Hi, everyone! Today I'm happy to present an interview with Jenny L. Howe, the author of The Make-Up Test, which releases in September!
Would you please tell us a little about your book, The Make-Up Test?
THE MAKE-UP TEST is a romantic comedy about Allison Avery, a first-year graduate student in a literature Ph.D. program who finds herself competing with her college ex for a prestigious mentorship and research trip and is trying (and failing!) not to fall for him all over again in the process.
It has a second-chance romance, academic rivals to lovers, positive fat rep, nerdy literary jokes, some Chaucer quotes, an extra dose of banter, a very cute Corgi, a suit of armor named Ned, and a sexy game of Scrabble!
Because Allison is twenty three and just out of undergrad, the book deals a lot of that transition time, when your relationship to your friends and your family and even yourself starts to change as you enter the “real world.”
Allison is also a fat woman, and while she loves herself and is comfortable in her body, she lives in a world that doesn’t feel the same, and so there are trigger warnings for expressed fatphobia, including from a family member.
What was the inspiration for the book?
THE MAKE-UP TEST is not autobiographical, but it is definitely heavily inspired by my time as a graduate student in a literature Ph.D. program. Like me, Allison is a medievalist interested in how texts from this era depict bodies with uteruses, and a lot of her interpretations of texts come straight out of my dissertation.
Grad school just seemed to me to be a perfect setting for a rivals-to-lovers book (one of my favorite tropes), since you work so closely with your cohort, and there’s such a need to prove yourself at that time in your career. It’s also a pretty stressful time, which opens up lots of potential scenarios for romance, comedy, and tension.
Raspberry pink!
If you’re able to talk about it, what are you currently working on?
I just finished a new draft of my second romcom, ON THE PLUS SIDE, which comes out with St. Martin’s Press in the fall of 2023.
ON THE PLUS SIDE follows Everly Winters, who is nominated to be a guest on her favorite makeover show, On the Plus Side (think Queer Eye but make it plus-sized), and during filming, accidentally catches feelings for the show’s grumpy but sweet cameraman. Chaos ensues as they try to keep their budding relationship off the air!
What are some of your favorite Romance books? And what are some you’re looking forward to reading?
Oh my gosh, there’s so many romances I love!
The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren was my gateway into romance, and I still think about that book all the time. I ADORE Olivia Dade’s books, especially All the Feels. Talia Hibbert’s Brown sisters series are favorites that I reread all the time. I read Helen Hoang’s The Kiss Quotient in one sitting because I couldn’t put it down. Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto made me laugh more than any book I’ve read in a long time. Sonia Hartl’s Heartbreak for Hire was so hot and so fun! I loved the focus on a married couple in Lyssa Kay Adams’s The Bromance Book Club. Annette Christie’s The Rehearsals made me laugh and cry and think a lot about the nature of relationships. How to Fail at Flirting by Denise Williams is one of my favorite academic romances. The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun helped me fall in love with (and want to write!) romances set in reality TV. And of course, Beach Read by Emily Henry, the bookish romance of my heart.
There’s a number of romances releasing (or already released) in 2022 that I also love! In the Event of Love by Courtney Kae is the sapphic Hallmark movie we are all need. I can’t wait to read it again during the holidays, curled up with a cup of cocoa. Ava Wilder’s How to Fake It in Hollywood is one of my favorite fake dating books of all time. Alicia Thompson’s Love in the Time of Serial Killers still makes me smile whenever I think about it and got me more interested in true crime than I care to admit. TJ Alexander’s Chef’s Kiss is such a delightful foodie romance and it made me so hungry while reading it!
I am currently reading Jodie Slaughter’s Bet on It, which has some of the best fat rep and anxiety rep that I’ve seen and is such a unique and fun story; Taylor Jensen Reid’s One True Loves, which is breaking my heart in the best ways; and Ashley Herring Blake’s Delilah Green Doesn’t Care, which is hot and funny and so well written that it gives me imposter syndrome.
Finally here are romance books on my TBR or pre-order list that I can’t wait to read (in no particular order!):
Never Been Kissed by Timothy Janovsky
I’m so Over You by Kosoko Jackson
Mistakes were Made by Meryl Wilsner
Sorry, Bro by Taleen Voskuni
Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake by Mazey Eddings
Set on You by Amy Lea
The Decoy Girlfriend by Lillie Vale
So We Meet Again by Suzanne Park
Pride and Protest by Nikki Payne
Sizzle Reel by Carlyn Greenwald
Wanderlust by Elle Everhart
Tweet Heart Tweet Heart by Jessica Lepe
Tell Me a Secret by Jessica Joyce
Mrs. Nash’s Ashes by Sarah Adler
Thank you to Jenny L. Howe for participating in this event! :)
Author Bio: Jenny Howe is a professor of writing and literature at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, where she teaches courses on children’s media. Her academic writing has been published in Young Adult Literature in teh Composition Classroom: Essays on Practical Applications (MacFarland Press, 2018).
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It makes me smile! : )