I couldn’t get into this. I wasn’t a fan of the hero and I couldn’t connect with the setting/story/characters at all.

This was a great read. I love the body positivity by the heroine. The romance was delightful. It’s centering and cute.

Enemies to lovers meets second chance romance, a nice combo with characters as sweet as these. Add in a little plus-size representation that was handled well, this was a cute, heart-warming rom-com. Unfortunately, I did not feel the chemistry between the two characters - I enjoyed them individually but did not feel their bond as much as I would have liked. This may be in part due to the frequent "miscommunications" as those are distracting from the actual progression of the relationship. Overall a cute story and I would read another by Jenny Howe after reading this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and St.Martin's Press for my gifted copy - all thoughts are my own.

This was such a cute second-chance romance! I loved every second of it, especially the tension between the two characters!

enemies to lovers to rivals to lovers all in one book! grad school setting, something we don't see a lot of.

Rivals to lovers and medieval kit and body positive fat rep? You can’t go wrong. Highly recommended!!

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin's Press for sending this book for review
consideration. All opinions are my own.

Allison Avery is elated to learn she had been accepted into the PhD program at Claymore University to study medieval literature under a professor she's admired for years. Much to her disappointment, she discovers that her ex-boyfriend, Collin Benjamin has been accepted into the same program. Just as she is trying to balance other areas of her life helping her ailing father, the last thing she wanted was to compete with Colin again. The competition to impress their instructor becomes just as challenging as graduate school itself. Their competitive nature is put to the test when they learn there is only one spot for a coveted research trip opportunity overseas.

This was a nice debut into the rom-com genre but did lack a bit of both. The romantic aspect struggled as the relationship between Allison and Collin took a painfully long road to reconciliation of any kind just to work together let alone reunite what "may have been" from their undergrad days at Brown University. The story between Allison and her father, Jed, fat-shaming her was uncomfortable and seemed almost like an unnecessary side note. It seems that Allison has accepted her full-figure and has the confidence to succeed that her weight barely needs any focus.

I rounded up this novel for its earnest attempt as it might be appealing to some people. It just didn't impress me.

I hate enemies to lovers books that include hijinks and immature behavior towards each other. I struggled to finish this and was totally let down

Exes to lovers and I am here for it. Allison Avery learns that she has been accepted into her dream Ph.D. program and is thrilled. Until she finds out that someone else was accepted also...her ex, Colin! The heat is on in the classroom and between them when they battle it out against each other. I enjoyed the second chances aspect also. This body includes body sensitivity in a way that is classy and done well.

This was a fun, if slightly forgettable romance. There were some literary allusions that went over my head (and I consider myself pretty well-read) but all in all it didn't take much away from my enjoyment of the story.

I’m not sure how I feel about this one still. I liked it while I was reading it but I found it very forgettable. I did really like the characters and the story line.

I think we can all appreciate the spectacular job that Ms. Howe has done for plus-sized representation.

I, like many others, have grown up reading about the perfect, skinny heroine who survives an ordeal and gets the guy. Ms. Lowe took my perfect, skinny heroine and gave me someone real, raw and incredibly relatable.

Enemies to lovers against the academic background was brilliant! I am not a fan of second-chance romances but this worked only because of how loveable the characters were.

Anyone who can make Scrabble sexy is a winner in my books!

I do believe the author can mature slightly in terms of her writing and less reliance on the noncommunication trope. That being said I think she has great potential.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for my honest review. You can follow me on IG @JessicaReadsIt.

The Makeup Test was definitely a heart warming story. I laugh, I cried and I didn’t want to put the book down.
Jenny Howe is definitely on my favorite authors list!

I should start off by saying I loved the plus size rep!
I just had a very hard time feeling the connection between the pair which made me feel very indifferent about the book as a whole.

it was cute debut but it won't be a memorable read.

A warm, academic, second-chance romance with charmingly neurotic and devastatingly smart characters.

Second chance romance is not my trope of choice, I'll be honest. So take that into consideration if you're reading my review. I kind of think these two were better broken up, yeah I said it. I wasn't rooting for them to rekindle anything. I liked the fighting and sniping, I think they were better as adversaries and maybe eventually friends but I didn't buy them getting back together. And if you can't get behind the romance in a romance novel it makes the rest of the review kind of moot, ya know?

An excellent debut from writer Jenny Howe. Her prose, first and foremost, stands out clearly as the writing of someone who loves writing—and in a book about lit nerds, her style is a perfect fit! The characters are very realistic, with flaws and quirks that make them at times endearing and in other moments frustrating. But the realism of the characters, including the challenges they face in their everyday lives, make them deeply relatable and highlight how well developed they are. Of course, I must mention how wonderful it was to encounter a character like Allison—someone who is unapologetically smart and who celebrates and accepts her body and her self, just as she is. Overall, Howe’s debut is a stunner, and I so look forward to seeing what she writes next.

It was average for me. I didn't get all the feels while reading it, but I didn't hate it. I felt like the story fell flat and drug after a few chapters.

Loved the cover and the premise but unfortunately not the book for me. I had a hard time connecting to the characters- I found them immature. A cute and easy read. Thank you SMP and Netgalley for my copy.

I was really excited for this book, but ended up disappointed. I didn’t like that the book was in 3rd person, but we really only get Allison’s point of view. I thought that was an odd choice that the author made. I also thought that Allison forgave Colin too easily, especially given the grudge she had.