Talia Hibbert can truly do it all! I loved her YA romance and look forward to reading her future books. I loved the Brown sisters series.

it’s so incredibly good and adorable, i found myself giggling and kicking my feet. This beautiful pink cover, filled with high chemistry,

Talia, you can do no wrong. This book was a true delight. I loved these characters. Talia does such a great job making you immediately fall in love with her female leads!

This book fell a bit flat for me which was disappointing considering I thoroughly enjoyed the author’s other work. I know this was a YA novel but it seemed to lack all of the engaging qualities her Romance books have. I would not read another YA by this author again.

Talia Hibbert has a very unique voice in all of her books and I really enjoy her point of view. Although this is a departure form her Adult Romance books, this YA installment is definite something I recommend reading.

All of Hibbert’s protagonists are strong women and there is often a character depicting a mental health struggle. In this book, Bradley the MMC has OCD. Both of the MCs also ae overachievers and unique. I have never read a character who is a high school teenage who wants to be a lawyer but also has a pension for conspiracy theories.


The romance and banter were a highlights. The characters started off as friends to enemies to friends to lovers. They also had family connections and the supporting characters also added to the story. Especially for those who are coming of age, I thought the relationships (friendship and romantic) were good models of realistic flawed people coming together. For those overachieving teenagers, this also depicted that success is not everything.

The ending was not my favorite but I think the overall book was worth reading!

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for the honest review.

I loved Hibbert's YA debut. This book was adorable and had all the best tropes - childhood best friends, to enemies and academic rivals. As always I loved the diversity in this book and in so many other by this amazing author! "You're the bane of my existence. Did you know that?" She grins, "I hoped". I loved Brad and Celine's chemistry and banter. Totally precious and adorable read!

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert is a delightful read for fans of lighthearted, humorous, and heartwarming stories about overcoming past conflicts and finding love in the great outdoors, making it a perfect fit for readers who enjoy enemies-to-lovers romances, quirky characters, and themes of self-discovery and growth.

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert caught my attention when I heard several of my high school students discussing it. I loved Hibbert's other novels about the Brown sisters so I had to give this one a shot too. It was such a pleasant, and deep, book with a great story that focuses on high schoolers and portrays accurately the things they must decide and endure in those years. At the same time as covering some intense emotions, she writes a hilarious dialogue that literally had me laughing out loud. This is one that I will absolutely recommend to my students.

Brad's a footballer and also a bi king with OCD (literally, not as an overused colloquialism). Celine's at the top of her class with no patience for nonsense and a multistep plan for success that will make her father hopefully cry in defeat and shame one day. And together, they prove that former friends make the bitterest of enemies. Four years ago, their friendship fell apart. Now, they vie for academic prowess and snipe at each other whenever forced into contact.

Our combatants get caught snooping in the library when they're supposed to be completing extra philosophy work. Celine falls, and Brad catches but then drops her. Consumed by guilt over her now broken wrist, Brad offers to drive her to a meeting about a wilderness program run by her idol-- a successful, famous lawyer who serves as the blueprint for all of Celine's dreams. When Brad hears about the competitive university scholarships offered to the top three students at the end of the program, he's inspired to apply, too. This provides ample new fuel for their rivalry.

As the two head into the woods to prove their skills in leadership, teamwork, creativity, etc., they start to reconsider their dynamic. It's also the kind of opportunity that makes them reflect on a lot of the other habits that might not be serving them well. In Brad's case, he wants to be a writer (the Murderbot reference had me like *heart eyes*) but has second-guessed himself into a corner. His mental health has been a cause for worry in the past, and he doesn't want to make a career choice that would revive that experience for her parents. For Celine, there's the matter of how her whole carefully planned life trajectory is aimed at sweet, sweet revenge on her adulterous, abandoning father. This is only one aspect of her general lack of introspection when it comes to anything feelings-related. Celine's two moods as she sees them are "pissed and fine." And while this contributes to her general fierceness, it might not be so great for her mental health.

Hibbert has maybe never been funnier (sure, I always say that, but what if this time it's true?). The book kicks off with a glossary to explain British terms, and even her definitions made me giggle. The banter is no-holds-barred, and Celine's prim, grumpy thoughts are a wonderland of laughs. Laser-focused on her goals, Celine barrels forward with style, but her pointed lack of self-reflection is not only inherently funny but also amplified by Hibbert's keen turns of phrase. She coins several fusion words that I hope will be all the rage to capture the confusing, silly little feelings that plague us. A personal favorite is "sadbarrassment," which feels highly relevant to many situations.

This is a cute ya story that captures growing up in a fun, big-hearted way. There's a sweet romance that takes you on a journey, powerful friendships, and thoughtful family dynamics. In addition to her signature humor, Hibbert treats us to her talent for embracing big life struggles rather than cutting them out in favor of happily ever after. I highly recommend this for fans of the author, whether you typically go for ya stories or not. And genre fans will definitely be happy with this story of not only teen angst but also full personhood (the teacher in me loves to see it). Thanks to Joy Revolution for my copy to read and review!

I initially had my reservations regarding Talia Hibbert writing a YA book after reading through her Brown Sisters trilogy - HOWEVER, this was such a fun read. She writes wonderful character dynamics and such sweet, funny romance. I found myself tearing through this story and absolutely enjoyed it.

I feel like as I’ve gotten older, I have a more challenging time at reading YA. I’ve become so picky! However, this felt authentic and not the least bit juvenile. It felt funny, and real, and she continues to do a great job at world-building and character/relationship dynamics.

Huge fan of Talia Hibbert! My first books of hers were the Brown Sisters, and I was excited to see her dive into a YA romance!

This one definitely did not disappoint. Unfairly cute?? Yep! Great chemistry and banter between Celine and Bradley ✨🫶🏻

Hi Again,

It’s the start of another busy week and a new month, March flew by in a blur and now we are in April. I had a great final week in terms of reading in March (reading or DNFing 5 books in 5 days). I kind of hope to keep this trend up as the year continues as it allows me to get through so many great reads. I will be talking about a lot of those great reads soon but in the meantime, let’s talk about Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute. (Before we jump to spoilers this was not a part of my 5 books in 5 days but I did end up DNFing it, so my thoughts below will only focus on what I actually read).

SPOILERS AHEAD

Bradley and Celine both attend the same school but they are complete opposites. They have a fierce academic rivalry and have no nice feelings towards one another. In the past they were friends but now they can not stand each other. What happened with their friendship to make things so bad that they are now rivals?

I did not get super far into this book, but I did read more about it when I chose DNF. Ultimately as I was reading this book I just kept feeling really disconnected from the story/characters (and I think that is totally on me). Something about the book was just not clicking for me. I will be continuing to try books by this author (I did read the first Chloe Brown book when it came out)! But in the meantime let me know in the comments if you have read this book and what your thoughts are.

Goodreads Rating: 1 Star (DNF)

Hibbert brilliantly captured the voice of two witty young adults while still retaining her signature style that is found in her romances. I loved the dry humor and sarcastic banter between Celine and Bradley, and I appreciate how much of this banter we get starting at the very beginning of the book. There’s also lots of family and friend dynamics that help give us a well-rounded picture of our two protagonists, and there’s superb and tangible character work in Bradley and Celine. Hibbert has a true mastery of language, romance, and character, and I look forward to more of her work in YA Romance.

I didn't realize this book was YA! I did not finish it.

I didn't realize this book was YA! I did not finish it.

This was such a cute YA book! Thank you netgally for this arc. I enjoyed reading their story! Talia Hibbert always writes adorable stories but with depth and emotion.

A friends-to-enemies-to-friends YA romance, with ex-high-school besties making a tentative truce in the name of working together to secure a prestigious scholarship. As in her adult novels, Hibbert folds in themes of neurodivergence within a diverse and multi-layered cast of characters as both MCs learn more about themselves--and each other--and what it means to come of age.

Truly a master class in YA romance and a book that made Talia Hilbert an auto-buy author for me. I never thought a YA romance would have me kicking my feet like this, but here I am. Such a sweet read.

🌸I find it highly suspicious how unfairly cute this book turned out to be. (Corny? Yes ik lol) Did I read the ebook and went out and bought the physical so I can tab? Yes, yes I did 🥰
🌸According to Celine Bangura, she and Bradley Graeme have always been enemies except for when they weren’t and were actually BFFs, and now she’s not quite sure what they are. When they’re both selected to participate in a survival retreat to win a scholarship they realize that they have to work together. In order to do so effectively, they decide to put their rivalry aside and call a truce. Eventually their truce turns into a friendship that have both characters questioning their feelings.
🌸I like how realistic the dialogue and interactions between the characters were. I liked how we followed the characters in their everyday lives as teens and saw their other friendships without losing the plot. Because of that you also come to love the other side characters and the friend group they created.
🌸It was beautiful seeing how supportive the characters were to each other when it came to their mental health and personal struggles. I loved how Talia handled each character and their mental health/struggles with care and didn’t seem to just throw them out there to show representation. You really got to understand how they were affected and how they coped.
🌸I also liked that the romance wasn’t the main plot of the book and that Talia put a lot of emphasis on the characters’ self development by choosing themselves and what they love over pleasing others and succumbing under parental pressure.
🌸The one thing I disliked was the miscommunication that happened but I’m happy it wasn’t dragged out several chapters and it was resolved very quickly.
🌸Overall super cute read would I read it again? Absolutely.
🌸Thanks to @netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC

this was SUCH a fun romance novel! i laughed, i (almost) cried, i screamed! i got so attached to these characters. I hope talia writes more YA novels!

It's been awhile since I've read this book but I know I really enjoyed it. I hope to be better about reading books when they are published and making sure to review them on netgalley when I finish them. Thank you for understanding.