What a fun, sweet, quirky read! I love the enemy to lover trope so this book was right up my ally. I’m excited to read more by this author!

this book was such a fun read! i went into this with pretty high expectations and im so happy it met all of them.
I loved the academic rivals to lovers and second chance romance aspects in it as those are two of my favorite tropes in romance and it didn't feel forced at all it was so natural and enjoyable.
I loved Allison as the main character and I found myself relating to her in some instances and i really saw myself in her.
AND THE ROMANCE i highlighted so many quotes and scenes Alison and Colin had the best chemistry I've read in so so long and they just made me so happy
I cannot recommend this book enough it really is one of my favorite romance reads of this year

I loved Allison. She is a woman who has been through so much, but she knows that she is enough. Sometimes she struggles to say it, but when she does she stands up for herself. She knows her worth and will let you know too. I loved Allison and Colin being Ph.D candidates for literacy and especially with the emphasis on medieval literature because I was definitely learning so much while reading their thoughts and discussions while teaching students and learning themselves. I loved Colin's feelings for Allison and Allison was the fat rep I think we need in books. The love wasn't about loving her curves or anything that truly associates her as a fat person, which Allison is proud of. The love is about Allison the human being. I love the journey that they shared to get back together again. I do think Colin suffered from the miscommunication trope and even though it was explained as his way coping, I think the conflict at the end was almost unbelievable due to their history. Honestly as Allison I don't know if I would have forgiven him either way because if he had just said one thing before their big presentations it could all have been avoided and he should have known how she would have been upset. Otherwise before that scene I think Colin made huge strides to be a better person than he was in undergrad.

Couldn’t get through it. Couldn’t get through it. Couldn’t get through it. Couldn’t get through it. Couldn’t get through it.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Allison Avery is a plus sized, brilliant woman whose competitive nature means she loves to win. But when the man who broke her heart back in college, and her biggest competitor when it came to academia, shows up in her grad school problem, she’s in for a competition she never bargained for.

I adored this book. As a plus sized individual, nothing makes me happier than seeing myself represented in media. This book did a lovely job of portraying the struggle of being “fat” in society and the way society treats those individuals in a realistic way. It touches on fatphobia, whether blatant or subtle and how it can come from any angle or anyone, including those who are supposed to love you most. This book also does a good job of touching on the subject of toxic parents and how a person does not deserve attention and love just because they’re your parent.

I felt myself so enthralled with the writing and the storyline of this book that I literally finished it in a matter of hours. It was well written and a very unique storyline, one I had not encountered before.

The romance was delicious! Tension, flirting, rivalry, second chances, spice… all of that and more in the story between Allison and Collin. Fans of second chance romances, tension and rivalry will love this book.

A great read! Well written, funny, witty, romantic and an overall joy to read.

This had my favorite Enemies to Lovers Trope in it, with a bit of Rivals to Lovers as well! This book was so good!!!!! I mean, if Ali Hazelwood loved it, I knew it would be great! The book was set in an academic setting, which is one of my favorites. I loved it had a plus-sized queen in it! I highly recommend this book!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Wow, St. Martin's Press is killing it with the romances lately! I finished Marlowe Banks, Redesigned before this one, and I'm midway through Something in the Heir right now. Anyway, The Make-Up Test by Jenny L. Howe is an absolutely adorable rom-com about academic rivals. The story revolves around Allison, whose ex Colin are both studying in the medieval literature PhD program at Claymore University. Small word, huh? But not only are they classmates, they've both been provisionally selected to be graduate assistants to the same professor. And they have a few weeks to prove themselves before she picks one of them to take the position for real.

Here is a cute excerpt from Chapter 1:

"Allison bit the inside of her cheek to keep from reacting. It should be illegal for Colin Benjamin to wear cute socks. Or do anything cute, for that matter. The only adjectives reserved for him should be words like irritating, maddening, vexatious.
Behind glasses with thick, maroon frames, his hazel eyes slid toward her, and his hand reached for his dark blond hair. He kept the top long and the sides shaved, and despite all the gel that glued it back from his brow, Allison knew the strands were soft like silk.
The thought turned her stomach. To dismiss it, she thrust her arm into the air."

Overall, The Make-Up Test is an adorable rivals-to-lovers rom-com that feels like a mash-up of The Love Hypothesis and The Hating Game. One highlight of this book is how it gave me all of the feels. There were laugh-out-loud moments, feel-like-crying moments, and everything in between. Another highlight of this book is the academia setting. I love how the two main characters are rivals in a literature PhD program, which is a setting I haven't seen before. I hope that the author will write more of these. I will definitely read them! If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of rom-coms in general, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in September!

Second Chance Romance
Academic / Rivals Romance
Body Representation

The premise and tropes of the book really appealed to me - I love an academic setting and like to see representation of different people / experiences in my reads. Enemies to lovers is a preferred trope, and I appreciate a rivals angle.

While I really liked a lot of the pieces, as they came together as a whole didn’t mesh for me personally. To be fair I sometimes struggle with a read if I can’t connect with at least one of the main characters. I didn’t find that connection with either Alison or Colin in this case, I didn’t find either to be particularly likeable or relatable for me.

When this happens I have a harder time staying in the moment of the story and getting swept up. I think that for me, I would have liked to see some more maturity from both mains. As a highlight I did love seeing some plus size representation and representation for someone dealing with difficult family / family dynamics.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the opportunity to read an early copy. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

Second chance romances aren't really my usual go-to, but this book was very enjoyable! I was drawn to this book because of the fat protagonist and the academic setting. Both aspects were covered really well in this book in a very thoughtful and real way. I think if the romance genre is your go-to then this book is a delightful read that should be added to your TBR.

The romance in this book was fun and their chemistry continued to build. I thought the story was cute, but for me I think the characters were a little much. Allison really didn’t have much character growth and although I understood why she was the she was , I found her frustrating and unlikeable. Collin was a tad more tolerable for me and felt he truly grew the most . I liked the concept of the enemies to lovers and second chance romance, but I thought that both Allison & Collin could have been less intense

I enjoyed this book! At times it felt a little repetitive, but overall I liked reading it.
Things I particularly liked:
- Allison. She was a whole person and a confident fat girl who accepted and loved herself. As a fat girl myself, I saw a lot of myself and a lot of what I aspire to be in Allison
- Messy, real relationships. Not just of our FMC and MMC, but Allison and Sophie, Allison and her dad. It felt real.

Things I didn't like:
- The repetitive nature of the story. Colin did thing in past - Colin does thing in present. Repeat
- Almost too real relationships? I wanted juuuuust a little more escapism, but that's just me.

3.5/5 stars! - The Make-Up Test is an academic rivals to lovers romance, with a little bit of enemies to lovers thrown in. Allison has wanted to be an academic her entire life. She has finally made it to grad school, only to discover her ex is in the same grad school program, studying the same field as her. They are now competing for the advisor that Allison has always admired, while trying to work out what happened in the past.

A lot of times I find enemies to lovers has a dual perspective, and this book didn't. I found that a good match for this story, as I was able to go through the same feelings and emotions as Allison in her move from hate, to love for Colin. We went through a whole gambit of emotions, and with what Colin had done to Allison, I actually found myself not rooting for their happily ever after. That was until the redemption arc. Because we didn't get the dual perspective, we had no clue what actually happened with one character, except Allison's interpretation, which I feel added to the story.

The struggle I had with this book was it felt a bit to academic for my tastes. This book is about two English grad students and there was way to much literature discussions and references to me. When I am reading a book about academics, I like to know what the characters are researching or working on, but not in-depth specifics. I find that this type of stuff takes me out of the story and pulls me into academia.

This book has some excellent plus-sized rep, Allison is fat, and she is comfortable with herself. Even after familial trauma, she has accepted herself for who she is, while recognizing the problems of living in a fatphobic society. This isn't a story about being fat, or plus-sized, it is a story about a woman falling in love, and that woman happens to be fat. I am a sucker for confident plus-sized characters and I really liked Allison (and her bff) in this book.

This was a quick, debut read by Jenny L. Howe. I enjoyed the book and think it would be perfect for lovers of the academic rivals to lovers trope, or enemies/ex's to lovers. I will check out the authors future books to see what she writes! Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of this book. All opinions are 100% mine.

I struggled a lot with this book. On one hand, I loved seeing Allison go through graduate school and befriend her cohort. Additionally, I loved the banter between her and Colin. However I honestly found her so angry as a protagonist. She seemed to take everything personally and react so stubbornly. We also never got to see her work on her teaching style, rather just lie about it to Colin and then feel bitter about it. But I thought the medieval lit angle redeemed it somewhat and it was nice to have a Fat protagonist where the story wasn't about weight loss or self-hatred.

*Thank you to St Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.*

2.5 Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book but unfortunately again, this book wasn’t for me.
I can appreciate a few things in this book, but overall my rating is due to the fact that I could not connect to a single character in this book.

pros:
1. extremely PC so if you’re into that than this will be great for you. Touches on topics such as navigating tough family dynamics, fat representation…
2. Fat women representation (the only reason I’m writing that is because the authors note in the beginning pls don’t cancel me)
3. If you like tropes that are books about books, second chance romance you might enjoy this.

cons:
1. Extremely predictable story, I just feel like I’ve read this premise before and it didn’t bring anything fresh to the table.
2. I didn’t like how the past was presented in this book, the amount the past was talked about it almost would have been better as dual timeline. I think maybe then I would’ve made more of a connection with the characters, especially the FMC since she came off as stuck up and uppity.
3. Every character had a very immature personality

The Make-Up Test follows Allison and Colin who are exes. This book has one of my favorite tropes: close proximity!!! I absolutely loved this.

This was pitched as One to Watch meets Beach Read and it could not have been described more perfectly. Enemies to Lovers in an academic setting is my new favorite trope (thanks to Love Hypothesis and now this). The characters were so lovable and you were rooting for them from the beginning. There were some touchy subjects throughout the book that I feel the author handled amazingly. It was nice to see a romcom without the typical beautiful blond bombshell as the main character. We need more of these types of love stories!

Cute and sweet! An endearing story with academic rivals to lovers. It is sweet, quirky, and heartfelt. Also second chance romance!! It has a lot of wonderful pieces and parts to it.

Overall I would say this book about 2 grad students and exes competing for a mentorship and falling for each other again decent. It had its moments where it was fun to read but some where I struggled because I was expecting more romance, but that is my fault for being used to it and not authors.

Allison Avery is pursuing a Ph D at Claymore University in medieval literature with a professor she has admired for years. When she finds out her ex-boyfriend and arch nemesis, Colin Benjamin is also in the program all bets are off when the two begin to compete for the same TA position.

I'm struggling with how I feel about this one. On one hand I really enjoyed the plus size representation. It's refreshing to see this representation in a main character. Unfortunately, I really struggled to connect to the characters and at times found them to be a little immature. I also don't know anything about medieval literature so certain parts of the story were hard for me to understand. I think this is the perfect story for those who love second chance romance.

eh.

this book didn't really impress me. i finished it in a few hours but it wasn't the most enjoyable few hours. i liked the main character and her drive. i liked the academia setting. but i felt like the romance was REALLY lacking. colin was a boring love interest and i really didn't get their feelings for each other. they had no chemistry at all, which... is not ideal given its a romance novel. wouldn't recommend this at all, unless you're really into that academia setting i guess.