Back to Past Boxes - Afterlight
Emma Lord

The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord (Afterlight ‘Better Than Revenge’ Exclusive)

Featured book: The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord

An exclusive redesigned cover (illustrated by @_quinnasaurus)

Full colour printing on the hardback (by @jessbernadetteart)

Digitally printed fore-edge (@_quinnasaurus); block sprayed top & bottom edge

Illustrated endpapers (by @monikarozaa); different front and back

Signed by the author

'Better Than Revenge’ September 2024 Afterlight Book

This box was part of the Afterlight subscription in September 2024 and is no longer available to purchase

Subscribe to Afterlight Romance

About the product

Two viral break-ups. One fake relationship. Five sparkling, heart-pounding dates.

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 that spread like wildfire online, 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 by pretending to date. After all, that will help June's shop stay open and make Levi's ex realize what a mistake she made.

All they have to do is convince the world they're in love, one swoon-worthy photo op at a time. Then they can happily go their separate ways with no regrets . . . right?

If you love fake dating and childhood friends to lovers, we think you’ll love this one!

Photos by @bookwormgram

'Like your favourite Taylor Swift song on repeat - romantic, heart-breaking, and utterly enchanting' - Ashley Poston

"Emma Lord's adult debut is an absolute homerun! It has the very best of fake-dating (with some delicious meta-commentary on the trope), revenge, second chance, a grumpy hero to die for, and the perfect amount of tea!" - Ali Hazelwood

Tropes for The Break-Up Pact Include: fake dating, second chance romance, friends to lovers

Content warnings for The Break-Up Pact

  • Content Warning

    • Consensual sex
    • Sexually explicit scene
    • Strong language/cursing/swearing
    • Past death of a loved one
    • Grief and depictions of grief
    • Talks of cancer treatment (affecting a loved one) - side character mentioned briefly and is in remission

About the Author

Emma Lord is the NYT-bestselling author of YOU HAVE A MATCH and TWEET CUTE, a BuzzFeed senior writer, and dessert gremlin 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, a whole lot of love, and copious amounts of grilled cheese.

Our FAQs

Explore our Frequently Answered Questions section for the solution to all your burning questions.

All FAQs
  • Will you be restocking any of your special edition boxes?

    All our Illumicrate Editions, Collections and Archives boxes are sold as one-off boxes, which means once they're sold out they won't be restocked in the future. 

    While we don't regularly sell individual items, very occasionally we do have sales of full boxes or individual items we have left over after replacements and damages. These sales are usually announced on our social media so keep your eyes peeled!

    Sometimes we have reprinted book sets such as the Roots of Chaos set, however it is very rare that we do this. We also cannot guarantee any reprinted sets will be signed. As with all of our products, any reprints will be announced on social media and the news section of our website.

  • Can I buy past boxes or individual items from past boxes?

    If a special edition book or box does not sell out prior to the initial shipping date, it will remain for sale in our shop. If they do sell out during the pre-order window (before the initial shipping date), we will wait at least three months to resolve any orders that were damaged or lost in transit. Once an appropriate period has passed for these to be resolved, we will assess the remaining stock and may put the remainder up for sale.

    If you can't find a past special edition in our shop, it means we currently don't have the stock available - sorry for any disappointment.

    We also sometimes sell the books or full boxes from our monthly box and book subscriptions in our shop. If you are based in the US or Canada, you can purchase Illumicrate past boxes from our US website.

    While we don't regularly sell individual items, very occasionally we do have sales of individual items we have left over. These sales will usually be announced on our social media so keep your eyes peeled!

  • Do you ship to my country and how much is it?

    Yes, we can ship to almost every country! There are a few exceptions, currently, we cannot ship to: Belarus, the Canary Islands, China, El Salvador, Guadalupe, Haiti, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Ukraine. This is because our shipping company is unable to deliver in these countries, sorry!

    You can see a full list of shipping rates for our products here. These shipping costs do NOT include customs and other taxes that may be due within your country. All customs and other taxes are the responsibility of the customer.

    If you are based in the EU, VAT is included in your order. You can see our EU VAT rates here.

    If you are based in Australia, a 10% sales tax will be added to your order at checkout. 

    If you are based in the US and Canada, your monthly subscription ships from our US warehouse. You can see a list of shipping rates for the Illumicrate subscription for US and Canadian subscribers here.

Still need help?

Visit our contact page for more details Contact Us