Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - The Make-Up Test

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 against another edition

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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 against another edition

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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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savvy999's review against another edition

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emotional funny fast-paced

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

3.0

Frustratingly accurate depiction of men and relationships in academia. So true about great professors named Wendy.

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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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lowkeymarie's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

2.5

This was an impulse pick up from my library because fat rep in rom-coms does a body good. Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed by it. 😞

Some of the reasons it didn't work for me was just personal taste. I don't really care for or relate to academia as a setting, and there was a lot of details and references to medieval literature that didn't land for me (and I imagine won't land for most readers tbh).

But I also don't feel like the author sold me on the love interest's character growth that happened off-page before the book starts. Because the book is only from the main character's PoV, all we see is the flashbacks of him being a shit-weasel in the past, juxtaposed with him being...decent, I guess? in the current day. But like, we don't really get a satisfying enough look into what that journey looked like for him and how he felt about our main character then vs now.

So, as I was plodding along in the book, I was getting 3-star vibes the whole way...until we get to the big conflict. And, spoiler:

The thing you're led to believe he did is so fucking egregious and unforgiveable, only to have it revealed after the big blowout breakup that...IT WAS A FUCKING MISCOMMUNICATION. And the really dumb, annoying kind where it is absurd that no one just says what the thing is, even coincidentally. Like, the author has to write around them just blurting it out because it's such a basic misunderstanding.

Okay, I'll say something nice to wrap up. I really liked the main character's family stuff going on in the background of this iffy romance, and how Allison stood up for herself to both her parents for different but related reasons. There was also a little mention early on that Allison has a thyroid disorder and she's been fat pretty much her whole life, which I really appreciated. Not that any of us should have to justify or explain our bodies existing any which way, but as someone with PCOS who is finally on the long, winding path to accepting her size, I really felt seen in that little moment. 😌

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mypatronusisajedi's review against another edition

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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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sarah_thebooknerd's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

4 ⭐️
1.5 🌶

CW: author has a great note with it- grief, medical content, death of a parent, toxic parent, fat shaming from parent

I really enjoyed this story. Academic rivals in grad school. Body neutrality for fat FMC and male MC also has body diversity- skinny, lanky, second chance romance

I planned to read this for Fat-Ember but it came up through the Library faster than I thought it would. So of course I had to pick it up and read it asap. I’m keeping it on the Fat-ember list so anyone looking can find this.

I loved that this book is not focused on the FMC being fat. I have had some bad runs with books focusing on fat trauma and that has been hard to read all the time. This just did not have it and I’m so thankful for it. There is some fat shaming by a parent in it and some issues that fat people deal with in society. Again, it is not the main focus so if you pick this up know that.

At times the book does move a little slow and there is miscommunication trope with the 3rd act break up which is not always my favorite. I really cannot wait to see what Jenny does next and I really hope we get a book for the FMCS best friend, Sophie who works in fashion, is fat and creates fashion for fat bodies.

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