Two ex best friends, a scholarship on the line, and a truce that could lead to more. Celine Bangura is obsessed with conspiracy theories, she’s got a huge social media following too, but despite that she’s the weird kid at school and to say she is competitive and loathes her ex best friend Brad for dumping her for the cool kids is putting it lightly. Bradley Graema is popular, handsome, a star football player and even manages his OCD well, he’s also on top of all his classes... except for the issue that he can’t help but bicker and annoy his ex-best friend Celine. Bradley and Celine were best friends until the big argument and now they spend their days throwing petty insults, staring at each other, and having an academic rivalry. When both of them compete to win a scholarship they are forced to work together if they want to win the competition... so when they are stuck in nature with nothing but their old hurts they’ll have to finally confront their past if they want to make sure their futures are great... but with this new truce... something else sparks too. For two people who are a bit obsessed with one another and use to be best friends they are now two people who have to navigate a new territory... when you spend so much of your time focusing and thinking about a person it’s almost like falling in love. This was such a cute enemies to lovers read, and I adored the progression of their relationship from best friends to enemies to friends.. to crushes and something more. They were both dealing with a lot of different issues in their lives that impacted the way they dealt with their feelings but they both were so sweet and the romance was just adorable. I would definitely recommend this book~!

*Thanks Netgalley and Random House Children's, Joy Revolution for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book for the purpose of this review. Three stars for the story but five for the cover and glossary of terms! How fun and cute.

This is my first Talia Hibbert book and it happens to be her first YA debut. I appreciated the banter between the main characters and it reminded me of a cute romcom on Netflix!

I believe this book will be wildly popular!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children’s for a copy of this book! Below is my honest review.

Summary of plot:
Brad and Celine are seniors at the same high school. They used to be best friends until a few years ago, where they exchanged some not-so-nice words to each other. Now they’re enemies and competing in the same program to win a full ride scholarship to any college. Of course, it’s a hate to love relationship, but it’s very cute and I enjoyed seeing the two protagonists butt heads.

Pros about the book:
✔️ Realistic teenagers doing teenage things
✔️ Different family structures (but supportive people all around)
✔️ Diverse of characters
✔️ THE HILARIOUS BANTER BETWEEN CELINE AND BRAD
✔️ Normalizes taking care of mental health, proper communication, etc.
✔️ Accurate (at least from my perspective) representation of someone with OCD (I can relate very hard to Brad)

Cons about the book:
❌ Not a big fan of the Explore Program

Overall, I really enjoyed this book because I related a lot to both Brad and Celine. When I was younger, I was very much like Celine: hard headed to a fault. And I’m like Brad now where I struggle with the same things that Brad does (outside germs? not in my house!) Also, I’m working on a book now, so I really empathize with his self-doubt. Another thing I really enjoyed about this book was how supportive everyone was. Aka there were no toxic relationships, and I’m here for it.

I will always pick up a Talia Hubert book because she’s just so great and her books are awesome.

Would I recommend this book? Yes!!!

*thank you joy revolution and netgalley for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest review*

tw: ocd, parental abandonment

Talia Hibbert has done it again! Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute was a quick cute read! I loved the subtle and accurate representation of OCD in Bradley’s character. It’s very important for books to start representing everyday people and there are a lot of people in the world that have mental illness. Having books like this one, normalizes them and shows people with mental illness doing everyday tasks (just maybe a little differently than yours). That aside the romance is this book isn’t overwhelming, it’s a slowburn and best friend turned enemies to lovers. Great read!

5/5 stars

To say I love this book would be like saying that I sometimes tolerate dessert, which anyone who knows me will call that bluff from a mile away and dutifully insist that Cecilia + anything sweet = pure elation. So, what I’m getting at is, saying I love this book is basically the understatement of the new millennia and I immediately need to Google synonyms for love that properly convey my intense feelings about this book.

Similarly, Celine + Brad = pure gold. I don’t know how she does it, but Talia Hibbert somehow manages to physically electrify the pages with their chemistry and wit. Their character development is so endearing and uniquely their own, and their navigation of feelings and self and present and future feels so authentic.

A few years after an intense falling out, our MCs are thrown together in an outdoor expedition scholarship competition and find themselves inexplicably drawn to one another. Highly suspicious flirting and unfairly cute denial ensues. *cue the giddy swoon*

Celine and Brad’s dynamic of once besties turned academic rivals/self proclaimed arch nemesis turned coerced forced proximity acquaintances turned cautious friends turned friends that make out sometimes turned tortured friends that can’t admit they love each other turned actual best friends actually in love is just. Incredible. Completely heartwarming.

Hibbert’s witty and honest writing elevates Celine and Brad’s POVs to new heights. Folks, I audibly cackled and scared my cat (more than once). The plot moves along at a nice clip and serves our characters well. And the cast of supporting characters supplements our MCs on their journey quite nicely.

I was skeptical when I first saw this book release, as YA can be a tough genre to break into. It’s a delicate balance of capturing the coming-of-age-ness without coming across as completely insufferable. I’m happy to report that I did not suffer one bit, no ma’am. YA looks good on you, Talia Hibbert, I’m positively buzzing.

My singular wish is to edit out the Kanye reference, which was literally one piece of dialogue. That’s it. That’s the only suggestion I’ve got.

5⭐️

**a big big BIG thank you to Talia Hibbert, NetGalley and the Joy Revolution imprint of Random House Children’s Books for making all my dreams come true and blessing me with this eARC, I wish you every happiness**

I have been a fan of Talia Hibbert's adult romance novels and she knocked this YA debut out of the park. Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute is a cute, fun romance story for teens. I love that the story showed OCD representation, as well as casual bisexual representation. The characters felt fleshed out and the problems (even though they were based in miscommunication) didn't feel like typical romance book miscommunication. This felt like a story with real teen issues and thoughts. I loved it.

I really liked this adorable YA rom-com from the wonderful Talia Hibbert. I thought it was very heartwarming and I enjoyed the friendship between Brad and Celine throughout the book.

For her first YA debut, Hibbert did wonderful. This book was heartwarming in all the right places and kept up with her great characterization in her adult novels.

Super cute! Enjoyed this one quite a bit, recommend to fans of her adult work looking for something with a little less spice to it.

Talia Hibbert's writing is always so funny and personable. She imbues so much life into her characters with their dialogue and thoughts. It was enjoyable to read her first foray into young adult and as always I look forward to what she does next.

I gotta say the enemies-to-lovers trope is not one of my favs in general, and this book like...didn't change that? I think I'm just so conflict-averse that I'm like "why are you guys bickering with each other when you could just ignore each other?" which I mean I guess, the reason why is that they are ~secretly crushing~ or whatever, but it just--it's just not a trope I like. If you like that, there is a lot of that.

Like that said, the friendship between Brad & Celine felt very real to me as did the reason why their friendship faded, and I liked them both as individual characters a lot. So, if enemies-to-lovers is your jam I suspect you'll LOVE this.

A new Talia Hibbert! A new Talia Hibbert that I got an ebook ARC of! I was over the moon.

And I still am.

Hibbert has delivered her signature sparkling wit and dreamy charm again, just this time in a YA package. And while I really missed Hibbert's other rom-com strength--incredibly hot sex scenes--I know that for a YA book she had to tone it down. Nevertheless, rounded, dynamic characters and a just-this-side-of-banana-pants plot (that's a compliment, I swear) made this a one-day read, no matter how often I reminded myself I should be savouring it.

No matter. I suppose that's the glory of re-reads :)

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Children's for the ebook ARC. All opinions are mine alone.

This took me a little while to get into, but I thoroughly enjoyed this! It's obviously more toned down from the adult novels Talia writes, but it was still incredibly fun and sweet. The banter was great, I loved the setting, everything worked in this.

I will always love books written by Talia Hibbert. She writes such amazing romance books and now she’s delved into YA and I feel this story was written beautifully. I loved every second of reading this book. It was warm, it made me smile or sometimes cringe. I really enjoyed this read.

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute is a sweet, swoony, fast-paced friends-to-rivals-to-lovers YA Romance. With all of the feels, family drama and dynamics you could want as two teens, Celine and Brad, navigate figuring out how they feel about each other and their chosen university paths.

Talia Hibbert brings all of the wit, snark, and warmth of her adult novels. The dialogue sparkles with humor and authenticity. And their families! You can feel how much love and support Celine and Brad’s families feel for them, even when they don’t exactly understand them.

I devoured this in one sitting!

⭐⭐⭐⭐
Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute, Talia Hibbert
Random House Childrens, January 3, 2023

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Childrens for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

If you are expecting traditional Talia Hibbert, spicy spicy, this is far from it. Highly Suspicous is YA and fits the bill perfectly.

This is a lovely and sweet romance between two former best friends, Celine and Bradley, as they are forced together and in competition that can mean huge things for both of their futures. Celine and Bradley have to confront the reasons that they stopped being friends in the first place, and rediscover why they were -- and still are -- compatible.

A great romance with none of the dirty stuff -- go ahead share with your kid!

@netgalley @taliahibbert #HighlySuspiciousandUnfairlyCute #NetGalley #stmartinschildren #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #yaromance #youngadultreads #romance

Okay, ex-best friends turned academic rivals are now together in a survival course? I'm IN!

I loved Celine and her conspiracy theories, shut-off personality, and determination. Brad is charming and I loved how his OCD was handled. I'm obsessed with their banter when they hate each other but I'm also here for their interactions when they don't.

I thought there would be more survival course mixed in, but I'm totally ok with it because I really enjoyed the exploration of their families and how that affected them. Fun side characters. Great character growth. I can't wait for more Joy Revolution books!

The glossary was very much appreciated. I tried to read this with an accent and I highly recommend doing that.

Got an eARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ah, Talia Hibbert, there really is no way for me to give a score less than 5 stars here. The tension! It was phenomenal throughout. I couldn't put it down once I started (which was bad for my responsibilities but lovely for me). As always, the characters pulled me in and potentially sensitive/difficult topics were written in a way that honored those who may experience them (also, as always, thank you for telling your readers about the inclusion of these topics so they can decide whether to continue before even starting). But don't think that the previous sentence means the book wasn't funny. It was! It was a perfect romcom to brighten up a dreary weekend, and I will be reading it again. Multiple times probably. Like I've done with every one of Talia Hibbert's books I've read so far. Moral of this story (by which I mean review)? Read Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute!

I've loved the Brown-sister series from Talia Hibbert and was excited to read this YA story - it did not disappoint! It took me a couple chapters to get used to how the young kids communicate, but I got into it and really enjoyed their personalities and the story. It was wonderful to read a story with teens managing THROUGH issues like anxiety or OCD - they have ups and downs but keep moving through their lives. I wish i"d had stories like this when I was a teenager.

Its not you, it's me. I love the author, I love ya, I love romance. But I didn't love this particular combination. Celine and Bradley were friends, then enemies, and then friends, and then I don't know what, and then more. I liked their dialogue when they were frenemies. It was sharp and fun. I just felt underwhelmed by the story and the other characters. I'm sorry I didn't love this. But again, it's me.

I'm thrilled about the Yoons imprint, and can't wait to see what more they put forth!