Exes & Foes by Amanda Woody
intrigued me with the premise: Caleb and Emma, two ex-best friends compete for the attention of the same new girl at school.

This book is full of angst and authentic friendships. As an adult reader, I found some of the characters too much on the front side (too annoying, too much leaning into “all my friends think I’m weird.”) But this is YA specific to a YA audience. Students will appreciate the balance of personal drama with the light airy RomCom feel; the natural conversations about gender and sexuality and inclusive LGBTQIA representation. I appreciated the competitive nature, the predictability of outcome and the fact that while there’s plenty of trauma to manage (especially parental) it holds on to its lighthearted nature and peppy Romcom vibe.

I also appreciated the modeling of good friendship vs. superficial fake friendship and looking for people’s authentic self. I think a lot of teens will be drawn both to the message and breezy style. The focus on authenticity; being true to one’s own self; and dismantling harmful thoughts that have been so thoroughly reinforced by adults and / or friends. Though the predictable romance is part of this book’s appeal, it also has a couple of good surprises along the way.

A good addition to upper
teen and high school collections. Thanks to #netgalley for the review copy

Exes & Foes was a cute read. I struggled a bit to get into it, but enjoyed the read thoroughly throughout once I got into the flow. I did enjoy the characters and the storyline immensely.

A cute queer rom-com.

This was a rom-com book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. I thought all the characters were well-thought-out and had depth. With them all being Seniors in high school I thought they were very mature for their ages. Especially dealing with the issues that had to deal with. The story deals with some heavy issues but I think they were handled with care.

Thank you so much to the publisher for a copy of this book.

What happens when you complete for the affection of the same girl with your ex?

This book was super cute! I loved the queer representation. The emotions were so raw as we watch Caleb and Emma going through an important time in their lives. Dealing with family issues and issues with being scared to love. The friend group was super amazing and supportive which was refreshing to see. The romance was super sweet and have you rooting for the pair so much.

another masterpiece by Amanda woody! I loved this so much, I loved the characters and the way the story unfolded! its the perfect mix of romance, friendship and emotions! I would recommend this to everyone who wants a good queer ya romance with a good amount of depth!

(thank you netgalley for this arc-copy!)

This book has bi-sexual rep and it's very cute. However, the pacing was a bit on the slow side for me (it does pick up towards the end!) There's a competition between two ex-friends to get a girl. Whoever gets her to kiss them first, gets dating rights. Who does Juliet (our new girl) go for- Emma or Caleb? Or do sparks fly between Emma and Caleb?

It's definitely a YA book, which is perfect because you can buddy read with your favorite young adult, yet it still keeps an adult's attention. 3.5/5 stars.

thanks to netgalley for providing me an e-arc of this book!

this was cute, but slow to get rolling in my opinion. i had a hard time getting through the first half and truly considered dnf'ing it, but i am glad i stuck it out to the end. overall, a very cute ya romance with some fabulous bi and ace rep.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the eARC! I didn't have any particular expectations going into this read but I ended up generally enjoying it and would give it 3.5 stars if I could. Both protagonists had such deep backstories that were well-explored, and the romance was honestly much less interesting than Emma and Caleb's individual backstories. I wasn't the biggest fan of the way they were competing over Juliet, but I liked how that conflict was resolved in the end. It's a much heavier read than I expected, but still a cute romance (and lots of diverse representation)!

Some content warnings include homophobia, bullying, and a toxic parent-child relationship.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Exes & Foes and ended up loving it. I felt so tender hearted toward these characters. Both main characters are trying to deal with so much, though each handle it very differently, with Caleb falling in on himself while Emma becomes as prickly as possible. I look forward to reading the rest of Amanda Woody’s work.

I loved this book and the way they tried to stay away from the girl but things ended up going exactly how I wanted!

I loved the two main characters of this novel a lot. Their connection and back stories were mostly written well and they got very deep. The one thing I could not stand is how Juliet was written. Basically her dialogue was all over the place and she didn't seem like a real person at all. Especially in the beginning with all the crying and outbursts. She may be the worst written character I've ever read for the first half of the book. Not sure what happened with her.

4.25/5

Amanda Woody has done it again.

Like THEO, Woody has a way of luring you in to the story with humor and witty characters, only to hit you with an emotional rollercoaster that you can’t (and kinda don’t want to) get off from.

Exes and Foes was not only a friends-to enemies-to friends-to lovers story, but also an amazing work about friendship, found family, and knowing your self-worth. I laughed and cried with Emma, Caleb, and their whole friend group.

This was an amazing sophomore effort and I can’t wait to see what else they have in store.

Sadly this young adult novel wasnt for me. I was really loving the cover. Thats what made me want to read it. But the characters were dull and the narrators didnt help it . I sat there bored and drifting off while reading and listening to it. Just not the story for me

Exes and Foes may be the cutest book ever written. And not cute in an irritating or cringe way. Cute in a laugh out loud, clap your hands and kick your feet, sigh and say “aww!” kind of way. This book is hilarious, the inner monologues and dialogue are quirky but real and genuinely emotional. I loved the gender role reversal: Caleb is a gentle giant with OCD tendencies who shows love by cleaning and feeding people, and Emma is a short, foul mouthed fireball who will throw down verbally or physically to protect those she holds dear. While I thought that 4 years was a long time to have them be estranged given that they’re only in high school, I LIVE for the romance reasons that bring them back into each other’s orbit: Caleb defends a new girl, Juliet, from a bully, Emma steps in and knees said bully in the balls, and on the way out of the principal’s office they end up in competition for Juliet’s affection. I mean— The teen angst and drama! The layers of “who likes who” intrigue, with a hilarious twist at the end! Woody does a wonderful job weaving the chemistry and complex feelings between Caleb and Emma with their friend group dynamics, as well as the very real stressors in both of their lives. I was particularly moved by Caleb’s mom: some of the most poignant scenes show how healing it is for Emma to experience what her unconditional maternal love feels like. I recommend this book to any romance reader, not just YA. who loves a second chance romcom with forced proximity, caretaking and protectiveness, standing up to bullies, all with the support of a fun, accepting friend group!

This was a really cute story about ex besties Caleb and Emma and their rivalry to win the affections of new girl Juilet only to realize maybe she's not who they want! I really enjoyed the book and my only gripe would be they were a bit too insta-obsessy over Juliet, I wish there had been more build up there, I could not connect with why they were both so into her. Their relationship though was very cute and I was hooked from the first chapter where Emma steps into a fight between Caleb and another boy, and totally kicks the dudes butt because he was saying rude things about Caleb's mom! I was rooting for their friendship and potentially more, and was very happy with how it ended! Overall, this is a fun rom-com, with a sweet romance, and tons of queer representation!!

Thank you so much to the publisher and netgalley for the arc of this book. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this one! It was a lot of fun and such a nice break from the fantasy I'd been reading. I love a story you can get lost in and this is exactly what this did!

This is a friends to enemies to lovers story about Emma and Caleb former friends who both set their eyes on the new girl, Juliet, they make a competition to see who will win her first only to find eachother instead

This is the authors second book and second book I read. Both books started a little slow and then picked up quickly for me. I found myself reading the first few chapters not being sure of how I was going feel about the characters. One thing that I love about Amanda’s writing is her ability to write very flawed characters with difficult family lives. On the surface the character may feel hard to like, but you continue to read and as you learn about where they come from and how they struggle until you eventually find them likable. She is also very good at writing enemies to lovers stories that don’t have a quick sudden resolve, which is something that can be difficult in a lot of enemies to lovers stories.

Overall I found myself falling in love with Caleb, Emma and Juliet as well as Caleb’s mom and their other friends. Caleb, however, is such a loveable character it’s impossible to not fall in love with him.

A great sophomore novel, 4 stars and I look forward to reading future stories.

I absolutely loved They Hate Other so I’ve been very excited for this book but I was also nervous because sometimes I just don’t love an authors second book as much as I did the first one but y’all this book is SO FREAKING GOOD!! Like I really really loved it!! It was sweet and funny and emotional and heartbreaking and heartwarming and so much in between! I absolutely loved both Emma & Caleb so much and was invested in both of them from the very start. I also adored Juliet so much (especially with the reveal at the end ((I 100% guessed it really early on too))) and I loved Caleb’s mom, Liz, & Alice too!

One of my favorite things about Amanda’s books is how complex they are! Both this book & theo deal with really heavy topics (really well, I might add) but they’re mixed with humor and self deprecation and so much love that they’re impossible to put down! I just really loved every single thing about this book and highly recommend it! Will definitely be making my list of favorite books for the year 🩵

Exes & Foes is a cute second-chance YA romance with a lot of heavy secondary themes. This book deals with parental abuse and neglect, bullying, homelessness, and issues around identity and coming out. I liked Caleb and Emma a ton as characters, and while they both make some questionable choices, for the most part I saw them as pretty relatable teenagers, especially given the circumstances they are put into by the people around them. There's a ton of great queer rep, with both Caleb and Emma being bi (we love a bi4bi pairing!), Caleb also being demisexual, Juliet being nonbinary and aroace (coming out as both throughout the course of the novel), and Alice being a lesbian. Their friend group is also culturally diverse, though this doesn't play too big of a role; there are Chinese, Indian, and Black families represented.

One issue I had with this ARC was that there were a TON of spelling and grammar errors that I hope are cleaned up before publication. Just off the top of my head, I remember seeing "canon" instead of "cannon", "breaks" instead of "brakes", and a bunch more.

While I really hoped that this book was going to be polyam, with Caleb Emma and Juliet ending up in a triad, I think that Woody worked through the relationships in the story in a way that made the pairing at the end make sense, and I was really rooting for Caleb and Emma. I recommend this one for queer YA readers especially!

Overall, a cute and quirky YA romance. I enjoyed the characters and all their flaws. The childhood friends-to-not-friends-to lovers concept was well done and sweet. One of the things I didn't like, though, was their "competing" for Juliet. Just didn't sit well with me, even though the characters admitted to it and apologized to Juliet. Overall, this was a fun read, but not a new favorite.