Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Title: The Break-Up Pact
Author: Emma Lord
Genre: Fiction / Romance
Setting: Benson Beach
Month Read: November 2024
Book Type: E-Arc
Publication: August 13, 2024
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Pages: 320
*Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Griffin for my advanced E-copy. It has in no way influenced this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
TRIGGER WARNING-
Sex / Language /Grief
"Back then it felt like the grief would swallow us whole. It’s different now, more like the waves at our feet—constantly ebbing and flowing, swollen one moment and quiet the next. A tide I can dip my feet into and let myself feel, or a swell that will hit me from behind when I least expect it."
No Spoiler Summary:
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?
Review:
I'm so behind on writing reviews and I feel so incredibly guilty about it! I read this book several months ago while down in Florida and the setting of the beach was lovely in the warm weather! I did an arc- readathon for my vacation goals and did a decent job.
This book was a cute romance, nothing to super write home about but a fun little read that made me feel good while I was reading it. I love a second chance friendship romance, so that added a lovely layer to the stakes of the book, and both characters coming out of embarassing relationship ends made you want them to succeed. I am also a sucker for a book that features grief, and June and Levi really take you on a journey throughout the 320 pages here.
Overall, this was a typical romance novel, and I wouldn't go into it expecting to change your life, but if you want a little bit of fluff, and to lose your mind for a little while (and who doesn't, right now!?) then I'd say to go for this. :)
Recommendation:
Colton Gentrys Third Act by Jeff Zentner
Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone
Love & Other Disasters by Anita Kelly
"I hope so. Being a self-actualized single woman is nice and all, but god, am I bored."
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