I was so excited to read the adult debut from Menon. It was okay, and the story moved along well enough, but I was hoping for this to feel more like an adult novel. To me this still felt like a YA novel, with somewhat older protagonists.

DNF this feels very cliched.

**********I received an ARC for my honest opinion from Netgalley. ************

I was given an ARC copy from NetGalley.

I have a soft spot for romance. I love the feeling after reading one, the warm fuzzies from a book that you devour in a sitting. I loved Make Up Break Up. It was fun and witty and the banter between the two main characters was sassy. Their attraction to each other was hot and leaving you wanting more. Enemies to lovers troupe is one of my favorites and this did not disappoint!

I read this book over two months ago but did not immediately write a review. I wanted to take some time to think how I feel about the plot and the characters, especially Annika. I like that she is extremely ambitious and wants to make it on her own without support from her friend or father. However, she is bit selfish and does not understand that relationship requires compromise. Generally, when I enjoy a book, I would go back and read certain chapters, or the entire book. This is not one of those books I plan to read twice.

Lily Menon's stories are always so exciting—she manages to always sweep us away into the romance for a blissful couple hours. I was once again absorbed into the rhythm of her writing, relishing the perfect balance of voice, character, and plot in her stories.

Although, I wouldn't call *Make Up Break Up* an all-time favorite. Mostly on a personal level, because these are some of my least favorite tropes. (Despite being very popular!) **There's enemies to lovers, rival businesses, next door (workplace) neighbor, and start-up tech in California vibes.** I am admittedly more of a best-friends-to-lovers, slow burn (there is some slow burn in this!), cozy type of romance lover. So *Make Up Break Up* and I were never truly meant to be.

Nonetheless, I still managed to really enjoy it, even if it's not the type of set-up & premise I love.

Menon does such a fantastic job of shaping characters who have such immense voices, and Annika is definitely a unique one. Dramatic, sometimes misguided, but full of passion, you'll be swept away in Annika's thoughts and goals as she strives to make her dating app, *Make Up*, come to life. She's entertaining and can be a little bit absorbed in her own bubble sometimes, but a very interesting narrator and main character.

Hudson does not have a point of view in the story, and he's the type of infuriating love interest who's definitely got A Thing for Annika, even though he tries to hide it or is confused.

And I have to say. There was a lot of confusion between Annika and Hudson. From do-they-like-me-do-they-like-me-not to what each others' goals and motivations were, there were a lot of wires and signals being mixed, despite being two very smart entrepreneurs.

The businesses themselves are very contrasting, and I think this was another point that I wasn't sold on. This is absolutely personal preference, but I don't find people who have completely different viewpoints on life attractive, regardless of physicality, so I wasn't completely on the same wavelength as Annika, who kept being drawn to Hudson despite absolutely loathing the morals behind his company.

This is also why I don't love enemies to lovers most of the time. Your mileage may vary, as always.

In short, people who love the tropes *Make Up Break Up* were built on will likely love this story, and if you're not sold on the tropes, you still might be sucked in by Annika's voice, like I was.

What *Make Up Break Up* does the best for me is make me *wildly* excited for future adult romances from Lily Menon—I'm so excited to see what she does with her ability to make wonderful, unique characters, just with different tropes next time.

I’m a huge fan of Menon’s YA stories because not only are they amazing but her characters are people of colour. As such, I was extremely excited to hear she was going to be writing adult fiction as Lily Menon.

Though Make Up Break Up was generally great, I didn’t feel like it was exceptional. I also had a hard time accepting and loving Hudson Craft. I’m not sure if it’s because I was expecting a or hoping to read about a brown boy or if Craft’s narrative/character truly felt choppy and incomplete.

Nonetheless, I would still recommend this book and I definitely look forward to Menon’s next book.

Note, I would probably categorize this as new adult rather than adult fiction because many parts felt like YA just with older characters.

Thank you Netgalley for this e-ARC!

This book had all the ingredients for a fun romantic comedy: enemies-to-lovers, (kind of) rival companies in the same office building, a hook-up before they became enemies, partner yoga… but none of it really clicked for me and I didn’t feel emotionally connected to the characters.

The reason Annika kept giving for the creation of her ‘make up’ app didn’t really work and it felt like there were a lot of other puzzle pieces being forced in a way that didn’t flow for me. The drive for success, inspiring young girls to get into tech, a parent who wants his child to be a doctor and have some financial security rather than struggling even though it’s in a field that she loves… these things all make sense, but in the book they weren’t really fleshed out, the language felt stilted to me, and as a reader I felt like I was reading an unfinished draft of what the author wanted to be included in the book rather than being immersed in the story itself.

A fun, light-hearted rom-com with the enemy to lover feel. The angst is pretty light compared to most romance genre and the character development on tad on the sparse side. However, the storyline is relevant to the times with rival start-up App companies and a Millenial feel. Overall, fun read. 3 stars.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC of #MakeUpBreakUp which was read and reviewed voluntarily. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What happens when your summer hookup steals your ideas, becomes more popular than you, and then moves next to your office?

Yes, this it's exactly what happens to Annika Dev. When she finds out, she wants to hurt Hudson!

Annika believes in love and in getting a second chance. At least, she believes her new app can do it. Make Up is the app that could bring couples together. She knows it can be successful. Yet, she is in dire straights. Financially, her company is a mess. She needs an influx of money or she will have to admit bankruptcy. On top of everything else, she can't forget her time with Hudson in Las Vegas.

Hudson is at the top of his game. His app Break Up is a success and money is rolling in. He has accomplished so much in such a short time. The phone won't stop ringing and even famous magazines want to interview him.

Then, a chance to pitch their apps against each other comes up, and neither want to lose the opportunity of gaining the support and money this contest will bring. But can these enemies who have been lovers continue on this path?

~~

I hate to say it but I couldn’t connect with the main characters. I thought Annika was too tough on Hudson all the time.

In addition, the resolution of their conflict was a weak one and I felt Hudson lost too much in the bargain.

I did enjoy the secondary characters and their relationship. It was a plus to the story.

Cliffhanger: No

2/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by St. Martin's Griffin via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the diverse characters and the premise of this book! It took me a bit longer than I expected to get into it, but once I did, I flew through it in one day! It was fun, lighthearted, and a compelling romance.

Review posted on GoodReads (October 14, 2020)
Review Linked.

3.75/5 stars! Rounded up to 4 stars.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an E-ARC of this book for an honest review.

I have been a fan of Menon's writing for years. Her YA Contemporary romances are some of my favorite romances of all time. That is why I was super excited to read this book.

I did like this book, but it wasn't as good as I was hoping it would be. I went into reading this with really high expectations and those expectations were not met. I did end up liking the characters, the romance, and the story. However, in the end, it was just missing something for me. I think it was missing the spark and magic that her other romances have had. It was good, but it felt like she changed her writing style a lot because she is now writing adult romance instead of YA romance.

In the end, I liked this book, but I didn't love it like I was hoping to.

Thanks for reading!
Caden

Two rivals with a steamy history are brought together once again when Hudson CEO of the rising Break Up App moves into the office next door to Annika CEO of the struggling Make Up App. Annika isn’t only envious of Hudson’s success she angry; you would be too if your summer fling stole your idea.

Annika believes in love and wants to give couples a second chance at love with her app. Annika and Make Up are running out of money and desperately need an influx of cash that would come from winning the EPIC Pitch contest. The problem though is she has some tough competition. Not only is Break Up on the rise and being featured in prestigious magazines and speaking engagements they are also competing at the EPIC Pitch contest.

This book reminded me of You Deserve each other by Sarah Hogle but more on the tame side. I loved the dynamic of the two main characters, especially the way it progressed and evolved towards the end of the book. Sabotage is talked about quite a bit throughout the book leading up to the contest and the “sabotage’’ that does take place was kind of disappointing.

There are the cliches we see often in Romance books but I enjoyed the dynamics between all the characters including Annika and her friend June. The one thing I really didn’t like about the book was the ending, with the scale of drama that came at the end it just wrapped up to quick and easy for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sharing this ARC with me in exchange my honest review.

Annika meets Hudson in Vegas at a conference and they spend the next 7 days together. After leaving Vegas she and her best friend June work on starting their new business called Make Up an app to give couples a second chance. While at their office she gets distracted from a gong sounding in the office next door. When she goes to see what is going on she finds adults cheering, playing with nerf guns and hitting a gong. She never expected that Hudson would be one of the people she would see, and that his new app Break Up would be her new office neighbor. It would have been great to see him if hia app wasn't the complete opposite of hers and making a lot of money while hers wasn't even finished.

In this steamy romance novel set in LA, Annika and Hudson are work rivals after they both develop dating-centric apps, and just by that core detail, it's evident we're about to get a delicious enemies to lovers romance here. Menon's novel features witty language and smart female protagonists, which like yes, please! So, Annika is the CEO of her app Make Up, which specializes in helping couples stay together, while Hudson is the CEO of his already more successful app Break Up, which hires terminators to break up with your partner on your behalf. With her business failing, her last hope is to win a pitch competition for a major influx of capital. Which, surprise, he needs to continue growing his firm. Also, it turns out these rivals already met, when they spent the week at a conference in Vegas the year prior hanging out and hooking up. The plot thickens as she belives he stole and tweaked her app idea after Vegas and then rented the office down the hall from hers, also that he always seems to end up where she is. In the workplace, they start to play silly pranks on each other in a quest to win, but you can't ignore how freaking flirty this dude is, like come on, boy's got a massive crush and she can't stop thinking about that night in Vegas. It turns out he's just a good guy that likes the girl and less of an enemy, which like, it's so predictably cute. Like, he's basically a lost puppy dog following her around, just in love. And this book is Annika attempting to catch up to him.

The book's slow-burn and banter are paced exactly right that's teasing, but still intriguing that you just want to keep reading. Also, Annika is Indian American, which I love to see more diverse love stories in romance because romance isn't exclusive to white couples, that's not realistic, so that aspect was great too. Speaking of their love story, man, Annika and Hudson have so much fiery chemistry and that massive spark, even when she goes on another date, it's clear what A and H have. That spark's on fire and it's electric. It may be predictable in terms of plot and tropes, but I loved it all the same in part to the dynamic characters. It's quite a steamy enemies to lovers, and that's delicious, and I love it and just can't stop reading. It's a quick, all-consuming, can't-put-it-down romance read that I finished in one night and one sitting.

Towards the end, this book does get super emotional and vulnerable, and full of heart. But at the end, I don't know why, but I was literally laughing out loud at the real reasons they both made their apps. But yea, that was such an engaging, witty romance that I definitely, very much enjoyed. The HEA was just adorable, but I just wanted more, a flash-forward, an epilogue, something more. It was a one-nighter book and I just couldn't put it down, it was that fun and engaging.

This was an enjoyable read and I would definitely purchase for my library and recommend to certain patrons. I enjoyed the setting of the start up world and mostly enjoyed the characters.

Super cute and funny book. A really easy nice weekend read type. I read it in a few hours. Definitely one to check out.

Every book Menon writes is a joy to read. Given the opportunity to read her first adult rom-com is a privilege. To be honest, I was a bit scared because I didn't know what I should expect. The story unwrapped itself in a steady rhythm and focused on the two characters in the spotlight as individuals before they became entangled. Putting their dreams and hopes first and focusing on the evolving relationship as a second, was a great choice and something I want to see more about in storytelling.
Annika and Hudson are such different personalities, but that makes them kind of interesting - for each other as well as for the readers. You have two people who build their business from scratches by themselves, while being stuck in their lives as well, not knowing that the answers are in hands length.
Modern, sweet, heartbreaking. Thank you.

Make Up Break Up is a steamy romance novel about two app developers who have a love/hate/love relationship. After meeting in Vegas at a conference, and having a week-long love affair, Annika and Hudson go their separate ways. Until Hudson and his incredibly successful app (an app that Annika swears he stole her idea for) show up next door to Annika's office.

t took me about 25% of the book before I was really hooked. The beginning of the book really focused on Annikas hate for Hudson and felt slightly repetitive. But, once I was further into the story, and was able to see the connection grow, I couldn't stop flipping the pages and rooting for these two. I found myself screaming JUST KISS ALREADY.

Overall, this book is a cute romcom story that I would recommend to anyone who loves a good romance story, or who is looking for a light read!

Thanks to NetGalley & St.Martins Press for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for my honest review.

Make Up Break Up was a truly lovely book. A fun modern romcom staring Annika Dev founder and CEO of Make Up an app to help couples communicate better and Hudson CEO of Break Up an app to help you break up. It was so refreshing to see a woman portrayed as the founder of a tech company and also the heroine. I would love to see more from her best friend June! The end really got to me and I was tearing up. I wish there had been an epilogue or a one year later so I could see where everyone ended up. Hey Netflix, this would make an adorable book to screen adaptation, I think fans of To All The Boys I've Loved Before and The Kissing Booth would really be into it!
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Girl meets boy at tech conference. Girl falls for boy in bed at the conference. Girl leaves boy in bed on the last day of conference so she doesn’t get her heart broken by said boy.

Annika is facing some problems. Her start up isn’t a raging success like she thought it would be. The grant she received for the start up as dried up and she is facing bankruptcy and eviction on her office. Her app Make Up is listens to your love languages as you speak to find problems and misinterpretations in your conversations. Her new neighbors (the opposite of hers and archenemy) an app opposite of hers Break Up has a gong that they ring every time there is a celebration. Turns out the gong ringer is Hudson Craft the boy from the conference.