I was so excited when I found out Sandhya Menon was writing an adult novel under the pen name Lily Menon. If you want a cute and fluffy rom-com definitely check out her YA books. This book was so much fun from start to finish! The idea of two tech rivals butting heads until they fall in love isn’t unique but the Make Up vs. Break Up actually made me wonder what these kind of apps would be like. Questions like “what would motivate someone to become a terminator? Is it a full time gig or something for a college student in need of cash?”. I would love a novella focusing on this! Also, Hudson (the bad boy protagonist) really makes this book for me. I am excited to see what more we get from Lily Menon!

Thank you for the review copy. I really loved the audiobook as it was a fun read. I am mentioning this book in a future podcast episode as an audiobook to pick up.

Title: Make Up Break Up
Author: Lily Menon
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (2021)
𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: 3 Stars ★★★☆☆

𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰:⁣
A huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this eARC. Make UpBreak Up has been sitting on my TBR pile for longer than I'd like to admit, I was in a romance reading rut.  This book manages to pull off both an enemies-to-lovers trope as well as second chance love.

Annika and Hudson meet at a tech conference in Vegas, and spend the entire week inseparable and all over each other. Both are tech entrepreneurs and trying to get their apps off the ground. After no communication after their week-long romance, they both go their own ways. Annika, developing an app called Make Up and Hudson, developing an app called Break Up. Annika feels as if Hudson took the premise of her idea and is extremely pissed. He is making a profit on the complete opposite of what Annika believes in. When Hudson moves into the same office building, their lives collide once again.

𝙋𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙨:
• Showcasing two young women entrepreneurs in the tech industry- girls rule! Love that they focus on women rising up in their careers.
• This story seemed very timely, especially when dating apps are all the rage.

𝙋𝙞𝙩𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙨:
• Was not a huge fan of Annika, she came off extremely bratty and needed to take a chill pill.
• Not a huge fan of this enemies-to-lovers trope
• With the third POV, I did find it hard to connect with the characters and the overall story.


Goodreads Rating: 3.22 Stars

Sandhya Menon always gets the emotions write. Extremely swoon worthy adult romance debut. Likeable characters and fun banter.

Make Up Break Up had been on my TBR for longer than it probably should have been, so I am glad I finally picked it up. I had high hopes for it, and there were parts I really enjoyed. I am such a sucker for enemies-to-lovers romances, and I thought the banter and angst between Annika and Hudson were great. The focus on the main characters' individual companies was fascinating, and I did enjoy seeing both of them follow their passions. There were also some really great themes and conversations throughout the book.

However, Annika really annoyed me at times, and I didn't think Hudson deserved a lot of the anger often directed at him. The miscommunication trope was so present when it didn't need to be, and I also would have loved to see more romance between Annika and Hudson, instead of having to wait until a majority of the book was over to see them get together for the first time.

This was an average read for me, but I would read more from this author!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of Make Up Break Up by Lily Menon!

As soon as I heard that Menon would be publishing an adult romance, I knew I had to get my hands on it. While more mature in content, Menon brings the same level of charm and entertainment to this book as she does to her YA novels. A true auto-buy author for me!

I'm a huge fan of Sandhya Menon's YA romances as they're so endearing. This is her first adult romance and it fell a little flat for me. I prefer her YA offerings but appreciate she wants to branch out.

I wanted to love this book. The premise sounds good, and the cover is perfection. Unfortunately, the story didn’t meet my expectations and I did not finish it. I just couldn’t connect with the main character (Annika). I think, I’m general, I struggle with workplace enemies-to-lovers storylines. I appreciate the opportunity to read this one, but ultimately, it just wasn’t for me.

Having heard many reviews from pals and due to the time elapsed, I will not be reading or reviewing this book. It seems to be not my kind of read and not worth my time. Thank you.

Sadly this did not meet my expectations, which was just me hoping for a simple and good rivals to lovers.

I'm going to tackle these really fast and saying right now that my main problem was the female protagonist, Annika. she was just too judgmental to the point of being annoying to read and I hated "being in her head". Yes, she grew up through the book and it is possible to see the changes in her, but it seems to me that inadvertently this character ended up needing a redemption arc that came too late to change my mind.

As for Hudson, there was nothing wrong with him except for the fact that he was a rather soft character with little to contribute, so he didn't wake any spark in me, as did the romance between the two characters.

This book had potential but, for me, it fell flat. I didn't vibe well with the main character and that usually takes me out of a book. While this may be perfect for someone else, it wasn't my cup of tea.

I love Sandyha Menon's YA books, so I knew I had to read her Adult Romance! This was a great debut in the Adult world, and I know I'll be reading her future books!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

Annika Dev is the creator of one of the newest apps "Make Up" and it seems to be doing well, until a rival app creator creates a similar app called "Break Up" and moves his office close to hers. When she finds out about it, she feels hurt and angry and she can't believe that someone who has always been so nice to her, has created something that could destory her business entirely.

This book was the perfect light read for me and was relatable in a time where technology has taken us to finding love on apps, making it easier to connect with someone behind your phone's screen. As soon as I picked up the book and started reading, I was engaged in it right away. The narration and writing was smooth and easy to follow and the book itself included a mixture of drama and humor which kept the plot interesting.

Overall, this was a good story and I would definitely like to read more books by this author. I give this review a 4/5 star rating.

I received an ARC of this novel from St. Martin's Press via Netgalley in exchange for my review. I enjoyed the characters because I always love a good enemies to lovers romance, but I just found this story to be a bit slow at times. I think this would be perfect for the beach!

Make Up Break Up was an enjoyable read with a fun storyline and interesting characters. While I enjoyed the writing and liked many of the character dynamics I did find some parts a little slow and there were times where I found some of the characters a bit frustrating.

Overall it was enjoyable, but I don't think it's a book I'll be revisiting.

It’s sweet and lighthearted novel of love in second chances is a perfect summer beach read. I received this novel as an advanced reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I usually love an enemies to lovers trope, but this book just isn't for me. Nothing about the main character really sparked an interest for me and the enemies part was unbelievable. Ended up DNFing. Not for me but others may enjoy!

I just couldn't seem to get into this book. Maybe it just wasn't for me.
The main character didn't see as much growth that i figured they would. Instead they seemed to be stuck. The romance was alright and kind of saved the book for me.

Fun book, quick read, contemporary plotline. A great beach read. You find yourself rooting foe the make-up.

I started reading this book and then put it down because I just couldn’t get into it. I was hoping after coming back to it I would be able to really get into the book. I’m so sad I wasn’t able to. This book had so much potential but I just couldn’t make it worm for me.