Narrator: Natalie Naudus
Publisher: MacMillan Audio & St. Martins Griffin
Release Day: August 13, 2024
Many thanks to MacMillan Audio for an audio arc of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.
Review:
Author Emma Lord transitions into the world of adult romance with THE BREAK-UP PACT. Fans expecting the normal laugh-out-loud, swoon-worthy romcom typical of Lord may be disappointed, although this story has some of that with a hefty dose of real adult life issues.
June Hart is in danger of losing Tea Tide, a tea shop dream opened by her sister before she passed away suddenly. June's adamant about keeping the shop just as her sister envisioned it, even though she has bright new ideas that might help it compete with other businesses on the beach block. The problem is, June can't make the rent. And now her boyfriend has broken up with her in a very public way. June's desperate, humiliated and out of ideas on how to salvage her sister's dream.
Levi lives in New York working as a hedge fund manager while allowing his dreams of writing a novel to fall by the wayside. He's engaged . . . until his fiancé dumps him on TikTok, and his humiliation goes viral. Levi returns to his childhood hometown to regroup and start writing again. June and Levi were inseparable childhood best friends until a misunderstanding tore them apart. It's been ten years since they last spoke until they come face to face outside Tea Tide. Someone posts a picture of them on TikTok and suddenly they become the new "in" couple. An idea to save them both forms - they agree to fake-date with a friend of June's posting pictures on social media. It'll drive traffic to June's tea shop, and hopefully make Levi's ex jealous. It's a win-win situation. Right? What they didn't account for was the unresolved feelings and chemistry sparking between them.
THE BREAK-UP PACT is a warm, sweet fake dating, friends-to-lovers romance that includes a lot of miscommunications. Readers watch as June and Levi both learn to deal with adult issues such as derailed careers, bad breakups and unresolved feelings while also hashing out their backstories. The tone is more serious than Lord's normal young adult rom coms, but the delivery is excellent with a lot of time focused on the couple's pasts. The public display of their evolving relationship complicates things and is relevant in today's world of social media. Side characters are authentic, caring and supportive, all adding to the overall enjoyment of this story. The pace is slow in the beginning as the author takes time rebuilding a broken relationship that's grounded in some difficult past issues and playing out in the limelight.
I listened to the audiobook of THE BREAK-UP PACT, and it is a delightful delivery of the story. Narrator Natalie Naudus gives an excellent performance bringing characters to life. Fans of adult contemporary romance will enjoy this one.
Synopsis:
June and 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?
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?
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