Exes & Foes by Amanda Woody is a contemporary novel that explores themes of relationships and rivalry. While the story provides some engaging moments, its overall execution and character development might not stand out to all readers. The book offers a familiar narrative but may appeal differently depending on personal tastes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for the ARC of this book.

It’s the first I’ve read by Amanda Woody, but it won’t be the last.

Definitely check triggers. This isn’t dark by any means, but it does deal with some heavy topics like abuse from a parent (mental and emotional) and homophobia. That being said, those were handled well and were part of the story and making the characters who they were.

This book had such cute moments, while also dealing with these heavy themes. The LGBTQIA+ rep was great and again, done well. It was such a great found family story with a cute second chance romance, which isn’t usually my favorite trope. Everything about this book worked so well.

My only complaints are that it started a little slow and I kind of wish some of the side character friends were fleshed out a bit more, but again, I loved it and will read more by this author.

Slow to start, but the book tackles a lot of tough things with grace and empathy. The superficial storyline of Emma and Caleb, the chaotic bisexual exes engaging in a contest to win the affection of Juliet is easily the least interesting story arc. The friendship and themes of parents, good and bad, are the real meat of the story. This book has solid character development, self-discovery, and personal growth. Lots of teens will see themselves and their lives reflected in these characters and their challenges, and can feel hopeful.

Unfortunately this was a dnf, I didn't care for the story line or the characters.
Thanks for net galley ans publishers for giving me and opportunity to read this book in exchange for a honest review.

I was a bit reluctant to dive in as I don't really like love triangles. The whole "competition" Emma and Caleb come up with to "get" Juliette just gave me the ick.

I ABHORRED Emma's mom! She is someone who should not have ever had the chance to be a parent. (That's so mean of me but seriously....)Emma is going to need therapy big time to deal with that trauma and neglect. I have never disliked a person so much! Caleb's dad wasn't the best either but at least his mom more than made up for it.

I like the queer rep throughout and Emma and Caleb (both bi) helping Juliette really define what she felt she was (aroace). I liked that (though the time apart from each other) didn't make Emma or Caleb ever not care about the other. They just needed Juliette in her sneaky way to get them back to that place in the others life again.

First of all thank you to penguin young readers and Amanda for letting me review such a great read .

i really did have so much fun with this book i have not read much YA for a while so i loved dipping my toe back in .
i thought that Amanda's writing was wonderful and refreshing to read , she kept it so well paced and i was turning the pages so fast to see what happens next .

the characters i thought were great took me back to when i was a teen but i loved the open minded way they would think in the book ,so many different personalities in the mix i loved it . and the drama was so good very much loved it with the laugh out load moments .

i think if you love young adults I would give this one ago .

i am giving the book 4 teenage dreams stars

I have to preface this by saying I already know that my YA patrons at the library will LOVE THIS BOOK. I want to recommend it to all of them right away. We will definitely be purchasing this book for circulation at my library!

I'm going to be completely honest here: the beginning of this book is ROUGH. The characters almost don't feel real, more like charicatures. The dialogue is cringey as fuck, and makes you debate if this author has ever talked to another human before, and the insta-love is WILD. It was almost painful to read, but the concept was interesting and the reviews were great so I decided to stick with it, and I'm glad I did.
I think over the time of the book Amanda Woody did a great job developing these characters. At the start they feel like charicatures but by the end they are fully fleshed out people that I got so incredibly attached to. Emma and Caleb are two very different people, yet there are A LOT of parallels to their personal journeys. I thought this author did a great job at developing those aspects, and I also love how we got flashbacks to really see how deep some of these things run. I absolutely cried like a baby at a certain point throughout this book. I thought that was all just masterfully executed, and really packed the punch it should have.
I also adore the friendships within this book. We're mainly focussed on Caleb and Emma in this book, and their friendship is precious to me. I actually really liked how rough around the edges it was. It felt very real, and I loved seeing them put the pieces back together, and heal the hurt between them throughout the novel. Juliet is also quite a big part in this one. I actually really liked their journey of realising her past friends were toxic, and finally finding a place where they fit in. I really loved that b-plot throughout this book. I also really liked the other side characters that made up the friendgroup. They were a lot of fun, and I kind of wish we got a little more from them.
The only thing I didn't really like in this book was the romance. The whole thing with Juliet felt incredibly insta-love, and forced. I really disliked that aspect to this book, and it lasted WAY longer than I expected. It annoyed me a little bit. However, I don't think it got that much better once the focuss went on Emma and Caleb instead. I don't hate them as a couple, I just think it was extremely underdeveloped. I mean, in the flashbacks it's clear they have little crushes on each other, but in the present those feelings just weren't present for me. I just think that was the part of the book where the least amount of effort was put into. Like I said, it wasn't horrribly done. It just kind of felt like an afterthought, and I think this book could have been so much more impactful if it was just a friendship story instead.

This was actually a lot of fun. I love how stupid Emma and Caleb were. They couldn't see that they were clearly in love with each other. I enjoyed how Juliet was a good sport about it and even tried to get them together.

I received an arc through netgalley.

Thank you to @NetGalley, Amanda Woody, and the publisher of the book for the eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Two old friends challenge each other to compete for the new girl's heart. Emma and Caleb use to be friends, but not since eighth grade. Emma thinks Caleb is a stick in the mud and super boring. Caleb is super annoyed with Emma because she keeps getting in the way of any potential relationships. When both try to go for Juliet, will they fall for each other instead?

A cute bisexual YA!

This is such an intense and poignant coming of age story. I felt so bad for Emma whose mother was extremely hard on her and she could never do anything right.

There is a new girl at school and she's interested but her ex bff Caleb is too. They decide to compete for her. But every time they try to get her alone they end up alone together. It brings up old feelings that never went away and helped them realize what separated them.

There were so many adult issues that these poor teens were having to deal with, homelessness, hunger, absent fathers and fathers using them, bullying, verbal abuse, and more.
The only adult who was actually kind to then was Caleb's mom who all the other adults criticized for dressing too sexy. Ugh society.

I did love their found family in their friend group.

A really sweet YA romance that kept me interested the whole time. I liked the mcs, and I liked their relationships with their friends and each other.

3.5 stars rounded up. This was a mostly sweet YA rom-com with endearing characters and a decent amount of queer diversity.

I liked all the characters in this one, even if I found their actions questionable (at best) at times. I feel like this story might actually work better as a movie, assuming the leads were especially charismatic.

The ending to this one made me smile, which is really all I need from a book like this.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

First off, I want to thank Viking Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for sending me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

There were some things I really liked about this book, but it did take me a while to get invested. It felt like they both became interested in Juliet fairly quickly. I’m just not typically a fan of insta-love and had been expecting a bit more build-up since they liked her so much that they neither wanted to give up their chance of being with her. I also wasn’t the biggest fan of the dialogue at times.

Now for what I did like: how it all ended. I love how the author tied up the romance and the family aspects of the book. I love the little found family they created and how they showed the difference between healthy and unhealthy friendships. While I wasn’t sure how to feel about Juliet at first, I ended up really liking her as a character once we got to know more about her! I was also rooting for Caleb and Emma! This book ended up being heavier than I thought it’’d be, but I really did like reading about how their familial relationships developed and believe that these plotlines could be really helpful for younger readers who are going through similar situations. I also liked the flashback chapters! I think they provided great context for the kind of bond that Caleb and Emma had before their friendship had ended. Also, I loved all the rep and the conversations they had around sexuality and identity! One particular conversation stood out to me that I think will mean a lot to many readers.

I do have to admit that I was in a bit of a reading slump, which could be why I was not super invested at the start of reading it. Overall, I did still like it and could definitely see other readers loving it.

Overall, 3.75 stars rounded up to 4!

cw: emotional parental abuse, queerphobia, physical violence, bullying, toxic friendships (off-page), abandonment, mental illness

This was super cute and fun, but also covered some pretty heavy topics. I liked that the ending was happy, but not fully "everything wrapped in a bow", and it had some great POVs and representation in it.

Emma and Caleb have always been each other frenemies since middle school. Emma is always stealing Caleb’s crushes and dare I say “cock blocking.” But he puts a stop to that when the new girl Juliet comes into their world. He won’t let Emma win. But plans go a rye when they realize they have feeling for each other. Past feelings that are like ripping a bandaid off an old wound.

This book touches on a lot. It has humor, banter and of course that warm fuzzy feeling that starts in the toes. That inner voice of “is this the right choice. I don’t want to eff it up.” It’s a self discovery in ways. Friends fighting over the same girl to realize their own feelings deep down towards each other.

I lived the characters and that it wasn’t overly dramatic or not positive in its outcome. Some books can come off childish, but this one almost had a mature way of exploring and discovering and that made it more enjoyable.

Overall, I was happy with this book and how it ended up for them.

*Thank you so much to NetGalley, Viking Publishing, and Amanda Woody for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review!!*
Okay, I loved this book!! It was so fun, and a great summer read. It really took me back to when I was growing up, forming my first friendships, and really just navigating life. I think the author does an excellent job at showcasing complex relationships, both with one’s self and with others (family and friends specifically). This book has the perfect balance of humor, heartfelt moments, and just plain fun. I always love YA stories for the nostalgia, especially in high school. That is such a raw, vulnerable time, but it is also so necessary. And I think the author portrayed it beautifully. I enjoyed reading about all of these characters and getting to know them and their stories.
I loved Caleb and Emma!! They were so sweet. I absolutely live for their dynamic and (I will probably never ever say this again) the love triangle aspect of this was so cute. They’re such well-rounded characters and I was rooting for them and their friends so hard.
I appreciated the delve into complex familial dynamics and queer stories in particular, and the friendships that were explored were so meaningful.
Overall, this was a great book!! 🫶🏻

This was a very cute story with super strong chemistry between characters! By no means is this a story that will shock you with plot twists, but I don't think it's meant to be. This rivals to lovers story is filled with laugh out loud moments, characters who feel like you've known them forever, and great queer representation!

This was fun charming story about two ex best friends that suddenly seemed to be interested about the same girl. But what happens when past history don’t stay in the past?

While the story was a bit predictable I really enjoyed it, it was fun, charming and the characters were likeable and was very happy who I was rooting for end up together only complained is that it was a bit slow at first but after that it picked up and really like it . It definitely is a nice relaxing read.

A cute-turned-emotional story that has lulls and predictability in the story telling, but overall was an enjoyable read. The author did a great job in establishing the characters and the dynamics between them. As an older adult, I found some of the dialogue to be corny, cringey, and over the top, so it might not be the book for you. BUT I believe it would be great for the intended YA audience. Please be aware of the trigger warnings: bullying, emotional abuse, and homophobia.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.