Sophie Reads YA: Emma Lord

Waiting On Wednesday: The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord

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ARC Review: The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord

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The Break-Up Pact
Series: None
Author: Emma Lord
Published August 13th 2024 by St. Martin's Griffin/Piatkus

Goodreads Synopsis
Two best friends who haven’t spoken in ten years pretend to date after break-ups with their respective exes go viral, in this delightfully fun and deeply emotional new novel from New York Times bestselling author Emma Lord.

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?
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

In The Break-Up Pact, former best friends June and Levi are recovering from humiliating break-ups, which have taken TikTok by storm. Both back in their beachside hometown, a photo taken of the pair on the beach one morning makes everyone, including talk show hosts, think they're together, and putting aside their differences, they decide to roll with it and convince everyone they're a couple, if only to help June with her store - which has had more custom in the past few days than ever before - and make Levi's ex jealous. They know each other inside out, so it won't be hard to convince the world that they're in love. The hard thing will be convincing themselves that it's all 'pretend'.

I have loved all of Emma's YA books, so seeing that she had an adult book coming out, I knew I needed to get my hands on it. As soon as my eARC arrived on my kindle, I had to dive in, and it was so worth it! Levi and June were the best of friends all throughout their childhood. But a misunderstanding in their senior year led to a break in the friendship that has never recovered. Facing public humiliation at the hands of their ex's, and both home, they reminisce on the beach one morning, and a would-be pap's photo soon goes viral. Rather than face more humiliation, they decide to let bygones be bygones and have a bit of fun with it all. Pretending to be in love isn't hard when there's always been feelings there, and a few well time photos will help convince the world that they're over the break-ups, and don't need any more pity. This book had one of the best fake-dating plot lines that I've ever seen, and it's always better when there's a past there to give the romance stronger foundations. The book isn't all fun though, there's some really hard hitting plot points, especially with June's struggles with the tea shop. However, Emma executed them carefully, and they helped the story, rather than hindering it. Such a solid adult debut from one of my already favourite authors!

Dates Read:
September 27-29, 2023

Rating
4 Stars

Emma Lord

Waiting On Wednesday: The Getaway List by Emma Lord

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4 Stars

ARC Review: Begin Again by Emma Lord

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Begin Again
Series: None
Author: Emma Lord
Published January 24th 2023 by Wednesday Books

Goodreads Synopsis
As usual, Andie Rose has a plan: Transfer from community college to the hyper competitive Blue Ridge State, major in psychology, and maintain her lifelong goal of becoming an iconic self-help figure despite the nerves that have recently thrown her for a loop. All it will take is ruthless organization, hard work, and her trademark unrelenting enthusiasm to pull it all together.

But the moment Andie arrives, the rest of her plans go off the rails. Her rocky relationship with her boyfriend Connor only gets more complicated when she discovers he transferred out of Blue Ridge to her community college. Her roommate Shay needs a major, and despite Andie’s impressive track record of being The Fixer, she’s stumped on how to help. And Milo, her coffee-guzzling grump of an R.A. with seafoam green eyes, is somehow disrupting all her ideas about love and relationships one sleep-deprived wisecrack at a time.

But sometimes, when all your plans are in rubble at your feet, you find out what you’re made of. And when Andie starts to find the power of her voice as the anonymous Squire on the school’s legendary pirate radio station–the same one her mom founded, years before she passed away–Andie learns that not all the best laid plans are necessarily the right ones.

Filled with a friend group that feels like family, an empowering journey of finding your own way, and a Just Kiss Already! romance, Begin Again is an unforgettable novel of love and starting again.
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.

Andie Rose was devastated when she was wait listed for her dream school, Blue Ridge State, but she worked her butt off to transfer as a late entry. Hoping to surprise her boyfriend, she arrives at the school unexpectedly, and discovers that he has transferred out to her community college. Just when she thought things wouldn't get harder, she fails her first exam, her room mate needs a major, and she needs a job for the work study. And her RA, Milo, is always in her thoughts, as well as the mystical Knight who runs the pirate radio station. Andie runs her way ragged and soon finds she needs to begin again.

When I heard about this book, I knew it was one for me. I've loved Emma's previous books and the synopsis for Begin Again was more than enticing. I really appreciated Andie's story. She lost her mom when she was younger, and all she wanted was to be able to follow in her mothers footsteps, go to Blue Ridge State, gather the ribbons, and join one of the secret societies after her freshman year. Bad luck meant she didn't get in straight away, but she worked hard to transfer, and as soon as she arrived, she never stopped. She was doing everything: working, studying, gathering as many ribbons as possible, trying to find Shay a major, helping Milo, and keeping up with Connor. Really, it was no surprise when she burnt out. I hated seeing those chapters, but Andie was made of strong stuff, and she had the right people around her when she needed them. I knew Connor was a jerk, so wasn't surprised by that plot line, but thank god Andie had her wits about her. The epilogue was great, and it was lovely to see how the characters progressed from the ending of the book. Another great book by Emma.

Dates Read:
December 18-22, 2022

Rating
4 Stars

2021 New Release challenge

ARC Review: You Have a Match by Emma Lord

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Emma Lord

Waiting On Wednesday: You Have a Match by Emma Lord

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Emma Lord

Waiting On Wednesday: Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

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Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pick is:

Tweet Cute
Series: None
Author: Emma Lord
Published January 21st 2020 by Wednesday Books

Goodreads Summary
A fresh, irresistible rom-com from debut author Emma Lord about the chances we take, the paths life can lead us on, and how love can be found in the opposite place you expected.

Meet Pepper, swim team captain, chronic overachiever, and all-around perfectionist. Her family may be falling apart, but their massive fast-food chain is booming ― mainly thanks to Pepper, who is barely managing to juggle real life while secretly running Big League Burger’s massive Twitter account.

Enter Jack, class clown and constant thorn in Pepper’s side. When he isn’t trying to duck out of his obscenely popular twin’s shadow, he’s busy working in his family’s deli. His relationship with the business that holds his future might be love/hate, but when Big League Burger steals his grandma’s iconic grilled cheese recipe, he’ll do whatever it takes to take them down, one tweet at a time.

All’s fair in love and cheese ― that is, until Pepper and Jack’s spat turns into a viral Twitter war. Little do they know, while they’re publicly duking it out with snarky memes and retweet battles, they’re also falling for each other in real life ― on an anonymous chat app Jack built.

As their relationship deepens and their online shenanigans escalate ― people on the internet are shipping them?? ― their battle gets more and more personal, until even these two rivals can’t ignore they were destined for the most unexpected, awkward, all-the-feels romance that neither of them expected.

Goodreads

Why I'm waiting:

This book was just utter perfection, and I need more people to have read it so I can scream about it!

Read my review, here!

Are you waiting for this book? Have you already read it? Let me know :)

5 Stars

Blog Tour & ARC Review: Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

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Tweet Cute
Series: None
Author: Emma Lord
Published January 21st 2020 by Wednesday Books

Goodreads Synopsis
A fresh, irresistible rom-com from debut author Emma Lord about the chances we take, the paths life can lead us on, and how love can be found in the opposite place you expected.

Meet Pepper, swim team captain, chronic overachiever, and all-around perfectionist. Her family may be falling apart, but their massive fast-food chain is booming ― mainly thanks to Pepper, who is barely managing to juggle real life while secretly running Big League Burger’s massive Twitter account.

Enter Jack, class clown and constant thorn in Pepper’s side. When he isn’t trying to duck out of his obscenely popular twin’s shadow, he’s busy working in his family’s deli. His relationship with the business that holds his future might be love/hate, but when Big League Burger steals his grandma’s iconic grilled cheese recipe, he’ll do whatever it takes to take them down, one tweet at a time.

All’s fair in love and cheese ― that is, until Pepper and Jack’s spat turns into a viral Twitter war. Little do they know, while they’re publicly duking it out with snarky memes and retweet battles, they’re also falling for each other in real life ― on an anonymous chat app Jack built.

As their relationship deepens and their online shenanigans escalate ― people on the internet are shipping them?? ― their battle gets more and more personal, until even these two rivals can’t ignore they were destined for the most unexpected, awkward, all-the-feels romance that neither of them expected.
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

This book has been on my radar ever since it was first announced. When the email came through asking if I would like to take part in the blog tour, I jumped at the chance, and actually read the book the very next day, after my copy arrived. Tweet Cute is a sort of You've Got Mail spin on YA contemporary. Both of our main characters, Pepper and Jack, are the children of burger chain owners, and find themselves in charge of the social media accounts for the companies. When Big League Burger, the company owned by Pepper's parents, introduce a new Grilled Cheese sandwich that is neigh on identical to the one that Girl Cheese have been selling for years, down to the name, it's on. Soon, a twitter spat is started, and to make matter's worse, Pepper and Jack are actually school mates, who have to work together as respective captains of the swim and dive teams. To add another layer to the story, both have been communicating with each other, unknowingly, through the anonymous Weazel app that Jack created for the school, and have been falling for each. With the gloves are on, and the gauntlet thrown, they will stop at nothing to win, and not even their budding feeling will get in the way (even with the world shipping them)

When I mean I read the book the next day, I mean that I spent two hours doing nothing but reading, and wouldn't move or do anything until I was finished - everything about the book was outstanding, and I refused to miss a minute until I was done. If I hadn't already known this was a debut, I would've expected this to have been the author's tenth published work, or something. The plot line was phenomenal, with the action gripping you on every page, and the characters were so relatable, and real, that I wish I actually know them.

To start with Jack, he's a twin, but not the 'popular' twin. His brother Ethan is beloved by all, and most people can't tell them apart, and when they realise Jack is not his brother, they're clearly disappointed. Pepper, however, has always been able to tell them apart, and this has partly endeared her to him from the first time they met in freshmen year. He seems to think his family prefer Ethan, as he's always allowed to skive off from working in the restaurant, whereas Jack always picks up the slack, and they don't understand his love of app development and coding. Pepper, on the other hand, is focused, and really really smart, too. She moved from Nashville to New York the summer before freshman year, and her first day at the exclusive school was an eye opener. Within a few weeks, she learnt how to fit in, and is now wading like a swan through life, juggling her school work, her swimming, the pressure her mam places on her with the twitter stuff, and her family's disfunctionality. Her only saving grace is talking to Wolf via Weazel, and the thrill that is coming from the interactions with Jack via twitter.

The romance in this book was second to none. Jack and Pepper might just be my ship of 2020, and this is currently the only 2020 book I've read. From the first interaction, the chemistry is off the page, and once we add the tension of school and twitter, I felt like screaming at them to kiss. They've both been the only people to really see the other, and not see the facade or public persona they put on. Even with the tension of the twitter spat, they lean on each other, and try to make sure it never goes really personal. Each reveal parts of themselves to the other, and there are some really sweet moments between them, that have nothing to do with their relationship or anything else.

There is a bit of angst in the book - understandably - and the hints of a love triangle, but it's nothing to worry about. All in all, this book was just outstanding, to repeat myself, and if I can't convince you to buy a copy, I don't know what will.

Dates Read:

August 31, 2019

Rating
5 Stars

About Emma Lord:
Emma Lord is a digital media editor and writer living in New York City, where she spends whatever time she isn’t writing either running or belting show tunes in community theater. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a major in psychology and a minor in how to tilt your computer screen so nobody will notice you updating your fan fiction from the back row. She was raised on glitter, grilled cheese, and a whole lot of love. Her sun sign is Hufflepuff, but she is a Gryffindor rising. TWEET CUTE is her debut novel. You can find her geeking out online at @dilemmalord on Twitter.
LINKS: Twitter | Goodreads