An e-arc was provided by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you so much St. Martin's Press!!

I'm so so sad that I didn't love this book as much as I thought I would. I had such high hopes for it, I've been hearing how amazing Sandhya's YA books are for years but YA contemporary isn't really my thing more often than not, so when I saw that's she's writing an Adult book I immediately put it on my TBR and was very excited to get to it.

There were sadly many things about the book that didn't click with me. I didn't connect with the main characters at all. I liked them but they were just.... fine. I wasn't attached to them, and I'm very much a character reader, I need to at least care about the characters and what's going on with them and ship them.

But it wasn't just that, the book felt unbalanced to me. I like a romance book that includes other things than the ship, friendships, family bonds, a certain important project, etc. But they're there to supplement the romance, you love all the bonds and you root for the characters in whatever they're doing, but there has to be time for the ship as well because it's a romance.

I liked June and Annika's friendship, I liked the cute side ship and the part where Anika talked about her business, inspiring young girls to be business owners if they want. But between that, and the small arc with Annika's father and various other business related things, we did not really get to see her and Hudson grow as a couple.

We spent a lot of time with her hating him and him telling her he didn't steal her idea and being mysterious without properly talking about it. And after that everything just happened quickly and I didn't feel it. Didn't see them interacting a lot, maybe becoming friends with their feelings growing and relationship developing. It just happened and I didn't feel it or ship them which makes me so sad because I really wanted to love this book 😭😭😭

We did get some banter and a cute date in the middle which I liked, but again what happened wasn't enough to build a romance and relationship for me. I didn't see them develop to be a couple or their feelings grow, it just all happened all quickly like there wasn't time for it with side stuff going on too.

So it's a 2.5 rounded up for me. I really wish I could've loved it but I'm still giving her next adult romance and YA a shot when I can because I know a lot of people adore them and I liked the writing, it was easy to read, so I really hope I end up enjoying them.

This is a story about technology, and the making or breaking of modern romances.

I struggled to connect to these characters, so it was difficult to invest in their relationship... but the premise was cute, and I laughed out loud a couple times..

A meet-cute gone wrong, gone right, gone wrong, and now we’re in love! This is a story about 2 budding app developers, Annika & Hudson, going toe to toe in a contest for investment. They had had a previous week long fling in Vegas and just happen to meet up again when Hudson rents an office space just doors down the hall from Annika in the same building and same floor. I mean, what are the chances? Annika constantly pushes off her obvious infatuation for Hudson throughout the book until he decides to give up his app because he’s not happy with it and she made him realize it. I had an exceptionally difficult time with this book. From the moment I started the book, I didn’t like the main character. Annika was whiny and self-centered and, well, kind of mean. Throughout the book it is constantly mentioned how nice and good a person she is, but I didn’t think she was nice. She was kind of brash and hot headed and needed to cool her jets. There were so many cringe-worthy moments that at times I had to skim through a few pages. Overall, the writing is well done, the reader gets their HEA, but it doesn’t have me ready for another adult romance from Lily and I don’t know if I would recommend this one.

I’m a big fan of rivals-to-lovers. I love the banter, the sabotage and the tension that builds until they just can’t stay away from each other anymore. Make Up Break Up is a story of Annika and Hudson, app developers who had a weeklong fling in Vegas in the past but now are rivals competing for investors. Their apps couldn’t be more opposite of each other, just as Hudson and Annika’s personalities are quite different. There was definite build up and steam, but unfortunately, this book just wasn’t a big hit for me.
I love a good enemies to lovers trope, but when it’s all based on an assumption or miscommunication, I want that part cleared up before the last chapter of the book. It gets old when you as a reader know the truth and have to endlessly read the MC pushing the LI away for reasons that you know aren’t true. I would have preferred for their misunderstanding to be resolved sooner. I predicted very early on that he started his app because of her. When he finally tells her, WAY later than he should have, she doesn’t seem too remorseful. She instead seems selfish by explaining that she did what she did because she assumed he wouldn’t return her feelings. I’m all for female power and women not giving up their dreams for a man, but I’m not okay with him sacrificing who he is in order to earn her affection. The ending felt very rushed and unrealistic.
There were some funny moments and I could picture Hudson being sweet and charming. This book was just okay for me, but I would give the author another chance and read the next book.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and SMP Romance for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was an enjoyable read. Annika Dev and Hudson Craft have the will they, won't they element that I love in a romance. Annika is the CEO of Make Up, an app that helps people talk to their partners so they can work through their problems. She and Hudson met in Vegas at a tech conference and instantly hit it off. The only problem is that Hudson is the CEO of Break Up, an uber like service that sends someone to break up with someone for you.

Annika can't see herself being with someone like Craft because of what Break Up does despite their undeniable chemistry. I loved their back and forth banter and the pranks they pulled on each other. I also love books that have strong independent women especially in male dominated fields like the tech industry.

I felt sometimes like Annika was a little young and immature in her decision making (she is only in her early 20s.) I also felt like she was asking a lot of Hudson to just give up everything he built in Break Up. Otherwise it was a great book and I really enjoyed it

I will update with the link once I shared on my bookstagram account.

3.5 Rounded up. I liked the overall premise of this story. I love a good enemies to lovers trope but I felt like it fell flat a little bit. I wasn't all that invested in either of the main characters. I think if it had been a first person point of view it might have helped. I didn't feel the sexual tension and even with the start and stops, I didn't really care when they got together. I loved the secondary characters and her friendship with June. I also felt like the story was a little repetitive. It did have some cute moments and I did read it in two days so I did enjoy it, I just wish the characters had a little more depth.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinions.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the ARC to read and review.

Make Up Break Up by Lily Menon.

Unfortunately, I did not connect with the characters of this book from the first pages and this wound up being a DNF for me.

Annika Dev has one passion in life - her relationship app Make Up which serves as virtual couples counseling. She believes in happily ever afters and second chances. Hudson Craft owns Break Up - the app that breaks couples up. He believes in getting it done quickly and painlessly. How could two people like this ever be together? Especially after Annika thinks Hudson stole the relationship app idea from her after a passionate week-long fling. Make Up and Break Up are going head to head in the tech world and Annika won't let Hudson stay on top for long.

The concept behind this book is fun albeit far-fetched. I don't think either of these apps would be successful in the real world. I also don't think Annika could avoid paying her bills for as long as she did either. But my biggest problem with this book is Annika herself. Sure, she's a badass boss who owns her own company, but other than that she was fairly annoying. Her rationale for almost every action was baffling and her hatred for Hudson could have been resolved with one open conversation.

I also found Hudson to be lacking. If he ever spoke more than a sentence at once, maybe I could have connected with him a little more. In his conversations with Annika, he always felt evasive or condescending. Not someone I would fall in love with. And Annika is a bigger person than me if she can be happy about winning a competition where your biggest competitor drops out. I was surprised this wasn't a point of conflict between them.

At the end of the day, this is not a bad book. I'm excited that Lily/Sandhya Menon has branched out into adult romance. I've enjoyed her YA books and was psyched to get some swearing and sex scenes in this book. But there needs to be more focus on character development and better chemistry between the lead characters. Hopefully as she continues to hone her chops in this genre, these problems will go away.

It wouldn’t be hard to look through our archive here and see that I am a huge fan of Sandhya Menon’s Young Adult romance. Well, this is the same author writing adult romance and it is just as delightful!



Make Up Break Up needs some content warnings for a dead mother (off page in past), hospitalization of father after car accident (accident not shown, but discussed on page), familial arguments, and discussion of a one night stand.

Annika was a delight to read. She was so convinced that everything she did was right that I wanted to shake her on occasion, but it was a lot of fun to see her come around to what the reality of her situation was. I loved the way that this bullheadedness really played into her relationship with Hudson, and how soft he ended up being in the end.

Her relationship with her dad was very realistic, which made things a little difficult to read, but it’s really worth it. I loved the peace they managed to build together by the end of the story.

The side romance between June and Ziggy was absolutely adorable. I would love to see a spin off novella or short story with them as the main characters!

Thank you MetGalley for this book in exchange for honest review! I have been long awaiting this book, and Sandhya Menon is one of my favorite YA authors! I love her Bollywood twist on the classic YA RomCom, and so I couldn’t wait to see what she would do with an adult RomCom and she did not disappoint! The tension between Annika and Hudson was perfect. I really love the idea of rival dating apps - one to find love, and one to more easily end a failing relationship ship - and their witty banter was perfect. I highly suggest this to other people who enjoy witty, hate to love RomComs!

Make Up Break Up is a cute and original read. With strong characters who clash because they have such fiery personalities.
This is a book that would be fantastic as a movie, has everything you want. Humour, angst, will they won't they moments and a great ending.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was very hard for me to get on to.
The main characters Annika and Hudson are rival CEO’s if two different dating apps. Annika app giving people a second chance at love and Hudson’s giving people an easier way to breakup. Who end up having offices right next to each other.

Lots of romantic tension with these to. At the beginning the book Annika spends a lot of time complaining about Hudson and I almost put the book down a couple time.

But I did over all love the slow grow in their relationship. I also really enjoyed the supporting character June!

Annika and Hudson are such fun main characters! Hudson is extremely charismatic and Annika is a girl who you just want to cheer for so she reaches all of her dreams. This is a perfect adult rom-com with a hint of enemies to lovers. I loved the tech aspect and the app ideas that they both have. This was the prefect step up to adult fiction for Menon.

This was a great read to kick off 2021. I know I’m not the only one who has had a rough time reading over the last few months, but Make Up Break Up snapped me right out of my reading funk. This is Lily Menon’s first foray into adult fiction but I’ve long been a fan of her YA books published as @sandhyamenonbooks , so I knew she does a great job of writing strong female leads, male leads with hearts of gold, and wonderful worlds - this did not disappoint! This book comes out February 2, be sure to add it to your TBR list now!

The enemy to lovers trope is one of my favorites. Make Up Break Up didn't disappoint. The tension was strong and the exchanges heated.

I loved Annika and Hudson together. However, I had a few issues with this story. I thought that Annika was judgmental and her growth, while present, came at the end. Hudson didn't have as much depth as I would have liked, I wish his back story would have been expanded more. I also didn't like all of the sacrifices Hudson had to make. I found myself rooting for the secondary characters and would love to see a story about June and Ziggy.

Despite this, I found Make Up Break Up to be a cute love story in one of my favorite tropes. I think many of us will enjoy it.

I love that this takes the rival romance storyline and adds in the timely careers of being app developers. This was such a great read, sprinkled with light and heavy topics, lots of laughs but still real life situations.

What could be more modern day romantic than two developers whose apps are complete opposite. Hudson’s delivers a quick break up while Annika’s offers a second chance at love and hope. The two end up sparring for most of the story with a few brief truces that are truly steamy. Annika is blind to Hudson being besotted with her.. I did like some of the snarky comments Annika made to Hudson. I did think Hudson’s app was just bad and it’s execution equally harsh. The ending was nothing less than I expected. I’d like to see the story of Ziggy and June explored next by the author. I loved that they were Star Wars enthusiasts.

This was so cute! Sandhya Menon writes the cutest contemporaries and this new one under a different pen name was no different. I really liked the incorporation of one of my favorite tropes: rivals to lovers. I also liked the inclusion of tech & app details. It was just really fun and so wholesome. I'm eager to read more of Menon's works, especially her upcoming books!

This was both cute and sexy. I was always excited when I found time to pick it up and read; it was all the things I love in a rom-com read. There were funny moments that brought a smile to my face. There were characters that were enjoyable. They were not perfect, but I enjoyed them all the same. There was romance that was steamy with moments of sweet. I just had a blast getting lost in this book.

One of my favorite aspects of this one was the competing app storyline. It was fun to read about these innovative apps the characters were creating. The fact that this plotline included one of my favorite tropes, the hate-to-love trope, did not hurt either. The only thing that held me back from giving this all the stars was the fact that I did not feel like certain aspects of the story were fully fleshed out. Sometimes a character's words and subsequent actions felt a little too rushed. I needed just a slight more transition and explanation.

I had so much fun reading this though that I can overlook some of this awkward transition. None of that hindered what truly made this read enjoyable, which was a fun and romantic read. If you have been following my reviews for any length of time, you know I LOVE a good romance read. When I find one, I am thrilled. This is up there with the good ones. There is a lot of joy to be had reading this one.

Sadly this was my least favourite of Sandhya's books. The writing was just as easy to get into and addicting, but there was just something about this books that didn't live up to my expectations. I really like the main character and her best friend and was very invested into their business, but ... that was about it. The romance simply didn't feel palpable to me as a reader (to such an extent that the when the main character had one date with another guy for a whole total of 3 pages I then spent the whole book mourning the loss of what the two of them could've had). As one might image, that wasn't exactly ideal when it comes to a romance novel. I then turned to the business aspect of the novel looking for the excitement that the romance itself wasn't giving. Alas, I couldn't really get hooked on the business idea regardless of the protagonist's excitement for it.
Overall, I didn't hate this book by any means, but did ultimately find it to be painfully underwhelming.