Watching an MC go through struggles and grow is the best story for me. And that is exactly what we see with Allison in The Make-Up Test. Dealing with a verbally/emotionally abusive father and then a mother who is supportive yet still manages to pile on the guilt, surviving life after undergrad with friends and life balance, trying to be successful in a career, and dealing with an ex who broke your heart and has come back into your life.
Allison is me...I felt so connected with the struggles of her weight, her feelings, her imposter syndrome...literally everything.
I can't really articulate why this book is amazing, it just is. My only criticism is that I feel like the beginning dragged a bit, but that's it.

This is a super sweet, quick & easy read. Perfect for any and all romance readers. This book really gave me The Love Hypothesis vibes (which I loved)!

The thing I really enjoyed about this book is how real it is. It gives readers a beautiful love story while also touching on real topics that the reader can relate to. I had such an appreciation for the author including discussions about stereotypes, body image, shaming etc…

Overall, this was such a well written, fun and enjoyable romance read. I absolutely loved it and will recommend to all my romance loving book friends!

⭐️⭐️
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Thank you to St. Martin’s Press & NetGalley for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!
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In The Make Up Test, we meet Allison Avery, a woman en route to making all of her career dreams come true. Of course, those dreams were once derailed by her hot nerd of an ex, Colin Benjamin, who just so happens to be in her PhD program. They quickly learn that they are, yet again, competing against each other. Will they or won’t they?
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I was SUPER excited for this one since the description felt like Love Hypothesis x Literature, and while I thought it was fine, it wasn’t anything I’d read again or recommend to a friend. In all honesty - I felt that the male main character was manipulative and the female MC was underdeveloped and infantile. The single side character that we actually got to know almost well enough to care about was rude and boring. It also was a little heavy in the literature references - I skimmed over the majority of those conversations because I simply had zero idea what they were talking about. I normally LOVE second-chance romance but this one ain’t it. Also, a weird complaint, it bothered me that both MCs had two first names - like their last names are first names as well.

I have so many feelings about this book.

First, I would definitely classify this more as chick lit with romance. It’s all from Allison’s POV, in third person, and I felt like it focused more on Allison’s life and growth in general and how that played into her relationship with the MMC. It works for the book but just took me a little more time to get into. If you like character development you’ll like it.

I also LOVED the author note, if you don’t normally read them I highly suggest taking a few moments to reading this one.

It also deal with Allison being plus sized and how other people address, speak to her, and how she and those around her handle it, or don’t. I loved the message, “The word fat does not have to be ugly”. And I loved how Allison loved herself.

I did enjoy the back and forth between Colin and Allison, and getting their history. It was making me both love and hate Colin. And it all felt very real to me.

This book definitely pulled at my heartstrings, especially with the lost of a parent. I lost my father when I was in grad school, so the lost of a parent in this really hit me hard.

Overall I did enjoy this book, it will definitely take you on a emotional roller coaster so buckle up.

Melli’s Book Breakdown
🤍Debut novel
🤍Plus size heroine
🤍Grad school romance
🤍Second chance romance
🤍Hate to love
🤍TW: Death of a parent

3.5 rounded up to 4

The premise of this book sounded awesome and I was really anticipating it! However, not gonna lie this was a bit of a hard one to get through. While the writing is good, the story just didn't pull me in or interested me enough once I started reading. It took like half of the book for me to feel like things were finally moving and I did enjoy more the later half. I appreciate the fat rep, and I'll always support all the diversity. The author clearly has knowledge on the topics discussed on the book and I ended up finding it a really original story idea! But, I didn't feel the chemistry between Allison and Colin nor particularly liked them and the way they acted. The academia setting was interesting and the ending and big gesture were cute and I liked that (especially the last line!) Ultimately though, the book just didn't grip me enough.

I enjoyed the idea of this romance but found it a little hard to enjoy the complete story. I felt it dragged along at times and there was a bit too much uneasiness for me. I did enjoy that the characters were not perfect people but that they were comfortable with their flaws and their looks. The competition between the exes was interesting and I wanted to finish the book to see who won! Readers who like romance with a side of angst will enjoy this easy to read novel.

Allison Avery is at the pinnacle of academic success. She's been accepted to a prestigious Ph.D. program in medieval literature and she finds out that she will be working as a T.A. for the professor in her field that she greatly admires. Everything is going according to her carefully-laid plans-until she finds out that her ex-boyfriend Colin is at her graduate school and also will be working for the same professor.

Allison is furious. Colin broke her heart two years prior when he unceremoniously dumped her and almost derailed her academic career with the subsequent depression that she experienced. And to add insult to injury, he wants to be friends and put their past behind them.

Allison isn't so eager to forgive and forget. When an opportunity arises for her to work with her professor in Wales in her field, Allison feels that this is her destiny. But when she learns that Colin is her direct competition for the single spot on the research team, Allison declares all-out war against him-if only she can resist the romantic pull she still feels towards Colin, despite it all...

I loved this rom-com! Allison is dynamic and it was refreshing to see a plus-size woman as the main character in a novel that does not focus on her weight or a diet she is undertaking, etc. Allison owns her space in the world and I'm here for it!

Trigger warnings however are cautioned for fat-shaming and fat-phobic behavior in the form of comments by minor characters in the novel.

What a delightful read!
Allison Avery is a very relatable main character. She is driven, hard-working, intelligent and stubborn. She is plus-size, but comfortable in her body. She is on the precipice of realizing her dream of becoming a professor/scholar. There is only one thing standing in her way - her ex-boyfriend Colin Benjamin. This was a fun enemies-to-lovers second chance romance. The dynamic between the two of them is fun with loads of chemistry. The development of both characters throughout the story was well executed. We learn how they were two years or so prior to the current timeline and see how they have grown since then, as well as grow together over the course of the months the story takes place. There were some delightfully sowing moments throughout the story as well 😉.
The book also realistically represents verbal/psychological abuse, which is on going from Allison’s father. Throughout her life he has shamed her for her weight (and then serving her fried chicken for supper… like, come on dad). Not only does he shame her for her appearance, but for her goals as well. She is continually vying for his approval, But there comes a point when she chooses to remove this toxic influence from her life - even with pressure from her mother to maintain a relationship with her father.
It is not necessary to keep in touch with someone and put up with the abuse just because the abuser is a close family member. I was satisfied with the way this was handled in the book. Allison is a good role model for readers of any age.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me a copy of the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

The Makeup Test had all the potential to be a good academic rivals to lovers with a fat fmc… but it just didn’t deliver for me.

The first red flag for me was calling any sport sportsball, but not just that; Allison said something about no crying in sportsball. Now I’m not sure about this, but I feel like if you don’t like sports, you’re not going to be inclined to watch A League of Her Own, the best baseball movie of all time, which would then mean that you would not know this quote. And if you’re calling it sportsball, do you live under a rock?? How do you not know what football is? It just felt like a way of distancing herself from cultural events and saying she’s not like other girls.

I also had a hard time dealing with the parts that related to teaching, even if I’m a primary/high school teacher and Allison is teaching college courses. Professors aren’t usually taught how to teach, so it is so valid that she struggles in her first lessons. It took me a full year to feel comfortable teaching, even though it was my major and everything I learned about in college. Allison’s decision to lie about how amazing her lessons were is evidence of a BAD TEACHER because one of the things we are told over and over again is that we will make mistakes and we need to reflect, learn, apologize, and do better! Normalizing lying about how well you teach is not the goal, learning from others and trying new things is the goal.

That isn’t even mentioning the super unattractive way Colin is described throughout the entire book, from the beginning when he is a rival through the middle as we are supposed to buy into Allison falling for him again and to the end. His personality seemed to shift a lot too, as did the other characters existing around Allison. Additionally, there was some deep underlying fatphobic ideas that were perpetuated despite having a fat main character and the author’s note explaining that she wanted to write a character that she could see herself in. I appreciate the effort, and it did not come through as intended for me. It was a struggle to finish this one.

2.5 stars

I really wanted to love The Make-Up Test, but it didn't work for me at all. The novel is not only set in the world of academia but Allison, the MC, is working on her Ph.D. in medieval literature--I have a PhD in literature and have been teaching at the graduate level for two decades. Throw in the fact that Allison is a plus-sized woman, something I can also totally relate to, and the premise seemed right up my alley. Sadly, nope, just nope.

While it admittedly had its moments, they were few and far in between. I'm just going to break it down into what I liked/didn't like because that's easier.

What I liked:
✅Allison's body positivity
✅The academic setting/whole college vibe
✅Enemies to lovers trope, one of my favorites
✅Sweet corgi
✅Allison's growth in the book
✅Literary references/discussions

What I disliked:
❌Colin, Allison's ex--he just had zero personality and was a jerk
❌Second-chance romance that didn't deserve one
❌Fat shaming
❌Bullying and abusive behaviors by Allison's family, notably her dad
❌Very slow-burning romance to the point of boredom
❌Ending-not a fan

Maybe I would have liked this one more if I didn't work in academia or if I hadn't been a TA when I was a graduate student getting my English lit degree, I have no idea. but I felt some things in the book were also unrealistic and also just a tad weird, but that's just me.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review posted to Goodreads and Twitter on 8/17/22
Review will be posted to Amazon on publication

This was one of my most anticipated reads because it was billed as an academic rivals to lovers and that is a trope that I thoroughly enjoy, especially as someone who was an academic. I couldn’t really finish the book, I got to about 59% and had to DNF because the high hopes that I had for this novel were truly dashed by the writing but also the characters. The romance seemed to also be underdeveloped and it didn’t feel as believable with the way the writer was trying to build us up to it. Unfortunately, this book just wasn’t for me. Could it be for someone else? Definitely. But I think my expectations were a little high.

I just don’t feel like the fat representation was thought out well. There was more fat shaming than there was a celebration of fat bodies. I think the characters needed much more work and I didn’t find the couple to be particularly likable. I’m really sad because I was looking forward to this but I am forever grateful for receiving and arc of this.

The Make-Up Test continues the trend of featuring a main character who is smart, independent, and ambitious. Allison is a grad student, on the way to achieving her dream of a career in academia. When she discovers that her ex, Colin, is not only in the same program, but is also her rival for an esteemed position, her ordered world gets titled on its axis. There is other family drama, too, as well as the pressures of grad school, making everything even more complex. This novel of second chances is compelling and heartfelt, a tangle of emotions.

I was intrigued by the second chance/enemies to lovers in a university setting premise, but I was captivated by the writing style and the author's voice. I'll admit this book made me cry more than I wanted it to, but the depth and heartache, both romantical and familial, allowed me to get to know the MC Allison on such a deep level and pull for her happy-ever-after in a big way. There were times I wanted to strangle Colin and he was redeemed with an inch of his life but when he was sweet, it was chocolate fudgy goodness. I know a lot of romance readers don't love a lot of side plots, but I absolutely loved the Alison/Jed and Colin/grandpa subplots and thought they added so much to the story. The body positivity rep was handled very well. I'd advise people to check out the content warnings because there could be some triggers. I already look forward to Howe's second book!

Beach read meats One to Watch?? Had me hooked!

I love the English Literature vibes of this entire book and commend that both characters are in graduate school. I also had no idea this was a second chance romance!! It’s always interesting unearthing the past of two characters with a second chance trope! This was an interesting read that combined the love of English Literature with the modern contemporary romance genre all in one!

How cute is that cover too??

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the earc in return for an honest review

Who would have thought medieval lit could be so intriguing? This was a cute book about second chances. Allison and Colin have a second chance at love with a grad-level prize on the line. Jenny Howe's debut novel was cute, witty, and a quick read. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a digital arc of this title.

This book… sigh. I really wanted to love it!!! The synopsis was perfect and I love books set in higher education/books about books! My problem was I just did not like the main male character/love interest. It made it really hard to root for the love story. I grew to really like Allison, and was rooting for her. The ending wasn’t the one I wanted, however it was at least satisfying for her! It was an easy read, and I don’t regret picking it up one bit! But Colin, ew.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read this book. I really think this one comes down to it not being for me. I liked the curvy rep and literature references, but I really dislike the miscommunication trope, which seemed to be the major of the relationship between the main character and the love interest. I think that is why I had such a issue connecting to the story, relationships, and characters. I think if you like academics rivals, set in a college, a second chance relationship, and don’t mind the miscommunication trope, you should check this book out. 3.5 stars ⭐️

I did really like the concept of the book. Two PhD candidates that were former lovers, competing as TA's for a spot with their professor to have her be their advisor. It had the premise for a great enemies to lovers at the beginning. I found that I did struggle with some things in it.

At first Colin was so unlikable as a character from his past transgressions in the relationship he had with Allison, that I was not invested in them as a couple. I did see a lot of growth in Colin and how he did evolve and change. However, I felt that Allison did not have much growth from the beginning of the book until the end. She was quite negative and argumentative throughout the whole book, and I didn't see much growth there.

I did enjoy her diverse group of PhD friends and their hangouts. If you really love academia then I think this book could be for you since it really shows the process someone goes through during their PhD program. I also liked that there was plus size rep in this book.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchanged for my honest review.

The characters were frustrating me already and I was honestly kinda bored, so I checked out some spoilers and figured I should quit while I was ahead. While I can appreciate the history that was shown between Allison and Colin at Brown, they make a horrible couple and it ruins the entire book. They do not have a healthy or respectful relationship and should not be together.


I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This was so cute! A wonderful romance, filled with witty banter, delightful characters, and just enough steaminess. A must read for romance lovers!