Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc!

4.5 stars, rounded up!

this. book.

i absolutely completely loved this book. medieval literature? yes. great academic rivals-to-lovers plot? check. awesome main character. got that too! this was one of my most anticipated romance releases of the year, and it 100% lived up to my expectations. allison was a great main character! she was very relatable, and i absolutely loved her. colin was a bit…less so? honestly i don’t completely know how i feel about him, but he was fine. I did enjoy allison and colin’s banter, though, and their relationship just made sense; their personalities fit together well. this book was super fast-paced (i read it in one day), so it’s a pretty quick read! i think this is one of my favourite academic rivals-to-lovers books that i’ve read, and i would definitely recommend it :)

The Make-Up Test by Jenny L. Howe is a touching, fresh-feeling romance that is as much about navigating adulthood as it is about academia, love, and second chances.

Allison is beginning her PhD as a teaching assistant with her dream mentor. The only problem? The other TA is the ex who broke her heart two short years ago. The setup is so fun that by the first moment Alison cursed Colin's existence, I was buckled up for the ride. Flashbacks to Allison and Colin's failed college romance interspersed with super-cute scenes in the present day made it painfully obvious that Colin has changed for the better, but of course, Allison isn't won over that easily.

Old wounds take a lot to heal, and The Make-Up Test is thorough in its re-evaluation of the central relationship. Both Colin and Allison struggle with their self-image and the drive to be the 'best,' and both have to learn to put that aside in order to really open up to each other. There are pastries, hand-holding through some of the toughest moments I've seen in a romance novel in a while, cute dogs, and a scene of Scrabble-as-foreplay that made me wonder why more books don't include Scrabble-as-foreplay.

Besides the romance, I really loved how The Make-Up Test tackled other hurdles of adulthood--making friends, keeping the ones you have, not murdering the know-it-all misogynist in your work environment. Also, poignantly, the ever-changing parent-child relationship. Allison has an emotionally abusive father with health problems, a subplot that brought so much depth to the story. In particular, her relationship with her mother changing along with her father's decline, the pressure to forgive and gloss over what Allison isn't ever going to accept, it really stuck with me. The book was lighthearted on the whole, but the family drama brought everything down to earth and made Allison's triumphs that much more powerful.

Allison as a whole was such a great main character. The author's note talks about how it was important to her to write a story about a fat protagonist who already loves herself and isn't constrained to the same old stories of self-acceptance or transformation. The story really made the most of this mission. Allison, with her many flaws and equally numerous strengths, was such a real-feeling, well-realized character. Yes, she was always snarkily quipping and doing a *the most,* but it was very clear that it all came came from her love of learning and the tenacity needed to excel at her dream. Occasionally she was stubborn for the sake of it, but often she was admirably holding her ground, and true to life, there were some times when she may have been doing a little of both. The nerd-factor of the book will definitely work better for some people than others. I don't have any real interest in the inner world of academia, but I still found Allison's love of Chaucer and other Medieval classics deeply charming. I won't spoil anything, but the ultimate lesson she takes away at the end felt satisfying and fresh to me as well.

An entertaining, touching, and fully realized romance about second chances and staying strong through the pressures of adulthood. I really enjoyed this one!

Thank you Netgalley for a ARC of the Make Up Test. Overall, I loved the banter between the characters and that Allison was so head strong and fought for everything 100%. The author did an amazing job of creating complex academic characters that seemed human and that showed "love is messy". I was pleasantly surprized by the ending and thought it had a great HEA.

Jenny L. Howe knocks it out of the park with her debut novel, The Make-Up Test. It's sweet, sexy, whip-smart, and contains one of my very favorite things: a plus-size heroine whose story does not revolve around being sad that she's fat, or feeling like she needs to lose weight to be worthy of love. Readers who enjoy second-chance romances should add this to their TBR stack immediately.

Warning: you may finish this book with a sudden, unexpected interest in medieval literature ;)

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I have mixed feelings about this book.

Academic Rivals to Lovers is my favorite trope ever so i was really excited to read an adult take on this trope. At first i was really enojoying the story but at times the relationship felt like it was leaning towards being too toxic.
The thing is, I very much liked Allison as a character and her character-arc. I could relate to a lot of what she was feeling. What i did not like that much was Colin, he was not my favorite, and he made some awful choices through the whole book.
Also, the mentions of the pandemic really took me out of the story, trying to figure out the timeline of it all and also why would she have a mask just in case (???) when the virus is still around for us. I think it was unnecessary to mention it all, to be honest.
So that's where i am at. The writing was great but i don't think the story was what i was hoping it would be.

I tried so, so hard, but ultimately I had to DNF this one about 100 pages in. It just didn’t work for me - the characters, the setting, the writing style. I’m disappointed I didn’t love it but ultimately was just not enjoying reading it at all and had to put it down.

There's a lot to love about Jenny Howe's debut, The Make-Up Test! It's a second chance romance with a bonus rivals to lovers trope added to the mix! And it's set in a prestigious graduate school literature program! Could it get any better? Well, I'm glad you asked because, yes it can! The main character is a smart, funny, well-read plus size woman. I loved the author's note at the beginning of the novel, specifically this quote: "Allison Avery, my main character, is a fat woman, but that is just one small facet of who she is. Her story is not a story of weight loss, or even of learning to love herself for who she is and what she looks like. She already does that." Louder for the people in the back! 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).

I really liked a lot about this book. 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.

What I didn't love:
-Colin Benjamin. It's really a bummer when you don't like a main character and I promise I tried. I just don't know what Allison saw in him. He was a jerk the first time around and he wasn't much better as "Colin 2.0". It almost felt like she was settling.
-I could have gone without the mention of COVID. I guess the book is set after the pandemic (Allison mentions she was a junior in high school when her classes all moved online and now she's in graduate school?), but it was a really weird detail to sprinkle in.
-The pacing was a bit too slow at times for me.
-The ending. Things wrapped up a little too nicely and I hate miscommunication.

Overall, this is a fantastic debut and I can't wait to read more from Jenny Howe!

I had such high hopes for this book after reading Ali Hazelwood’s review on GoodReads. A second chance romance with a rivals to lovers trope just sounded amazing. Unfortunately, it fell short of the mark for me.

Allison is a plus sized grad student who has been working to get a TA position with a prestigious professor at Claymore. All her dreams come true! …Except that the professor takes TWO TAs and the other is her ex-boyfriend, Colin. Things went sour between them two years ago when he won the Rising Star award and she placed second. And now they’re both trying to claim their professor’s attention and position as TA after their prof explains she can only keep one. Things spiral from there.

I must confess I did not like Colin. I don’t understand why Allison gets back together with him after all the pseudo toxic interactions and the whole winning the award out from under her thing. Their relationship honestly just had no chemistry to me. I also am mad at him for his dislike of Hayden Christensen. It’s such a small thing but it made me dislike him more. We Stan Anakin Skywalker in this house.

I also wasn’t overly fond of the ending in this book. Everything seems to come to a head at about 80% and the wrap-up just seems too convenient. I realize at that point things should be starting to resolve themselves but it just seemed like too many things at once? Plus, there’s a rather glaring case of miscommunication around this point that I just did not like. Miscommunication is never a great plot device in my opinion, but this one just killed my enjoyment of the book.

All that said, I did enjoy the snippets of literature and discussion we were privy to. I don’t have a huge grasp on pre-1800 English Lit, so it was interesting to read! I’m going to be adding some Arthurian legends to my TBR thanks to this. The author did a wonderful job with the research for this novel!

There is a bit of spice, but it’s kinda blink and you’ll miss it. The characters definitely get into bed more than once, but it’s not descriptive at all and is very short. This would be a good book for someone who is not comfortable with spice or who is looking for a less spicy option.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the early opportunity to read “The Make-Up Test.”

“The Make-Up Test” is a second chance, enemies to lovers romance between two grad students, Allison and Coilin, who had a tumultuous relationship and break up as undergraduates. I liked but did not love this book, mostly because of Allison. She just had so much *stuff* going on - body issues, dad issues, relationship issues, work issues - and it really interfered with the romance between her and Colin. I wish the author had focused more on Allison’s work woes and the relationship development between her and Colin. The other stuff did not really seem to be needed and the book was a little slow in the first half. I did enjoy the second half and Colin was a really sweet hero. Overall this was a strong debut and I would recommend to readers of contemporary romance.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. The heroine was kind of frustrating, and while I understand why she had some of the trust issues she had, the miscommunication trope was way overplayed here, in my opinion. And not just between the two main characters, but also with the best friend. I don’t hate the miscommunication trope, but this one was harder to get through than normal.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars

Allison is in a PHD program in Medieval Literature when she discovers her ex BF, Colin, is also in the same program. I liked Colin but I didn’t connect with Allison.

I really, really enjoyed this book! It hooked me from the very beginning and kept me hooked the entire time.

I really, really, really wanted to love this one. It had every trope I love - academia, academic rivals to lovers, second chance romance. But the ending of this one frustrated me so much. I enjoyed it as a whole, but I'm still bitter.

The main problem with this one was Colin. He had some endearing moments, but as a whole, he was unbearable. Like other reviewers have mentioned, he should've had a perspective. That in itself mightve saved the book. Instead, he just came off as careless and toxic. (view spoiler)

Other than that, I did enjoy this one. I loved Allison as a character, and the plus sized rep was amazing. She was unapologetically herself, and it was beautiful to read. She was an inspiration.

I also enjoyed the setting. So much of this was set around classrooms, and the discussions were super interesting. I'm interested in going into English in the future, so I loved spending some time in a fictionalized recreation.

So even though I didn't completely love this one, I did enjoy it. It had some things that bothered me, and I don't think I'll be rereading it, but it isn't a read i regret.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

The Make-up Test is an impressive contemporary romance novel with a great message. It is refreshing to see an inclusiveness of characters who do not fit the standard bill for beauty,

The story starts with Allison a PhD student studying Medieval Literature. She is excited to start her doctoral journey only to find her ex-boyfriend is enrolled in the same program at the same school. To make matters worse, they are forced to work ( and compete) together in order to land the careers of their dreams.
The characters of this story are well- rounded and very relatable. The aspect of medieval literature to pop culture references within the story give it an added level of dimension and there are plenty of scenes in story which made me laugh out loud.

The author’s writing was very light hearted and this story could definitely be transformed into a Netflix movie or television show. I do not think there is much to critique about this novel. The book gives its audience the entertainment it expects and The Make-up Test is a solid debut novel which should be celebrated. There is such a need for diverse groups of women to be celebrated and at the forefront of a romantic stories.

I would definitely recommend this book!

I wanted so badly to love this one, but this book just did not work for me at all.

A few of the things I DID enjoy - the grad school setting of this was fun to explore, and the academia world was a nice backdrop to the story. I also thought the supporting cast of characters were fun, and it provided a nice found family vibe when they got together and hung out. The book also includes a fat heroine, and it was a welcome change to see someone who was comfortable in their body and wasn't focused on changing themselves through dieting or weight loss, and actively called out those who tried to push that on her.

However, there were a lot of elements that made this book tough to get through. One, the pacing of Colin and Allison's relationship doesn't quite work. The way the flashbacks of their dating history are scattered throughout the book make it hard to understand the characters' motivations and romantic history, and the last 20 percent of the book is so rushed that none of the moments get a chance to really sink in and make an impact.

My biggest complaint with this book is with Allison's overall personality, which just cast such a huge shadow over the whole book.. To me, she came off as rude, judgmental, entitled, condescending, and just flat out mean to people who stand in her way of what she believes she deserves, which made it challenging for me to root for her or care about her goals. So many times, she's downright rude to Colin and it was really hard to feel any sort of romantic spark between them. There’s a difference between a strong female character and one who’s just cruel, and Allison crosses that line many times.

Yes, she’s had struggles with an emotionally abusive parent and people saying hurtful things about her weight throughout her life. Yes, she's insecure as a woman in academia. But she also never lets anyone communicate with her and frequently shuts down conversations because she assumes she knows what they’ll say. This leads to TONS of miscommunication between her and Colin, and it's almost painful to watch the entirely avoidable conflicts play out due to her own stubbornness.

Overall, while there's some good representation and an enjoyable setting, The Make-Up Test just didn't quite make the grade.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an eARC for review!

Thanks to NetGalley for the free book in exchange for an honest review!

The Make-Up Test was an interesting read for me. It was one of the few books I’ve read lately with a fat main character and it was refreshing! Overall, it was a fun read. Let’s get into some things I liked about the book and some things I didn’t like!

Pros:
-The main character was an absolute baddie who wasn’t afraid to fight back! I absolutely loved the fact that she was comfortable in her own skin and that the book wasn’t about her accepting herself or losing weight.
-As a fat girl myself, this book made me feel seen. I adore any media when it shows normal people who aren’t supermodels having romance.
-I liked how passionate the characters were about the stuff they loved. They felt relatively fleshed out.
-I loved the literature moments and debates even if I had no clue what was going on
-The book had some funny moments I chuckled at

Cons:
-The rivalry between Allison and Colin is borderline toxic in some parts
-Some random things pop up out of nowhere to move the story along. For example, the research trip with only one spot. Seriously, how many times can there be ‘only one spot so we have to fight each other to the death for it!?’ A lot of problems came up and the ending felt quite rushed and incomplete.
-Circling back to the borderline toxic rivalry, Colin was often a plain jerk. He does some really crappy things but ‘please forgive him because he actually has a really, really, really fantastic reason to do horrible things but he can’t explain it for reasons,’

The Make-Up Test was a solid 3 stars or perhaps 3.5 stars if I’m feeling generous. It had quite a few elements I like in a book but some parts didn’t sit right with me. I had fun reading and if you are considering reading it you should give it a try!

I love reading books with extremely intelligent and funny people as main characters. The premise of the book is two Ph.D students fighting over one spot on a research trip. Of course they had a romantic history together... and of course they fall in love again... I love how ambitious and competitive they both are. I love their banter and battle of wits. A terrific LOL book.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

“The Make-Up Test” is a debut rom-com by Jenny L. Howe. I have to admit while I don’t know a lot about early English literature, I find the topic rather interesting. I had, at least minimum, heard of most of the books Ms. Howe mentioned in her novel (though I did have to look up the Wife of Bath, having never actually read “The Canterbury Tales”). So, throw in a second chances romance on top of that - I’m going to be a target audience member.

So, why only three stars? Well, there were some issues. I think this book would’ve benefited from being a dual POV (both Allison’s and Colin’s), opposed to just from the main character’s (Allison’s) viewpoint. Additionally, I felt the “second chance romance” would’ve been better as a rivals to lovers instead. I also have an issue with characters lying (which Allison did a lot when feeling internal pressure to “be better” than Colin) and there’s a lot of miscommunication. I also felt like things wrapped up way too quickly near the end - even little loose ends back at the college. I did like that while Allison was “curvy” that this wasn’t a book about her proving that she was comfortable in her skin or dieting to become comfortable in her skin - Allison WAS comfortable in her skin! In fact, except for the comments from her father, I honestly forgot she was curvy - because it wasn’t part of the story. Another reviewer mentioned issues some of Ms. Howe’s writing style. I also had a few “remove yourself from the story and rejoin reality” moments. Yes, they were minor and infrequent, but it did take away from my moments of enjoying the book. Ms. Howe’s writing style was enjoyable (except for those moments were I questioned her statements) and I’d probably read another book by her - but this book didn’t quite satisfy me like I hoped it would. A huge plus to her, however, for the research on older English literature texts.

"The Make-Up Test" was the first book I've read from Jenny Howe. In this book, Allison and Colin are both competing for an exclusive spot on a life-changing research trip with a renowned professor at Claymore University. However, there's extra layers to their rivalry: they're also exes. A few years ago, Colin broke up with Allison without any good reason, and Allison still wants to know why. As they compete for this research spot, the sparks begin to fly once again. Add in family issues and Allison is doing all she can to stay above water.

I enjoyed the serious issues that the author tackled in this book. However, the chemistry between the two characters didn't feel complete realistic to me. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

I loved this book! The rivalry between Allison and Colin is the best, and the grad school setting is so fun. It's been ages since I read a romance about academic rivals, so I was excited for this one, and it did not disappoint. There were also some heavier moments, however - such as Allison's relationship with her father - and I think those served to make the story feel well-rounded. Plus, it was fat-positive! Would definitely recommend.