This book was high on my TBR! Hibbert has done it again with this one! Insert some internal squeals cause this book was so cute! Loved it!

I'm so sad to say that I didn't love this one. Part of the problem is I went in thinking of the Chloe Bown series, and this was very different. I just didn't love this the way I've loved her others. ⭐⭐

Okay I loved this one. Talia Hibbert can do no wrong. This is a Y/A novel so it’s different than the other books I’ve read of hers, but it was equally as good. This one had me cheesing. Lots of fun scenes and environments. A girl who loves the paranormal and makes tik toks about conspiracies? Yes please! And the male lead is diagnosed with OCD and it was a really good representation and educational character. I appreciated the recognition for mental health in this book. I appreciated the young love. The high school soul mates of it all. ⁣
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Love can be found anywhere, like high school between two best friends while on camping adventures together 🥰

Thank you to the publisher for this digital copy 🖤

I've adored Hibbert's books going way back to her self publishing days - so when I saw she had her debut YA book coming out - I took the rare step or requesting an arc.

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute his most of same notes and themes as her adult books. Mental health, quirky hobbies, witty banter - check, check, and check!

Celine and Brad used to be best friends until Brad decided to be more concerned with fitting in with the popular kids - which does not include introducing them to UFO, Big Foot - conspiracy theory obsessed Celine. Instead they've become enemies, waging verbal warfare and trying to one up each other academically.

Their fighting goes too far during an (accidental) altercation which leaves Celine with a bum foot and Brad with a giant case of guilt.

When Celine, aspiring lawyer, is accepted to a survival course in the woods with a grand prize to meet her idol, help her career path and yeah - maybe stick it to the father who abandoned her family, she jumps at it. Brad, feeling like he needs to help her win after what he did signs up as well.

Their rivalry softens at the camp and they open up to each other more about what happened in the past and their struggles and hopes for the future.

This is a really adorable romance with two great kids trying to overcome natural insecurities, mental health issues (OCD) and abandonment - surrounded by good parents (minus the absentee dad, of course) and supportive friends. This is light, easy reading which was nice.

Having said that, I was expecting more adventure, rivalry and I guess more about Celine being a popular social media conspiracy theorist lol All of those things take a backseat to Brad and Celine's budding romance. It is super sweet, as I said, but I felt like those cool elements that made me want to pick up the book were more stated as fact than part of the plotline described int he summary.

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute does tackle several deeper issues (brilliantly by the author, as always) and both characters show a lot of growth but this is mostly a low stakes, lots of witty banter/inner monologue, romance/coming of age story vs action and big characters - which is fine! just not what I was expecting.

Overall, despite not being what I was hoping for, it was the adorable, light read I was looking

Bradley and Celine were the best of friends until a misunderstanding stopped that. Now they are fighting for the same scholarship.
A few more misunderstanding get in their way of happily ever after (as much as a 18 year old can have).
Bradley has ocd

This book had all the wonderful Talia Hibbert swoony goodness but in a delightful YA package. That is high praise. I adore Talia Hibbert and how she can make you fall in love with two flawed and wonderful characters and root for them completely. The way she writes her love interests is just the best. I am so glad this book exists. I wish I had books like this when I was in high school.

All the heart eye emojis for Bradley and Celine!!!!!! Pitch-perfect friends to enemies to lovers romance...great for teens who are requesting Hibbert's spicier adult titles not carried in school libraries.

3.5 rounded up
Cute little romance book. Was s000000 slowwwwww up until like 40% for me. It took me almost a month to finish bc I kept loosing interest.
Dual POV
MCs are POC
FMC is plus sized
MMC is mental health rep (OCD + intrusive thoughts)
Trust issues / parental abandonment
Childhood friends to enemies to lovers
NO spice ( probably could count as YA)
Rating 3.5 /5
Spice 0 / 5
Anxiety 1 / 5
Bargain (Buy, Bargain, borrow, burn)

Very cute and very YA. After devouring The Brown sisters trilogy, I was really interested in seeing how Hibbert was to do YA. I found the teenagers to be very believable. I was just missing the extra spice that her adult novels have, pun intended. As always, the rep is really well done.

Celine and Bradley are childhood friends turned teenaged enemies. Ok only Celine sees them as enemies, but they are rivals at school. When the both enter a competition for a scholarship/mentoring opportunity, Celine sees a chance to work with one of her idols and Bradley sees a chance for independence. Being forced to work together makes them examine their feelings for each other and goals in life.
This a smart, funny and heart touching YA romcom.

So fun and flirty. The mutual pining in this is excruciating. I wanted to scream "kiss already" for at least 70 percent of the book. At least it felt that way. I love the way Brad and Celine come together after so many years apart. Their friendship is one that I admire. Celine's growth especially, to face what she thought she could avoid, is empowering. This book has all of Hibbert's signature humor with the sweetness of YA.

I love Talia Hibbert AND academic rivals-to-lovers, so this book was right up my alley. As Bradley and Celine partner up for a survival challenge, I laughed at their banter and swooned as they rediscovered their friendship and feelings for one another. Both characters were well-developed and I thought Bradley's OCD was represented well. Highly recommend for anyone for fans of Jenny Han, or anyone looking for a fun YA romance

Rating: 3.75 ⭐️

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute was a charming and amusing young adult romance book.

It is dual POVs of the main characters, Celine Bangura and Bradley Graeme, and has some great tropes like childhood friends to enemies to lovers, close proximity, and slight academic rivals. I would highly suggest checking the content and trigger warnings before reading as well.

The overall storyline was enjoyable as there were some laugh out loud and heartwarming moments, but unfortunately the pacing of the story was quite slow. There were also just some scenes that seemed too drawn out. I will say though, the representation of OCD was carefully written and explored.

The romance between Celine and Bradley was really cute. I loved all their bickering and banter. The competitive nature between them was really amusing as well. I will say though, I would have liked to have seen them reconnecting more before they got together.

There was also a bit of misunderstanding between them at the end but thankfully it was quickly resolved. The ending was really sweet though. Overall, just a quick and fun read.

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

Thank you NetGalley and Joy Revolution for giving me access to an eARC of this adorable romance by thee Talia Hibbert. I apologize for not writing this review closer to the publication date.

I’m just going to start by saying that if you’ve read any of the Brown Sisters trilogy and wanted a YA with the same hilarity and gooey romance, Talia Hibbert delivers. This book hits all the notes one expects for a romance from the blossoming crush to lovestruck moments to the classic HEA (Happily Ever After). I was so excited to find out how Hibbert would tackle a YA romance and I would say she scored all the goals. This is perfect for teens who are getting into romance and want to see healthy sexuality without the intensity that will be in romance books about adults. It’s also a lot of fun because it’s a romance between two teens who are enemies but they used to be friends which makes the being enemies all the more personal and then things happen and romance blooms. Classic friends to enemies to lovers trope.

In Hibbert’s fantastic book our main characters who take turns telling the story are conspiracy theory-lover Celine who wants to be a lawyer when she grows up and Brad, a jock with OCD who kicks butt on the field and in class. Celine and Brad collide when they both sign up for a survival course that will give them a chance at a scholarship and internship with Celine’s idol. They have to put their differences aside to make it through the course and slowly gain their friendship back.

It’s not all fun and games for these two. Celine’s dealing with her father walking out on her family years ago and the law-firm sponsoring the banquet at the end of the course is her father’s. She can’t quite make up her mind on how to feel about that. And Brad? He wants to figure out what to do for school next year. Does he stay the course his father intends for him or chart his own path?

This book will make readers feel like they made it through a survival course of emotions after they laugh, cry, and cheer for our two protagonists who are going through a challenge even bigger than their survival course: learning to forgive each other to move forward.

5 out of 5 stars.

I really loved the Brown Sisters series so I was excited to be able to read a new Talia Hubert book. It was very sweet and wholesome and I was really rooting for the characters. They had such great banter and I was very invested.

This book was such a fun YA rom-com. I enjoyed the character growth and diving into the relationship of the two main characters. It is revealed as you read how their friendship was in the past and what it could be in the future and the events that originally pushed them apart.

The book also deals with the characters going through survivalist courses as they compete for a scholarship and I am a big fan of doing outdoorsy stuff like that so it was exciting to see how they dealt with the different challenges.

I thought that the banter was spot on and the building emotions between the characters (not just the main ones) was really cute. Aha you might say “unfairly cute” :P. I also enjoyed that the author put a little glossary of UK terms in the beginning of the book and you could tell they had fun describing the definitions for them.

I would definitely read more from this author and hope to in the future.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Joy Revolution for providing me with an eARC of Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute in exchange for my honest review!

As a reader who adores Talia Hibbert's work, I was pumped to find some incredible charm in her first YA romance. It starts off strong, putting an intriguing twist on the enemies-to-lovers trope (a favorite of mine) by turning it into best-friends-to-enemies-to-lovers. Then it goes further on to introduce us to these two tremendously relatable teenagers who instantly get you to root for them to make up and kiss already (literally and figuratively). The wildly witty banter, the entire scholarship element, Celine's struggles over her absentee dad, Brad dealing with his OCD (Hibbert has shown herself to be highly skilled at weaving physical and mental health into her romances), all of these things are fleshed out by Hibbert in a way that really does get me vibing with the story. Not enough for me to rank it higher than her Brown Sisters series (which are truly splendid), but still, I've got plenty of love for this YA novel. We get bisexual rep through Brad, too, and that's something I always appreciate seeing in fiction—M/F romances where one or both of the leads are bi so that it validates their bisexuality and counters the belief that M/F romances don't involve queer partners.

Overall, Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute is another lovable banger in Talia Hibbert's bibliography.

I have read the authors adult book and was very excited to find her YA book just as good. It was right on target for a YA romance and I would definitely recommend it to teens.

Adored this book! After reading The Brown Sisters trilogy and a few others of Talia Hibbert’s other romance books, I was so excited to see that she was coming out with a YA romance. This book was very enjoyable. It’s great to see diversity in YA romance and no one can tell a love story like Talia Hibbert. The characters were lovable and it was a great step for Talia Hibbert in YA.

I think this may be my last Talia Hibbert book. I keep trying and I just think her writing style isn’t for me. Thank you netgalley for my free copy.