I enjoyed the academia setting for this romance, along with the curvy girl representation. I was a little stressed about how things could go wrong for this sweet second chance couple, even though I was sure all would work out in the end!

Second chance romance and rivals to lovers are two of my favorite tropes, so I was absolutely DYING to read this book as soon as I heard about it, and it was definitely a delightful read. I loved that the main character, Allison, is a fat woman who is confident in her body, something which is still not super common in romance novels. I also really liked the academia aspects of the book, since the author clearly knows her way around medieval English literature, and I honestly loved whenever Allison and Colin started arguing about Chaucer or courtly romance. Those parts of the book were obviously written by someone who has a lot of love for the subject. As for the actual romance, it did take me a little while to warm up to Colin–the circumstances under which he and Allison first broke up were very much his fault–but I ended up really liking their rivalry and how it gradually turned from genuine hostility to friendship and then romance. Also, she has a corgi and he has a cat and they're both named after types of cheese which is adorable. There were a couple things that didn't quite work work for me, such as the mentions of the COVID-19 pandemic being over (why even include that if the pandemic isn't at all relevant to the book?) and some parts where I wished Allison and Colin would just communicate better. Still, this managed to combine two of my favorite romance tropes into a delightfully nerdy and fun book, and I look forward to whatever Jenny Howe writes next.

I had such high hopes for this book because I love a good academia based plot - but this fell so short for me. It read like a YA novel (while the characters were in Grad School they acted & spoke like they were in 9th grade) and honestly it seemed to make excuses for abusive/manipulative behavior.

Without spoiling the book I just want to add to anyone who happens to read this:
PLEASE do not ever make yourself small for the benefit of someone else. Just because someone has trauma does not mean they can walk all over you, manipulate you or take credit for ideas that are yours. Trauma is valid but it is not a excuse.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

4.5/5 stars

A new romcom set in the world of academia finds two exes competing in the same grad school program for one spot on a prestigious trip. Allison Avery has wanted to be a professor of medieval literature for forever. So she is shocked when she starts grad school to find the man that broke her heart years before is also in her program. moreover, they end up as TAs for the same professor! However, what first starts as a competition soon rekindles flames from the past.

This romcom was so cute! I don't understand the title because as someone who has been in liberal arts grad schools, papers are the focus, not tests? And I can't think of an actual test in the book... Regardless, this book had great chemistry, great character development, plus characters who love books! Very cute and would recommend as a sweet romcom!

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I came for the fat rep and nerd vibes and stayed for the cast of characters and tricky romance. I loved how messy the relationship between Allison and Colin was, from their history to the grad life competition to the falling back together, apart, and together again. It felt like a true look at how turbulent-at-first encounters can turn into something much more meaningful and loving, if given a chance. I loved the cheeky banter, the swoon moments, and, of course, the dog!!

The Make-Up Test is a second chance romance within academia which I usually adore. There was a lot of back and forth which didn’t read as angst but redundancy. This was an okay read for me.

The Make-Up Test by Jenny L. Howe is definitely not just a cute romance, but a story about how life and love are meant to be messy and imperfect. The novel centers around Allison Avery, a first-year medieval literature PhD student, who is competing against her ex-boyfriend, Colin Benjamin, for a teaching assistantship. Allison is fiercely competitive and has always strived to win and be the best, especially since her family and others have shamed her for her career choice and for being fat (which she is not ashamed of).

I loved the message about how we shouldn't strive to be "the best" since perfection does not exist. Rather, we should always strive to be better, both in life, our careers, and our relationships. I loved seeing how Allison handled this lesson in her various relationships with her family, best friend Sophie, and with Colin. I wished that she had been able to make up with her father before his death, but at least she got to hear that he was proud of her. Overall, this was a great read and I really enjoyed that it was set in graduate school. Can definitely relate to the pressure and imposter syndrome feelings there.

An entertaining contemporary rom-com set in academia. Exes battle it out in the classroom, competing to further their careers in medieval literature. You can tell the author has done loads of research.

This story is a feast for the intellect and the heart. I wanted to crawl into the book so I could attend all these college classes and dive into these discussions about classical texts. I also wanted to hug these swoony, academic nerds with my whole heart. There's positive body rep, complicated family dynamics, laughs, tears, and heat.

Major props for writing star characters that are not mainstream beauties.

Praise for Jenny L. Howe's debut novel!
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's press for the eArc/opportunity to read this warm, funny, and heartfelt novel.

Please read TW ⚠️ at the beginning of the book.
Deals with expressed fat phobia by the characters; including a family member, mental abuse, parental neglect, death, and loss.

Our FMC Allison Avery- Grad student at Claymore and is a fat woman who loves herself in a society that clearly does not love fat bodies. She is strong, Beautiful, courageous, smart as a whip, funny, and does not take crap from anyone anymore! Especially now she realizes her college ex boyfriend is in the same grad program at Claymore. She will beat him at whatever cost.

Our MMC Colin Benjamin- Tall, lanky, nerdy, popular, and blonde alphahole/alphahero (he is a mixture of both). Broke Allison's heart when they attended college together at Brown. Now, that they are in the same grad program at Claymore together (and competing for the same TA position in medieval literature) he is out to prove he is changed man since his Brown days!

What to Expect:
Second Chance Romance
Academic Rivals
Grad School Romance
Lovers to enemies to rivals to lovers (very complicated and I love it)
LGBTQ+ Representation
Fat woman Representation (and to love all body types) ✊️

In the beginning of the story it was kind of redundant... especially in Allison's head. She thinks Colin is still hot but she hates him. This was said different ways multiple times. That was my only major flaw of this book. Besides that the story was lovely and exactly a story that we need for the climate of the world. It calls out white privilege.. especially white male privilege multiple times.. that had me pumping my fist in the air. Also, the confidence Allison brings to herself and to her body. I wish I had that growing up. I connected with her on such a deep level. Especially with her family bullying her and mental abusing her about her weight. I had that growing up and wasn't strong enough. So, I love this story... it teaches young woman that every body type is freaking beautiful. I loved Colin from the beginning. His sarcasm, wit, and demeanor was enduring. (Even though he was an alphahole in college. It shows that some people really can change). Side characters were great (even though ones I loathed). They rounded out the story!!!

I'm so happy to have read this book! And will continue to read books written by Jenny L. Howe.

This was a pretty straightforward contemporary second-chance romance. What made it interesting for me as someone who works in higher ed was the setting in a competitive English PhD program in an elite school in the northeastern US. Allison Avery is a first-year medieval lit grad student at Claymore University who is shocked that her ex-boyfriend from undergrad, who stole a major academic award from her and dumped her for no reason before he graduated, is also in her cohort. Unfortunately, they are both selected as TAs for the primary medieval lit professor in their program, and quickly learn that they'll have to compete against each other for one spot as her advisee. This competition gets heated but they also realize that they still have unresolved feelings. All of this is happening while Allison's estranged father is sick and she's struggling to communicate with her mom about why she doesn't want him in her life. I did enjoy this, particularly as the portrayal of grad school felt very authentic, and I also appreciated the inclusion of fat representation. Content warning for fatphobia, verbal abuse, and death of a parent.

I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was invited to read this title from the publisher St Martin's Press. The plot synopsis interested me, However the second chance romance as a plot was weakened by a terrible male love interest. I wasn't convinced that Colin had changed and wasn't feeling the romance whatsoever. Typical communication tropes and unnecessary addition of Covid 19 mention that was not needed as it added nothing to the story. I wish I had liked this book and wish the author better luck in the future. I am very tentative about accepting any debut author titles in the future.

The Make-Up Test is a second chance, rivals to lovers romance set in the world of academia. While I enjoyed reading the book and finished it, it’s not one I could see myself purchasing or reading again.

I would say the best part of the book was having a fat heroine comfortable with herself, but still showing some of the insecurities that can still pop up.

Other than that, I had a hard time getting myself emotionally invested into this story. The romance between Allison and Colin seemed to have some major toxicity because they were rivals in the same program, which was made worse when they agreed to just not talk about that part of their relationship. The ending also felt rushed with several story lines being resolved in what felt like just a few pages.

As a side-note, there are quite a few references to medieval literature in this book. While knowledge of it isn’t needed to read this book, I also felt sort of disconnected from a huge part of this book because of it.

*Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC and provide my thoughts on it!*

I think the best way to describe this book is “not at all subtle”. All of the themes, dynamics, and characterizations are blatantly and repetitively told to the reader. It’s obvious that the author knows a lot about literature, but it took up way too much of the page. I think a dual POV could’ve helped bring in more subtlety for both of the main characters. Unfortunately this was a miss for me.

ARC BOOK REVIEW

The Makeup Test
By Jenny Howe

Publishing date: 9/13/2022

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 = Rounded to 4

Allison is grad school student, working on her Ph.D in medieval literature- she even landed a teaching assistant job with one of her idols.   Everything is going according to plan, until she discovers her EX BOYFRIEND Colin, has also been assigned the same teaching assistant job- this can't be happening right?! ( why is he even at her school?!)  Colin,  is the one academic challenge standing in her way-this can't be happening!!!

However, once their teaching advisor announces that only one student can remain her TA  and accompany her on a trip to to Europe, Allison realizes she must beat Colin. She deserves this- she is the expert! She didn't even know Colin liked medieval lit?

Hating Colin is easy.....until its not. After a night of drinking, he drives her 4 hours to see her dieing ( mentally abusive) father in the hospial and is....nice, thougthful, caring.....oh no. Is Allison falling for Colin again?! Will she be able to stop these feelings?! She HAS to beat him...she deserves this teaching position and trip to Europe. How will she navigate this? Can she keep her feelings seperate from her work?

Review: I liked this alot! It kept my interest easily, and I liked the college/academic setting. The story also tackled some real world issues such as,  "fat " shaming, mental abuse from family members, and plus size acceptance. I felt like I really related with Allison because I was once a plus size woman and felt the struggle.

This won't be a book that stays with me for a long time, but it was a pleasant read that was quick and flowed nicely.

If you like second chance romance, and enemies to lovers, give this a go !
.

This was a fun book, but it didn't hold my attention very well. A lot of the drama and conversations felt repetitive. I feel like it could have been over way before it was. It was hard to connect to the characters and I found both of them a little annoying.

3.25/5 ☆

Thank you SMP and NetGalley for the ARC!

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. I came into it thinking it would be another typical academic rivals plot, and it was, but what I really liked was Allison, the main female character. I thought she was very relatable and the plus size rep was written well. Allison is very comfortable and confident with her body and I really enjoyed that. I also just loved how passionate she was about medieval literature - so passionate that she was scared to fail at teaching. I think it really embodies what happens often in prestigious graduate programs: imposter syndrome.

I didn't love Colin. He just seemed all over the place and didn't know how to communicate to Allison. Their rekindling wasn't really developed that well. I understand that they have history and that may bring up feelings from the past, but that was it. They barely spent time together outside from their graduate group gatherings. I think if we had a dual POV and got to see things from Colin's end, that would've helped. Colin just seemed very meh and hard to connect to.

Tropes:
-Academic rivals
-Second chance
-Fat FMC

Allison Avery claims confidence and comfort. She’s secure in her identity as a plus-size woman, student, and scholar. She has it all together with a perfect plan. Except for the fact that the men in her life — men she would rather forget — keep popping back up. Between an aggressive, aggravating email from her estranged father and her ex-boyfriend’s reappearance at what is supposed to be *her* graduate program, Allison quickly resorts to both defensiveness and competitiveness. As if it weren’t enough that Colin Benjamin, the boy she loved but can’t trust, is in her PhD cohort, he’s on the same track as her, and er dream thesis advisor can only take on one student. It’s either her or Colin, and this time, Allison is determined to come out on top, no matter the cost. In time though, Colin works his way back into her good graces, and Allison is able to let her guard down again, risking the hurt she swore she’d never again endure.

The debut delicately handles several sensitive topics including, obesity/fat phobia, the aftermath of the pandemic, and strained parental relationships. Howe handles these topics delicately and with ease. Set in a post-Covid era, there are few references to the disruption to daily life and the ensuing trauma outside of a few mentions of online classes and masks. It felt sufficient and not overkill. The fat phobia is handled well, too, and Howe balances the discrepancy between Allison’s confidence and self-worth and the way that society views women in plus-sized bodies. Whether Allison admits it or not, there’s a level of the lady doth protest too much when it comes to her body confidence, which rings true. Also accurate was Allison’s complicated relationship with her divorced parents— her closeness and protectiveness of her single mother and the contempt she felt for her father all folded nicely into Allison’s self-worth and how she interacted with Colin and others.

Though at times a little formulaic, it’s a sweet debut with a niche audience. Even for those not in academia, Allison is a relatable protagonist and her path to finding herself and forgiving the men in her life felt complete.

I'm sorry, but I couldn't finish this book. I gave up halfway through when I realized, not only didn't I especially care about the characters, I didn't even LIKE the main character. There are very few books that I give up reading. I usually can find some redeeming quality... In this instance, I did enjoy the academic setting, especially as a former English major. The literary references were interesting to me.

But there were too many characters, and then their nicknames as well, to keep up with. And Allison was simply a brat. She lied and manipulated people to get what she wanted, and was continually immature and self-centered through the entire first half of the book. All I kept thinking was, I felt sorry for whoever ended up with her!

Once I realized that I had to move on to another story.

Despite the DNF, thank you to Jenny L. Howe, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the advance review copy.

FAIL.

Oh how I wasted an evening reading this book.

This is marketed as a ROMANCE, so I fully expect my main couple to spend time together and have some flirty banter, maybe some angsty looks and be begging them to kiss. This second chance romance gave me none of that. Most of pages were spent dissecting other literature books (like Beowulf) for the main characters PhD program. I did not care. I still do not care.

There was also a lot of obvious page filler scenes. Gimmicky games like, two truths and a lie, scrabble, a quiz night. They didn’t add anything to the story because they barely even involved the love interest, Colin.

I had some other issues with other page filler things as well. And I never felt connected to the romance. I think I was exhausted from skimming over a lot of hoopla that anytime the couple actually had tie to talk (or actually, argue) I wasn’t feeling it.

I’m going to stop here, this one just did not work for me.

Overall audience notes:
- Contemporary Romance
- Language: some
- Romance: one open door
- Trigger/Content Warnings: fat shaming, emotionally abusive father

The Make-Up Test is rivals to lovers with a body positivity story. I adored it so much! It was such a good story. Allison and Colin are exes and they assigned to be TA's together in grad school. They have a rough history and do not work together well. When they are forced to work together they battle it out to prove to their professor who's a better fit for the research trip. Colin and Allison soon realized they still have feels for each other and have to choose between love or their dream opportunity. The Make-Up Test was a charming and surprisingly deep read. I couldn't stop reading once I started!