I really enjoyed the Brown sisters books from Talia Hibbert, so I was excited to give her YA debut a go. I'm glad to say that Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute has all the same warmth and wit I've come to expect from Ms. Hibbert.

When I read YA, my ultimate measuring stick is, "Would I recommend this book to my tween daughters?" It's a pretty high bar, especially for something romance-y, and this book definitely makes the mark. Smart yet perfectly imperfect main characters, surrounded by interesting and supportive friends. A fun friends-to-enemies-to-first loves, PG romance with a teddy bear of a leading man. Great body positivity and mental health rep for both MCs. I particularly loved following along as they are figuring out who they are and if what they are striving for (when it comes to school/career) is truly they want vs. what they think other people want. These are the type of themes I want my girls to read about! Yes, of course there's a HEA, as much as there can be one for 18 year olds. But it's not a fairy tale. These are real people digging into relatable challenges, showing resilience, supporting each other, and working to stay tuned in to their true selves.

I also adored all the British-isms, and loved the handy glossary at the beginning. Super helpful for US teens that are new to Brit lit.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC, in exchange for this honest review.

I loved Talia Hibbert's adult romances so I was excited to read her new YA. Just like it sounds it is a cute friends to enemies trope with witty banter and tension. I loved the outdoor setting and the mental health representation. I will say this is a hard-hitting YA, with the writing feeling childish at times. I felt the writing fit well with the story but is far different from her previous works.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's for the ARC!

One thing about me; if Talia Hibbert writes it, I’m going to read it. This story has everything that I loved about the brown sisters trilogy, just in a YA setting. Her characters are still believable. The relationship is sweet. As someone with OCD, the representation was beautiful to see and taken just as seriously as Talia Hibbert always does.

I'm sure I won't be the first or the last to say this, but it is HIGHLY suspicious how unfairly cute this book is! Talia Hibbert is easily a favorite romance author of all time. I was a little unsure about this one going in, because I am generally not a fan of teen books in school-related settings, but I should've known better. This book was so ridiculously charming and full of banter, and I totally couldn't put it down. Truly a perfect teen romance book!

As a big fan of Ms. Hibbert’s adult romances, I was hoping the YA category of this would just feel like one of her adult romances but for a younger audience. And it did and it didn’t. The wit and humor was there - the banter is top notch as always! But I found myself having a really hard time caring about 17/18 years olds relationships. Which is absolutely on me and not the fault of the book. I think I overestimated my enjoyment going in just because of the author. This was a perfectly fine YA contemporary romance and lovers of this genre will most likely find a lot of love about this book! I’m just too old, lol.



Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review!

Talia Hibbert does it again! I'll admit I was a bit skeptical with how steamy Talia's novels normally are to foray into the young adult space with her. But I'm very glad I took that risk. This was a thoroughly enjoyable novel with wonderful disability representation as usual. I also really love the britishisms throughout, the education system was like looking through a new cultural lens that many will appreciate. Adorable romance, highly recommend!

I love Talia Hilbert’s books but I was a little curious if she could make the crossover to YA. Well I’m happy to report that she did. This book is ridiculously cute. If you like the friends to enemies to lovers trope this is for you.

Brad & Celine were very well rounded main characters. I honestly can’t think of another Black OCD Bisexual character out there, let alone a male character. And I like how they didn’t go the typical route with Celine’s father’s abandonment.

I highly recommend this book, and thank you NetGalley and Random House Children's for this arc!

Adorable! Such a cute, fun, romantic read. Talia Hibbert always hits it out of the park. She’s definitely written an amazing YA debut.

As the title suggests this was a super cute book. I loved the dual POV, really helped relate and understand both characters.

If you don’t already know this, Talia Hibbert writes some of the best books that’s out there. I adore her style and her characters and her words and just everything. I loved Bradley and Celine and found them to be so relatable. Their relationship was really compelling, and you just couldn't help rooting for them. This was easily one of the best books that I've read lately -- I didn't want it to end! I loved it and highly recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The title of this book should have been Ridiculously Witty and Absurdly Cute because that’s what it was. Talia Hibbert was meant to write YA because her brand of storytelling is just perfect for it, with her sharp-edged characters with their inexplicable soft centers, the razor sharp banter, the chemistry that goes on for days, the absolutely foolishness of her MCs to see what’s right in front of them whilst those around them (in this case, their best friends) ever so helpfully and repeatedly point out the obvious. Bradley and Celine are perfect, the youthful versions of many an adult aged Talia character. I can see Celine growing up and being friends with Brown sisters. That’s not to say her characters are repetitious and predictable, they are not. Celine stands out in her own unique way, with her abandonment issues (courtesy of her father) and her trust issues (partly courtesy of Bradley himself). And then there’s Bradley, with his OCD, struggling to be true to himself when Celine has seemingly already figured that part out. I loved every word of this book and would love to revisit them in their adult years because if they’re a hoot now, I can’t imagine what these two would be like as adults. Highly delightful and Unfairly entertaining.

Final rating: 4.5 stars

Another hit from Talia Hibbert! She's one of my favorite authors and I've read most of her adult books, so I couldn't wait to read her YA debut, especially knowing that it's a friends-to-rivals-to-lovers romance! With two Black leads, Talia creates fully fleshed-out characters that have complex motivations, and it's a delight to get to know Bradley and Celine.

Celine's complicated history with her father is heartwrenching and it's easy to root for her and her success. Brad is the first bisexual MMC with OCD that I've ever read, and Talia carefully and admirably crafts his narrative. When she and Bradley become friendly with each other again, their banter carried on and it was very sweet. And the way that Brad and Celine comfort and reassure each other was charming. The writing style flowed nicely, and the pop references weren't overwhelming, especially considering that this is a YA novel.

Y'all have no idea how unfairly, indubitably, incredibly CUTE this YA romance was! Bradley and Celine have the sort of young adult charm that makes your teeth rot from smiling so much. They're sweet and wholesome, witty as can be, yet also nuanced because of some emotionally avoidant tendencies, abandonment issues, and super real struggles with OCD they face.

For those of you who, like me, are no longer teens, this story was ripe with first love nostalgia and I think you'll enjoy being able to sink into that. Personally, it thrust me back to a simpler, rather innocent, yet altogether more confusing time when intensity of emotion still ran high and every new flutter of my heartbeat could be felt keenly with a rushing vibrancy that painted life and romance in hues strong enough to taste. I enjoyed being swept up in that again. Remembering how one look, one moment, or one misspoken word could feel like the end of the whole world as I knew it.

(Sometimes I still grow wistful for those days of old.)

I also liked that this read like a coming of age tale as well a romance, with Brad and Celine each coming to grips with who they were and what they wanted, not just with each other, but also with themselves and their own plans for the future after high school. The wilderness scholarship competition was purposeful in helping them revaluate a lot of things in their lives. Firstly, it propelled them together, forcing them to acknowledge old hurts and mistakes they made in the past as childhood besties who then became academic rivals so they could arrive somewhere new and improved and smoochy-smoochy in the present. Secondly, it had them look at all the real reasons behind why they were pursuing a particular area of study. For Celine, that meant dealing with feelings she had about her father, who abandoned her as a kid. For Brad, that meant owning up to wanting to be a writer instead of a lawyer. Thirdly, it showed them that part of growing up is learning how to leap forward with faith with those who are worth it and how to adjust to new circumstances.

All in all, this was a solid YA debut from Hibbert. I'm so glad she ventured into the genre and am looking forward to seeing what else she contributes to it in the future!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Joy Revolution for the ARC in exchange for my review.

Given Hibbert's steamier adult romance titles, I was intrigued to see what she would do with YA fiction. In this book, we see conspiracy-theory Tik-Tokker Celine and her ex-BFF, popular footballer Bradley thrown together in an enrichment program and scholarship competition. They each have their own reasons for wanting to win the scholarships and carve their own educational paths, but more than all, they want to beat each other. Opening the book as former friends and now nemesis, Celine and Brad circle back to friends and eventually something more, all while surviving the woods, parents, and university applications.

This was an extremely solid YA read, with good pacing and balance of character-driven and plot-driven elements. It had great representation, with a take-no-prisoners plus-size female lead, and a cinnamon roll athlete managing his OCD--and even discussions about being some of the black students at their school. The thrown-into-the-woods camping competition experience was reminiscent of Happiness for Beginners by Katharine Center, though the similarities end there. Overall, I enjoyed the book.

Thanks to Random House Children's for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

4 stars - 8/10

thank you lots to the publisher and to netgalley for the early copy of this book!

4.25 stars!

sooooo cute. this book is just so so so cute! what a perfect little nugget of ya joy that truly made me smile <3

celine and brad used to be childhood besties until brad got cool and celine didn’t (even though she is so cool to me and we would be friends, just to be clear). since then, they have engaged themselves in an academic rivalry full of aggressive (and completely un-flirty) banter. when they both get selected for an elite scholarship competition/camping expedition… well i think you know where this is headed!

their dynamic is so so sweet and having both their povs was absolutely perfect for this book specifically. brads struggle with ocd is so carefully done and i personally loved how while it was present and did bring him hardships, he also used lots of coping mechanisms on page and showed that a full life can still be had (good mental health representation rocks!!!)

i liked how honest and real their thoughts were and how they had real reasons for everything they did. and yet it was still full of the bubbly adorable stuff that makes ya so fun!

my only wish - and who would ever think i would say this? - that there was a little more camping? i think having them go back and forth from school to camp was very fun but all the camp moments were so charming i wanted a few more scenes/to learn about a few more of their tasks.

the writing was so charming, i wanted the characters to be happy as if they were my own children, and i loved the mental health rep. overall a perfectly sweet ya read that i would 10000% recommended!!!

cws: parental abandonment, ocd (struggles/thoughts on page), brief one-line mention of off-page lesbophobia

This book had no business being this cute and wholesome 😪

such a delightful and fun YA read that portrayed the anxiety and nerves of being a teen and falling in love for the first time, amongst many other serious topics.

I already knew I was going to love this book when I read the glossary. I truly don’t remember the last time a book made me laugh out loud as many times as this !!

A definite must read for 2023 !!

Childhood friends to enemies to academic rivalry to lovers written by Talia Hibbert, the Queen of banters!? Heck yeah!

At first, I was hesitant to request the ARC since I'm not really into YA contemporary romance but it's Hibbert, and I know I will like it as much as I enjoyed her adult books! And I wasn't wrong! I enjoyed the banters, the representations in this book, the talk about mental health, the pressure from parents, and so on!

Both Brad and Celine were amazing! Celine was a fat Black girl who is so stubborn but it's all because she's just trying to keep her heart safe after her Dad left her family for his mistress and then her ex-bestie Brad. I can understand why she build a wall and suppressed her actual feelings.

Brad was a bisexual boy and has OCD. I really love the OCD rep in this book. I have it myself, and nobody knows because I feel embarrassed by it. People always think that when you can't go to a public toilet they said that you were just acting like a princess. If I could I would. How many times have my Grandparents asked me to stay at their house for me to say no a million times? I don't wanna make them sad, but staying at other people's houses will cause me to have a mental breakdown.

Seeing Brad dealing with his OCD when his thoughts spiral and then trying to soothe himself in a realistic way made me happy. Plus the fact that Celine didn't bother and fully understand him is just heartwarming for me. And at the end of the book, they grew so much, not just in terms of love life but everything! I also love the side characters, they were all fun and adorable!

One thing that I wished is deep dive more is the relationship between Celine and her Dad.

TW: cheating parent (mentioned), parental abandonment.

Thank you so much to Joy Revolution Books & TBR and Beyond Tours for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As steamy as Talia Hibbert's adult romance novels are, this is just as sweet and adorable. British teens Bradley and Celine were once best friends, but changes as teenagers turned them into frenemies. Now, as they look forward towards their future and try to figure out what to do next, they end up participating together in a highly coveted wilderness survival challenge. They're forced to put aside their differences in order to work together, and they soon realize that their feelings for each other are stronger than merely putting up with each other. With strong characters, a thoughtful take on mental health, and growing friendships and more, this will surely win you over!

I really adored this, as I do all things from Talia Hibbert. Obviously, as a YA novel it doesn't have some of my favorite aspects of her novels (😉) but I enjoyed it none the less. Easy ready, and *very* cute!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I've read (and loved) several of Talia Hibbert's books, so I knew I had to pick this one up as soon as I saw it. As expected, it didn't disappoint, and I'd give it a solid 4.5 stars! As a big fan of academic rivals-to-lovers stories, I found the relationship between Celine and Bradley to be incredibly engaging. The plot and characters also felt realistic in terms of pacing and the issues that they faced both individually and together. As always, Hibbert tackles more serious topics like OCD, parental estrangement, and career choices without failing to maintain a lighthearted, banter-filled energy throughout the story. I highly, highly recommend this, and am looking forward to her next publication!