This book was difficult to get through. It was a sweet premise, but the happily for now ending was sorta bland

This has been sitting on my shelf for too long and it actually got me back into reading adult romance! I hit a little snafu, but now that’s gone thanks to Lily (aka Sandhya in the YA world).

Annika is determined to prove that she has what it takes to have her own successful company, an app that helps people get the second chance at love. The only thing standing in her way (and next door to her office) is her one night stand from Vegas, Hudson Craft, who also happens to be running a more successful app that helps people break up with their significant other.

Talk about tension! Hunter and Annika had so much tension, good and bad, that it caused me to push the two of them together in my mind. The connection is obvious and they are honestly the kind of “couple” that know they are meant to end up together, but their pride and their memories of Vegas keep them from taking that plunge. It makes for good tension, though.

I loved Annika’s ambitious and boss girl attitude. She has the drive that other girls aspire to have, but it’s hard to keep. There are moments where she feels let down and like people are against her dreams and it sucked to see her take some of it to heart and let it affect her. When she reminded herself why she was so aspirational, it made me cheer harder for her. She’s got her partner/best friend that helps to keep her on her toes and her head in the game, too. Honestly, Annika is one of those perfect female leads that you automatically loop arms with as you follow her on the ride.

Hudson Craft…sigh. I’ve never had too much of a physical issue with characters, but it kind of made me cringe that he had blonde hair. I don’t know, I guess it’s because I kept picturing him as a wannabe frat boy or some douche at the beach, if that makes sense. His character, though, was pretty entertaining. He’s a smart cookie and he knows how to push Annika’s buttons…no pun intended. I really liked how it didn’t take him long to open up to her and to be himself outside of his business. His true character is pretty relatable, so it was nice to see him toss the mask every now and then. I didn’t expect how he acted near the end, though. Kudos for being selfless.

I really did love everything about this story and the way the plot was held and written. It kept my interest and my only regret is not reading it sooner. Back when I got my copy, I was in a bad slump where I didn’t want to read anything. I think, if I had picked it up then, it would have gotten me out of my slump. I hope Lily/Sandhya writes more adult.

This is a super fun read. I really enjoyed this one!

Many thanks to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Yeah...this was a no for me. I was really looking forward to this one - enemies to lovers in the tech world sounded so great. But that's about all it had working for it, for me. To start, this was pretty much a one-sided hate relationship. As soon as we met Hudson (and why did he have to always be Hudson Craft?), it was obvious he was still into Annika. Their "hatred" was really petty and childish, particularly on Annika's part, and it gave me no real reason to root for them to actually be together. If Annika had just taken the time to actually listen to Hudson, so much of this could have been avoided. Just overall a big disappointment for me, but I'm glad to see that some others have enjoyed it more.

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

If you’re not a romance reader, you may imagine that the average heroine has a cutesy job, like owner of a cupcake bakery or a store selling Christmas ornaments. But today, a lot of books feature protagonists who work in STEM fields; Honey Girl and The Boyfriend Project are a couple of my recent faves. When I saw that Annika Dev, the central character in Make Up Break Up, was an app developer, I was intrigued.

Annika and her best friend, June, are working on Make Up, an app meant to help people improve their relationship, kind of like an AI marriage counselor. Right down the hall from their office is Break Up, headed by the arrogant and handsome Hudson Craft, which describes itself as “the Uber of break-ups”—instead of having to do it yourself, Break Up will send someone out to do the dirty work for you. The app is a massive hit, having facilitated over 300,000 break-ups.

Annika and Hudson had a fling several months ago when they met at a conference in Las Vegas, but now they are professional rivals, as both are getting ready to compete in a pitch contest for a significant round of funding. Since Make Up is teetering on the edge of insolvency as they continue to work on its cutting-edge technology, Annika and June really need to win that money. Meanwhile, Annika’s father, a doctor, keeps nagging her about going to medical school, which he sees as a more stable career than head of a start-up.

Enemies-to-lovers is a classic trope, but Make Up Break Up doesn’t do it particularly well; the leads’ brief affair doesn’t seem to have ended too badly, and the reader just gets the sense that it was a holiday fling that reached its conclusion. Also, it’s hard to imagine Break Up succeeding—I have too many logistical questions about how it works. Hiring contractors to go out and do the actual breaking up in person just seems like a dicey proposition. You have to figure that in due course, someone is going to (literally) shoot the messenger, and then you’ll have a P.R. nightmare on your hands.

Lily Menon is a popular author of YA fiction under her real name (Sandhya Menon), and Annika struck me as more of an immature, petulant teen than an adult CEO. As for Hudson, I was hoping for a deep dive into what makes him tick, but that never comes. Then when you find out that there was a Big Misunderstanding that could have been cleared up with a five-minute conversation… sigh. It’s a romance, so of course there’s got to be a happily ever after, but in this case, I didn’t buy it. I doubt even Annika’s Make Up app could save this relationship.

This one was a struggle. I liked the premise and it started out good enough. The problem was that Annika was the most annoying heroine I have seen in a long time. She was very petty and judgmental. She kept talking about how she wanted to change the world. Okay, she came up with a relationship ad . . . she didn't cure cancer. Calm down. I also never fully understood her app. In the beginning, she talked about how it allowed exes to come together, but there was no explanation. Then it became about an app translating conversations so people could talk to each other better. It just seemed like the app was a bit cheesy. And I hated the way she talked to Hudson. Okay, the concept of a breakup app was somewhat cold. But she kept acting like he was killing puppies or something. Her pretentiousness about the two apps got old and unfortunately, there was zero growth on her part.

Also, why was Annika so sure she would never find love at 24 years old? And she had felt that way since she was a teenager. There was not enough development there to explain why she was so sure she would stay single forever or why she was bad at dating. That part didn't make sense to me either.

I also didn't think the main characters had a lot of chemistry. I generally like the enemies to lovers trope, but since it was pretty obvious Hudson had a thing for Annika, there wasn't much of an enemies thing. The more the book went on, the pettier their arguments became and it just got annoying. I started skimming a little. This one was just not very good, in my opinion.

In Lily Menon’s debut novel “ Make Up Break Up” follows the ups and downs of app creator Annika Dev and her goal in bringing recent singles together in long-term relationships. This novel's trope is enemies to lovers and had me engaged throughout. I recommend this for those entering romance novels and enjoy office romances. I gave this novel 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.

I really enjoyed this! I mostly listened to the audio, and it was perfect! Just a quick, nice and fun read

Recent college grad Annika, opens her start-up tech company developing her first app, Make Up, to help people stay together by assisting with relationship communication. Much to the chagrin of her doctor father, who hoped she’d follow in his footsteps and go to medical school, she finds her business struggling to survive. After hearing a ruckus in her neighboring office’s space, she runs into Hudson, her Vegas one night stand, who owns the app Break Up, which is all about separating people. As sparks fly, the couple find themselves competing for the same award, which could mean either success or failure for Make Up and success or failure for their relationship.

Annika and Hudson’s chemistry is steamy hot! Jane and Ziggy add to the sweetness of this romantic comedy with their unusual pairing. Great storyline without all the eye-rolling silly moments in other romances. Loved it!

I love Sandhya Menon’s YA romances, so I was excited to read her adult romance debut (as Lily Menon), MAKE UP BREAK UP! It’s such a fun rivals-to-lovers romcom! I loved Annika and her drive for her business to succeed as well as truly wanting to be able to give couples a second chance through her app, Make Up. I especially loved the focus on promoting a South Asian, woman-owned business. Hudson was a fun rival with his opposing business and their shared backstory.

Ever since I heard Lily Menon (aka Sandhya Menon) was going to write an adult rom-com, I knew I had to read it. I’ve read nearly all of Sandhya’s YA novels, minus the first book in her fantasy series…yet, and I’ve at least enjoyed them, but absolutely loved most of them. So I knew that if she was writing a steamy book with everything else I love about her novels, then it would be a question of when I picked it up, not if I picked it up. Make Up Break Up really is everything I loved about the Dimpleverse, in particular, and a little something extra.

While it took me longer than usual to finish Make Up Break Up, it’s because I’ve been busy with other things and not making time for reading much. But once I had the time for an extended amount of reading time, I seriously couldn’t put it down. Annika and Hudson shared a week in a hotel room at a conference last summer, but when they took their separate ways and start actually working on apps to bring to market, the affection Annika once felt for Hudson is completely destroyed. Back in the summer, he was planning a visual arts app, but now it appears that he took her idea for Make Up, the “Google Translate for failing relationships” and taken it to opposite extreme with Break Up, the “Uber for break-ups.” Hudson is anathema to Annika’s soul, and enemy number one because his app breaks so many people’s hearts. By contrast, all Annika wants to do is bring people together, to make the world a better place.

Even though she can’t stand Hudson, suddenly he’s everywhere: including in the newly rented office down the hallway in her building. He and his hugely successful app are also the subject of many feature pieces in popular magazines, like Forbes. In contrast to his success, Annika’s app is taking longer than expected to develop a working prototype, which gives her bank the leverage they need to threaten her with eviction proceedings by the beginning of July. She’s way over leveraged and may need to apply for bankruptcy if she doesn’t win the prize money that comes with winning the pitch contest at EPIC in mid-June. But of course, the only way to win is to out pitch Hudson and Break Up.

Like a lot of hate to love novels, Annika’s style of hating Hudson is a bit obsessive. Yes, there is a part of her that feels they’re incompatible because his business suggests he’s putting the opposite type of work into the world. At the same time, however, it’s clear that she’s drawn to him. She can’t ignore him when he’s banging on the gong in his office to denote every hundred thousand downloads of Break Up. She can’t help but find herself getting flashbacks to their week together last summer when he shows up at her yoga studio. You get the idea. The thing is, even though she “hates” him, she is also certain he is more than the unfeeling person who found himself creating an app like Break Up. While this certainty that draws her closer to Hudson at every turn, the chemistry they share sizzles off the page even though the really steamy stuff doesn’t happen until three-quarters of the way through the book.

Just like the books in the Dimpleverse, this novel centres the voice of Annika, an Indian-American woman. (But unlike those books, Annika’s love interest is a white man.) Similarly, Lily Menon’s first full length adult novel creates a world where most of the racism that someone who looks like Annika might experience in the world, doesn’t exist. She wants to give readers, including South Asian women, a book that is a fluffy and romantic escape from some of the difficult things they may experience on a day-to-day basis, and that’s exactly what readers get. But that’s not to say that the novel is completely devoid of hardship—Annika’s mother died when she was a very young child, but she was lucky enough to have a father who stepped up and never made her feel alone.

Beyond Annika and Hudson, the characters with the largest roles are Annika’s BFF, June, who is also the developer of Make Up, and her father, who wishes Annika would go to medical school instead of following her dreams with her relationship app. Annika and June mostly talk about their app or guys—usually either Hudson or Ziggy, the guy June is dating and who is the developer of Break Up. They have a great friendship, and if I didn’t think that June might be with Ziggy for the long haul, I would hope that there was another book in the works focusing on her love story. And often Annika and her father talk about medical school because he’s holding out hoped that she’ll pursue a more “practical” career than a business owner. Clearly this is a source of contention in their relationship, and I, for one, really appreciated that Annika demonstrates good boundaries by walking away from a conversation that she’s not ready to have, and later, finally being honest about how she feels.

If you want a steamy book with great chemistry between the leads and a marginalized character in a teach role, then don’t miss Make Up Break Up!

I enjoyed this book, it was kind of an amalgam of several tropes, second chance romance, workplace romance and enemies to lovers. It was fun to see how the main characters worked things out.

WHY DID I LISTEN TO MAKE UP BREAK UP BY LILY MENON?
Make Up Break Up by Lily Menon hit my radar because as you know Lily Menon is Sandhya Menon. So, this book is her debut into adult contemporary romance. And well, I have read all of Menon’s young adult books so far and really enjoyed them. I was looking forward to seeing what Menon would do writing for an adult audience. However, as my time is kind of limited, I went for the audiobook version. FYI, that turned out to be the correct choice – based upon the other reviews I have seen.

WHAT’S THE STORY HERE?
Annika Dev and Hudson Craft are rival app developers. Their origin story is that they hooked up in Las Vegas, Annika told Hudson about her app idea for Make Up. He then went on to develop an app called Break Up. The concept of Break Up is that you can hire someone to end a relationship for you. The concept of Make Up is that it helps you to better communicate and work through your relationship issues to get you to the happy ending. So, anyways, Hudson just so happens to move his team into the same building, the office next door to Annika’s team. And to make matters even worse, he and Annika are in competition against each other for a major source of funding and investing for their apps. Oh, and they’re also quite attracted to each other despite the rivalry.

HOW DID I LIKE MAKE UP BREAK UP?
I am a black sheep among bloggers in that I didn’t hate Make Up Break Up. I actually did not mind it and did not DNF it. Sure, Annika has her childish moments when it comes to interacting with Hudson. However, as someone who has also acted immaturely, I did not feel like I could totally judge her for being petty. Also, I did like the concept of the two apps and the rivalry and competition. Also, there’s a side character who is a total delight – June. I felt really loyal to her and wanted to see how things would end up for her.

HOW’S THE NARRATION?
The one thing that played the biggest role in my positive regard for Make Up Break Up is Natalie Naudus’s brilliant narration. Seriously, if you are a completionist and want to read this book, I am going to recommend you read the audiobook version. Naudus is charming and wonderful in her narration. The pacing is well timed. The production values are on point. Naudus breathes life into narrating the characters. I really enjoyed the actual audiobook. And at 9 hours 15 minutes unabridged, it isn’t a huge time investment to check out.

I really enjoyed this – the rom com as well as the inside look at what tech startup life is like. However, I found the trope of “girl assumes guy is a jerk even though he’s done nothing wrong” a little bit played out, particularly when it was so clear from the beginning that it was Annika who was being a jerk. The happy ending also wrapped up a little too quickly. In spite of that, this was still a four star read – I really enjoyed it!

I have loved everything YA that Sandhya Menon has written, so I was excited to read her adult debut. Unfortunately, I found that it felt flat and predictable to me. If I hadn't been reading a copy to review, I likely wouldn't have finished it. Hopefully the next one is better. Maybe June & Ziggy's story?

A summer hook-up ends up stealing Annika's ideas and then becoming more popular than her. What else could go wrong? When everything comes to light she wants only the worst for her nemesis Hudson.

This is a want to be light read with competing business people and my favorite enemy to lover trope. I felt like it needed a stronger resolution. The characters were mostly strong, especially the extremely likable secondary cast. There were bits of humor, and light easy entertainment. Good not great.

I don't know the last time I disliked a book this much. it's simply a boring book with irritating characters and a bland romance that didn't work for me. I think the big issue here for me is the storyline with Annika's app. She is clearly a driven woman and I always enjoy reading about characters who are driven and I love even more to actually see what they are passionate about. I feel like in this book, the focus on the app development was too much and it was at the expense of the romantic development. Annika also drove me batty because I didn't completely understand her annoyance towards Hudson, especially after he clarifies her misunderstanding. It made no sense and I felt like she was just looking for an excuse to hate him. I can't believe I'm even saying this because this is a privileged white man but I felt like she was unnecessarily rude to Hudson in her attempt to one-up him (they are both competing for the same investment pitch). Frankly, she was way too stubborn. Her issues with and her handling of money was also a big source of frustration for me, but I don't want to get too much into that. With all the focus on the tech aspects of their careers, I also didn't feel like we got to know Hudson all that much. He was just ... there and I had no real feelings towards him. Menon could not have written a more basic white boy.

As excited as I was to read an adult romance by a YA author, the romance here didn’t really work for me. If we had the hero’s POV, I feel like it would’ve helped and made my connection with the romance stronger. I did enjoy the writing and appreciated seeing female characters working in tech - but the story/romance was very meh and I found myself skimming by the last 20% or so just to finish it.

This book had a lot of potential and I thought I was going to LOVE it. I've always loved Menon's writing style. I'm also super into stories about apps/gaming lately, and adding some enemies-to-lovers romance in the mix? I was SOLD.

First off. I loved the fact that the main character, Annika, is the (young) CEO of a women-run business. She's in her early twenties and career wise, she really has her shit together. She's ambitious and unapologetic. And even though she is struggling to get her app off the ground due to her lack of funds, she refuses to accept money from her entourage.

Throughout the story, there were some heart-warming parts (yay to family love and strong friendships!) buuuuut I can't say more without spoiling ahaha! Oh, and June, Annika's BFF and business partner is pretty awesome and she was a great addition to the story.

However. Yes, Annika has her shit together business wise, but on a relationship/emotional level she is very immature and susceptible. The main characters kept undermining each other. Halfway through the book, I thought this was going to be a 3-stars, but by the end I felt so aggravated by the constant nagging, it's more of a 2.5⭐

Make Up Break Up is Sandhya Menon's Adult Romance debut; here writing as Lily Menon. Most people know Sandhya Menon from her cutesy YA Contemporary novels, When Dimple Met Rishi, From Twinkle, with Love and There's Something About Sweetie.

In this novel, we follow Annika Dev, the creator of a relationship app, Make Up. Even though the app is floundering a bit at the moment, Annika believes she can make her 'Google translate for failing relationships' work. When a rival app, Break Up, created by the admittedly charming, Hudson Craft, moves into the office space next to Make Up, Annika is rattled.

Since their short fling in Las Vegas the previous year, Annika has watched Hudson's star rise using an idea she feels he stole from her. He took her Make Up, flipped it on its head, and Break Up was born. Most infuriating of all, he seems to be having an easier time getting his app off the ground than she is.

Now that their offices are next door to one another, they bump into each other all the time. He clearly isn't as offended by her presence, however, as she is by his. In fact, he seems to be trying to charm her. Either that, or get under her skin. He's devious, it's tough to figure out his intentions, but Annika's head is swimming because of it.

Making matters worse, the two companies are set to compete against one another at the prestigious EPIC investment pitch contest. Make Up needs to win in order to continue. Annika must put her head down and focus, but Hudson is making that really difficult. I like stories set in the tech world, so this definitely checked that box. Plus, having women in tech is always nice to see.

The flow of the narrative was smooth and it did have some solid, dramatic moments, as well as some light humor. With this being said, I was never sold on the romance. Annika and Hudson, I just didn't buy it. I knew I was supposed to be rooting for them to get together, but I wasn't. I didn't feel anything for either of them.

I'm sort of ambivalent about the whole thing. It didn't really impact me one way, or another. It also seemed to end rather abruptly, after a long-slow build-up. We finally begin to get some resolution and the credits start to roll. That's it.

Overall, I think this is a good story, it just wasn't one that I personally connected with. I am sure a lot of people will, however, and I hope Menon continues expanding into this space. Thank you so much to the publisher, St. Martin's Griffin, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review. I appreciate it.