4/5⭐️ to Make Up Break Up by Lily Menon. Thank you to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for early access to the egalley!

I was really excited to see Menon’s first adult romance, as I am a huge fan of her YA contemporary romance. I thought this one was intriguing, delightful, and I’ll definitely be reading more of her romances in the future! The premise was super fun, with our MC Annika heading an app that gives couples a second chance, and Hudson, who’s app helps couples break up. I felt the tension between them from the first pages, though the romantic tension didn’t really build until much later. It did make it quite satisfying when they did finally get together in the end. The tension and disagreements between them made sense, for the most part, and worked really well for the overall worry! And the date scenes were super cute! I feel like there could’ve been more character growth on Annika’s part as she was a bit intense and potentially unlikeable with how she treated Hudson, and she didn’t really work on that during the book. I did really appreciate the depth & complexity added to her with her relationship with her dad! It was super sweet & the emotion really made me feel for her! Finally, there was some great discussion on pursuing what you’re passionate about and balancing that against the dreams and hopes your parents have for you. This book is definitely worth checking out!

This was my first Lily Menon (A.K.A the very popular Sandhya Menon) book, and I really enjoyed reading it! ❤ A love story between the owners of two rival apps (which follow completely different philosophies) sounds like the best thing ever, right? 💕

My favorite thing about the enemies-to-lovers trope is how we get to see the main characters gradually start seeing the other in a different light. This was just the cake of Make Up Break Up too. I loved the twists and turns that Annika and Hudson's relationship took. It had the perfect amount of angst, slow-burn and drama. The author didn't try to sugar-coat the differences in Annika and Hudson's opinions about love, rather she gave them space to grow together and understand where the other person is coming from.

I would have given this book 5 stars, but the slowness of the story at the beginning, along with a lot of things happening all at once in the end made me disappointed. :( But don't let that stop you reading Make Up Break Up though. It's a delightful story. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

When I started reading this story I wasn’t at all sure I was going to enjoy it. The two main characters, Annika and Hudson seemed a very unlikely match, and even though they had a fling a while before they set up their companies, it seemed clear they were never going to be friends - at all. They were, like the software they were developing, opposite ends of the spectrum, and both appeared to want to destroy the others’ business. Hudson though, was already very rich and successful, whereas Annika had not got started yet, and was perilously short of money. I liked June though, she was amusing, hard-working and friendly, the perfect sounding board for Annika.

It was worth persevering though, because once they had the opportunity to really talk you had the opportunity to see the people behind the hostile facades, much more interesting. There are several twists and turns in their relationship before their happy ever after looks possible, in fact it takes a very dramatic event to make both of them realise what is really important. It is a good story, worth reading. I will look out for this author in future.

I thoroughly enjoyed this! Slowburns are so so for me, but this one struck a chord. I loved the unusual meeting place and the rivalry that ensues. Enemies to lovers meets romcom, and techie stuff? Count me in!

This slow burn romcom is about Annika & Hudson who meet up at Tech Conference in Vegas with a not so positive outcome. Flash forward to the present day and they have become rivals with their relationship apps. They find themselves presenting their platforms at another conference in Napa for some angel funding. Will Annika’s Make Up app or Hudson’s Break Up app receive the funding. Pick up a copy to find out! Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Annika Dev is creating an app with her best friend that will give couples tools to help mend breaks in their relationships and level up their communication. The tech they are working on is cutting edge, and Annika is proud of what she’s doing.

Along comes Hudson Craft with his app, Break Up, where they will essentially break up with someone on your behalf. It’s become wildly successful since it launched and basically goes against everything Annika believes in.

To rub salt into the wound, Annika and Hudson hooked up at a conference in Vegas, and now the annoying, and annoyingly good-looking, app-idea-stealing douche has moved his office into her building! This means war!

I love a good enemies to lovers stories, and I enjoyed both of these main characters so much. They were both layered and nuanced and had plenty of their own baggage to sort through so it was rewarding to watch them grow throughout the book.

I had hoped the ending was going to go a particular way, which I, unfortunately, can’t talk about without spoiling the book, but I did really enjoy it none-the-less. If you’re looking for a sweet, feel-good rom-com complete with mariachi music and nerf-gun fights you’ll for sure want to pick this one up.

Let me say that my new thing with romcoms is finding modern representation in a book. This one does a good job incorporating women in the technology field and setting a level playing field between male / female love interests.

I really enjoyed the twist on enemies to lovers. Since this one went from lovers to enemies to lovers, which made for a humorous adventure between the two main characters. We still a somewhat bumbling female main character that’s trying to overcome her own personal and business struggles. But she becomes completely relatable.

Read this one if you enjoy:
* enemies to lovers
* RomComs
* Technology / dating apps
* Easy weekend reads

A mix of second chance and enemies to lovers romance all stirred up gives the reader Make Up Break Up. Told from Annika's point of view
throughout maintaining the single POV. Both Annika and Hudson have developed apps, so far one successful and one stalling. The chemistry they had when they met a year ago in Vegas is making it hard for both to keep their competitive spirits from exploding. I'm glad I waited for the audiobook to listen to while I read the ARC courtesy of NetGalley and St Martin's Griffin.

I thought this was a fun, light, romance and the perfect beach read. While I had a few qualms with the characters decisions, it made sense within the context of the book's world and it didn't ultimately impact my enjoyment of the story. This is a fast, delightful read for those who love hate-to-love romances, especially with a diverse twist!

In 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗨𝗽 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗨𝗽, Annika and Hudson meet in Las Vegas and have a brief summer fling. Pillow talk included Annika’s idea for an innovative app, Make Up, that helps couples communicate with each other. Next thing she knows, an app called Break Up shows up that helps couples end their relationship and it was started by none other than, Hudson! Bad enough that Annika feels he stole her idea and is having way more success than she is, but he also loves into the office next door. Could the rivals become friends, or even more...?

Unfortunately, this was a miss for me because I failed to connect with either character. The actions and relationship of Annika and Hudson came off as juvenile and lead to a lot of eye-rolling as I read. I did find the premise interesting and think so much could have been done with this if the characters were more mature.

Reviews are all over the place on this one. I did not care about their dating apps and so much of the book focused on them. I did enjoy their relationship and could have used a little more of it. Would I read this again? No. Would I give the author’s next adult romance another try? Yes. If this is on your TBR, check it out and let me know what you think.

This book was really just okay for me. I don't know whether Annika was just naive when it came to Hudson's motives or if she was just really self-centered, or maybe it was a deep down insecurity about herself, but for me it got old kind of fast. They never really say why after their fling in Las Vegas that they went their separate ways, so I never really understood why Annika hadn't kept in touch with Hudson. It was fun to read as it is February and I feel I should read romances in February, but there were not really a lot of surprises in the story.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest review.

As much as I love the YA books by this author, I was just not feeling this book. It could be a not you but me situation but I was not invested in this couple at all.

Annika Dev's app Make Up is in direct competition with her nemesis app Break Up. After her week with Hudson a year ago Annika vowed she'd never let him break her heart again. Now that he's moved into the office down the hall she finds herself running into him at the most inopportune times and each time she doesn't let him hear the end of her opinion regarding his app Break Up. Who would create something that allowed people to break up with their significant others without giving the relationship a full chance? That's what Annika's app Make Up is all about and she's confident the pitch she's going to make at the Epic Conference is going to gain her the funding she needs to get it off the ground.

This is a classic case of miscommunications and misunderstandings. I enjoyed the banter between Annika and Hudson throughout their encounters with each other. I also loved Annika's friend June. She cracked me up and was always there to give Annika the hard truths. I also liked the relationship between Annika and her father.

If you're looking for a fun adult rom-com than I would definitely recommend this one!

[DNF REVIEW] I don't typically write DNF reviews but am sharing a few thoughts since I got a copy for review on NetGalley. Make Up Break Up is the adult debut of well-known YA author Sandhya Menon. The book focuses on two rival app developers, and I struggled to sympathize with adult business owners who spend so much energy sabotaging each other. It was so unprofessional and juvenile! The heroine is on the verge of losing her business, and she was in complete denial + continued to dig herself deeper. The immaturity of people the heroine and hero made me feel like I was reading the worst kind of YA novel. Because I felt like a judgy old lady while reading, I had to put it down. There may be growth by the end, but I couldn't handle anymore.

<b>**FULL REVIEW**</b>

This one was a slow one for me...a lot of fluff, not a lot of substance.

I would be plenty fine sitting on the beach, listening to the surf and running my toes through the sand, losing myself in the tech world sweet love story of <I>Make Up Break Up</I>.

So yeah, this is a beach read. One that involves zero thought, not much connection, and just enough cheeky dialogue (along with some steamy short, fade to black love scenes) to keep you turning pages.

Annika and Hudson are a perfect contradiction as are their business models. Classic meet-cute, enemies to lovers to enemies to friends to lovers...I liked it, but didn’t love it.

<b>**3 Let’s Make-Break Up, Stars**</b>

I did not love this one, unfortunately. I just feel like the characters were hard to relate to, Annika was too tough on Hudson and usually they meet in the middle somewhere at the end of the story and really, to me, in this it feels like Hudson got the bad side of the deal. It was a light fun read and the secondary characters were great, but overall fell a little flat for me!

Content warnings for racism, sexism, and loss of a parent several years ago.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a Netgalley ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is Sandhya Menon's first adult romance about Annika, the developer of upcoming relationship app Make Up, who clashes with rival app developer Hudson Craft when he moves into the office next door. Things wouldn't be so bad if their apps didn't serve completely opposite purposes and if they hadn't had a summer fling in Vegas...

The romance was fun but both the main characters were very frustrating at times. For two adults, who are CEOs of their own apps, their actions were childish and the way they tried to sabotage each other made them seem unprofessional.

I liked some of the romantic scenes (especially the fountain scene) and I really appreciated the fact that Annika and her father communicate so much with each other. They always let each other know how they're feeling, even if they don't always agree with one another.

But some parts of the story felt a little unrealistic to me (Annika and June both own really expensive cars despite only being 24 and Hudson is a millionaire when his app only launched a few months ago?), which pulled me out of the story at times. There's also a lot of miscommunication between Annika and Hudson that I didn't enjoy, but that's just my personal preference.

This was a fun, fast read, but I would have liked the characters to act more professionally and I needed a little more realism at times.

📚 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 / 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝗪 📚⁣⁣⁣⁣
⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
Title: #MakeUpBreakUp
Author: @sandhyamenonbooks
Publisher: @stmartinspress #griffin
Pub Date: 2/1/21⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣ - *OUT NOW*⁣
Type: #PhysicalBook #FinishedCopy
Genre: #RomanticComedy / #WomensFiction
Must Read Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

My thoughts:

-This book was an "enemies to lovers" romantic comedy with lots of depth and heart! I really liked the premise of this one. It featured 2 young professionals, both wildly successful in their early twenties, who wanted to make apps to help couples Make Up or Break Up. And of course, they both extremely attractive and just so happen to have a past together. It's not every day that you read a book where *spoiler alert* the 2 main characters had a passionate, week long affair and then one disappeared without so much as a text or call.

-Let's talk about CHEMISTRY! It was burning off the pages in this book and you could cut the tension with a knife. These characters had it BAD for each other, but they let their pride and careers get in the way for such a long time. There were definitely moments where I wanted to shake them and just say, OMG ... can you two just please hook up and get it over with!?

-Yes, every romantic comedy is completely predictable, but don't you still enjoy the ride? I found this book to be super heartwarming and sweet - an easy and charming read from start to finish.

I love this book!! It was a great romance story and an amazing first adult romance from Lily Menon. I think the characters were all super interesting and I loved the concepts of the apps the book also talked about. It was a great hate to love story.