Allison and Colin have a history, and when their relationship ends, the place she expects to see him again is in college, vying for the same TA position as she is.

It’s a second chance romance book, that was easy to follow. I went back and forth liking and disliking Colin as a character.

The author portrays Allison as a plus size girl, who has dealt with emotional trauma from her father growing up, about her weight.

Read this if you like:
🏫 Second Chance Romance
🏫 Academic Setting
🏫 Enemies to Lovers

Allison’s finally been accepted into her dream Ph.D. program - her ex-boyfriend was accepted too. When their professor announces a career-changing research trip opportunity—with one spot to fill. Competing with Colin is as natural as breathing, and sparks are flying. Will Allison have to choose between a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and what could be a twice-in-a-lifetime love?

I enjoyed this, but it didn’t stick with me - solid three stars.

An excellent start on how to respond to people on the right who may drag you into political conversations. From fact based conversations to "belief conversations". Gives excellent perspectives to try and channel their lunacy into comprehendible conversations. Doesn't mean you'll change their minds. The insane are.... well, insane.

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. All in all, very enjoyable.

OK, so this was a bit of a slow one at parts, and I almost DNFed it. But I was determined to finish it because of the great fat representation and because of the academic setting, which is my personal Katnip. And I was glad that I did. Once I was in a better reading mood to pick this one up I flew through the second half of this book. In particular, I really loved Alison as a character. Collin grew on me, but I guess that’s the character arc of the novel right? I was really afraid of how the author was going to make me come around on him, but she did and I was here for it.

As an audiobook, this is a smooth and easy read. I do love reading, romance on audiobooks, so I can’t really say that anything stood out here, but also nothing was distracting. It was a perfect reading experience. Everything I expected, and I would recommend others read the book in this format as well.

Overall, I gave this one four out of five stars. I enjoyed it, and I bought a copy of the book to keep on my shelf, because of the great representation in the romance genre.

Just another enemies to lovers romance trope. Usually I am all for this, but unfortunately I had no desire or care for these characters. The story war just ok... But the audiobook was great!

*Thank you @orangeskyaudio for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review. Review not posted to Amazon/Goodreads because less than 4 stars or DNF.*

This was a sweet read. I enjoyed the characters and that the main character was a plus size woman.
I would have liked to have seen more of the history between the characters on page instead of being told everything. I enjoy the meet cutes and build up details in romance novels so I felt like I was missing that. Other than that, it was good story and tied up nicely.

This was a cute, enemies-to-lovers tale of some academic rivals who find they both perform better when their most motivating competition is around. Curvy leading lady and nerdy leading man lead to super swoony romance.

I enjoyed the audio narration.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I could not get into this audiobook as it did not hold my attention for any length of time.

Here we go with another grad school romance that just doesn’t work for me. This one is to terrible all the way through but truly infuriating towards the end. We love a plus size main character. We love SMART main characters. We do not love cheaters, liars or thieves. You can find all of these in this book.

I like the enemies to lovers aspect of this book and how they were brought together as TAs for the undergrad class. I loved how passionate Allison is about her field of study. I don’t love how wishywashy and then downright terrible Colin ends up being. I don’t want these two together. NO THANK YOU!

Thank you @NetGalley for letting me try out this book. I wish I enjoyed it more.

What I really really liked about this book was the relatability of grad school life--the constant pressure to be academic, to have something profound to say in class--an observation that warrants respect from peers or an acknowledgement from the professor. I related to the competition over who had the best grade on a paper or submitted their assignment first.

I thought the relationship between these two felt authentic--exes turned enemies turned on again. (Let's be honest--enemies to lovers is my FAVORITE trope). Still, I did find my mind wandering on occasion, but really loved the MC. There was just something about Colin that made me feel like...she could do better? I can't put my finger on it, but I did enjoy this book and I look forward to more stories from this author.

I listened to an audiobook arc copy of this title and I really enjoyed it! The narration was perfect and really brought more out of these characters. It also was super easy to follow along with which I always appreciate, especially since I like to listen to audiobooks at a faster speed.

As for the story, I did like it! It had it's funny moments and even some sweet and sad moments. But as for the romance, I just felt like it took too long for them to get back together. I know they were supposed to be lovers to rivals to friends to lovers but they stuck on the rivals part a long time so the seam between friends and lovers wasn't as satisfying I suppose.

Other than that, I had a fun time with it! I loved the main characters dog whenever we got to see them. If you like academic rivals, second chance romance and maybe some harder topics mixed in, this is a read for you!

I tried, I really tried, but I could not get into this one. I will attempt to read any book staring a plus size FMC. But this plot was too slow for me to get engaged in the plot. I could not find myself rooting for either of our MCs.

I wanted to love this book, but it fell a little flat for me. I wasn’t a fan of the characters in this book. Also, the fat shaming really bothered me as well. The writing is good, but it wasn’t for me.

I received an e-arc/audio arc of The Make-Up Test by Jenny L. Howe from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately, this really didn't work for me. I gave it a few chapters, but ultimately DNFed at 6%. This felt like it was a YA story that got aged up to be adult. The characters felt really juvenile and didn't seem to act like Ph.D. candidates that were supposed to be in a very prestigious program?? It's supposed to be a second chance romance from an 8-month relationship that happened years ago. We are told about but not shown, and based on their first meeting I got secondhand embarrassment so bad, and I have no idea how they ended up being in a relationship based on that interaction. I'm also confused at Allison's timelines, she's now in grad school getting a Ph.D. but says her junior year of high school was online due to pandemic reasons... my senior year of high school was in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic.

I'm sad to say this book wasn't for me. I love Jenny L. Howe on Twitter and I think she's a very skilled writer: she crafts vivid, emotional descriptions and her characters are realistic and relatable. However, I was expecting the characters in THE MAKE-UP TEST to be older (late twenties rather than early twenties) and I struggled to invest in their interpersonal drama. That said, I'm looking forward to seeing what Howe does next!

I tried so hard. I tried many times to finish this one. The story was not very engaging to me and the narrator just didn’t fit the book in my opinion. I did love love that this book was about a curvy learning lady. Good chance from the stick thing, perfect you usually get in this type of book.

Although now currently on sale to the public, I was lucky to get an ARC of this in audiobook form. When I first started listening, it took me a while to get into the story. It seemed like it was moving so slowly. When the connection between the two main characters begins and their rivalry is revealed, it gets much more interesting. As an English major in my undergrad, I loved the medieval texts referenced throughout. The narrator’s voice was so soothing and enjoyable to listen to.

This is the kind of book that I felt like I enjoyed in the moment, and then the ending pissed me off so much that I retroactively reevaluated everything about it, and after a few days I had changed my mind completely. Well, maybe not completely – there are still some good things about it – but the overall message and vibe of the book was definitely off.

The Make-Up Test follows Allison, a 20-something PhD student who just started her programme and wants to specialise in medieval literature. She has the unpleasant surprise to find out that her ex-boyfriend, who broke her heart and stole an academic award from under her nose (even though he knew how important it was for her and originally had no intention of applying for it) two years ago, is also a student in the same programme. They find themselves in competition with each other once again for the same teacher advisor position, proceed to try to outperform the other, and fall back in love in the process.
Let’s start with the things I did like or find interesting in this book. The author note was very cute and made me emotional. The MC was funny, albeit a bit immature (but that’s always a problem I have with adult romance) and some situations and dialogues in the first half of the book made me laugh out loud. But Colin was a pretty bland and uninteresting love interest, without any distinct personality trait except his insecurities lol. It was also nice to see a plus-size character in a story that didn’t revolve around her weight. She does have a lot of conflict with her father, and one of the ways he emotionally abuses her is by constantly bringing up her weight. He also happens to be sick, and her mother is constantly guilt-tripping Allison into keeping in touch with him even though she has decided she has had enough and wants to cut ties with him. However his health gets worse and he dies at the end of the book, which forces Allison to reconnect with him. At his funeral, there is a sort of attempt at closure when she finds out he was actually proud of her this whole time…? As someone who also lost a parent I had a strained relationship with (but nowhere as bad as Allison and her father, and for very different reasons), it was pretty hard to listen to and I honestly don’t know what I thought about the whole thing. It felt bittersweet, but I could not tell you if it was in a good or bad way.
As you have figured out, this is both a second chance romance and an academic rivals to lovers, which I am not sure worked very well. What I like about the academic rivals trope is that their dislike for each other is balanced out by their mutual respect and admiration, but it did not really apply in this case since they already knew each other and she hated him for a very tangible and reasonable reason, not just vague tension and annoyance and not knowing the “real him” (as is often the case in academic rivals to lovers).

I will not spend too long on the structure of the story, as it was a typical romance: characters have conflict, but their attraction is stronger and they get (back, in this case) together. Then a new dramatic conflict leads to a third act break-up, but it was all a misunderstanding and they figure things out and end up together and happy. The other aspects of the book (academic goals, troubles with best friend and family) also get resolved or at least semi-resolved.
Unfortunately, the ending of this book particularly highlighted a thread of casual sexism in the story that I am not sure I would have picked up on otherwise, but because of the last 15%, I went back to examine everything else in the book and was left quite perplexed. Basically, what happens is that Colin and Allison both have a very important presentation they have to give in front of their teacher (the one they both want to become the advisor of) and the whole class. At this point, they are back together and he expresses his doubts and fears that he does not have any good ideas for his own presentation (he is supposed to go first, and Allison’s will be the following week). She gives him some pointers and then reveals the topic she has chosen to explore, which she has been thinking about and developing for MONTHS, if not years. And on the day of Colin’s presentation, wouldn’t you know? He reveals his title and it turns out HE STOLE HER IDEA. So she storms off and doesn’t listen to the rest. It is revealed later that he only stole her title and overall theme, but analysed something slightly different or whatever, but I was not convinced by that explanation at all. He still got the entire idea from her and knew he could only get away with it because he was doing his presentation first and not the other way around. He didn’t tell her about it beforehand even though he had every opportunity, and then justifies it by saying it was the “only way to level the playing field”?? YEAH NO SHIT, because she’s better than you and you know it. Anyway, Allison goes through all the emotions in the spectre, first it’s anger (justified) but then it somehow turns into motivation, because apparently him stealing her work allowed her to BE CHALLENGED? And then she misses him and thinks she overreacted? Excuse my language but are you SHITTING MY DICK? To top it all off, during the final scene at the end where he explains everything, she BLAMES HERSELF for his insecurities and takes him back. Literally, what the fuck.
This review on Goodreads explains all of this in more details and in a clearer manner than me so go read it: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4906435673
It also has an interesting take on the book never mentioning the discriminations Allison probably faces as a fat woman in academia, as opposed to conventionally attractive, thin, white cishet Colin. I had not thought about that while reading the book but I completely agree.

So as you can see I was pretty angry, and writing this review honestly made me even angrier. Too bad, because the book was doing alright besides that.
TWs: fat shaming, emotional abuse, death of a parent.

I was so glad I got to listen to this one, the audiobook was charming, and added so much to the story!