As soon as I heard about this book, I was so excited to read it. I always really enjoy stories that examine friend break-ups and the complexity of losing someone who has been a constant in your life for ages. Heartwarming and full of emotion, Everyone Hates Kelsie Miller follows a girl who teams up with her academic rival on a road trip to find the people who’ve ghosted them.

Kelsie Miller hasn’t heard from her best friend Briana since she moved across the country. Granted, they had a fight before she left, but that doesn’t explain the complete radio silence. When she runs into Eric, she finds out that his girlfriend Jessica has also ghosted him. With some slight social media stalking, they discover that both Briana and Jessica will be at the same place this weekend. Eric convinces Kelsie to take a road trip down to the University of Pennsylvania to confront their respective exes. She reluctantly agrees, and throughout the trip, she discovers that there’s more to Eric than Homecoming King and that maybe they’re more similar than she previously thought.

Kelsie’s character really resonated with me, and I really related to her struggles and inner thoughts. She’s very self-aware and self-critical, in a way that’s brought on because she’s so self-conscious. She’s never felt like she fit in, especially as an adopted Korean American in a primarily white town. Kelsie’s only felt truly comfortable with her best friend Briana, whom she’s been best friends with since kindergarten.

Throughout the story, she can’t stop reflecting on all the ways that she’s been a bad friend; it’s evident that she thinks of herself as more selfish than Briana. Friend break-ups are complex situations, and it was really emotional to read Kelsie’s struggle to come to terms with the fact that Briana hasn’t been talking to her for months. I think her character also displays how we can be so self-aware of everything we’ve done wrong, yet also blind to our biggest faults.

I also really liked the great family dynamics in this book! Kelsie is very close to her parents and her younger sister, which I always love to see in YA. This also plays a part in her growth because she doesn’t understand why Briana would want to move across the country to live with her mostly absent mother. Kelsie gradually realizes that not everyone has the same love and support from their parents and that some people will handle their relationships with their families in their own way.

Personally, I think sometimes “academic rivals” have become a bit over-exaggerated lately. However, I didn’t find this to be the case with Everyone Hates Kelsie Miller. It turns out that Kelsie’s disliked Eric over a series of miscommunications, which is usually irritating to read, but in this case, I find that this points more to Kelsie’s characterization than anything. She’s internalized a lot, keeping her feelings to herself when in fact, she could’ve resolved a lot of things if she has just spoken to others about it.

The romance was so adorable! It’s a rivals-to-lovers romance, but again, I didn’t think this was a surface trope at all. I liked that Kelsie and Eric have to get over years of indifference and hatred but over time, warm up and open up to each other. Eric has his own issues to get through, and I liked seeing Kelsie help him even when she still thinks she hates him. Also! Kelsie is demisexual, and it was nice to see how her feelings for Eric grow as she realizes that she knows him better than she previously wanted to admit.

Also, can I just take a minute to praise the short length of this book? I know that’s a weird thing to love, but I’ve found that so many books now are extremely long for no real reason at all. Everyone Hates Kelsie Miller is one of the most tightly written books I’ve read in a couple of years, and I adore it for that. Ireland doesn’t waste a single page; every moment aids in character development and/or contextualization. As much as I wanted to spend more time with these characters, it was so refreshing to read a book like this again.

I don’t think I’ve put into words how much I loved this book. It just really resonated for me, and I couldn’t put it down. I actually finished it in one sitting, which should tell you everything because that is so rare for me nowadays!

Everyone Hates Kelsie Miller was a brilliant sophomore novel, and I’m excited to see what Meredith Ireland does next. I loved the characters and the romance, and I really related to the protagonist. I can’t recommend Everyone Hates Kelsie Miller enough, especially for if you’re interested by an academic-rivals-to-lovers romance with a demisexual protagonist and/or a story that explores the complexity of a friend break-up.

Two academic rivals with one mission of winning their exes back go on a road trip together where they’ll have to hash out their history as well as figure out why their exes are ghosting them. Kelsie Miller hates Eric Mulyaney Ortiz, he is the homecoming king, captain of the football team, and her academic rival. Their rivalry has started ever since a certain incident has left Kelsie completely humiliated.. but thanks to her best friend Bri she was able to get through it. Kelsie loves Bri, like the other half of her soul, her best friend, but suddenly Bri has been ghosting her, not answering messages, phone calls, or emails and Kelsie has no clue why Bri is ghosting her. When Kelsie quite literally runs into Eric at the last high school party of the summer Eric tells her he’s been ghosted by his girlfriend Jessica, a super gorgeous Instagram model. Coincidentally both Bri and Jessica will be at UPenn so when Kelsie makes a joke about them both going on a road trip to visit Bri and Jessica to find out what happened, Eric decides to make it a reality. Is this a crazy idea to go on a road trip with your enemy? Absolutely, but is Kelsie desperate enough to find out why her best friend isn’t talking to her? Absolutely. On this road trip Eric and Kelsie start talking to each other, actually talking, and figuring out where their childhood friendship went wrong and why Kelsie hates Eric so much. Throw in a few shenanigans, some light stalking, and lots of misunderstandings and what you get is a pretty sweet rom com about two people who are trying to figure out what they want and what they did wrong. Kelsie isn’t the most likable person, she’s in fact never apologized and hates being wrong, so when she is faced with this truth she has to re-evaluate everything she’s ever done and those she’s hurt. Kelsie definitely grows up by the end of the book and the romance between Kelsie and Eric was pretty cute.

*Thanks Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This book was so damn adorable and cheerful and the perfect YA book to read in the summer!

Everyone Hates Kelsie Miller is a coming of age story that follows Kelsie and Eric, two high school rivals, as they decide to go on a road trip to the University of Pennsylvania in order for Kelsie to win back her best friend and Eric his girlfriend. What could go wrong?

I honestly read a bigger part of this book in one sitting. It had a gripping plot and amazing complex characters which completely sucked me in. Kelsie, the main character, started out as a very annoying person and I barely tolerated her. She was an asshole to her friends and family and she never apologised for any of her mistakes. Thankfully, she received a redemption later on in the book.

The academic rivals to lovers trope wasn’t really the main plot of the book and it’s actually something we see more in the flashbacks. This wasn’t a problem for me since the relationship between the main characters was still amazing. There was enough of banter and one sided hate in this book to still make it super interesting and exciting.

Sadly, this book had a very very underwhelming ending which left me with more questions than answers. Also, the fact that all of the plot happened in about a day or two makes this love story completely unrealistic and rushed in my opinion.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who loves academic rivals to lovers and is in a need of a quick summer read!

I picked up this book because of the description and ended up reading it in one sitting. Kelsie's best friend since kindergarten has ghosted her and she's not sure why. She's going into her senior year, and her best friend moved to Seattle, but not only that, she stopped taking her calls and she would do anything to have her back. Eric is Kelsie's academic nemesis. He competes with her for everything and after a conversation she overheard about her years ago, she's quite certain he can't stand her either. So when he proposes to take a road trip to the campus that Kelsie's best friend is visiting and his (ex) girlfriend goes to in order to win her back, Kelsie isn't sure she can handle that.
The need to see her best friend wins out and they embark on an adventure. The more time they spend together the more alike they realize they are and when they are sitting down, honestly talking to one another, they realize if they just had communicated maybe things would have gone differently between them.
A series of unfortunate events leads these two to take an honest look at themselves and I absolutely loved the growth in this book, even if it was just in 24 hours. The things that Eric helped Kelsie to see and vice versa made me just shine with happiness. I liked to see them learning more about each other and themselves at the same time.
This was just adorable. Thank you to Simon and Schuster Children's, Meredith Ireland and Netgalley for an early copy.

As an academic rivals to lovers fan, I was so excited to read Meredith Ireland's sophomore novel. I really enjoyed The Jasmine Project, which was a very wholesome, adorable read. Everyone Hates Kelsie Miller, on the other hand, is whip-smart with witty banter, complex relationships, multi-dimensional characters, and more. I love reading books with "unlikable female characters," and even though Kelsie exhibited many traits of asshole-behavior, as she quips in the book, I actually really admired her. I love the self-growth she goes through in this novel and how she realizes the mistakes she's made in the relationships with her former and new friends and family. The romance between her and Eric was also so cute and I loved the slowburn, "Will they, won't they?" dynamic between them. The demi rep was also thoughtfully included! I just wish we got to see a few more scenes of Eric and Kelsie being happy and together. Overall, if you're a fan of academic rivals to lovers with tons of banter and heartfelt moments, definitely check this YA novel out! I'd give this 4.25 stars rounded up.

Everyone Hates Kelsie Miller is a coming of age story about high school friendships and first loves. Kelsie Miller's best friend has moved away and she is feeling lost without her. As the story begins, Kelsie seems unsure of why her friend is now ghosting her. But as time goes on, bits and pieces of their history is revealed, and Kelsie begins to take an honest look at her actions and the demise of their friendship. Her childhood nemesis, Eric, suggests a road-trip to reclaim their friendship - or at least find some closure - and Kelsie is just desperate enough to agree. Throughout their quick trip they learn about themselves, each other, and the world around them. The teens in the book had a bit more freedom than I would have expected of high school seniors (spending the night together, traveling through the weekend, etc) but everything else felt pretty authentic.

There was not an over sexualization of teens or heaving underage drinking - for the most part, teens acted like... teens. Which was refreshing. Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.