Thank you Netgalley for this ARC. I enjoyed this romance novel. The beginning was very promising and the rest fell flat for me. The miscommunication was a big no for me unfortunately and I didn’t relate to any of the characters. In the future I’d like to give this author another try.

What a shame this book was so mediocre because I've enjoyed many of Lord's YA novels!

This book was fun but ultimately forgettable. While the premise of the fake dating trope between June and Levi had potential, the execution left much to be desired. The story starts slow, and I found myself struggling to get through the first few chapters. The plot feels a bit over the top, with June and Levi becoming internet famous after public breakups, which didn't really add much depth to their relationship or the story as a whole.

The romance between June and Levi was where I hoped to feel more. Having been friends before their falling out, I expected more chemistry between them, but their relationship lacked the spark I was looking for. Despite a few sweet moments and a nice ending, the connection felt forced, and the tension that typically makes fake dating so enjoyable never fully landed. It didn’t help that Levi’s ex situation became frustratingly repetitive.

That said, the book has its enjoyable moments. June’s personal journey with grief adds some emotional weight, and seeing the rekindling of their friendship was a nice touch. Emma Lord’s writing remains engaging, and while this book didn’t quite hit the mark for me, I’m hopeful it was just a one-off miss compared to her other works.

The was a cute read, but rather inconsistent. The pacing felt like it was either too drawn out or moved too fast. The relationship between June and Levi felt like it lacked a believable connection, especially considering their long complicated history. And the fact that it took me so long to read is a testament to the lack of connection I had with any of these characters. Don't get me wrong, the book had its moments, but I fear I won't remember it in a few days. Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and St. Martin's Press|St. Martin's Griffin for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

4 Stars

This was a cute story that gives you all the Gilmore Girls feels. I liked it because it wasn't your typical rom-com but it was at the same time. The story moved along quickly and it was a nice easy read that kept my attention. The narrators were delightful and easy to listen to.

Thank you to Macmillian Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this audio book.

I liked this audiobook and the narrators for June and Levi. This was a fun and quick rom-com. There was some miscommunication which I am not a fan of, but overall I liked this story. The tea shop and travel shop sounded right up my alley. And the scones! Can I have some now please??

3 STARS

It was predictable and did not have me begging to come back for more. I liked the idea of the story, but it just fell a bit flat for me.

"The Break-Up Pact" made the perfect fun read! I couldn't stop listening and loved the unlikely romance. Add this one to your summer reading list!

Fun, light rom-com read for the summer. Set along the East Coast, it is a dreamy escape from real life. The characters are reeling from their semi-famous exes breaking up with them in separate but recent public ways. Each are healing in their own ways back in their hometown and rekindle their old friendship, which then turns into a Break-Up Pact to make their exes jealous. Very cute, but predictable shenanigans ensue. I felt the ending was so obvious, I did wish for a bit more excitement and twists and turns, but it was fine. Not my favorite Emma Lord book I've read, but it was a good beach read.

This was a super fun summer read with a great plot and even better romance! I will be recommending this book to all of my friends!

This was a fun cute story that was different than my normal genre. It dual pov narration help me visualize the scenes which added to my overall experience. Would recommend.

I'm biased because I love a fake dating trope and it always hooks me in regardless of the story. What I will say that is that I loved that this book had a more serious tone to it than many rom-coms and so I felt like the character development really allowed me to latch onto their stories. Overall, I thought this was a great read and I would definitely recommend it.

Childhood friends June and Levi both go viral for being very publicly broken up with. When Levi returns to their hometown where June is running a tea shop, they decide to pretend to date to turn the situation around for their own benefit. With all their history, it's hard to for the dating to stay fake.

I really enjoyed the narrator's voicing of both June and Levi.

This was a fun romance that also touched on reconnection, community, and grief.

June and Levi were best friends in high school, but a misunderstanding led to them not speaking for years. When both suffer from viral, humiliating break ups, they pretend to date to feed into the tabloid fodder and make their exes jealous. Spending so much time together after all these years brings up old memories and feelings, and the fake relationship turns real.

This is cute, but it’s a pretty run of the mill rom com. I liked June and Levi’s characters and enjoyed the subplot with June’s tea shop. There was an extremely random spicy scene that didn’t fit with the rest of the story at all, but otherwise it’s pretty mild. Thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Emma Lord for this free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I am still struggling to review this audiobook.

The narrator while good, was hard to link her voice to the character that was being described.

This was pitched as a rom-com, but it is a bit heavier than that. It is a story with a lot of mis communications and life events. There are some sweet and fun parts mixed in,

Thank you to Emma Lord, St. Martins Press, and Net Galley for the opportunity to review this audiobook production.

This was a DNF. I normally love Emma Lord, but I couldn't get interested in this story. Maybe it was the audibook format. The narrator was great, but something about this book just didn't work for me.

I loved the concept of this book. The characters were sweet and the setting was lovely.
The talk of scones made me hungry - and boy do I wish I had a Tea Tide bakery in my area!
There was so much going on in this book. Friendship, lost love, rekindled love, love triangles, loss and grief - it seems like too much, right? But it wasn't - it all fit together so well to make one coherent and enjoyable story!
Would love to read more by this author.

<b>Do literally anything—except be single.</b> That sentiment is at the very core of my gripes about this book.

I read and was wowed by Emma Lord’s <i>Tweet Cute</i> last year and that inspired me to request ARCs on Netgalley for her 2024 YA release <i>The Getaway List</i> and her Adult Romance debut <i>The Break-Up Pact</i>. Her YA release was incredible. It had heart and depth, and was so grounded in real-life experiences that her characters felt fully-formed. I saw my younger self in so much of them and was absolutely floored by the whole book.

Now that I’ve finally gotten to <i>The Break-Up Pact</i>, I have to come to grips with the fact that my expectations for Lord have soared too high. This book had a lot of what I’ve loved from Lord’s previous entries—beautiful friendships, a thread of grief, and compelling romance. However, while I was initially thrilled by the romance between June and Levi in this one, I realized about 50% in that something just wasn’t clicking for me.

And this goes straight back to that same old sentiment—do anything except be single. Now, I know what I was getting myself into. I read the synopsis. I know that these two are fresh out of relationships with other people, fake date for revenge, and end up falling in love. This didn’t bother me when we were hearing things straight from June, who had clearly not been in love with her cheating ex for a while—if she ever even was. Her unrequited pining for Levi was extremely heartfelt and achingly juicy. My problem was never with June’s characterization.

<b>The issue lies solely with Levi.</b> Levi is still hung up on his cheating ex. So much so that he gets into the Revenge Exes plot in order to make her jealous so he can win her back. Why tf am I rooting for this MMC then if all he wants is his ex back? Obviously he also has feelings for June, but the constant reminders of his ex (Levi calling her, Levi texting her, Levi talking about wanting her back) majorly icked me out. For his characterization, it was clear that Levi needed two things:

1. Therapy.

2. To be single.

He moved away from his hometown and very quickly got into a relationship with one woman that he dated for several years, got engaged to for another several years, and then she cheated on him with a CELEBRITY, which quite literally put his broken heart in the tabloids. He doesn’t need to get into a new relationship, regardless of whom it’s with. He needs THERAPY, and then he needs to be SINGLE.

Even toward the end, June recognizes that Levi is such a people-pleaser that he let his ex-fiancée control the course of his life. His (now deceased) best friend/June’s sister, Annie, also had a hand in his life trajectory because he altered the entire course of his writing career after she made one disparaging comment. As a result, June doesn’t trust that her input in his life (e.g. asking him to move back to their hometown and be with her) won’t just be another thing he bends to without considering his own desires.

HOW is this man ready to seriously date??? I get it, they’re in love, but not only can he not be trusted to make the correct choices for his future when women are involved, he also just got out of a several-years-long engagement with a woman who abruptly cheated on him that he’s STILL pining for.

Sorry, not a premise I can get behind.

This man needs therapy, and then he needs to be alone, because how the f am I to trust that his HEA with June is ever going to last beyond the one year jump forward we saw in the final chapter? I can barely buy that they lasted a year.

There were some other gripes I had that I found unrealistic, particularly in the last act of the novel. But that throws us into spoiler territory, so I’m going to end this here.

I loved the friendships and the underpinning of grief that is Lord’s signature in her novels. I also loved the demisexual representation we got to see through June. As someone on the ace spectrum, her discussion about how difficult dating is when your brain works the way ours do was so real. But, ultimately, I struggled to believe in the ability of her romantic leads to truly go the distance. I also could not ship them together as soon as Levi’s red flags became apparent. If he had taken a year apart from June and gotten into therapy before reconnecting with her again, we would have an entirely different review on our hands.

Alas.

<b>Overall Rating:</b> 2.5 (rounded up for Sana 😍)

<b>AUDIOBOOK REVIEW:</b> Natalie Naudus just has a soothing voice. She did a great job narrating and portraying the emotional beats of the story.

<i>A big thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Macmillan Audio, for providing me with an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review!</i>

The break up pack book was amazing. I would definitely recommend it to my friends. I give it 5 out of 5.
I love the amazing friendship between June and Levi.
I love how they were able to take a horrible situation, humiliation and turn it into something they both can benefit from. They were able to encourage each other. I loved how Emma incorporated death in her writing. It something we all deal with. But the way she wrote it was a great way to honor her sister’s memories. It gave a great tribute to her sister. They both loved.
What an amazing book! Definitely a great book to read.

I liked this book, but I didn't love it. I enjoy Lord's YA books. They're cute, fun, and lovely, and this had all the trappings of a typical Lord book, but it didn't read as adult. It still reads as YA. So, I'm unsure if I would have enjoyed this more if it had been marketed as a YA or a new adult. It just read young, and I needed a little more for it to seem more adult. I needed more angst, a little more grown-up scenarios, etc. Otherwise, I still enjoyed it and the premise. I just wanted a little more.

4.5 ⭐️ This audiobook was quirky, charming and kept me smiling throughout. My only drawback was this: I wish the author had resolved the MMC's previous relationship sooner, so he had more time to sort out his issues. I enjoyed this one so much that I bought the physical copy & am working my way through the author's previous books.