so fast like i just finished a marathon” but more eloquently written but you get what im saying. The author was trying too hard to be deep and poetic and in the first half of the book it wasn’t a problem cause i actually liked the writing but in the second half i just started noticing how often the author used similes and the word “like” and i just couldn’t look away and it was irritating because it would be just a simple scene of them hugging or just simply talking but it would become this two or three paragraph scene that is drawn out because of all the similes and the “poetic” comparisons and it would annoy me because the scene didn’t call for that type of writing and the fact that this happened all the time so it was constant and redundant it was soo irritating. Where was the editor ??? to tell the author to stop using the word like ??? So yeah thats my one complaint the other complaint I have doesn’t really have to deal with the book its not the book’s fault it’s mostly me and the problem is that this book just felt too long. Like after the 60% mark i just wanted things to wrap up and I was getting impatient because I just wanted this book to end, but again this wasn’t the book’s fault this is all on me but it is why this book is only getting a 3:75 star rating from me.

I've read a few of Emma Lord's previous novels and "The Break-Up Pact" seems to delve into more complex and heavy issues. On the surface, it seems like the novel is going to focus on the fake dating story but it's much more more than that. Yes, there are some funny rom-com type moments but it's also about learning to live with grief, changed or different expectations and more. It's about learning to respect yourself enough to not be pushed around by others or compromise how you want to live your life. The writing was easy to follow and relatable; I'd recommend this to my friends!

Big Emma Lord fan! This romcom is super fun and cute, with lots of laughs and sweet moments. Loved it!

Thank you NetGalley and Emma Lord!

I have really enjoyed all of Emma’s books, but this one is my new favorite. A second chance romance with small beach town vibes? I didn’t stand a chance and was hooked from the first page. The main characters are clearly perfect for each other and were so easy to root for the whole time.