Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - The Make-Up Test

Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Make-Up Test by Jenny L. Howe

18 reviews

dogoodwithbooks's review

hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

CW: fatphobia, death/loss

I would like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a free e-ARC of The Make-Up Test in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Plus-size main character and an academia setting? Sign me up! When I discovered this gem on NetGalley, I knew that this was a book I had to read and review firsthand. I was lucky to get this through Read Now as soon as it was listed on NetGalley.

The Make-Up Test tells the story of Allison Avery, a first-year Ph.D. student at Claymore University, who has to compete for the highly coveted medieval literature advisee position under Professor Wendy Frances against her ex-boyfriend, Colin Benjamin.

Fortunately, I fell in love with this book at the first page. You’re immediately drawn into the plot of the book with the dynamics between Allison and Colin. With such a refreshing and unique plot, I found myself easily going through this book and enjoying every page. It’s also an added bonus that this book has great pacing. I never once thought that this book felt too rushed or gone too slow.

Considering that this book was about a confident, plus-sized woman, I felt that this was the main thing I loved about this book. I really saw myself in Allison, trying to be successful in life while also being comfortable in her own skin. Since I don’t always read about plus-sized women being sought after by love interests or as the main character in the books I read, I found myself rooting for Allison throughout this book.

With this, if you’re looking for a fresh perspective in the romance genre, I would highly recommend getting this book when it releases in September.

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doublebassgirl's review

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1.0

I... Kind of hated it. And I feel so conflicted about that because it's a debut and the author seems really sweet from her preamble. And I loved that the main character (Allison) was fat and not trying to lose weight! And a romance set in grad school! But the pacing was so slow. And the initial descriptions of the male lead were so confusing in tone that I thought he was going to be the antagonist, not the romantic lead. I actually liked that he was physically not the typical male lead - knobby knees, lanky, etc. But I didn't feel any romance at all between the two leads. It is unclear to me why she even was into him once (it's a second-chance romance), let alone twice (three times?). Colin, the male lead, is the definition of a mediocre cis het white dude who just skates by and achieves lots of things. Based on... Nothing? And we are supposed to just get over the fact that he constantly undermines Allison in very important academic career moments, including stealing the topic and title of her presentation?? And then SHE apologizes to him for overreacting?? The other thing is that I hate the last minute attempted redemption for the abusive father - the book did pretty well at having her set boundaries with him, and then seemingly threw it all out the window at the end. It's GOOD for people to cut abusers out of their lives, including parents! He did not need a redemption arc. I know Ali Hazelwood blurbed this book very positively but I find that very confusing. Do not recommend at all.

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dianaschmidty's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

*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 NetGalley, St. Martin’s Griffin, and Jenny L. Howe for providing me access to this book.

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maddysbooks_'s review

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

this was such a cute rom-com. i love a good second chance romance, and i’ve especially been into academic romances so i really enjoyed this.
i loved how flawed both the main characters were and how we were able to see them grow and develop from things they’ve done in the past. it made the characters seem so much more well thought out and realistic.
i thought the romance between colin and alison was so sweet and i really liked that colin wasn’t described as your typical book boyfriend, he was a lot nerdier than that which was adorable.
i thought that alison’s relationship with her body and the way she viewed herself was really well done as well.
the only thing i wish we saw more of was sophie and alison’s friendship bc i liked the dynamic between the two of them and i wish there was more of it in the story. but other than that i really really enjoyed this book.

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emmas_bookshelf's review

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Whoo, rating this book is actually really difficult with me because I love love loved the main character. She’s fat (and seems to have accepted her body or is at least body neutral), she’s in grad school, and a million more little similarities that I’m not going to detail here, but trust me, I felt everything she felt so deeply. I also repeatedly asked myself why didn’t I read this damn book sooner!

That said, I hateddddd the love interest. The two of them dated in college, broke up, and are now in a second chance romance but also enemies to lovers situation in graduate school. I found both the recollections of Colin 1.0 to be trash as well as Colin 2.0 to be trash, and while he had a ‘redemption arc’ of sorts, I didn’t think he actually improved and was still hella awful.

All that said, I did like the book, and it gave me a lot to think about. I definitely look forward to more titles from this author.

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jenn_reads's review

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emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

The setting was really stressful and the love interest was obnoxious, I have no idea what the main character sees in him.

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kalynaobyrne's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I have mixed thoughts on this book. There were some parts I liked and some I didn’t. The last 15% of this book was very frustrating. Honestly, I think Colin still had a lot of red flags by the end and honestly there’s no way Colin and Allison lasted long term in my opinion. This book just fell a little flat for me. I didn’t love it and I didn’t hate it. It was very average to me.

Overall, this was a 3.5 for me. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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mypatronusisajedi's review

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emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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readundancies's review

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hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This was a bit of a mediocre romance read for me, but not for the same reasons that I’ve seen a lot of other reviews giving as to why this maybe wasn’t their favourite.

A lot of these reviews seem to focus on demeaning Colin as a character and romantic lead. Now, did I love the man? No. Do I think he’s as horrible as some people are making him out to be? Also no. I think he’s pretty mediocre if anything, from his poor way of handling stress, conflict and shitty situations to his ridiculous attempts at begging for forgiveness. But he was at least trying and making an effort and that deserves some commendation because the attempts matter.

Instead, I had more issues with Allison and basically every single character relationship she was involved in. Her friendship with Sophie was not addressed in any meaningful manner when it came to their conflict throughout the novel. Her friendship with Mandy was not explored enough at all for me to believe it was anything more than superficial. Her relationship with her father was deplorable if understandable, and her relationship with her mother grated on my nerves because there was such a lack of communication between her and the literal rest of the world. She didn’t communicate well at all except with Wendy, her supervisor at the Claymore and I was very much bothered by her. I kept waiting for some level of character growth but nothing that happened by the end of the story showed that she grew as an individual, only that other characters were forcing her to change her opinions or ways. Her representation as a plus-sized MC was the best part about her and is the only thing I didn’t find lacking in her character.

The ending also felt rushed and I don’t think enough of the conflict outside of Allison’s romantic rendezvous with Colin was addressed or resolved in a way that felt natural or complete. Everything ties up neatly because the author finagles it to be so; there’s no finesse, just the reader being told things are fine now instead of being shown through the characters and their altered relationship dynamics. The change stems from the side characters not the main ones and it just made me wonder what was the point of reading about characters who don’t come into their own when I could be learning the stories of the much more interesting supporting cast?

And it’s a shame because the writing itself is good. The main plot works well, the pacing was solid, and the academic focus of graduate school was working for me and is what drew me to the story in the first place. But the two lead characters are just such a mess and so wrapped up in their second chance third chance romance that of course they find their way back to another, they’d be toxic for anyone else.

This also wasn’t that steamy. Like I wanted a bit more from that front, especially because the Scrabble game promised steam and it was more like a cold fog if anything.

And yeah. All in all, this wasn’t a bad story by any means but it didn’t have much of an impact and I wanted to like it a lot more than I actually did.

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savvyrosereads's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Out September 13, 2022 [Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review!]

Rating: 4/5 stars

Allison has big plans for her new graduate program—get a great mentor, become a great professor, and earn a spot as a leading scholar of medieval literature. But she doesn’t account for her ex-boyfriend—and academic rival—being back in the picture for all of it…

A rom-com featuring plus size/fat representation, literature academia, and a corgi puppy? Suffice to say I could not get my hands on this one fast enough. And I’ll be honest—I related to Allison and her lived experiences, insecurities, and self-imposed perfectionism a little *too* much, but it made me enjoy this book all the more.

First, the less great—I did think the book felt a hair too slow in parts, and I wanted fewer internal-monologues-stressing-about-situations and more situations-to-stress-over, if that makes sense. I wasn’t bored, exactly, I just didn’t feel like enough had happened for me to be fully invested in the characters until close to the 2/3 mark.

That said, once I got invested, I got really invested, which is what led to sobbing at 1am as I stayed up way too late to finish reading. Colin went from insufferable to an absolute gem very quickly (it’s amazing what communication will do) and Allison’s character growth was really lovely to watch. In short, not a perfect book, but a really wonderful debut, and I can’t wait to see what Jenny Howe writes next!

Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: fat representation, academia nerdiness, puppies.

CW: Emotional abuse (including abusive parent/child relationships); loss/illness of loved ones; fatphobia; sexism.

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