It was fine. The characters were ok but I just never really connected to them or bought in to their relationship. I think I might have been the wrong audience so please check out other reviews.

**ARC received through Netgalley**

Working through my backlist 🫣

Thank you Netgalley and St Martin’s Griffin for this eARC, that I’m reviewing so incredibly late.

Rating: 1.5/5

**Trigger Warnings** parent death, body shaming

Spice: 0.25/5 like barely any at all

Tropes: 2nd chance, plus size FMC/skinny MMC, competitive, academia

Honest thoughts: I don’t like the competition trope. This is the second book I’ve read this year with it and I didn’t like the other one either. I found myself skim reading this. I’d have to stop and go back. It wasn’t even that I was bored i just didn’t enjoy the relationship. Both Allison and Cole were unlikeable and immature. Cole stealing the reward from under her like that. The fact that he **sucked** at communication abs how Allison jumped to conclusions so fast about everything that u got whiplash. Despite doing Worst Case Scenario exercises with her bff she never stopped to think anything through. I didn’t feel like Vole and Allison had any chemistry. They were awkward at best and cringe at others.

Also!!! Cole was literally described to resemble Ichabod Crane. *SERIOUSLY*!!!* i couldn’t get past it. Nobody is swooning for Ichabod freaking Crane. He was also described as an isosceles triangle. Book boyfriend he is not, all I’m getting are sharp, pointy, and uncomfortable vibes with a side of creepy.

I did however love the academia setting and the compulsory hang outs. Even if I didn’t understand the medieval Lit references, it was interesting and I might look some up.

This one wasn’t for me.

This one had a lot of potential but unfortunately fell flat for me. It was an okay read. I am all for a fat rep and was really rooting for Allison, but there were some decisions she made that I could not support gah. I enjoyed the meet-cute with Colin but that was the extent of my affection for him. He made me so frustrated!! I loved the academic setting and learning some literature tidbits but I could not get into the romance. I would like to get more of Mandy's story though.

This was definitely not what I was expecting at all. It's a cute book. The writing as style was not my favorite. I do think it was a good debut book and speaks to great books to come.

I tried so hard to enjoy this one, and stuck it out long past the point I'd usually DNF.

-The fat rep was not good. Not all fat people need a traumatic parent relationship to exist. Not all fat rep needs childhood diets to be valid.
-Colin Benjamin did not always need to be referred to by his full name. Also, for an author's note stressing this was the fat rep she wished for, it made all of body shaming comments about Colin that much more glaring. He was gangly, lanky, like a skeleton wrapped in skin, Alison could picture his bones clacking together, You cannot ask for fat acceptance, then body shame others.
-Alison was selfish. All of the choices her friends or the MMC were portrayed as a betrayal to Alison in some way, whether it was making plans without her, or not being there for her many, MANY meltdowns about literally everything.

Put it all together and it was impossible to root for anyone. I didn't want Alison to get the one advisor spot, I didn't want her and Colin Benjamin together, I didn't care.

2.5 stars!

I think that this book really did not work for me for a multitude of reasons. I really did not enjoy the romance. The main character was okay but I did not care whatsoever about their romance. These characters are supposed to be in grad school but they read so young and immature I truly did not care why they broke up or if they were going to get back together.

Where I do think this book had strengths was actually in the writing. I thought the writing was really good and made this a more enjoyable read, but overall definitely not my favorite.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin's Griffin for sending me a copy of this book! All opinions are my own!

I crushed my way through this book in less than 24 hours, and I have zero regrets! This book was so easy to get lost in and forget you were even reading! I loved Allison so much, and found her so relatable, as a bigger girl who has always been a nerd and just finished grad school myself! I saw so much of myself in her and really felt the depths of the story from the first chapter.

I loved the banter and the way that this romance doesn't simply snap back into place. It takes time for both of them to learn to trust again, and I found that far more realistic. They have such a cute dynamic and I simply could not handle Colin flirting. It was too much! *swoon*

This book delves into self-love, family, friendships, trust, and the truth of love, all while wrapping it up into the love and joy of literature. I can't wait to read more from Jenny!

I really enjoyed this book. I’m not a fan of second chance romances, but I thought this one was handled pretty well. The turn at the end that throws their relationship into chaos again ticked me off though, and as an academic, absolutely infuriated me. Even though there was miscommunication and it ended up working out, it was something that could have been avoided very easily and lowered the rating of the book for me.

Unfortunately this book was not for me. I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters and found myself skimming a lot because I wasn’t focused.
I did appreciate the humour though. There were some definite laugh out loud moments.

This was a cute romcom. I love school based romcoms! Thank you for the book! Sorry for the late review!

*3.5⭐️
This was a very hard book to review. On the one hand, I really liked Alison’s story. Hearing about the world of academia from a medieval lit enthusiast’s brain was great. I also thought the complexities of her relationships with her parents and her body image were really interesting. On the other hand, this book didn’t really prove to me that Colin didn’t suck. I mean, there were a lot of great romantic moments between them, especially the last few pages of the book, but I wasn’t convinced that Colin wouldn’t betray her eventually. In my mind, I started to compare Colin and her dad, and then the character Sophie said that too and I felt validated that the main couple wasn’t right for each other. I think maybe they could have been if we had seen more of his change or if the third act conflict hadn’t been his fault, but I still feel unsettled by their lack of communication and their unhealthy rivalry.
I am rounding this up because I really did like the book and I’m excited to read more Jenny L. Howe’s books in the future.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me advance access to this title. I really enjoyed reading this story and look forward to reading more from this author. As a reader, I am really motivated by character driven stories and I found myself quickly becoming immersed in these characters’ lives. Full review to come.

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 and was great to follow along with. All in all, very enjoyable.

Not much to say about this one unfortunately. Couldn’t get past the first few chapters. I think it was a slow start for me. Now and again a person will get into a reading slump and maybe this was just unfortunate timing. I may try again another time.

I read this a few months after it came out via audio and thought the plot and entire conception was so unique and compelling. Particularly I love Jenny Howe's writing style. Looking forward to reading her next!

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an opportunity to read this one.

I have mixed feelings about this one. Second chance and enemies to lovers are some of my favorite tropes. Even when poorly executed, I still eat it up. However, while I loved this author's writing style, the character's were so, so awful it was hard to reconcile their previous behavior with the idea that they deserve a second chance of any kind. And I know that miscommunication only added to that, and I don't typically like that trope, but Colin was just a jerk who deserved no redemption arc.

I didn't finish this one. It was a cute premise, but I didn't find the characters unique enough and the plot didn't hook me. It actually seemed a little too far fetched and cheesy, which is something I usually don't mind too much.

This book was just sadly not for me! I was hoping for something different but it turned out to be something I was not expecting, which is okay and I'm sure someone else would love it!

A good book by Howe - I am now excited to read her others. Loved Allison, the main protagonist, but had trouble connecting with Colin. He's a jerk, who doesn't fully redeem himself.

While reading this book I think I am learning that second chance romances are not my cup of tea but I still really enjoyed this book. This story follows Allison and Colin. These two had dated in the past in undergrad now they find theirselves having to deal with each other daily when they were both chosen for the same TA position. At the beginning they think they can both keep the role so they pick up where they left off until they learn there is only room for one TA. I really enjoyed the writing in this book it was fun and retaining and had no trouble getting into this book. The characters motives and actions sometimes were a little strange but I did enjoy the grad school setting and the conversations on body positivity. This was the first book that I have read by this author but look forward to picking up more soon ! I would like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.