I'm usually not a fan of the second chance romance trope, but I really enjoyed this.
Allison and Colin's relationship after their previous relationship felt real - it felt like something I've experienced in my own life. Competition, rivalry, annoyance, but still attraction. I loved watching these characters fall back in love.

I also can't help that I will read almost any book that has a literature plot in it somewhere.

“Allison Avery loves to win. After acing every academic challenge she’s come up against, she’s finally been accepted into her dream Ph.D. program at Claymore University, studying medieval literature under a professor she’s admired for years. Sure, grad school isn’t easy—the classes are intense, her best friend is drifting away, and her students would rather pull all-nighters than discuss The Knight’s Tale—but she’s got this. Until she discovers her ex-boyfriend has also been accepted.”

There was a lot to like about this one:

A plus-sized heroine who *doesn’t* hate herself and spend the book dieting.
University campus setting, with bonus, teaser discussions about medieval literature.
Lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers trope.
Strong boundaries set with unhealthy parents.

Negatives had more to do with personal tenderness, than actual flaws.

Currently in a similar no-contact situation with my own parent, I simultaneously appreciated her strength, and didn’t want it a part of such a fun read. That plot-point was a little too close for me to appreciate it properly.

7.5/10

Thanks to NetGalley and Orange Sky Audio for this ARC.

DNF at 70%. The story was very slow and the interaction between Collin and Allison was boring. There wasn't enough supporting characters to add depth to the story.

This was just okay. I wasn't a Colin fan. I never really felt that spark come to life reading their story. Allison seemed petty at times. I felt bad about her dad situation. Any kind of abuse in any form is not okay. I did think that it was odd that he was a complete @ss the whole time and then his co-worker came up to her and told her that story she did. It was just all odd and did jive for me overall.

Sadly this is a DNF for me. I hate not finishing this but at the same time, I cannot make myself listen to 8 more hours of this. I really wanted to love this, A fat girl MC with a thyroid disorder who is hella smart and academic. I thought it would be perfect for me. Allison is so whiny and childish. I fell like the whole competition aspect is only going on on her head. Colin is boring and the story is taking so long to come together. I really do not like to DNF ARCs, but unfortunately I cannot continue with this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orange Sky audio for access to this ARC.

I try REALLY hard not to DNF ARCs. But I just couldn't imagine living through 7 more audiobook hours of this. Too many books in the sea to continue on with something that obviously didn't connect with me.

**Please note that I did not publicly rate this book, though I did share the fact that I DNFed it and why

One of the reasons that I was struggling is due to the flashbacks. They happen like mid thought and without warning. It created a lot of "wait- what?" type thoughts. Since I was listening to the audiobook, those abrupt transitions are difficult. A little warning, please!

The other reason- the characters were terribly immature.

The audio narration is SLOW. I listen to most audiobooks at 1.25-1.35 speed. 1.5 was too slow still.

I appreciate the opportunity to read this, but it just wasn't for me.

I am not usually an audio book reader but let me start by saying I really enjoyed this experience in audio format.
Thank you net-galley and St. Martins publish for this audio arc!

This academic rivals second chance romance was everything I wanted in a book. It was slow to start but very soon I was super into this story line between Colin and Allison.

I absolutely LOVED Allison. I saw a lot of myself in her in the small ways and her character was a joy to read about, I loved being in her head!!

I was having the best time listening to this book obsessively, I didn’t want to stop, and the rival tension was so good and stressful in the best way, i was just waiting for them to realize hate and love is a fine line. …
About 70% in when I could tell what was going to happen, I was just hoping I was wrong. And indeed I was not wrong and my heart was ripped out.

I honestly didn’t really recover after that, in terms of their relationship. I loved Allison’s characters development and how her and sophie navigate changes in their friendship. as well as her familial relationships. It made up for Colin.

I wish there was an epilogue that might have made me feel Allison and Colin uniting once more was worth it all in the end!!

The authors storytelling was so wonderful though and I will definitely be looking forward to reading some of their future work!

This second chance romance focuses on Allison Avery, a dedicated PhD Candidate in Medieval Literature who’s just begun studying under her academic hero. Her hard work is paying off and everything is falling into place… until she discovers that her ex-boyfriend and ex-rival from college is back and causing more trouble than ever. She doesn’t have time to deal with him, especially while managing a difficult relationship with her father and feeling estranged from her best friend. While I found it a bit difficult to get invested in the plot there were some things I loved: a plus sized protagonist, so many lit references, and real talk about challenging familial issues.

Thank you to the publisher, author and NetGalley for this ALC!

Content Warnings: Body Shaming, Death of a parent, Grief, Emotional Abuse

This was a cute enemies to lovers story. I appreciated the fact that the book had a plus sized main character and addressed some difficult weight issues. I think it’s important that books become more inclusive to all shapes and sizes of characters.

🌀Synopsis
Allison finally gets into her Ph.D program AND she even gets the teaching assistant position she’s been striving for. There is one downfall though. Her ex-boyfriend Colin is also in her program AND he was also assigned the same teaching assistant position.

Not only does she have to see him constantly, she is competing with him to be the best teaching assistant. Then, when their professor tells them they no longer have funding for two TAs things heat up even more between them.

They declare a truce against their hatred for each other but still have a hard time finding a way to be supportive of each other. It isn’t until Allison’s father has health issues that the two finally put the past behind them and let the truth come out about things that happened and how they feel about each other.

I LOOOVED this book! So charming and fun. It exaggerates the world of PhD lit programs in an entertaining way, but still made me (oddly) a little nostalgic for my earliest grad school days. I really hope Jenny L. Howe continues to write!

From rivals to lovers. Two college ex’s go from battling against eachother to getting along and becoming friends again. This book was filled with some not so harmful lies and truths.
Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to listen to The Make Up Test by Jenny Howe in exchange for my honest feedback.

The Make-up Test is a second chance romance set in academia. Allison is a graduate student in Medieval Literature. At orientation for the program, she sees Colin- her ex from undergrad.

In an unexpected turn of events, Colin and Allison are both TAs for the same professor, Wendy. This obviously creates tension, and to pile on only one of them can continue with Wendy next semester due to funding. Suddenly Colin and Allison are in fierce competition.

The feelings begin to grow when Colin volunteers to drive Allison four hours to mean when her father is in the hospital and she finds out while drunk at a party. The car ride becomes exceptionally sweet. They make an agreement to put their competition aside and try to build a relationship together.

I enjoyed this book until the final 20% and that’s where it fell apart for me. The third act break up felt impossible to realistically recover from. I saw what Colin did as inexcusable and I really dislike how Allison was written as blaming herself and forgiving him so easily. The end of this romance left me feeling very uncomfortable which is the opposite of how I want to feel when reading this genre. I had such high hopes based on the beginning and the authors note, some good things I can say are that the fat rep in this book is great, the minor characters are well developed enough to be very likable, and I really liked the storyline about Allison and her father.

Overall, it’s hard for me to put aside the ending of this book. I don’t need more stories about women putting their needs and feelings aside for a man and taking on responsibility for how a man feels.

This one was disappointing. I didn’t like the main characters so it was hard to root for their relationship. Allison is immature with a “woe is me” attitude about everything and her academic competition with Colin felt one-sided. Colin also wasn’t a particularly enjoyable hero and feel like we needed more show than tell of his growth. Appreciated the plus size representation but unfortunately the story overall was a miss for me.

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for my advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

brief synopsis: Allison arrives at her English PhD program, and her ex-boyfriend Collin is in her cohort. they must TA together while competing against each other for a mentorship slot that involves travel and co-writing an article.
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I agree with the reviews that find both characters to be unlikable. I’m thrilled that Allison offers fat representation but also don’t understand how Collin’s supposed bony shoulders and body could be attractive. the setting and general atmosphere made it a 5-star read for me rather than the characters.
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I finished my PhD in history a little over a year ago, and this book reinforces my sense of pride for that. I wanted chick lit that takes place in academia for several years now, and this is that. it gets academia right, like LOVE HYPOTHESIS by Ali Hazelwood meets BY THE BOOK by Julie Sonneborn.
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content warnings for fat-phobia and parental death. on top of wonderful plotting that serves as a realistic love letter to academia, MAKE UP TEST includes layers of adjusting to adult life after college, complicated familial relationships, & fat empowerment. this chick lit (a label that I personally find empowering) has real depth.
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since the characters graduated Brown U for AB, author invented a grad school between East Providence and Barrington, RI, which HAPPENS TO BE MY HOME TOWN!!!!! if 7yr ago (when I was a first year grad student) someone told me about a PhD humanities rom com taking place essentially in Barrington (EP border!) I would’ve literally thought I was dreaming!

I am frustrated by this book. Why am I frustrated you ask? It's because we have a badass fat main character who is lovely and is literally gaslit the entire book by everyone.

So we have our main character, Allison, who has worked her ass off to get to grad school without the support of one of her parents and after being totally bullshitted and taken advantage of by her college ex. Allison ends up in this prestigious grad program studying medieval literature and guess who the frick ends up having to pair with her as a teacher's assistant? If you guessed or shitty fucking ex-boyfriend who totally stole her award in college and then dumped her, you'd be right.

Enter Colin. Colin is a lanky selfish white boy who likes cardigans. It's pretty much what we learned about him beyond the fact that he has the emotional maturity of a child and is absolutely incapable of not thinking about himself. At some point near the end of this book we learn that Colin is the son of a single mom and that he's really close to his grandpa but for the vast majority of this book Colin is a piece of garbage and the author doesn't give us any redeeming qualities about Colin. There's just a point where Allison just forgives him for being trash and they end up dating again and keeps talking about how oh he has empathy now and he's not selfish and his ego isn't that bad etc but Collins actions don't ever really show that.

So not only is Allison basically in competition with Colin for a advisee position with her most sought after professor for the entirety of this book, she also spends the entire book getting her boundaries crossed by both of her parents. I don't know if this is because I literally was just dealing with this myself and having one parent send me news about the other parent even after being told not to, but I was so mad for Allison. She deserved better.

Her dad is a fat phobic abusive piece of garbage and he gets sick in this book and her mom wants her to just forgive him. Even though her parents are divorced and her dad treats her mom just as poorly, her mom continues to protect her dad's feelings and emotions and give excuses for him when he is literally being emotionally abusive to Allison. Someone being sick or dying does not negate if they were a shitty person when they were alive and it doesn't mean that anyone has to forgive them.

My biggest issue with this whole book though is that at the end of it Allison starts to think that she did something wrong when no one in her life gave her any clues that they could be trusted. She sits there and thinks that she could have done more she could have done less or she could have done this or that but in reality the people in her life continued the same behavior and expect a different results. It's not her fault that she makes assumptions based on their behavior and the way that that behavior has happened in the past. I really wish that Colin would have taken more responsibility for his actions and his shittiness had not been just wiped away. I hate that this book ends and you get a like two minute warning of Colin being somewhat redeemable but then that's the end of the book. You don't ever actually get a chance to forgive him or like him at all.

Then we have some truly abhorrent secondary characters. Not limited to Allison's dad but also one of the guys in her grad student group is grade a piece of garbage and I hate that he is praised and not called out on his behavior from anyone of authority for the entirety of this book. There is also a tertiary character who is a piece of garbage who just decides that he won't be an asshole one day and assumes that that makes all of his past behavior better. I feel like I'm using the word garbage a lot because the men in this book are literal trash. Allison and her roommate and their dog were the only redeemable characters in this book. And maybe the professor but I don't know about that one.

This was a heartfelt second chance, enemies to lovers romance between two PhD grad students who end up competing for one coveted spot in their program. I really enjoyed the Medieval literature focus, both Collin and Allison are pursuing Medieval lit degrees and struggling to be good TAs. I also loved the tension, secret pining, smart, curvy FMC and let's not forget the steamy scrabble scene!! Recommended for fans of Love in the time of serial killers or The sizzle paradox. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!! I did enjoy the narration by Stacey Glemboski.

CW: fat shaming, fat phobia, toxic parental relationship, parental abandonment, death of a parent

Thank you netgalley, St Martins griffin and orangesky audio for the alc and arc in exchange for honest opinion. I really enjoyed this book great debut. Great representation. I was hoping for a bit of spice and felt like the baby toe dipped in the water. It felt a wee bit too long and the miscommunication trope is not a favorite.

I was lucky enough to also get the kindle version to review as well as this audiobook version to review so I will mostly be reviewing the audiobook part. The narrator did a good job of conveying the emotions and dialogue. The funny parts were well delivered and it was able to keep my attention even though it was a re-read. Overall great book!