This was an enjoyable read and I would definitely purchase for my library and recommend to certain patrons. I enjoyed the setting of the start up world and mostly enjoyed the characters.

Super cute and funny book. A really easy nice weekend read type. I read it in a few hours. Definitely one to check out.

Every book Menon writes is a joy to read. Given the opportunity to read her first adult rom-com is a privilege. To be honest, I was a bit scared because I didn't know what I should expect. The story unwrapped itself in a steady rhythm and focused on the two characters in the spotlight as individuals before they became entangled. Putting their dreams and hopes first and focusing on the evolving relationship as a second, was a great choice and something I want to see more about in storytelling.
Annika and Hudson are such different personalities, but that makes them kind of interesting - for each other as well as for the readers. You have two people who build their business from scratches by themselves, while being stuck in their lives as well, not knowing that the answers are in hands length.
Modern, sweet, heartbreaking. Thank you.

Make Up Break Up is a steamy romance novel about two app developers who have a love/hate/love relationship. After meeting in Vegas at a conference, and having a week-long love affair, Annika and Hudson go their separate ways. Until Hudson and his incredibly successful app (an app that Annika swears he stole her idea for) show up next door to Annika's office.

t took me about 25% of the book before I was really hooked. The beginning of the book really focused on Annikas hate for Hudson and felt slightly repetitive. But, once I was further into the story, and was able to see the connection grow, I couldn't stop flipping the pages and rooting for these two. I found myself screaming JUST KISS ALREADY.

Overall, this book is a cute romcom story that I would recommend to anyone who loves a good romance story, or who is looking for a light read!

Thanks to NetGalley & St.Martins Press for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for my honest review.

Make Up Break Up was a truly lovely book. A fun modern romcom staring Annika Dev founder and CEO of Make Up an app to help couples communicate better and Hudson CEO of Break Up an app to help you break up. It was so refreshing to see a woman portrayed as the founder of a tech company and also the heroine. I would love to see more from her best friend June! The end really got to me and I was tearing up. I wish there had been an epilogue or a one year later so I could see where everyone ended up. Hey Netflix, this would make an adorable book to screen adaptation, I think fans of To All The Boys I've Loved Before and The Kissing Booth would really be into it!
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Girl meets boy at tech conference. Girl falls for boy in bed at the conference. Girl leaves boy in bed on the last day of conference so she doesn’t get her heart broken by said boy.

Annika is facing some problems. Her start up isn’t a raging success like she thought it would be. The grant she received for the start up as dried up and she is facing bankruptcy and eviction on her office. Her app Make Up is listens to your love languages as you speak to find problems and misinterpretations in your conversations. Her new neighbors (the opposite of hers and archenemy) an app opposite of hers Break Up has a gong that they ring every time there is a celebration. Turns out the gong ringer is Hudson Craft the boy from the conference.

A fun rivals-to-lovers story set in the world of cut throat competition of dating apps. I really enjoyed the story and it brought a huge smile to my face by the time I reached the ending.

What Make Up Break Up gets right is its portrayal of women in STEM, diversity, the immense pressure of being a female CEO and some really great chemistry between the leads.

What Make Up Break Up gets wrong is the ending. Annika's annoying moral superiority won. There was no compromise. She just won. That's not how adult relationships work in the real world and I found it extremely annoying.

4.5 stars - What a great read! The hero in this one is especially heartwarming! This is wonderful as is, but would easily be a 5 star read if it included a dual POV. I think the reader and the heroine never quite understand where the H stood for much of the read. We think we know, but a dual POV would've provided clarity and even greater enjoyment.

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

This just didn't work for me. The whole thing about worrying about getting evicted from the office space frustrated me, especially because she had both her dad and her coworker offering to pay for it. I also found Make Up slightly creepy and didn't love the way Break Up was just condemned in its entirety and ultimately shut down. I do look forward to Lily Menon's next book though, and I hope it works better for me.

The enemies to lovers trope is a classic and Lily Menon’s Make Up Break Up adds a fresh, techy twist to a flirty, timeless plot. Enjoyable, albeit semi-predictable read!

Annika Dev is the 24-year-old CEO of Make Up, an app that helps people find their second chance at love. Her goal is to help failing relationships and give people a chance at their own fairy tale ending. Enter Hudson Craft, 25-year-old CEO of Break Up, the very antithesis of Make Up. His app allows people to employ “terminators” to end their relationships for them. It’s basically Uber, but for breakups and the exact opposite of what Annika stands for.

Not only are both CEOs and their respective apps competing at a tech convention for investors/funding, but Annika and Hudson have a bit of history. They had a brief, sexy fling in Vegas and then lost touch. Hudson returns to Annika's life after renting office space in the same building and she can't seem to shake him. As the book progresses, Annika realizes there might be more to Hudson and his app than meets the eye.

While I found the story fun and sweet, I also found some parts predictable. There was no real “romance” until halfway through the book and, even then, it was just surface level. It left me wanting more and the scenes that were meant to be steamy and filled with passion were missing a certain something. There was a hesitancy in a lot of the romance scenes. Once I found out that Menon was mainly a YA writer and this was her first adult romance novel, it made more sense to me.

Annika’s assumptions about Hudson cause her to constantly get in her own way. Perhaps that may be a testament to the age of both characters. I enjoyed Annika’s drive and passion for her business as well as her relationships with June and her father. The book would have resonated better with me if Hudson had more depth as a character (we only get to rely on Annika’s assumptions since she spends most of the time not reading between the obvious lines Hudson’s giving her). The ending felt a bit rushed, but also in line with Annika’s character so I can’t fault it!

Overall a fun, light-hearted debut into the adult romance world.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this e-book in exchange for my honest review.

I've been a big fan of Menon for several years now and I was super excited to hear that she had written an adult romance. Make Up Break Up did not disappoint! It was a fun, engaging read and I found the characters super relatable! I adore a good enemies to lovers story and this one was a delight from beginning to end! I highly recommend!

I've really enjoyed Menon's YA books, so I was excited to try out her adult debut. Make Up Break Up was fun, but in some ways I think it lacked the spark of her YA books (maybe because her YA books focus on aspects of Indian culture that were not necessarily needed here, but something I enjoy from her books?)
With strains of The Hating Game, I didn't quite believe the attraction of the two main characters, and felt their animosity dissipated too quickly. This just didn't grab me the way her other books have.

So I am going to start with the two things that I liked in this book. Hudson Craft, the male counterpart, and the love scene were enjoyable.

Unfortunately, I found the rest of the book, annoying and predictable. Here's what needed to change for the book to be enjoyable (and thus contains spoilers):

1. The main character negatively misinterprets a lot of things. For someone who is trying to create an app that helps people interpret their love interest, this is unrealistic (I didn't understand why she was so bad at interpreting her father and Hudson's comments.)

2. A majority of this book is predictable; actually I predicted a better ending to the book. There is no reason that the two CEOs and companies didn't decide to combine and work together.

3. I liked the love story between the supporting characters, but there wasn't even a conclusion to it. Why did Ziggy ask June out to dinner at the end? Was that supposed to be left vague?

I was so excited when I got to know that Sandhya Menon was diving into the world of Adult Romance. Make Up break Up started out strong. The leads, Hudson and Annika, had the chemistry and I was eager to see how it would flourish and the relationship that would build. I loved how competitive they were when it came to their business and want to succeed.
However, while it did start out strong, the momentum didn't remain steady or went up.


First off, I love all levels of enemies-to-lovers but my favourite is when the hate is so palpable and the characters would rather kill themselves before they could even think about falling in love with the other, but the pull is strong they have no choice but to give in.

Annika and Hudson were a notch or two below this hate scale but I loved that aspect but while Ms Menon had the enemies part down, the lovers' end of this trope didn't live up to the mark. I wanted much more of Annika and Hudson than we got. I just didn't get to swoon over them as a couple.


Second, taking from the first point, there is way way too much Annika and June, her best friend when it should have been Annika and Hudson. Due to this, I didn't get to see a lot of development of them as individual characters and as a couple. They didn't get the time to grow or understand each other when that was what I hoping for.


Annika repeatedly going back three steps for every progress she made, while in the beginning I understood and sympathized, but later on, I just couldn't. She was so stuck in her way of thinking she refused to believe and understand Hudson.

I get not being able to separate Hudson and Break Up because that man built this company with a certain mindset and if I'm being honest, he wasn't really helping his cause, but what I don't get is Annika's inability to give Hudson the benefit of the doubt. It was so frustrating to see her go through that same process again and again but not make any change or progress.


Overall, Make Up Break Up has some parts that I enjoyed and some points that just didn't work for me. Unfortunately, the parts that didn't work for me were a lot more than the parts that I actually did enjoy.


2.5 - 3 Stars!

Thank you for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

I thought the idea of this book is super cute! Annika Dev is a romantic and CEO of her new app Make Up. Hudson is the CEO and creator of his app called break up which basically the opposite of what Annika wants to accomplish. The two go head to head in a war of apps. If you like some sexual tension and chemistry this book is for you!

Wow I have been loving all of the rom-coms this year. This book definitely delivered. I ate up this hate to love relationship between these two professionals. I loved the strong female character and her STEM background. I will definitely be reading more books by this author. I plan on buying this book for my book club when it gets released. It is the perfect rom com! I give this book five out of five stars. Thank you Net galley and publisher for this advanced copy.

*I received an e-arc from Netgalley, the author and publisher in exchange for an honest review*

Sandhya Menon is now writing adult romance under Lily Menon. Her debut adult contemporary romance was so hard to put down, and I just wanted to keep on reading. Can we say hot, but I’m not talking about the weather?! There’s such a romantic spark between the two main characters, there’s witty banter, and there’s overall fun! Just like all of Menon’s books, I got that warm, fuzzy feeling I needed.

Annika Dev is a hopeless romantic and the CEO of her own app, Make Up, that she hopes will help people to find their happily ever after. She started the company with her best friend, June. Hudson Craft, has an app called Break Up, and it’s known as the “Uber for breakups” and is the exact opposite of what Annika is trying to achieve with her app. Hudson just so happens to move into the office next door to Annika’s. What also complicates things is that they have a past history, as Annika and Hudson had a summer fling in Vegas. The two begin to prank each other and bring on the competition. Things really heat up as they compete for the EPIC investment pitch contest, which Annika is desperate to win as her business is having some financial difficulties. Despite the two clashing constantly, Annika finds herself drawn to Hudson. As she gets to spend time with him, she finds that there may be more to him than his shallow public personality. She begins to wonder if she could have been completely wrong about him.

If you enjoy a good contemporary romance, then this book will be right up your alley. Lily Menon really knows how to write chemistry, and some of the scenes were absolutely smoking! This book is releasing in February, right before Valentine’s Day, so add it to your TBR now.

I've been loving the rom-com books lately, so this this one is right up my alley.
You have your haters to lovers relationships. You throw in enemies since they have conflicting apps they are working on. I loved that they had a history so it wasn't just inst-love. PLUS it also had female empowerment, being good at STEM, and moving on from grief. I need to read more of her.

Lily Menon’s ‘Make Up Break Up’ is a lighthearted enemies-to-lovers story with both humor and heart.

Annika Dev believes in happily-ever-afters. A romantic at heart, she throws all her energy into developing her app, Make Up, which aims to helps couples communicate and stay together. Hudson Craft believes in the power of the bottom line, and the efficiency of technology to help couples do the exact opposite... to separate. His app, Break Up, may be the more successful of the two, but Annika is determined to have her app succeed. Ironically, their attraction to each other is as strong as their rivalry, and as they both compete for the same funding, they’ll find out that sometimes there’s more to life than winning.

I thought that this story was fun and flirty, and I could totally picture it being made into a movie. The banter and rivalry between Annika and Hudson is entertaining, and they have chemistry in spades. And I loved having a more diverse cast of characters that brought their unique experiences to the fore.

The story is told in first person from Annika’s perspective, and I personally think that it would have been stronger if the story would have been dual perspective. I would have loved to have some more insights into Hudson’s mindset, and I think it would have helped to better flesh him out as a character. That being said, the overarching story is still satisfying to read.

If you’re looking for a novel that is low stakes, entertaining, and even a little (comfortingly so) predictable, ‘Make Up Break Up’ is a great bet.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.