Three stars to this book for being a fizzy, easy read. I picked this book because I've enjoyed the YA by the same author, but the more I think about this book, the less I enjoy it. Like many contemporary romances, there is far more focus on the career arc than I care to read in a romance. The couple does not in fact spend much time together.

First of all, the rivals-to-lovers angle didn't work well for me, because I didn't really buy that the businesses were rivals. They were offering very different services. Aside from that, I could not find myself rooting for this couple. Annika seems like a shallow thinker and a bad boss. Honestly, typical tech type from my experience. The idea that she couldn't conceive of why some breakups are good was weird to me, and the machine learning angle to relationship help sounded awful to me (how many stories do we read about how AIs programmed by humans end up with the same problems as humans? Racism, sexism, etc.) And we never read about how it would really work, unlike the time we saw the breakup app at work and could see what it was about. Hudson Craft as another typical tech bro was just not appealing to me. And we just got SO MUCH of the tech stuff and not in a compelling way.

Speaking of unappealing, the sex in this book!!!! For one, I don't think the sex was written with enough consent and attention to safety for my tastes. And for the other, I think this book wins in having the absolute unsexiest sex act I've come across in a romance.

A very heartfelt book I love the interaction between the character I also love the world bill by the author it made me laugh out loud a lot of times which normally doesn’t happen in books definitely can’t wait for this book to be released I will be buying a copy for my mom

This was a really fun book with surprising depth. I've never read the author's YA novels, but I can absolutely see how her relatable and easy writing style can cross over between YA and adult rom-com. Annika was a great main characters, strong, fierce, yet vulnerable and while there were moments I wasn't sure about Hudson beyond his physical attractiveness, he ultimately won me over too. A great supporting cast of characters and a nice balance of subplots makes this book a winner for me.

Loved the book! Very attractive enemies-to-lovers trope with Annika vs Hudson. Annika is looking to launch her Make up app—a Google transl for lovers and Hudson is successful with his Breakup app—where a Terminator can be hired to end your relationships. And Lily Menon has added in those extra bits of entrepreneur troubles, coding troubles (best part? the right hand coder is Annika's best friend and a girl; no guy saviours here).

I wish I could say this was something special but for me, it just...wasn't. Make Up Break Up fell into every trap an adult romance could fall into -- the constant (and holy hell do I mean constant) miscommunication, the coming into every situation armed with only your assumptions, the painfully obvious ending that made me want to shout at the characters to just GET ON WITH IT PLEASE the lackluster side characters, a painfully abrupt ending (when will romance authors realize that we want to read about their characters actually being together??? I can't stand when books end the moment the main couple gets together), the ""banter"" that just made me cringe with secondhand embarrassment. Honestly, this is not at all what I was expecting from Sandhya Menon's foray into adult romance. It lacked her usual charm and style for what ended up being just incredibly bland. Even the premise is boring and overdone -- if I never read another "rival dating app CEOs" romance again I'll be living a better life.

I wanted to love this so much as I loved her other books, but I just didn’t. I actually skipped past this book, but when my sister suggested I read the book, I decided to give it a try; I was not impressed. This story really should have been a short story; way too much time was spent on why she just couldn’t get over her “hatred” for him. And you had to smelly that there was something fishy when it was never mentioned how they ended things. Two stars because if I shortened the story, I would have enjoyed it much more.

I was really excited to read this as I love her YA books but unfortunately this wasn't for me. I ended up dnfing it.

really wanted to love this. Hate to love is my favorite trope. And I loved this authors YA books. However this story had so much potential it fell flat for me. I really wanted to see more of the MC and the love interest. Didn't seem like there was enough of that. Too much time was spent on the Annika rehashing why she couldn't be with Hudson and how much she hated him and how she thought he hated her when it was blatantly obvious he cared about her. The only parts I enjoyed were the banter between the two like I said earlier wasn't as much as I liked. Annika also seemed really dense to me because of the assumptions she kept making about Hudson that left one wondering where she even got that assumption from. I've been going back and forth trying to decide if I should rate this 2 or 3 stars. Because I did enjoy the banter even if it was far and few between I rounded up to 3 stars. If I could give half stars it'd be 2.5.

Sparks fly and light up the sky for warring, competing tech app owners. Their app philosophies may be vastly different but their hearts long to be united.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was such a good one! If you love romance, AND if you love enemies to lovers tropes this is the book for you. While reading this I was getting vibes from The New Guy and The Hating Game. My two favorite tropes are enemies to lovers and office romances, and while these two weren't directly working together they worked for rival companies (within the same building) it still gave me all the feels I was looking for in a good office romance read! This is a quick-paced read and really enjoyable throughout the book.

This story is about two people, Annika and Hudson, who had a summer fling and now are stuck dealing with each other even though they work for rival app companies. However, once they start to get to know each other Annika wonders if she had her thoughts about the type of person Hudson is completely wrong.


Thank you, NetGalley and St Martin's Press for sending me this book for my honest review!

At times outlandish, but inevitably forgettable romance. Will be perfect for Lily Menon's growing audience.

Two app developers hookup at a conference in Vegas. Then they begin to run into each other everywhere. Annika (our protagonist) is a YOUNG 24-year-old. She is a successful businesswoman with the mentality of a teenager. While this isn’t too far-fetched considering the tech world (I grew up in Silicon Valley) at times I felt her behavior was less relatable and more unbelievable. Then there were situations where the characters were forced to be in a car together, even though they’re all adults with cars and regularly afford Lyfts.

Once I let go of criticizing how over-the-top and unbelievable some of the plot-points were, I had fun. The redeeming trait in this book was that the two love interests had a lot of chemistry.

This is a good transition book for Lily Menon’s readers who grew up with her YA romance books. It might not be a hit for old ladies like me.

I wanted to like this book more. I usually enjoy the trope of enemies to lovers. Here we had lovers to enemies to lovers. However, the whole premise of this story is that the heroine, Annika, is struggling to get her tech business off the ground. She is working with her best friend to create an app that will use virtual intelligence to create a language for couples to heal their relationships. Oh, and it will recognize your characteristics and predict your long-time future as a couple. Yeah, sure. I just can’t imagine any app that would recognize one’s verbal tendencies and come up with language to help you make up problems with your partner.

Her rival is Hudson Craft who has made millions in just a year with an app by which people can hire a “Terminator” who will deliver a kiss-off to a romantic partner and tell that person that you just don’t want to be romantically involved with that person anymore. Think of it as Uber for ending relationships. How odious. Would that really make it big?

Annika despises Hudson even though he’s good-looking and seems nice. But she hates his app and resents his success. She even blames him for stealing her idea. She’s rather obnoxious. But I couldn’t buy either one’s app idea so the whole premise of the book was rather shaky and so I just didn’t buy the story.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

4.5 stars

I loved Make Up - Break Up! Annika & Hudson were just so fun to read about. It’s pretty clear from the beginning that these two are dealing with pent up sexual tension from a week spent together in Vegas. In which both walked away with misconstrued intentions. Normally for me when characters in a book can solve their obvious issues so easily I get annoyed. But the playful back and forth made this book what it is!

This is just an all around good read. There’s humor, romance and angst, a perfect combination. The writing is wonderful and I can’t wait to read another book by Lily Menon! Hopefully it’s Ziggy and June’s book. Hint hint

"Make Up Break Up" by Lily Menon was a cute rom com with a lot of potential. I wanted there to be more back and forth about how sometimes couples need to break up and move on and sometimes they need help to understand each other and stay together and then have there be something of a meeting in the middle between the two sides. But, maybe I should have had less expectations because the ending was a lot simpler and more black and white than that. I also thought Annika and Hudson had a lot of great tension at first in their competitiveness, but it all kind of just died part way through. The ending had a lot of soap opera drama to it and some wrap-ups of issues that were a little too easy. In the end, I just didn't find it very satisfying overall. It started out stronger than it ended, so I wound up a little disappointed. I have liked other books by this author, so maybe she'll come into her own in this new category given time. I'm definitely up for giving her another chance.

I really wanted to fall in love with this book. I love Sandhya Menon’s books and was eager to dive into her adult world (under a brand new name).

This story follows Annika and Hudson, two app developers who after a week of romance, went their separate ways. But when Hudson’s app is too similar to Annika’s, she resents him, and is determined to bring him down.

I know this is Menon’s first move into adult territory, and even though Annika was an adult, she still acted very childish at times. Her reasoning for disliking Hudson could have been solved by a simple conversation, you know, acting like an adult.

So I’m not a huge enemies to lovers fan, and I tried to put that aside while reading this but the relationship with these two was difficult. It was lovers, to one sided enemies, to frenemies, to lovers. It was a weird relationship loop and didn’t quite make sense.

Now on to the story, and the apps. First of all, I hate both of these app ideas. I know its not really relevant, but a) if someone broke up with me via a video app I would be PISSED. That idea is disgusting and a terrible terrible way to end a relationship. b) Annika’s app was just as bad. I have zero desire to have an app on my phone listen to my most private conversations and ANALYZE THEM. I don’t really care if it would be “helping” its still creepy as shit.

Whew, got that off my chest. Now then, as they both try and make their respective apps a hit, Annika and Hudson bump heads a few times. Annika wants to win EPIC so she can finally have the money to finish her app, and Hudson wants to win…for fun? I don’t really understand Hudson’s desire to win EPIC. His app is already insanely popular, he has enough money to buy a giant million dollar penthouse, why does he need an investment? EPIC seems like it’s a pitch contest to get smaller apps up and running, not for hugely successful ones to get even more money. I get that the two needed a reason to be pitied against each other, but it just didn’t make tons of sense to me. Hudson would have been fine without the contest, meanwhile Annika needed it.

HOWEVER, despite my misgivings, I was rooting hard for these two. I loved Menon’s dive into steamier scenes than her YA works, and absolutely could not put the book down while things were getting hot n’ heavy. While Annika’s day to day activities screamed adolescent, her sex life (and thoughts) screamed adult content. I desperately wanted everything to work out for these two just so that I could read more of their private interactions.

And even though it was extremely childish and not a healthy way of communicating as an adult, I kind of lived for the pettiness. I know I said I didn’t like how Annika acted more like a YA character, but I live for pettiness okay? And anytime Annika did something extremely juvenile and petty, I did a little gleeful dance. Her rooftop pettiness (even though it backfired) was on point and I desire to be like her one day.

Overall, I didn’t agree with a lot of points in this book. It still felt young to me, Annika’s behavior throughout the book and her motivations were difficult to grasp, and Hudson’s actions at the end of the book made ABSOLUTELY ZERO SENSE. (Seriously, this book would have gotten one more star if Hudson’s stupid logic at the end didn’t happen.)

But I did enjoy reading this, it had its high points, and for her first adult novel I think Menon did a pretty good job. I’m excited for what she writes next.

Ever since Make Up, Break Up was announced, I had been super excited for it, since I love a good romance novel and I was excited to see Lily Menon's (aka Sandhya Menon's) take on it. Once I saw the cover and found out that it was rivals to lovers I knew I had to read it, and I'm so glad I had the chance to get an e-arc from NetGalley.

Make Up, Break Up follows Annika, the CEO of an up and coming app called Make Up, that she's designing to help couples reconnect and communicate better. She and her best friend, June, have been working on it for months, when Annika's arch enemy, Hudson moves into the office next door. After a week-long fling between the two of them, he stole her app idea and made it into something terrible: a way to dump people completely impersonally by having someone else do it for them. With her business on the line, Annika has to go head to head with Hudson repeatedly as they work towards the same grant, words and sparks flying between them.

I'm going to be honest, it took awhile for me to like both Annika and Hudson to really root for them, but in a way, I feel like that was the point of the story. Annika is quick to judge and self righteous, and Hudson is cocky and uncaring, but their journey together slowly makes each of them a better person. The other relationships in the books were well done though, I loved June and Ziggy, as well as Annika's tumultuous relationship with her dad.

I think my main issue with not clicking with Annika and Hudson was that I had been expecting more of a direct reason for the characters to hate one another, instead of Annika's half hearted claim that he had stolen her idea, and Hudson just not really having one other than retaliation for what she started turning into workplace sabotage. All of my favorite hate to love/rivals to lovers at least usually have an idea of why they're doing things whether it's because of a (reasonable) misunderstanding, past actions or just denial. It wasn't awful or anything, it just wasn't believable enough for me and made the first half a bit rockier than I'd have preferred since there was a decent amount of hate thirsting and I couldn't see an appeal in either character.

While I wasn't quite as charmed by Lily Menon's adult debut as I was with her YA novels, Make Up, Break up was a fun way to kill my time, and felt like a pretty fast read (which is always a good thing in my mind). If you're a fan of rivals to lovers, ladies in STEM or love a romance with a side of family, definitely give this a try!

I enjoyed this author's YA books so I have been looking forward to reading something more adult from her. Unfortunately I wasn't crazy about this book. It took a long time for me to get into the story or connect with the characters and by the time I did, I just didn't really care anymore.

The ultimate frenemy take in a tech-sphere world.... that's what author Lily Menon accomplishes. Picture this: you meet someone at a convention who has the same interests as you. Great, right? But then, flash forward sixish months and this "someone" has the same but OPPOSITE tech idea as you. Annika and Hunter are at odds with one another. They are both fighting for a pitch at the EPIC contest coming up, both needing the money for their companies. Will their connection with one another step in? Who will win the pitch? Did Hunter take Annika's idea? These questions and more are answered with reading, which I highly suggest you do.

Lily Menon writes all characters realistically and I was able to picture myself living in the tech world of Los Angeles, driving along with Annika. This Indian author tackled father daughter relationships, worry in the workplace and angst to a fine degree. Readers, I am hoping for a sequel. I'd LOVE to know what those main characters are up to now!

I recommend this novel to anyone wanting to read a romantic comedy by a diverse author; This book hit all my checkmarks and more. I look forward to reading more of Lily Menon's adult fiction books!

I really wanted to love this book as enemies to lovers is one of my favorite tropes. I also was excited to see a female entrepreneur in the tech space. However, I struggled to get sucked into this story and rarely found myself wanting to go back to reading, which is unusual for me. There are some highlights in the book, for sure, but I think the pacing was off for me and there was something missing in the voice maybe.

The ARC of this novel was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

MAKE UP BREAK UP is Lily Menon’s adult romance debut, set for publication on February 2 by St. Martin’s Griffin. For fans of Menon’s Young Adult novels, this book will be a somewhat predictable but certainly pleasurable--and much steamier--enemies-to-lovers romance.

The book centers around Annika Dev, founder and CEO of an app called Make Up, and her once lover-turned-enemy Hudson Craft, CEO of Break Up. Annika has big dreams of helping couples get a second chance at love, but with her company in dire financial straits, she must win a startup funding contest called EPIC. Hudson’s app, on the other hand, has been downloaded over a million times and is turning into a rapid success, but to continue that success he must also win the EPIC funding. What follows is a steamy romance that develops between two intelligent, driven, and passionate people.

Let me start by saying that I have read and loved many of Menon’s YA books, and so I came in expecting much of what I got: a fluffy romance with an HEA guaranteed. In many ways, you really can’t go wrong with this kind of book.

I really enjoyed the banter between Annika and Hudson. Menon did a great job writing their chemistry and making it palpable from the page. The dialogue was smart and pithy, and I laughed out loud plenty of times! I also genuinely enjoyed the secondary characters. I appreciated the strong friendship between Annika and June, and I found Annika’s relationship with her dad quite touching.

There were a few minor things that I wish had gone differently in the book. The narration was entirely from Annika’s perspective, and I would have liked to hear from Hudson! It was hard to tell what he was thinking, and that did make it hard to connect with him to an extent. I also wish that the novel hadn’t taken on the moral premise that its always a bad thing for couples to break up, because I just don’t think that’s the case. It would have made the conflict between Hudson and Annika more interesting if both opinions—breaking up is bad, sometimes breaking up is good—had been considered equally valid.

One last thing is that I wish there had been more of a resolution, which was really only the last chapter. This is a common problem that I have with romance and contemporary novels, which is that the denouement typically feels too abrupt. I would have liked an epilogue to see how Annika and Hudson are doing in the future (in my head, they’re living in a certain house and are founders of two ridiculously successful apps)!

Overall, if you’re like me and have been using fluffy romance novels to escape the harsh realities of our pandemic ridden world, and you just want reliable enemies-to-lovers with a guaranteed HEA, then go ahead and pick up Menon’s steamy, debut adult romance!

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for the opportunity to review this ARC!