Emma Lord is one of those authors who has a couple of books that I actually think about every so often. Tweet Cute was really, well, cute and Begin Again captured my heart. Heck, even Getaway List has a good premise that I enjoyed. When I saw that she was venturing out of YA and into the more traditional romantic comedy with The Break-Up Pact, I got very excited, because YA hasn’t been connecting with me lately. Plus, your girl loves a fake dating trope.

June and Levi were best friends as teenagers—until the day they weren’t. Now June is struggling to make rent on her beachside tea shop, Levi is living a New York cliché as a disillusioned hedge fund manager and failed novelist, and they’ve barely spoken in years.

But after they both experience public, humiliating break-ups with their exes that spread like wildfire across TikTok rabbit holes and daytime talk shows alike, they accidentally make some juicy gossip of their own—a photo of them together has the internet convinced they’re a couple. With so many people rooting for them, they decide to put aside their rocky past and make a pact to fuel the fire. Pretending to date will help June’s shop get back on its feet and make Levi’s ex realize that she made a mistake. All they have to do is convince the world they’re in love, one swoon-worthy photo opp at a time.

Two viral break-ups. One fake relationship. Five sparkling, heart-pounding dates. June and Levi can definitely pull this off without their hearts getting involved. Because everyone knows fake dating doesn’t come with real feelings. Right?

I am generally a pretty big fan of Emma Lord. I’ve always rated her books four stars or higher, but I just couldn’t bring myself to get there with this one. Though the premise was cool (I love a fake dating trope!), I feel like I didn’t get a great sense of the characters and I didn’t really understand why they were drawn to each other other than they used to be friends. There was a hint of spice, which I wasn’t expecting and wasn’t mad about, but there was no chemistry between them. The conflict didn’t seem like it should have been that big of a deal and overall it was just kind of meh. I really did like Sana though…I hope she comes back in another book.

I do still really enjoy Lord’s writing and will read her next book for sure, but maybe this didn’t come to me at the right time. It could be as simple as that. Or maybe I would just prefer she continued to write YA.

3 STARS

“Yesterday, Levi and I were sad B-characters in other people’s romances. Now we’re hijacking the stage.” —Emma Lord, The Break-Up Pact

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.