Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute is a near perfect YA romance in my opinion. Childhood friends to enemies to friends to maybe something more?? A cozy UK academic setting??? Competitive wilderness expeditions with forced proximity?? This book really checked a lot of boxes for me and I think it will for romance-reading teens as well. The main characters, Brad and Celine, are likable, relatable but flawed characters that you can't help but root for. This book tackles tough topics including parental abandonment and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The cast of characters Hibbert has created is wonderfully diverse and features body inclusivity, LGBTQ+ representation, and an openness around mental health. As a YA romance, this book managed to be heart-clenchingly romantic without being sexually explicit. Romantic situations never exceeded kissing, hugging, making out, etc. For teens who aren't comfortable with that sort of material yet, this would be a great fit for them!! This book also had very little profanity, although there was some. I have not read any of Talia Hibbert's other novels but I will definitely be checking them out now! This book was fast-paced and adventurous while also managing to be unexpectedly honest and tender about tough issues. Simply put, this book was "unfairly cute" and I will be purchasing a copy for my school library!

This was not bad it just was not for me. I struggled to get into it and it could not hold my attention.

Loved this. The story is excellent, the characters are complex, and it has a lovely happy end. I would happily read another book about Brad and Celine.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Children's and Joy Revolution for the ARC.

I ADORED THIS BOOK!!! I love Talia Hibbert’s adult books and was really looking forward to her YA debut. It absolutely exceeded all of my hopes! This book perfectly captured the feelings of that first love and all the best parts of the YA contemporary romance genre. I felt all the uncertainty, hope, insecurity, and butterflies from Celine and Brad’s POV. An incredible story of childhood best friends to enemies to lovers with bisexual representation as well as OCD representation. Highly highly highly recommend this book!

I really enjoyed this book. The characters and their banter were very enjoyable. The concept of the scholarship competition taking place in a camping/hiking/adventure setting really piqued my interest and that setting, while not overly referenced, added nicely to the plot.

This was the cutest book!!!! I am a big Talia Hibbert fan and YA books are such a joy when done right. Celine and Brad and their whole group were so special and delightful to read about. I highly recommend this book and loved to see OCD be handled how it was. Thank you Random House and Netgalley for the digital ARC.

I adored this book! I cannot say that enough. The snark between these too was perfection. I have so many highlights the book looks like a rainbow. I have shared it with everyone I know telling them they need to read this book! It is definitely a pick for my February subscription book box!

Best-selling author Talia Hibbert has now authored a YA novel called "Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute." This novel centers around former best friends, Celine and Brad. After a falling out several years back, they are now high school rivals who are both competing for the same college scholarships. However, once they both end up competing in a wilderness survival program, they have to work together again. Sparks begin to fly and they start to see what's really important in life.

This was a fairly cute book, and I appreciated the sweet chemistry between the two. I also liked their families and the support that was shown to them. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

This was a cute YA book. The main characters are both super likable but the secondary characters are all pretty flat. I think Talia Hibbert is a much better adult contemporary author, but fans of her books can breeze through this one if they want to venture into YA with her.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Super cute!! I really enjoyed this read. Brad is such a sweetie and Celine is wonderful - even though sometimes I just wanted to shake them and make them sit down and TALK TO EACH OTHER!!

My one critique is that I think we heard a bit too much about how Brad wants to be a writer but his book is terrible, it seemed like overkill. Otherwise, super cute and fun read!

I’m a big fan of the author! I don’t normally read YA books, but I decided to give it a chance. The protagonist was frustrating at times. I felt like I couldn’t relate to her. I wish the author would’ve explored Celine’s mind more. Brad was a sweet kid. I liked watching him grow into himself. The premise of the story was alright, but I felt like it was missing something.

An adorable YA romcom debut from @taliahibbert
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Bradley Graeme is just about perfect: he’s a star football player, brilliant student and is handling his OCD pretty well. Celine Bangura is also a straight A student and TikTok star. The two used to be close friends until Brad started getting popular. Now they’re enemies. When they find out about a Scottish survival wilderness retreat that could earn them a sizable scholarship, both end up applying and getting into the program. But as they start to spend more time together, the two realize they miss what they used to have together…and maybe it could be even more.
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This was such a delight to read. From Brad’s sunny disposition to Celine’s stand-off behavior it was a couple of tropes that I love: grumpy/sunshine, enemies to lovers, friends to enemies to lovers, academic rivals, and opposites attract. And the male MC is bisexual? Here for it. I can’t wait to get this in my #library when it releases January 3! Great choice from @joyrevbooks @nicolayoon @davidoftheyoon

CW: OCD, parental abandonment, cheating, hospitalization, concussion

Excellent! This will make a great addition to our YA collection. I loved the premise of the book and all of the little imperfections of the characters. It was not only an enjoyable read but also taught me a thing or two about tens.

Decent read. I loved the little nuances about the characters. I did find that the story started to drag after about 50%. Lots of back and forth but not getting anywhere.

I would recommend the book to students as it is tastefully done and a cute read.

Best friends --> enemies/rivals --> friends...and more?

Celine Bangura:
--grumpy, cynical
--obsessed with conspiracy theories (and uses her TikTok to explore them)
--wanting to become a corporate lawyer (not that that has anything to do with the dad who abandoned her)
--idolizes human rights lawyer Katharine Breakspeare and wants to sign up for the Breakspeare Enrichment Program (a nature survival program)
--has nothing (NOTHING!) but disdain for popular guy and former bestie Bradley Graeme

Bradley Graeme:
--sweet and easygoing, popular and athletic
--learning to live with OCD after years of therapy
--says he wants to be a lawyer like his dad but really, secretly, wants to write science fiction
--enjoys poking at Celine and feels guilty for causing her fractured wrist, so he drives her to the Enrichment Program info meeting
--decides to apply for the BEP along with Celine for the chance at the full scholarship offered to the winners

Take these two characters, throw them into the wilderness (supervised and with other students, of course), and give them the time to sort through their past and to be honest about what they want for their futures -- and sit back and watch the sparks fly!

Talia Hibbert is one of my favorite romance writers, thanks to her ability to create smart, sarcastic, sweet, and funny characters who grapple with mental health issues and neurodivergence, and in this book (her YA debut) she creates two memorable teens who support each other even when they think they're enemies. Celine's prickly nature hides a hurt, lost girl still wounded by her father's abandonment, and Bradley is the only one who recognizes that wound and helps her face it. Bradley's easygoing attitude covers his occasionally panicky OCD spirals, but Celine is the one who knows how to help him through those difficult moments. Their banter sometimes scrapes each other raw, and their individual confusion about what they want in the future leads them to overthink their relationship, but the trust at the core of their early friendship guides them through their missteps in communication. This is a hallmark of Hibbert's writing, and it makes her stories and characters so relatable to those of us who try to understand ourselves and communicate honestly with others.

The book serves up plenty of wonderful side characters, from Celine's bestie Michaela to Brad's sidekick Jordan, their families (Trevor gets Dad of the Year in my book), and the new friends they make in the Enrichment Program (Aurora, Raj, Sophie top that list).

Because the Enrichment Program takes place during the school year, the book follows Celine and Bradley through school and their classes and extracurriculars as well as exploring their plans for university, making the pace of the story almost as hectic as high school itself can be. Fortunately, Hibbert skillfully weaves all these different threads into the true conflict of the story for a satisfying and uplifting conclusion.

Like all of Hibbert's books on my "read" shelf, this book brought me straight into Celine and Bradley's world, made me care deeply about these young people, and moved me with their growth and love. I admit, I am seriously biased in favor of Talia Hibbert's work, but I really think this will be an excellent book for older teens wanting to be seen and heard and given a chance to grow.

CW: parental abandonment, panic attacks

NOTE: This book marks the launch of the new Joy Revolution imprint at Random House, headed up by YA authors Nicola and David Yoon. According to the mission statement, this imprint will offer "books whose revolutionary act is to simply depict joy" and will celebrate "the full breadth of humanity of people of color." This is work we very much need right now, and after this brilliant beginning, I'm really looking forward to what Joy Revolution brings us in future.

Thank you, Joy Revolution/Random House Children's Books and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.

Another enemies to lovers story--This one focuses on Celine and Brad, who used to be best friends before a falling out a few years ago. Since then, they've hated each other (or have they?) When they both enter a wilderness competition (think: Survivor) they compete in a group of 20 kids to win just a few coveted scholarships.

More could have been done with the competition (they really didn't have much here about it). But I did really like how Celine responded to seeing her absentee father in this story.

4.5

THIS WAS SO CUTE I CANNOT. childhood best friends to enemies to academic rivals to secretly pining best friends to lovers?? sign. me. up. and it takes place in the scottish forests or whatever? AND has mental health representation?? yeah okay it was literally so so good!! the banter. i just. i loved both brad and celine so much and i related a lot to both of them which normally is not the case when i read romance books, so i really appreciated that. also the concept was really interesting. i would HIGHLY recommend this book. it is not one to miss.

3.5 stars

This book was highly cute but unfairly forgettable :/

It's just ABOUT so much.. Bradley and Celine are ex-best friends, actually sort of enemies. They have to work together on a school project. Something happens and Bradley ends up driving Celine to a talk she's interested in. They both end up being interested in it. It's a nature camp internship type deal. They both go to it. Then even more stuff happens... it's just hard to tell where the plot started? It sort of is like lifelike in the fact that things just keep happening, but that level of realism is sort of high for what I'm used to in YA romances lol

Celine is a weird kid - she's a conspiracy theorist TikToker, a fact that kind of doesn't get brought up in the right way enough for me? They mention it a lot lol but there are not many conspiracy theories over the course of the book tbh

Bradley is a popular kid who hangs out with the jocks and he has OCD

Their moms are best friends and that led to them being best friends growing up but they grew apart when their interests started to change in separate ways

I mean, yeah, their relationship is really, really, cute, and it definitely saved what was otherwise a somewhat unexciting book for me. I don't think the book is bad by any means, and I don't think I should dissuade anyone from reading it, I just don't know that I'd be encouraging anyone to pick this specific book up either

It's the first title that will be released from the Yoons' publishing imprint, Joy Revolution, and I like the message behind the imprint a lot: inclusive romance that is about LOVE and not like, a hard topic kind of book that happens to have a relationship in it. Definitely need to see more of that, and I still wanna celebrate this book, the imprint, AND this cute ass cover even if it wasn't the most standout book I've ever read!!!

Enemies to lovers in Hibbert's first YA novel. I love Talia Hibbert's other books and this one is no exception. Well written, well paced, and fun to read!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own

This is Talia Hibbert's first venture in YA and to the surprise of absolutely no one, it's a triumph.
The glossary at the start of the book is a delight and to be honest, so is the rest of the book. Both Bradly and Celine are complex characters who are dealing with some serious issues, and they both handle them as well as they can. It takes them some time to accept they're actually in love with each other, but it's a beautiful journey. And there's so much fun in the book as well. It's actually unfairly cute :P