The Make-up Test is a second chance romance set in academia. Allison is a graduate student in Medieval Literature. At orientation for the program, she sees Colin- her ex from undergrad. 

In an unexpected turn of events, Colin and Allison are both TAs for the same professor, Wendy. This obviously creates tension, and to pile on only one of them can continue with Wendy next semester due to funding. Suddenly Colin and Allison are in fierce competition. 

The feelings begin to grow when Colin volunteers to drive Allison four hours to mean when her father is in the hospital and she finds out while drunk at a party. The car ride becomes exceptionally sweet. They make an agreement to put their competition aside and try to build a relationship together. 

I enjoyed this book until the final 20% and that’s where it fell apart for me. The third act break up felt impossible to realistically recover from. I saw what Colin did as inexcusable  and I really dislike how Allison was written as blaming herself and forgiving him so easily. The end of this romance left me feeling very uncomfortable which is the opposite of how I want to feel when reading this genre. I had such high hopes based on the beginning and the authors note, some good things I can say are that the fat rep in this book is great, the minor characters are well developed enough to be very likable, and I really liked the storyline about Allison and her father. 

Overall, it’s hard for me to put aside the ending of this book. I don’t need more stories about women putting their needs and feelings aside for a man and taking on responsibility for how a man feels. 

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.