Talia Hibbert’s YA entry is highly delightful and full of her trademark laugh-out-loud banter between characters and nerdy, wonderfully rounded protagonists. I’m a huge sucker for the enemies to lovers trope, and this book delivers on that in spades.

Celine and Bradley may have been friends once and both at the top of their class, but they couldn’t be more different now: Bradley is super popular, like any good star football player, while Celine has a huge social media following but few (okay, one) friend in person. Both are pursuing a scholarship by braving the outdoors for a leadership bootcamp and rediscover their tangled roots and old wounds along the way.

I loved watching these two spar with each other at every moment, while also reluctantly showing care and concern at pivotal moments. There is excellent mental health rep, beautifully described settings, and so much joy. I hope everyone who loves Talia gets the chance to read this when it comes out, and teens and young adults get to discover her if they haven’t already. Fun and feels — the complete package!

Thanks to NetGalley for an early review copy, all opinions are my own.

Ahhhhhh I loved this book! I devoured it in a day like the most delicious box of truffles. Talia Hibbert has been one of my favorite authors ever since her Brown Sisters trilogy was published, so it's not a surprise that this was wonderful, but oh, it was even better than I'd hoped & expected! It's just the most delightful rom-com with two starring characters I adored, SO MUCH fabulous banter and such heartfelt emotions, and I adored every moment of it. I will be re-reading it a lot in the future! And this definitely turned out to be one of my very favorite books of the year, in any genre.

I was lucky enough to get an e-ARC; the actual book will be published in January, and I highly recommend preordering it! I'm also planning to buy a paper copy once it's published.

I love best friends to lovers and enemies to lovers so this book was honestly the best of both worlds. Talia Hibbert is such a great writer and I felt like she did both of those tropes so well!

Celine and Brad were so likable and I absolutely loved their banter!! Their spats were so much fun to read and their eventual love was so sweet. I also loved the personal journeys they both took throughout the book.

I really loved the inclusion of Brad’s OCD! As someone with OCD, it was so nice to see it portrayed in such a thoughtful and positive way, and to see that he’s found such success with managing it through therapy.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House Children's for giving me access to this book!

Ok this was so cute though…. Almost unfairly so.. Talia is such a talented author and this will broaden her fan base immensely by stepping into the YA genre. This book had me hooked with the witty banter and internal monologue of both main characters instantly. The story is charming and honestly my only gripe is that it’s obvious Celine is the Scorpio not Aurora …. I mean this quote “ She doesn’t care about people easily, but once you’ve got her, you’ve got her. Until you give her up. Or let her down.” That came straight from the Scorpio handbook. But I digress. The book is fantastic and I know it’s going to be a favorite among teens and adults alike. It deals with struggles all teens can relate to on some level; relationships, friendships, popularity, sexuality. minority, parental pressure, parental abandonment, mental health, self loathing, academic pressure.

Talia Hubert always does a great enemies to lovers that pulls you in and feels realistic. Some wording/phrases can be a little cringe with an attempt to be cool/modern. Her characters are always lovable and endearing and Brad and Celine did not fall short. Some loose ends with Celine and her dad that I wish were wrapped up a little more.

SQUEE!! Talia Hibbert can do no wrong!!

Celine Bangura, daughter of one Ms. badass Bangura and her unfortunate coupling with a Mr. slimy-two-timey-no-good-dirty-rotten-whats-his-name, has an epic plan for her life starting her senior year of high school. She's going to make her crumby dad rue the day he ever crossed her family. First, Oxbridge. How? Well, on top of her perfect scores, perfect applications, and entrepreneurial spirit (hello, she has 3ok followers on tiktok) she's going to get a scholarship through #KatherineBreakspeare 's excellentoverachieverleadershipcamp thingy. Unfortunately, her ex-bestie-now-arch-nemesis Bradley Graeme somehow manages to ruin everything on the first day of school. Feeling slightly guilty, he takes it upon himself to help her get to the excellentoverachievercampthingy and now, they're forced to share a space while competing for a once in a lifetime opportunity.

THIS WAS GREAT. Talia writes really fabulous banter and makes the chemistry/flirting between her two MCs feel really believable. For instance, even though there's a miscommunication type conflict going on, it feels authentic to those characters thought processes (since it's dual-POV, we get to see inside both of their thoughts, which also helps!). One MC is struggling to communicate with their partner because of their trust issues, self-doubt, and general defensiveness, which is totally understandable when you read that character's backstory. The other character is not speaking up because they're convinced that patience and not pressuring their partner is the way to get their relationship to the next step - a conclusion which is also understandable when you know their logic! I think the characters just really make this story.
I also really loved the supportive and understanding parents in this book, the casual bi rep, the fun friends, the silly setting. It was just such a nice, lighthearted and romantic story.

4 ⭐️’s

While I’m beginning to think that YA is maybe not the genre for me, there is no doubt that Talia Hibbert can write a book. Even though there were moments where I wish we would have gotten more from the story, I’d recommend this to my YA friends for sure.

Celine is an overacheiver with trust issues. Determined to participate in a wilderness experience organised by her idol, she finds herself spending more and more time with her insufferable ex-best friend, Brad, for whom she might have more feelings than she's willing to admit...

This is a quick, sweet YA romance with good, relatable characters. The plot dragged a bit and there was lots of skipping over what I expected to be the good bits. Definitely aimed at the younger end of YA, but overall not a bad book.

Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adored this book. Earlier this year, I read the brown sisters trilogy and fell in love with the amazing writer that Talia Hibbert is. I adore the fact that her characters are diverse (race, size, health) and I really appreciate how she makes the characters lovable when so many authors with diverse characters do not. Celine's and Brad's story is so so cute! It's a super combo of tropes friends to enemies to friends to lovers!! Absolutely magical ride, I read it all in one sitting.

Talia Hibbert is dipping her toes into YA and it was a fun read. This is a friends to enemies to lovers story and I enjoyed seeing the journey our characters took to get to that lovers stage. It was definitely YA and I think teens will really enjoy certain references in the story. It did drag a little for me around the midway point, but all in all it was an easy, cute read.

This was an absolutely adorable YA romantic comedy. I would classify this as friends to enemies to lovers. Our protagonists were once best friends but had a falling out as one becomes more popular. Both decide to compete for a scholarship camping program and their friendship and more reignites. This is definitely a YA story, the main characters are in high school and it is definitely geared towards a much younger reader than me. I would highly recommend this to YA readers who want a sweet romance with some great representation - bisexual characters, OCD characters, BIPOC characters.

Thank you NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for a honest review.

This is the first book I've read by Talia Hibbert, but I can promise you that it won't be my last. I had her Brown sister series on my to read list for years but always put if off. After reading her young adult novel, I am ashamed I waited so long.

I wasn't fully prepared to read a young adult novel and was nervous how I'd feel reading it being almost 30. As stated above, I was pleasantly surprised. The cutlure difference between British schools and American schools was also a transition and it honestly read like a college romance novel. I appreciated Talia's glossary at the beginning of the novel even if it was in satire. From the beginning, Talia is able to captivate the audience's attention by crafting distinct perspectives from each of the main characters. Celine is stubborn and sassy and Brad is an emotional overthinker who seems to have everything handed to him (key word: seems). Throughout the book these former besties, now frenemies, learn to forgive, fight, flirt, and quite literally fall in love with each other (no spoilers!). I don't want to spoil too much with my review but if friends to lovers/enemies to lovers is your trope, go read this book ASAP!

talia hibbert does not fail to deliver. i loved the brown sisters series so much so i was so excited when i got an arc for this book

i'm pretty sure this is her first ya book but it hit all the points that i would expect from ya and i think it portrayed a high school relationship pretty well. the interactions between brad and celine were adorable and i liked that they had a past before becoming "enemies."

this book was pretty fast moving but the bep plot bored me just a little bit. i would have liked to see something more come out of it. but overall this was such a fun read and i really hope talia hibbert writes more ya in the future

Thank you to @netgalley + @randomhousekids + @taliahibbert for the eARC!

“Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute” by Talia Hibbert (pub date: January 3)

SYNOPSIS: Brad and Celine are mortal enemies. They used to be best friends until Brad became a jock and left Celine in the dust. Now in their final year of high school, they have the chance to win university scholarships by competing in camping and team-building challenges through a selective program. Forced to work together, can they rekindle what they once had or is their past too far gone?

This book 🥹💓 I’m not a big YA reader but Celine and Brad were too cute. I loved the story, the main + supporting characters, the banter, and the heartwarming wholesomeness of the romance. I was really impressed with how Talia Hibbert wrote in Gen Z (the slang and meme references were spot on) and how authentically she conveyed the anxiety of being uncertain about your future at 18 years old. I also loved the representation of OCD and normalization of therapy.

“Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute” will make you feel so warm and fuzzy while also making you laugh. So grateful for the ARC and can’t wait for this to officially release in January 🫶🏻

I'm so excited that Talia Hibbert wrote a YA novel! This was great, with strong character development and a relatable plot. Celine and Brad used to be best friends until Brad got sporty and (at least from her perspective) left Celine behind. Now they're both in their final year of secondary school and both end up in a wilderness leadership training program thing to compete for a scholarship to university. They're both planning to study law, but both for different (bad) reasons, and as they move through their fall semester, they tentatively rekindle their friendship. Since this is a romance, that friendship quickly becomes something more. I really liked both Celine and Bradley, and I thought they were well-developed, realistic, and interesting characters. As someone with OCD myself, I really appreciated the inclusion of OCD representation and felt that both main characters' mental health issues were depicted with care and kindness.

This book lives up to half its title because it is unfairly cute. This book was such fun and had me smiling and giggling from the beginning! It has the Talia Hibbert staples such as great and funny banter and heart warming romance, but for a YA romance! I loved the chemistry between Celine and Bradley. Their enemies were so well written that I couldn’t see them reconciling. But there was so much growth and development (which I loved to see and made me happy because it led to their happiness) for them to get together that it worked out so well! In those moments between enemies to lovers I was on the edge of my seat just waiting for them to admit their feelings! Celine and Bradley have the kind of high school romance that I wish I had then.

Overall, I loved this and recommend you read it when it comes out in January!

Read if you’re looking for…
•childhood friends to enemies to lovers
•forest adventures
•mental health rep
•dual pov

“The point is, I want to take the risk because I want you. And I trust you. And you’re worth it! Do you get that? You’re worth it to me.”

Celine and Brad. He’s the popular, star football player that everyone wants to be friends with. And she’s the weird, conspiracy theory-obsessed that is popular on social media, but not in real life. Former best friends that now hate each other, until they’re both competing for a scholarship.

This was a nice story, but I felt like it was a little confusing and rushed. I feel like Celine and Brad didn’t really have chemistry. They literally went from hating and bickering to having feelings—it was out of the blue. And they’ve barely mentioned why they had a falling out.

🌲READ IF YOU LIKE🌲:
- dual POV
- content creator x football player
- besties to enemies to lovers
- academic rivalry
- being in the wilderness
- sci-fi writer
- he’s popular, she’s not
- bickering
- conspiracy theories
- forced proximity
- LGBTQ+ & mental health rep: ocd
- England/Scotland setting

cw: parent abandonment, ocd, divorce, trust issues, concussion

Thank you to @netgalley and @joyrevbooks for the advanced copy! Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute is available on January 3, 2023!

I loved the Brown Sisters trilogy (especially book 1), so I immediately requested this on Netgalley when I saw it. This is Talia Hibbert’s YA debut and is a dual POV, childhood friends to enemies to lovers story.

First off, this cover is so cute! I’m obsessed.

Second, I really enjoyed getting to know these characters. Celine is a conspiracy theory tik toker (which I thought was hilarious) and is dealing with some tough family trauma. Brad is bi, has OCD and is the absolute sweetest cinnamon roll of a human being. It will be nearly impossible not to fall in love with him, I guarantee it. I love that Talia incorporates real life characteristics like these into her characters. She has OCD herself, so I would imagine she did the representation justice.

Overall, this was funny, witty and gosh-darn adorable!! I hope Talia keeps writing YA because I will keep reading it.

This was funny and I was invested in the characters and plot . This is an YA novel . They also say fuck a lot so If that bothers you skip it. The relationship dynamic was good. If you like Ya this is good for the YA crowd . I do prefer her adult books more .

Already a fan of Talia Hibbert, I could not wait to read her debut YA novel Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute. Let me tell you, Ms. Hibbert did not disappoint! Talia Hibbert has a talent for creating strong, unapologetic female leads. This time around she has given us readers an equally lovable male mc who makes this book impossible to put down.

Celine Bangura is determined, goal oriented and ready to do anything to reach the future she has meticulously planned. This is a girl who knows what she wants and knows who she is. Bradley Graeme is Celine's ex-best friend. She has successfully cut all contact with this boy who betrayed her. That is, until the new school year begins and she is suddenly forced into his orbit once again. Both these characters have faced struggles in the past which form who they are now. When Celine and Bradley are forced to work together can they put aside their rivalry long enough to meet their goals. Readers will love the journey these two take, I know I did.

I fell in love with these characters and their personalities. I kept a smile plastered to my face as I read through this book. Talia Hibbert writes the kind of characters you hate to say goodbye too. This was a wonderful teen read and I can't wait to see what else she has to offer the young adult community.

This story deals with important issues including parental abandonment and OCD. Talia Hibbert did an excellent job showcasing these issues. As a mother I'm always looking for books to give my teens that can give them a perspective of other peoples trials and struggles.

I received an advanced readers copy of this book from NetGalley. I am leaving this review voluntarily.