Unfortunately this book was not for me. I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters and found myself skimming a lot because I wasn’t focused.
I did appreciate the humour though. There were some definite laugh out loud moments.

This was a cute romcom. I love school based romcoms! Thank you for the book! Sorry for the late review!

*3.5⭐️
This was a very hard book to review. On the one hand, I really liked Alison’s story. Hearing about the world of academia from a medieval lit enthusiast’s brain was great. I also thought the complexities of her relationships with her parents and her body image were really interesting. On the other hand, this book didn’t really prove to me that Colin didn’t suck. I mean, there were a lot of great romantic moments between them, especially the last few pages of the book, but I wasn’t convinced that Colin wouldn’t betray her eventually. In my mind, I started to compare Colin and her dad, and then the character Sophie said that too and I felt validated that the main couple wasn’t right for each other. I think maybe they could have been if we had seen more of his change or if the third act conflict hadn’t been his fault, but I still feel unsettled by their lack of communication and their unhealthy rivalry.
I am rounding this up because I really did like the book and I’m excited to read more Jenny L. Howe’s books in the future.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me advance access to this title. I really enjoyed reading this story and look forward to reading more from this author. As a reader, I am really motivated by character driven stories and I found myself quickly becoming immersed in these characters’ lives. Full review to come.

This lovers to enemies to lovers, second chance romance gave me all the feels. I loved seeing the characters flaws and the way they navigated the storyline. I felt the banter was wonderful, and I really enjoyed reading their story. The narrator of the audiobook also kept the pacing well and tone was exactly how I expected it to be read and was great to follow along with. All in all, very enjoyable.

Not much to say about this one unfortunately. Couldn’t get past the first few chapters. I think it was a slow start for me. Now and again a person will get into a reading slump and maybe this was just unfortunate timing. I may try again another time.

I read this a few months after it came out via audio and thought the plot and entire conception was so unique and compelling. Particularly I love Jenny Howe's writing style. Looking forward to reading her next!

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an opportunity to read this one.

I have mixed feelings about this one. Second chance and enemies to lovers are some of my favorite tropes. Even when poorly executed, I still eat it up. However, while I loved this author's writing style, the character's were so, so awful it was hard to reconcile their previous behavior with the idea that they deserve a second chance of any kind. And I know that miscommunication only added to that, and I don't typically like that trope, but Colin was just a jerk who deserved no redemption arc.

I didn't finish this one. It was a cute premise, but I didn't find the characters unique enough and the plot didn't hook me. It actually seemed a little too far fetched and cheesy, which is something I usually don't mind too much.

This book was just sadly not for me! I was hoping for something different but it turned out to be something I was not expecting, which is okay and I'm sure someone else would love it!

A good book by Howe - I am now excited to read her others. Loved Allison, the main protagonist, but had trouble connecting with Colin. He's a jerk, who doesn't fully redeem himself.

While reading this book I think I am learning that second chance romances are not my cup of tea but I still really enjoyed this book. This story follows Allison and Colin. These two had dated in the past in undergrad now they find theirselves having to deal with each other daily when they were both chosen for the same TA position. At the beginning they think they can both keep the role so they pick up where they left off until they learn there is only room for one TA. I really enjoyed the writing in this book it was fun and retaining and had no trouble getting into this book. The characters motives and actions sometimes were a little strange but I did enjoy the grad school setting and the conversations on body positivity. This was the first book that I have read by this author but look forward to picking up more soon ! I would like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.

3⭐
Genre ~ contemporary romance
Publication date ~ September 13, 2022
Page Count ~ 332
Audio length ~ 11 hours 30 minutes
Narrator ~ Stacey Glemboski
POV ~ single 3rd
Featuring ~ debut, grad school, characters in their 20's, scattered flashbacks, enemies to lovers, second chance, fade to black, miscommunication
Content warning from the author ~ there is expressed fatphobia by characters and in flashbacks, including by a family member, and the story deal with death and loss

We begin with an author's note that tells us all about why she chose to write this book with a fat main character. "Fat people are more than their bodies. We deserve happily-ever-afters, both romantic and otherwise."

Allison & Colin are up against each other for a TA position, but it's not the 1st time they've competed with one another.

Although, I liked Allison's work ethic and how she loved herself and didn't care about eating donuts, sometimes you just need a donut ya know?, I didn't care for her character. In fact, I didn't like anyone really. Colin was a bit of a tool. Her mother was pushy. Her father was awful, but written well to make the reader hate him like we should, but what's up with what was said by his secretary? makes no sense.

I never really felt the connection between them either. I mean she kept his contact name in her phone as Unknown Number for the whole book, so what does that tell ya? Not meant to be in my opinion. We've got the typical miscommunication, which I'm come to expect when reading enemies to lovers, but I still hate it. They both have a lot of growing up to do, but they are in their 20's, so they'd better get cracking on that.

Overall, I was not a super big fan, but it was decent~ish as a debut.

I was able to listen to a copy as well.
Narration notes ~ I don't have any complaints with Stacey's skills.

This book had all the makings to be THE book for me. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work for me.

These MCs were simply too immature, they kept repeating their toxic behavior and a lot of growth is needed, especially Colin.

Jenny did do a great job covering some heavy topics like fatphobia and emotional abuse Allison experienced with her father. I do look forward to reading Jenny’s future books as she continues to write.

This book was a good read. I always enjoy an enemies-to-lovers romance, but the second chance romance in this book took me out of the story. When the story was more about the enemies-to-lovers portion, I was really enjoying the read, but when it focused on the past relationship and second-guessing the other person, I didn't connect as well.

The literature references were wonderful and the side characters provided depth of place and for the main female character (not so much the male lead), but the end wasn't as swoony as I was expecting... It just kind of ended with them accepting each other on the last couple pages.

Allison Avery is finally accepted into her dream Ph.D. program, but so is her ex-boyfriend. When their professor announces a research trip opportunity, but only 1 person can go. This begins a battles of the exes, and Allison isn't going to lose!

If you're a fan of Emily Henry and Ali Hazelwood, this book is person for you. It's great to see smart women in romance novels. The fast positivity in the book was also very refreshing. Sometimes that message can get muddled, but I didn't feel like that happened in The Make-Up Test.

This was a cute second chance romance. Normally I’m not a huge fan of this trope but this was so damn cute. Allison is quite literally the reason I gave this 3.5 stars. I absolutely loved her personality, loved how she was plus sized and radiated confidence like I wish I had this girl’s confidence. Colin on the other hand… love that we got a happy ending but also I just personally didn’t like him that much. Over all such a cute fast read. Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I tried so hard to get into this book and I simply could not. I try really hard to not DNF ARCs but this was a solid DNF.

This one was not for me!

I have high hopes for an academic rivalry compared to our queen, Em Hen and quite frankly - it was far too high a mark to set.

My issue here was with writing choices, mostly. It was doing WAY too much, and none of it very tastefully. The side plots became messy and were not tied up in the end, and the author’s handling of the pandemic was … underwhelming.

While I appreciated the banter at times, I just don’t think this one had enough to overcome some cataclysmic flaws.

I tried to read this book a few different times. I thought it might be me the first time, just being so busy and not being able to get into it.

I recently picked it up again and I just could not read it. There’s something about it (the writing style maybe?) that I wasn’t a fan of,

I’m sure there are many other people that have loved this!!