Fans of Sandhya Menon’s YA romances like When Dimple Met Rishi and 10 Things I Hate About Pinky will find a steamier love story to adore in Make Up, Break Up, the author’s debut adult romance writing as Lily Menon.
Love, romance, second chances, fairy-tale endings…these are the things Annika Dev believes in. Her app, Make Up, has been called the “Google Translate for failing relationships.”
High efficiency break-ups, flashy start-ups, penthouses, fast cars…these are the things Hudson Craft believes in. His app, Break Up, is known as the “Uber for break-ups.” It’s wildly successful—and anathema to Annika’s life philosophy.
Which wouldn’t be a problem if they’d gone their separate ways after that summer fling in Las Vegas, never to see each other again. Unfortunately for Annika, Hudson’s moving not just into her office building, but into the office right next to hers. And he’ll be competing at the prestigious EPIC investment pitch contest: A contest Annika needs to win if she wants to keep Make Up afloat. As if it’s not bad enough seeing his irritatingly perfect face on magazine covers when her own business is failing. As if knowing he stole her idea and twisted it into something vile—and monumentally more successful—didn’t already make her stomach churn.
As the two rival app developers clash again and again—and again—Annika finds herself drawn into Hudson Craft’s fast-paced, high velocity, utterly shallow world. Only, from up close, he doesn’t seem all that shallow. Could it be that everything she thought about Hudson is completely wrong? Could the creator of Break Up teach her what true love’s really about?
This enemies to lovers/second chance romance set in the competitive world of tech was a fun, fast read.
But I admit, I wasn’t fully 100% invested in these characters or their love story. I just didn’t quite feel the connection they supposedly felt, and some of their antics felt kind of childish. I kept reminding myself that they were young 20-somethings, but I still found it hard to believe that two ambitious young CEOs would resort to such juvenile tactics at times.
Also, so much of their conflict could have been resolved with a simple conversation — which is a quandary I can reluctantly accept in YA books, since teens are still teens. But I expect a little more maturity from my characters in an adult romance, even if they are on the younger side. And ultimately, the book resolved SO quickly.
It was a cute story, and the steamy stuff was excellent. But the book didn’t quite resonate or stick with me like I’d hoped it would.
Make Up, Break Up is available now.
Novel Novice 
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