I'm skeptical when it comes to the enemies to lovers trope. Too often, the cause of the conflict is something relatively minuscule or an easily resolved miscommunication. But in the case of the Make-Up Test, the catalyst for the tension between Colin and Allison is reasonable -- when they were dating in undergrad, Colin went behind Allison's back to apply for an award/grant he knew she wanted and then broke up with her afterwards citing his need to be alone to accomplish his future goals. So when Allison finds out that the two of them will be TAs for the same professor in grad school, she's understandably guarded. To me, the beauty of The Make-Up Test is that Allison's struggles feel authentic. And when she does, unsurprisingly, over react over what is essentially a miscommunication, rather than create a flimsy premise for conflict, it fits into the existing narrative coherently. Given her past with Colin and the hurdles the two of them had to surmount to rekindle a relationship, it's unsurprising she struggles to give him the benefit of the doubt when faced with a visibly dubious situation. And Colin, to his credit, acknowledges his errors and ultimately takes steps to change and confront them. In classic romance novel fashion, this comes in the form of a grand gesture, namely donning a suit of medieval armor to beg his medieval-literature-loving ex to accept his apology.
The Make-Up Test is far from perfect -- Allison handles her relationship with her alleged best friend Sophie poorly at times and Colin's inability to communicate openly unless pressed gets a bit frustrating -- but their flaws ultimately help their characters seem more realistic.

Jenny Howe's The Make-up Test is such an enjoyable and sweet Graduate School/Academic romance. If you like both second chance romances and rivals to lovers tropes then you will like this fun and witty story. I love that the main character, Allison, is a smart and funny plus size woman. It has been so refreshing to find more and more women of different sizes, backgrounds and ethnicities in romances lately. We need to see more body positive main characters like Allison in romances! I loved the English Department Graduate setting and the competition aspect between Allison and Colin. Their love story sends a great message about making assumptions about others and the importance of being open and honest in relationships. I really liked this debut from Jenny Howe and can't wait to see what she does next.

*3.5 stars rounded up
The funniest part of this book is that I saw a TikTok of a real story that was SO similar like a week later.
Let's start off with the first piece, characters. I really liked our MC here. Allison driven, but also fun and funny. She truly loves herself and prioritizes her own mental health for the better part of the book, which I loved. You know who I DIDN'T like, though? Colin. Benjamin. The whole point is that this man has changed for the better since the flashbacks, but I truly don't think this man has changed enough to deserve Allison. His grandfather's sickness supposedly made him love medieval literature and find his passion and a better personality, but he falls into really similar patterns. Regardless of his motives with not getting into grad school and needing a better field, Colin did NOT need to stay close to Allison and completely mess up the plans that she worked on for years. I'm not saying he didn't need to keep himself afloat, but even with his new passion, he followed the path she had to forge for herself and competed with her for things he had wanted for maybe a year while she dedicated her life to it for likely 5+ years already. He was certainly persistent, but if it was so clear he wasn't suited to the field, he shouldn't have even attempted to steal what she wanted for it, and that goes for both the flashbacks and the rest of the book.
I have mixed feelings about this relationship. I do think that these two respect and love each other, but I can't help but fear that despite them both being extremely into their studies, Colin is all too willing to mess with Allison's life to help his own, even though his is going worse. I just do not like him, and I wouldn't have been surprised if he actually did plagiarize the entire presentation at the end. He was at least a bit obnoxious in the past and present, which made him annoying to read about, even if he was better than a lot of the other men in this book. To summarize, he's not the worst option ever, but he should've respected Allison's career path a lot more and not stolen every single aspect of it.
I did like the plot of this book, but again, I don't like Colin, who is a big part of it. Anyways, the writing itself is definitely good. I loved the descriptions of medieval literature, and it sparked an interest of my own that I'd love to explore!
I'd recommend this to people who like lovers to rivals to lovers, but fair warning, I might not be the only one to dislike our wonderful hero. They had a lot of great chemistry, though, and I enjoyed reading the book.

The author's sparkling debut novel is for readers who don't mind a little Beowulf or Chaucer in a contemporary romance.

The relationship Allison and Colin had built at Ivy-League Brown University had ended badly. Allison felt betrayed when Colin unexpectedly won a prestigious prize she coveted and he had claimed he wasn't applying for. Two years later, Allison is dismayed to find Colin in her Ph.D. program. Both are studying medieval literature--Allison's specialty--and vying for the plum role of permanent teaching assistant to a highly respected professor. There's clearly still a spark between them, but Allison is resisting. Both characters also have family issues. Colin's beloved grandfather and mentor has early dementia. Allison's estranged and alienating father is having medical problems, and Allison can't seem to care.

Although I couldn't help wondering whether Allison and Colin SHOULD be together, I enjoyed them as flawed but evolving characters. Supporting characters such as Colin's grandfather, Allison's clothing designer best friend and roommate Sophie, the esteemed professor herself, and some of the other students in the pair's graduate program lent interest and depth to the narrative. This book surprised and delighted me with the author's self-assured writing style and intelligent plot. I look forward to hearing more from her.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

The Make-Up Test was a good read. It had some cute and funny moments. I could relate to some of the stuff happening in the story. However, I felt there could have been a little more development of Colin's and Allison's story. I kept going back and forth about their relationship. I also did not like the information given to Allison about her father at the end, I felt it was unnecessary at that point in the story, Overall, I did enjoy reading The Make-Up Test.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was so grateful to have a chance to read an advance copy of this book that I forced myself to finish it but it was a struggle. I really did not like the male lead, Colin, and felt that he had wronged Allison in ways that were simply unforgivable. He was deceitful, selfish and a liar and Allison is way too good for him! Their third act break up had we wishing that they would not get back together.

The Make-Up Test was nerdy, fat-positive, and hot. What more can you want in a contemporary romance? I thoroughly enjoyed reading Allison and Colin's super competitive romance come together. This has second chance romance and enemies to lovers.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Man, never have I been so bored reading about a toxic romance. Setting aside some grammar issues and issues with realism (like the first day of school being on a Friday for some reason?), I actively disliked Allison and Colin together, feeling like they brought out the worst in each other. I also found Allison unpleasant as an MC. She was uptight, had a chip on her shoulder, and assumed the worst of everyone. She did have an arc with growth, but not enough to overcome my dislike, unfortunately.

Oh well, on to the next.

This was super cute- I loved the characters, the premise- but I found it very long and drawn out. I’m not sure if it was because it was a busy time of year but I definitely didn’t have a “can’t put it down” kind of feeling. Still a nice and light summer read though!

I really wanted to like this book. I love books set in academia and I love books with plus-size heroines. This just felt so pretentious though. It felt like every page was the author trying to prove to me that she was, in fact, smart and educated. I don't need you to prove that, I believe you! It isn't necessary to constantly name-drop Chaucer. The main character, Allison, didn't feel realistic, either. She felt so transparent. I wasn't sold on Colin, the love interest, either. He just didn't seem like a man I would realistically fall in love with. This book had a lot of potential and it was just thoroughly disappointing.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Such a sweet read. I’m a romantic to my core so of course I was rooting for Allison and Colin the whole time, but it still felt like an authentic wish for them to be together, not like they needed to be just because they’re the main characters. A very very sweet read, and I sped through the last 150 pages, it truly grips you.

Oh gosh. I really wanted to love this story. I love the idea of the story. I love parts of the story. Is it smart? Is it swoony? Yes. Is it so much more than that that I might have loved it if it was 100 pages shorter? Yes.

Cw: body shaming, degeneration of mental state/dementia, parental abuse

Love that we've got a fat MC who loves herself in Jenny Howe's debut! I was so excited by the premise- rivals to lovers & second chance romance! Academia and a cardigan wearing love interest? Say no more!

Avery and Colin will certainly pull you in. Will you love him at first? Absolutely not, but he'll grow on you as he and Avery stick it out through the good and bad. I did feel that the book was a little heavy on the medieval details but its obvious that the author did her research. (I do understand that it's a huge part of what they're studying but it felt like it slogged down the story in some instances.

Overall a read that I'd recommend but wouldn't come back to it over and over again.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and Macmillan for the chance to read an ARC.

This book was just a big miss for me. I thought about putting it down so many times but I persevered...and it was not worth it. I found it incredibly repetitive which stopped me from getting sucked into the story. The writing was unnecessarily fluffy. The characters were just plain boring, they had no depth. Take Colin for example. They kept saying he's changed, he's different, he's not the same man as before. Ok...but how? I still don't understand what caused it? Oh and all that winking drove me crazy. I couldn't feel any chemistry between Allison and Colin - and the silly winks did not help.

On the bright side, if you like medieval literature, you would probably enjoy this book!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC for this book!

Rating: 3.5-4 stars

The Make-Up Test is like a Taylor Swift album: fun, clever, and full of cardigans. There's a little heartbreak, a little romance, and a whole lot of sass.

Romance gets a bad rap in the bookish world for not being "real literature" or whatever, and I'll be the first to admit I tend to read romance when I need something mindless and light and fluffy, but I started reading page 1 of Jenny L. Howe's debut and thought, "this girl knows how to write." Even without reading her bio, you can tell she has writing and literature professor, not because her story is cerebral and pretentious, but because her use of language is so skillful and purposeful. I'm definitely a left-brained, STEM kind of girl, but there's a part of me that's a huge language nerd who loves thinking about words and things like sentence structure. And that part of me was definitely geeking out a little bit over how well-written The Make-Up Test was. I never go into a contemporary romance expecting anything more than decent writing. (That might be an unfairly low bar, but it's true.) So when I picked up The Make-Up Test and found such masterful writing, I was essentially the human equivalent of the heart-eyes emoji.

Allison is such a great protagonist: sharp, whip-smart, and entirely unapologetic about who she is. Colin isn't necessarily my favorite love interest, but he's cute enough. But the banter. THE BANTER. I love clever things and the humor in The Make-Up Test was totally on-brand for me. I mean, the quips, the one-liners, the internal dialogues, I love it all.

I love second-chance romances (thank you, Mr. Wentworth,) and I love academic rivals-to-lovers (thank you, Gilbert Blythe), so a combination of (academic rivals-to-) lovers-to-academic rivals-to-lovers is the magic combination for me. The romance was cute and heartwarming, and I am ridiculously glad we didn't get a ton of unnecessary drama. My one quibble with the romance is that I felt like the conflict (aka the "why can't they be together now?"), both in the past and present, didn't quite have the weight that it needed to carry the story. Like, it was believable, it just felt flimsy? I'm also not really a fan of how rushed things are at the end.

The Make-Up Test is the nerdy, quirky and sharp-witted romance I never knew I needed. It gets a little pedagogic at times, but Jenny L. Howe's love for language and medieval literature shine through. Her excitement for stories from the Middle Ages is palpable and almost makes me want to dig out my copy of Canterbury Tales and give Chaucer another chance. (Almost being the key word, here.) It might take me a few more stories to convince me to try wade through Middle English again, but I'll definitely be reading whatever Jenny L. Howe has next for us.

The Make-Up Test is a romance that features Allison and her ex/rival Colin. They’ve both been chosen to aide for a professor within their graduate program, but then the professor drops a bomb on them. She will only be able to keep one of them on as an aide/advisee and Allison and Colin only have two months to show her who deserves the spot. One big knot in the string: Allison and Colin have major history that is sure to complicate the competition.

Some tropes: discovering who you are, exes, rivals, forced proximity.

I love Allison! I see a lot of her qualities, both good and bad, in myself. I appreciate, as a curvy woman, how her size is included in the story, but it isn’t the whole of the story or anything to do with her character arc. I love her journey to figuring out who she is outside of the academia and life that she grew comfortable with at Brown. I thoroughly enjoy reading characters get uncomfortable and come through it shining and Allison did just that.

Descriptions and imagery are wonderful and incredibly well-written. The way Howe wrote about Colin’s smile near the beginning of the book had me absolutely swooning for him and I don’t think I’m even supposed to like him yet!

I was so invested in the story that I felt Colin’s betrayal just as keenly as Allison did. That’s how immersive Howe’s writing is and how well-done her plot is.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for the e-ARC and the opportunity to read and review The Make-Up Test. I adored every second of reading this book and would recommend it to anyone looking for a well-written romance! Overall, it’s a 5/5 for me.

Allison and Colin were loves at undergrad. Colin broke up w/ Allison unexpectedly and broke her heart. She was barely hanging on for awhile. Needless to say- she'd be happy to never set eyes on him again.
When Colin walked into Allison's graduate program, now studying the exact same thing as her, she is livid. How dare this man try to schmooze her life again?
Then they are thrust to work together under the same fabulous professor as co-TAs. Competition ensues and Allison is bound determined to come out on top.
Allison is a smart, funny, well-read plus-size woman. I love to see women of all sizes just living their lives in romance novels and I love when an author can make that happen organically (as opposed to forcing it just to check a box).

The setting was fun and I enjoyed Allison's development and seeing her stand up for herself. There’s some steam and some fun banter, which just so happen to be two of my favorite things.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this novel. I am rating this book based the stars due to lack of time to leave a full review. #NetGalley #TheMakeupTest

This book was just okay. I've read academia romance books that are much more engaging and entertaining.

Jenny L. Howe’s debut novel, The Make-Up Test, is excellent. I had so much fun reading the story that I consumed the whole thing in one sitting, which, unfortunately, meant that I was really tired the next day.

The story sets up an interesting career conflict between two former lovers. Allison and Colin are grad students in the same program and they’re competing for the same opportunity. Before they were grad students, they were college students in love but also, unbeknownst to one of them, already in competition.

Allison is one damaged lady. She has an ugly relationship with her deeply abusive father. She suffers from superhero syndrome and majorly fails to communicate with people who are in her corner. She also drinks far too much, bordering on alcoholism.

Colin is a lost soul who, because he doesn’t know what he wants, latches on to things other people value. Perhaps he’s hoping to value those things too but inevitably his desire for *something* turns into a competition with the people he cares about.

The characters are fun and you’ll root for them and the growth Howe allows them to experience. But you might also root for them both to get a significant amount of therapy because they really need it.

This debut is lovely. Howe’s story and character arcs are believable, her characters flawed but appealing. I’d like to see the author write a slightly more idealized world, where her fat protagonist isn’t walking around with a big chip on her shoulder. Yes, the world is as unkind as Howe portrays it but sometimes it’s also wonderful to pretend that it isn’t, that everyone is just out there looking for love and maybe, eventually finding it.

Undoubtedly this fun read is the first of many great books by Jenny L Howe. I encourage you to pre-order The Make-Up Test from your favorite indie bookstore (or ask your library to stock it and put yourself at the head of the waitlist!).

The Make-Up Test by Jenny Howe is scheduled to release on September 13, 2022.

I received a digital ARC through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.