michcocoop's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Well, I never thought that I’d read a second chance romance that would tempt me to crack open a copy of Beowulf again. Honestly, I never thought anything would do that. But, alas, here we are.

The Make-Up Test is an academic rivals, second chance romance featuring a plus sized heroine and her, I guess, nerdy-hot ex. These two are quite possibly the most competitive people on the planet. This, unsurprisingly causes problems, when they find out they’re both vying for the same spot to study under the foremost expert on medieval literature. They also face further complications when it seems they both still have unresolved feelings floating around. 

This book has a lot of great things going for it. The writing is clever and the main characters are well developed. I will admit I was annoyed with our MCs on a few occasions, but since I am not really a competitive person this didn’t surprise me. Overall, I really enjoyed this read. I thought the subplots surrounding the main characters did a good job explaining their motivations. Really my only complaint is that the ending happened very fast. I would have liked an epilogue or even one more short chapter to give the story a more solid resolution. Don’t get me wrong there is an HEA, but I just wanted a bit more. 

Pick up if you’re looking for:

- open door but lower heat
- second chance
- academic rivals (PhD candidates)
- slightly sexy scrabble 
- pets with cheesy names (please check back after reading to fully appreciate this line item)
- good fat representation 

NOTE: I received an eARC of this book through Netgalley, but the thoughts and opinions here are all mine. 

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kbairbooks's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A huge thank you to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for this arc (in exchange for an honest review).

I don’t think I’ve read a college academic rivals to lovers before and that paired with the second chance romance concept was fun! I will say one of the events that happened in the book really knocked me off kilter and I was actively rooting against the male love interest for a while before that was cleared up for me. There is fat phobia in this book and a really terrible father figure as well as a very unsupportive mother which is very triggering but the female main character never had those feelings about herself that I can recall so there is that. I felt very satisfied at the end of the book and find it comical how strong my feelings were during the read. Lovely debut from this author and I look forward to more!

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