I would like to first say thank you to Lily Menon, Netgalley, and St. Martins Press for allowing me to read an early ARC of Make UP, Break Up in exchange for my honest review.

Why did you have to break my heart the way you did? Once again! It was in a very good way though. Lily Menon coming in WAY HOT with her debut adult romance about 2 app developers.

Annika is the founder of a new app that she believes is the best way to give couples the second chance they might not have otherwise called Make Up.
Hudson Craft is the very successful founder of a very heartbreaking app called Break Up.

From the beginning I felt for Annika and hated everything about Hudson and his app, it's so hurtful and then his sexiness....man that just really grows on you.
Every step of the way though while Break Up is a very successful running app in the world, Annika is doing everything in her power to make sure that Make Up and the system it runs on is perfection. Mr. Hudson was always their what felt like he was being very rude and trying to ruin her start up. Many parties and he always had some kind of successful write up about his app.
I can tell you, after reading this book, I wanted to say I saw it coming but, I truly didn't my emotions were 1000% invested and it sucked me in. I couldn't put this book down to save my life.
The character development not only between Annika and Hudson but with June and her new friend was always such a thrill.

Make Up Break Up is a sweet, office enemies-to-lovers romance in the setting of the tech world and two rival app companies. I was intrigued by this book because it is Lily Menon’s (pen name for Sandhya Menon) first debut into the adult romance genre. I’ve never read any of her other books, but When Dimple Met Rishi is on my TBR and seems to be a beloved book in the book community!

I have been a huge fan of romances lately and I am quickly learning that office enemies-to-lovers romances are some of my favorites. This book was okay, but I wish it could have been better. I enjoyed it and would still recommend if you are interested in a sweet romance but it honestly paled in comparison to other romances I’ve read like The Hating Game.

The premise is two rival app companies, Make Up and Break Up, led by Annika Dev and Hudson Craft, are early-stage start up companies that are both competing for funding. We learn that Annika and Hudson have an unresolved history together and this adds to their sexual tension. While I love good banter, quips and pranks with some underlying sexual tension, there is a line between fun banter and being cruel. Annika walked that line often and it honestly bothered me as I was reading. I understand that she thought Hudson stole her idea but she never really took the time to talk to him about it. That being said, I did enjoy their banter interspersed with their moments of attraction.

While I appreciated the interactions between Hudson and Annika, I wish there was more romance. I was waiting for the entire book for good things to happen and when it finally does, the book is over! This may appeal to some, but I was hoping for more moments throughout. The ending also took me by surprise. I won’t spoil, but I was surprised what Annika asked of Hudson and wasn’t sure how I felt about it.

I did really enjoy the office romance and the premise of two tech start ups. I like when authors incorporate modern technology into their stories and I personally love reading about it! Make Up Break Up is an enjoyable, clever romance and a solid debut in the adult romance world. While it’s not my favorite romance I’ve read, I still enjoyed watching the relationship grow between Annika and Hudson.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

OH !! I loved this book. It was a lovers > enemies > lovers story that kept me engaged on every page. The writing was solid. I appreciated the business challenges the strong heroine faced and thought the relationship with her father was very special. Overall, this book had all the feels and made me smile.

I absolutely adore Annika and Hudson! I'm going to be talking about this on my podcast, Raise Your Words in February, closer to the release date. I'm so excited for it and I have already posted about it on my bookstagram account, @mischiefmanagedbibliophile! I will also be doing a blog post and an in-depth review on GoodReads! I will be reading ALL of Lilly Menon's books.

4.25 stars!

Make up Break Up is an enemies-to-lovers romance about these 2 characters Annika and Hudson who have 2 absolutely rival apps,that is One is Make up to help people fall in love and the other is Break Up to help people break up. Annika and Hudson also know each other from the past when they spent one entire week in the best way together. But now they are enemies and well, we all know what happens after that.

This was a breath of fresh air! It has such a badass character Annika, at the centre of it all. Her relationship with June, her best friend and her app developer was one of the best parts about this book! I am living for those strong female friendships and truth to be told, WE NEED MORE OF SUCH POSITIVE BADASS RELATIONSHIPS IN BOOKS! Annika is so passionate about this app, her passion and determination is something you can't NOT LOVE. Her relationship with her father was So carefree amd loving aah! One of the biggest things I relate with Annika is her problem of not being able to open up or be vulnerable with people, because that is me. I loved how the author beautifully weaved in mental health rep aka Annika's anxiety in the story and helped her embrace it using yoga!

Now, Hudson. Is there there a sweeter guy than Hudson around? Oof. The fact that he actually took the time to understand and embrace Annika's needs, ahh *swoon* He is such a strong character himself, and just so loving by nature! His character growth was SO EPIC. We don't generally find character developments in romcoms but this one had it to THE BRIM. I really wanted more of Hudson, and his life honestly. We really just focused on Annika, it would've been GREAT to see a bit more of Hudson!

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS BEAUTY. I was so emotional throughout the book, i mean who gets emotional while reading romcoms?! me, that's who. Loved this book, the characters, the relationships, and everything! I,can positively say this is going to be a HIT in the enemies-to-lovers world when it comes out! I cannot wait for everyone to read this once its out!

Annika’s app, Make Up, is an app designed to help couples find true love. Hudson’s app, Break Up, helps couples break up without all the messy emotions. Annika and Hudson are competing for funding and have a history of one glorious week in Vegas together. When Hudson moves into an office next to Annika her feelings resurface, and she does the best to get him out of her mind. This book has delightful characters, creative events that bring out the best and worst of the characters and is fun to read. This book proves relationships are tricky and communicating is key. I really enjoyed this book.

I love office romance so when my favorite rom com ya author ventures into the adult genre, I'm here for it.

Annika and Hudson's story is one we've heard before but that's what makes rom coms the best. I loved the lover to enemy to lover storyline set within the tech world! The writing is great and the plot moves at a great pace.

And not to mention those will they won't they moments!

“Annika reached a hand forward, her fingertips grazing the corner of his mouth. His eyes closed as he let out a long, slow breath.”

Yes, yes, YES. What a book! I’m a sucker for the enemies to lovers trope, but lovers to enemies back to lovers? Ugh, that made my heart so happy.

Make Up Break Up has the perfect balance of unresolved sexual tension, awkwardness and yearning. Having Annika feeling so strongly towards her creation Make Up was great because that level of passion is something that fuelled her *hatred* for Hudson and his Break Up app. It also helped fuel the moments of denial of what Annika desperately wanted ... a certain someone *wink wink* Oh, how I loved incompatible businesses pitting against each other whilst their CEOs pretend that they aren’t fazed by each other.

There’s this added layer to the story that I enjoyed - and that’s the nitty gritty bits. The emotional baggage both Hudson and Annika carry on their shoulders and the true reasons behind the creation of their apps - oh I COULD EAT IT UP FOR DAYS.

This is a brilliant adult rom-com debut for Menon! I’m a fan of her YA works and now also a fan of her adult works too!

*I was granted an ARC of this book by St. Martin's Press/Macmillan and Menon within the Swoon Squad group. Proud Swoonie!*

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

*Spoiler free, 4.5 stars*

I've been looking forward to reading this book since the deal announcement. Two people, with opposing apps about relationships, and they're competing for in the same investment contest. And it's by an author whose other books I've loved. It seemed like such a fantastic enemies-to-lovers romance and I couldn't wait to read it!

Dang, seriously dang, can Menon write romance. She's amazing at YA, but she's just as amazing at romance. I completely fell in love with this book.

Alright, I'm starting off with the sex scenes, even though that's incredibly awkward. Yes, they were that good. But, it's not just the sex. Menon is an absolute master at writer sexual tension and sexual yearning. Seriously, the heat between Annika and Hudson feels like it could sizzle off the page. The wanting they both feel is so potent. Seriously, I could sing praise about this aspect of the book for hours. It was that well done.

This book is also just full of love and passion. Not the sex kind, even though there is plenty of that! Annika is so passionate about her company. She is so passionate about what she does and even why she does it. She wants to help make the world a better place in the ways that she can. She's good at what she does and she wants the chance to own that.

I also really, really loved June, and all the side characters. It kind of felt like June and Ziggy could have had their own book! Plus, June and Annika's friendship was so amazing. They were so supportive and they work so well together. I also loved June's relationship with her dad! It was rocky, but they love each other so much. It was such a great familial relationship.

The writing was also so spectacular. Menon has a way with words. It was light and fluffy and yet it felt had this deepness to it, a way of pulling feeling out of you. Her writing style is just so amazing to read.

While I loved Hudson, he's cocky and the best kind of irritating and a guy with a hidden soft side, I felt like he could have had so much development. I felt like his story just came to an end. I feel like where it ended could have been a good place, but the book didn't dive deep enough into his head. I loved Annika's point of view and I think the book worked really well with just her as the narrator, I felt like a lot of Hudson's story was shoved to the back burner. I wanted to see more. I wanted to see more of his emotional growth. I wanted to learn more about him. It made it seem like it was just a flipped switch on his decisions, instead of an accumulation of other events that changed him.

I think that also bled into how I felt about the conflict. It kind of felt like the same thing was happening, just in different scenarios. I would have liked more interactions with Hudson and Annika. I would have liked different kinds of conflicts to come up, to see different sides of all the characters.

And this brings me to my final qualm with this book, the ending. It felt so abrupt. I wanted more. It felt like it just ended right when everything wrapped up. There wasn't enough of a knot at the end to tie everything up for me. I would have liked an epilogue, but this is an ARC, so perhaps there will be one in the final book!

I know there were a lot of things I talked about that I didn't love about this book, but they were honestly small things. They just took up a lot of words to talk about.

I truly, truly LOVED this book. It's full of passion and tech and relationships and amazing sexual tension and absolutely amazing characters. It's incredibly amazing.

Review will be available on my blog, The Reading Fairy on January 30th, 2021

TW: Sex, death of parent(s) (mentioned), car accident, blood, hospitalization, smoking (mentioned), mention of surgery, mention of cancer

Rep: Indian MC, Indian side character, Korean side character, Black side character

Disclaimer: I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review, this does not affect my opinion. 

""And you almost convinced me them you're human. Let's hope you learned your less, Mr. Craft. I'm invincible. I'm unstoppable. And I will kick your ass at EPIC.""


I'm not going to lie: I FUCKING SCREAMED when I saw an email in my inbox notifying me that I had an ARC. I immediately jumped into it (because my priorities are so low), and the fact that I been seeing some very cool lines that I just wanted to read right away, and it's by my FAVORITE AUTHOR! ♥♥♥. 

Once in a while, I will read an Adult Rom-Com and after reading this book, I want to read more because frankly, this rom-com was so good and it was a huge highlight to read. There was also not much smut in this book which surprised me quite a bit as I expected there to be a couple of scenes, but it was really unlike any other adult rom-coms I read that was filled with a lot of smut. 

I was a huge fan of Annika, the girl to girl power and female business owners! Both of them are really rare in fiction, and it was a really good surprise and I really hope we get a lot more female STEM and females in their own business because we need to have those books! 

I loved that Annika had a huge PASSION with her business, Make Up, and wanted to see her business succeed. I loved the way Menon wrote her passion, and the reasons why she was shown and honestly it was perfect. I kinda wished that her business was real because it seems really plausible for it to happen. 

And the fact that all she just wanted to see couples and help them out when they are in the deep end. Compared to the competition, who breaks up with people and helps end things. But like the reasons why they each built their company was so genius and really interesting! 

I think the one thing that made me lose it completely is the RIVALS TO LOVERS AND THE YEARNING THERE IS! I was freaking out, and the way Menon wrote it, I just wanted them to fall in love quickly. They were really rivals including when they were learning stuff about each other and it was just so damn good. 

Hudson & Annika are really interesting characters, and the romance between the two shows it. 

I'm still breathless because this book was so damn good and I was HOOKED. Mainly because imagine me reading a rom-com and wanting them to kiss when I typically am not a huge rom-com fan, but I was so curious and interested in this love story that I was really sad that this book ended. 

I did  not expect to be that hooked, but it was so INTERESTING AND I CAN NOT WAIT UNTIL IT COMES OUT!