Thank you Penguin Teen and NetGalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. So Amanda Woody had me in my feels last night, crying all over myself. The thing I love about Amanda’s stories are they’re funny and romantic but the characters often have trauma, difficulties, and/or disabilities that impact them, that make the stories so deep and complex!! Caleb doesn’t fight but he will stand up for the new girl in school. But in typical fashion when the bully turns to tear down Caleb’s mom he freezes. Enter his ex-best friend Emma. She’s never been one to shy away from fighting back for people. She’s also know as feisty and a troublemaker. The two haven’t spoken in 4 years, each harboring their own feelings about their friend break up. But when the two both find themselves interested in the new student, Juliet, they decide to compete. The first one to get Juliet to kiss them gets to date her. However as they are forced into each other’s orbits feelings they thought they had buried begin to resurface. But is that what they want? Hurt runs deep between the two. Emma’s also struggling with a difficult home situation which has worsened since Caleb was last around. And Caleb’s trying to rebuild a relationship with his father, which Emma wouldn’t approve of. Can they keep their distance while competing? Or is their need to help and protect each other too ingrained? And what about Juliet? If they find out what Caleb and Emma have been doing will they ever forgive the two? A story that will pull at your heartstrings in all kinds of ways! Sweet, charming, funny, romantic, deep, and add some trauma in there! Once again the mcs chemistry is so explosive and it just gives all the feels!!! I loved Juliet’s journey, I related so much to her feelings on gender! As a non binary person myself I also often struggle with not meeting others expectation of what non binary means. Amanda Woody is such a fantastic author and one readers should not miss out on!!

DNF @ 60%

Just not the book for me. The book was extremely immature, but tried to cover serious topics.

The idea was cute, but it tried to span the entire young adult age group rather than focusing on one portion.

This was a highly anticipated read for me but unfortunately I just really could not get into it. I found some of the prose pretty jarring (I'm not one to be bothered by profanity, and I absolutely think profanity has a place in YA but some of it in this book really just felt like it was there for shock value... but in internal monologues, so it felt like the author using it for shock value, not the characters, which could have landed better).

I also just... don't think the author was fully equipped to handle the diversity of the cast they created. The white MCs are fighting over a Black girl* who really just feels like a romanticized/fetishized vehicle for the two of them to get together. Both the MCs have Asian best friends who are both the wise friends who talk sense into them. There were lots of things that built up to just generally make me pretty uncomfortable. I don't think it was intentionally malicious but I do genuinely think I might have been more likely to finish reading if the cast were whiter because the author just really was not equipped to write the diversity they added to the story and that was probably my biggest issue with the book.

Spoiler:
*I have since looked at other reviews, which all use they/them for Jasmine so I'm assuming that Jasmine comes out as nonbinary at some point. I DNF'd at 35% of the way through and that had not happened yet, so on top of the other issues, I just... don't really love a (I think white but definitely not Black) author writing a Black character who is just a vehicle to move the main romance along while also creating a situation where people will be using the wrong pronouns for said Black character.

4.5 stars

After a pretty bad friend breakup in 8th grade, Caleb and Emma haven’t gotten along. According to Caleb, Emma has gotten in the way of every single one of his romantic relationships since then. But really, Emma has just been trying to get by since their 8th grade break up.

When both Caleb and Emma set their sights on the new girl, they decide to hold a competition for her. Whoever gets a kiss first wins. But as they start spending more time together again, they both realize maybe their feelings from 8th grade haven’t completely gone away.

Thanks to Viking Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy of Exes & Foes by Amanda Woody to review! Foody’s debut, They Hate Each Other, was one of my favorite books of 2023, so I was super excited to pick this one up! They definitely didn’t disappoint with this one, either.

Hands down, Foody excels at writing characters you will connect to right from the beginning. Caleb and Emma might be polar opposites, but it’s clear they have good chemistry together. Even when they’re fighting. The book is split between their points of view, and each of their voices were distinct enough that they don’t blur together.

The plot does follow some typical romance tropes, but I found that didn’t matter because I was so invested in the characters. The love interest Emma and Caleb are competing for, Juliet, has her own identity revelations throughout the book, and it felt so natural for the rest of the book. In general, the side characters were just as engaging as the main characters.

There’s great queer representation in this book, too, which we always love to see. It will definitely be a perfect romance to read on the beach when it comes out in July!

A cute, quirky YA romance between ex-best friends who are competing for the new girl’s heart.

Caleb is an adorably nerdy character with daddy issues who still isn’t sure why his best friend stopped talking to him in eight grade. A few years later and he’s still nursing that hurt - especially when it seems like every time he likes someone, she swoops in and woos them before he had the chance to. But that won’t happen this time if he has anything to say about it!
I enjoyed the diverse representation, the demisexual rep, the bisexual chaos, and trans rep!

I wish I liked this book more. It's a fun love triangle between two ex-best friends, Emma and Caleb, and a race to see who can woo Juliet.

I loved the variety of LGBTQ representation, and the characters have hilarious banter.

Emma and Caleb are more fleshed out compared to Juliet, who primarily acts as a plot device to bring the two main characters together. I would have liked to see her be more developed - she doesn't need a whole character arc, but some more time with her could have helped.

A little trite and too many attempts to be modern, but a sweet message overall that emotionally draws in the reader. Caleb and Emma's relationship is compelling, and their complex relationships with their families feels undeniably real. My main problem with the novel is Juliet's character, which reads very two-dimensional and is largely used as a plot device to bring the two main characters together.

4.5/5 stars

Thank you @netgalley and @vikingbooks for the ARC!

Exes & Foes is a wacky subversion of a love triangle. Emma and Caleb, ex-best-friends hold a competition to see who can get Juliet, the cute new student, to kiss them first. And, oops, they start falling for each other.
I loved this book. It was a hilarious, adorable romance and I devoured it in a day. The characters were charming and equally awkward. Also, points for everyone in the “triangle” being queer.
The dual POV between Caleb and Emma was done excellently. They had distinctive voices and perspectives, and I found them both to be charming (no grating “can we get back to the other character”).
All of the characters had trauma and relationship issues, and I felt that they were all handled with love. Emma, especially, had a wonderful arc. There were ups and downs, but altogether she had a happy ending. I absolutely cried over her story.

CW: emotional abuse; bullying; queerphobia; toxic friendship (former)

I was excited for this one but it just didn’t do it for me the writing was done poorly and it made the book uninteresting to me

This book just did not work for me. The writing was just not to my liking, and I couldn’t get into the story. The characters were frustrating and very naive when they were supposed to be teenagers.

The only thing that this book had going for it was the LGBTQIA+ rep, but with the story the way it was I couldn’t even appreciate that fully.

(2.5/5) I’d pay exorbitant amounts of money to never hear the phrases “premarital hoo ha” or “unalive me” ever again. This book was okay, but I feel like the premise got old really fast, which dragged the first half of the book. I thought there were a lot of places that could be good exposures to some queer ideology, but this book should definitely be marketed towards younger teens. Some of the foreshadowing was really obvious, and some of the tropes used were predictable as well. Overall, not a bad read, I’m just not the target audience anymore.

I truly cannot express my love for Amanda Woody’s writing enough. They create stories with such amazing depth. This book is somehow lighthearted and funny while also being deeply emotional and handling many tough topics. On the lighthearted side we have Emma and Caleb’s banter and crazy antics that had me in stitches. We also have their incredibly wholesome friends Jas and Alice, and the world’s sweetest character ever in Juliet. But alongside this lighthearted joyful comedy was a lot of emotion that had me teary eyed and even downright sobbing. Emma and Caleb both have complicated relationships with members of their family and with each other. I loved getting glimpses into the past showing the former friendship and the family issues. They helped me understand Emma and Caleb as individuals and as the couple they were meant to be. They have great chemistry and compliment each other so well. I did get slightly annoyed at their inability to communicate, but in the end they worked it out. So overall I highly recommend!

2 stars
——————

I’m not really sure how I feel about this one. I was interested in the premise of two friends competing for someone’s attention, but the way it was ultimately written gave me the ick.

The actual competing was poorly written. I enjoyed that the characters themselves knew their plan was bad. But doing it anyway? I get it’s literally the point of the book, but it could have been handled better. The entire time, I was cringing and smacking my forehead. There needed to be more emotion and anguish between the characters, with their history and plan. The ending had the potential to pull it together, but it was anti-climactic. The entire story was pretty predictable by the 40% mark. I struggled to finish this one because I could see how it was going to end. I pulled through to make sure I was right (I was) and to see how it came together, but it was disappointing.

I loved the queer representation, but is sometimes felt incredibly out of place within the book and the story. There wasn’t any development to the Juliet’s story that made them make sense. They were used to further Caleb and Emma’s relationship, but it could have been handled without the awful competition for their affection. I found the characters were pretty irritating. Despite being teens, they acted like kids. They were about as mature in the book as they were in the flashbacks.

I hate writing negative reviews, but this really was a flop for me.

Ex-best friends Caleb and Emma are both drawn to stunning new girl Juliet. Caleb is determined not to let Emma swoop in and steal Juliet, as she has many times before. Emma is equally as determined not to let Caleb win. But is it because she wants to be closer to Caleb or Juliet?

I loved how much positive LGBTQ+ rep there was in the book, including bi, demi, non-binary, and ace rep. The vibe of Exes & Foes almost feels like a John Hughes movie, like 16 Candles or The Breakfast Club. While Emma and Caleb initially compete for Juliet, they soon realize that this isn’t very respectful to Juliet. Amanda Woody includes lots of banter and funny dialogue.

Emma’s relationship with her mom was extremely toxic and my heart absolutely broke for what she was forced to do. Fortunately, Emma’s found family (Mrs. Daniels!!) and her scrappy attitude help bring her through this tough experience. Caleb also deals with an absent dad who is more interested in the idea of being one. I loved how Caleb and Emma eventually found their way back to each other in friendship (and maybe more- no spoilers!).

Readers looking for a funny, YA rom-com with deep themes of queer found family and strong friendship should check out Exes & Foes.

Thank you to Amanda Woody, Viking Books for Young Readers, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc.

I'll give the author credit; her characters acknowledge how scummy the plan they come up with is. Doesn't stop them from going through with it, but at least they have that much going for them.

Part of the problem here, I think, is that I didn't connect to the characters. I can see what Amanda was going for, but I found Caleb and Emma irritating in different ways. Caleb’s uptight and overly tidy nature often felt too rigid and unrelatable, while Emma's chaotic and mischievous behaviour came across as too disruptive. Juliet's manic energy added to the mix, creating a dynamic that just didn’t resonate with me.

However, I did appreciate the LGBT+ representation, and there were genuinely funny moments, mostly provided by Emma. This isn't a bad book by any measurement. We just didn't suit each other. I'm sure that other readers will enjoy this far more than I did, and I really hope they do. For those who enjoy a chaotic love triangle with well-represented diverse characters, this book might just be perfect.

Exes & Foes

Caleb and Emma used to be best friends before a major falling out. When new girl Juliet turns both their heads, they decide to compete for her affections. As they all spend more time together, Caleb and Emma find themselves feeling more than friendly towards each other.

I am having a hard time forming an opinion on this one, because I went into it expecting YA and I would never expect to see the word c_ _ t in a YA novel. There was also a lot more cursing than I would expect from YA. The characters were firmly high schoolers, though, and at times annoyingly adolescent.

Overall this was mostly a miss for me. There were some highlights, like the friendship flashbacks and rekindling between Caleb and Emma. I just don’t feel like the language used was YA and I would have a hard time recommending to young readers.

I only started getting into this and enjoying it around the 45% mark; getting there was rather painful at times. The cringey dialogue and silly moments throughout the book took me out of the story every single time. Like the time Emma threw candy at an adult’s face in the middle of a cafe during a serious conversation. That entire sequence was so unserious. Actually, every cafe scene was unserious, and there were a surprising amount of them. They would always behave as if there was nobody around to see them act like buffoons. The amount of second hand embarrassment this book gave me was too much for my poor little anxiety brain to handle.

However, the strong point of this book is actually the complex relationships being portrayed, both romantic and parental, which I absolutely enjoyed. The lead up to the main characters getting together and actually talking through their issues was also quite scrumptious, I will give credit where credit is due. Which is is exactly why I'll keep reading everything the author publishes. While this book just didn’t work for me very much, I can really see the potential for a 5 star from this author in the future, because when this book was good, it was GOOD.

(I would've also preferred this to go the poly direction, but alas.)

This was a hard book to review. On the surface, it's a queer, high-school version of the typical two people compete for the affections of one woman trope. Under the surface, it's a story about how two ex-best friends navigate the way their personal traumas impact how they relate and interact with each other (and fall in love!)

The beginning of this book really struggles. And I mean really struggles. I almost stopped reading after the first three chapters because they are not... good. I think part of it was the premise (did not love!) and part of it was introducing these characters was a challenge, but I think an editor should have helped Woody with it a lot more.

However! And this is important! I'm glad I didn't quit because once you get past the principal's office scene, the rest of the book is really quite good. Like night and day difference in enjoyment and writing.

Emma, a hot-headed delinquent and former best friend of Caleb, who is an awkward beanpole sweetheart, are competing for the hand of Juliet, anxious new-girl (who is never really developed much beyond that). As I mentioned before, the premise struggled, mostly because you know someone is going to end up hurt and that looms over you during the read. However, Woody picked pretty much the only option to salvage that piece of the plot and things turn out... okay.

The REAL heart of this story, however, is Emma and Caleb's relationship with one another. This by far was the best aspect of this book, and both characters were written so heart-wrenching convincingly. Each deals with some aspect of trauma -- Emma her abusive mother, and subsequent homelessness, and Caleb with his fair-weather semi-absentee father. Each of them navigate their world differently because of the way love / care was modeled for them and on them, and finding each other and growing past and through that makes up the majority of the book. I really, really enjoyed reading it, and I thought Woody did a really, really good job with the nuance.

The rest of the characters do not get the same depth, and are more or less interchangeable. Not a deal breaker for me though since Emma and Caleb were written so well. If I had one wish it would be that there was never the competition for Juliet and the author instead found a different premise to bring Caleb and Emma back together because I think their story would be compelling all on it's own.

I thought this was very cute, but there are a few things that irked me. One being the competition aspect of the plot, in reality it is a shitty thing to do, but I will say that the book does address that it’s shitty. Two being the character of Juliet, they were literally just a plot device to bring our two main characters together, I didn’t feel like enough time was spent on their character. Overall, I would still recommend this book, it was silly and fun, while also addressing heavier topics.


Thank you PENGUIN GROUP/Penguin Young Readers Group for this ARC!

3.5. This has a lot going for it and also a lot that falls flat. The premise is fun—two former best friends who have a crush on the same person compete to see who she will develop feelings for first. The representation is also great. There's a ton of diversity with gender, race, and sexuality. It also tackles some complicated familial dynamics.

Unfortunately, the premise fell flat and lost steam partway through. I also think a book about friends falling out doesn't work as well when the characters are already so young. I had a hard time buying into 8th graders having these complicated, big romantic feelings that led to them falling out with each other the first time. And with the way Emma acts, I also have a hard time believing she and Caleb went four years without speaking to each other. It almost would have worked better for me if their time apart had been shorter.