Synopsis: Two childhood friends turned enemies realize they both have a crush on the new girl in school. Not wanting to lose to each other, they make a bet that whoever she kisses first gets to be the one who dates her.
Emma and Caleb used to be childhood best friends until the became enemies. When a new girl moves town they both realize they have an interest in her. So all bets are off when they make a bet to see who she likes better and whoever the new girl kisses first gets a shot at dating her. Little do they know that by fighting over her will only bring them closer together.

Review:
(slight warning here that this book does contain some heavy topics throughout that deal with homophobia and parental neglect.)
Loved seeing how inclusive this book was in the range it had for all of the different character personalities. Also love seeing bi and demi rep, as well as throwing in tension of bi people who are attracted to the opposite gender – I personally feel like we could use more stories of bisexuals where the messy girl gets together with the neat freak guy. This book was cute while containing serious topics that the characters had to deal with such as their their parental relationships, but each time they dealt with it they would continually show up for each other.
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Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Emma and Caleb have known each other for most of their lives. Beginning as best friends but in Grade 8 things were seeming to take a turn into romance when Emma cut Caleb out of her life completely. 4 years later they now both have a crush on the new girl, Juliet. They decide to compete for her to see who should date her. As they begin to hang out more again and fall back into old routines, old feelings start to reemerge that were buried for 4 years. Maybe now is the time they can talk things out and see what happens....

This was such a great read. It's a YA touching on topics including: single mom, bullying, runaway teen dealing with homelessness, and so much representation (bisexuality, queer, lesbian, ace/aromantic). Highly recommend.

It makes my heart feel so full to see LGBTQ rep in YA books. I wish that I had books like this as a teen, with complex queer characters - characters who don't always make the right choice, characters who are messy, characters who are allowed to have a happy ending. It's great to see a nonbinary character, specifically. Even as YA fiction is getting more and more inclusive, I don't see many trans and nb characters yet, so it's great when I do see that representation. I found this book both charming and heart wrenching at times. It's a lovely story, and I would definitely recommend it to YA readers at my job.

sadly I had to dnf this book because I couldn’t get into the story. the summary and the cover were really good & caught my attention but there was something about the characters that I couldn’t get past. they were a bit annoying & there were some phrases in the dialogue that made the story fall flat.

Thank you NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group | Viking Books for Young Readers for allowing me to read this book early.This book is perfect for fans of childhood friends-strangers-to-lovers, healing from parental trauma, and themes of self-love and knowing your worth, definitely a worthy and wonderful read.

This was a funny, witty, and so, so real romance. Emma and Caleb are mere acquaintances now after a falling out in middle school. Now they both want the new girl, and decide to make a competition out of it. But the new gjrl, Juliet, throws a wrench in things and makes it interesting.

I was going to rant about this but I find I just don't have the energy. I was supposed to review this for Netgalley and the publisher, but I have a feeling they wouldn't want to see what I would originally have said. This is so disappointing, especially since I've enjoyed this author's other books. I just genuinely believe LBGTQ+ readers deserve better than the caricatures that were delivered here.

This was a sweet and fun bi4bi friends to enemies to lovers story. I didn't love it quite as much as Woody's last book, They Hate Each Other - the characters felt a little less fleshed out and the chemistry less compelling - but standing on its own, it was very sweet.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up.

Cute YA with an enemies to lovers/second chance romance that also covers serious topics. Lots of representation and a focus on forging healthy relationships and creating boundaries with friends, families and romantic relationships.

A cute, breezy read, but I found myself frustrated with some of the characters and the tropes this fell into. I think it was just hard for me to buy into these characters disliking each other— it took me until they made the pact to even realize they didn’t like each other and that it wasn’t them fondly teasing. I enjoyed the bi4bi and nonbinary rep!

Thank you for the ARC!

I don't think this book was for me. I liked the premise but it got really hard to finish because of the dialogue and it got progressively less interesting for me personally. But I do feel people will generally enjoy this.

eARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for honest review, thank you!

Rating: 3.5

It’s been a while since I’ve read a YA romance, but I’m glad I picked this one up. The characters and their struggles feel very real to the teenage experience a lot of the time. Emma and Caleb are former best friends who stopped talking four years ago for reasons Caleb is unsure of and Emma is unwilling to share. Both Emma and Caleb have a complicated relationship with a parent that they handle in different ways: Emma by fighting back, Caleb by making excuses and hoping for the best. They both get into altercations with Ian, the high school bully. And, of course, they both like the same person, Juliet.

The central premise of the book is their competition to see who can get Juliet to kiss them first, thus solidifying one of them as better than the other. They do both acknowledge that competing in that way is creepy, but they do it anyway, each trying to one up the other with alone time with Juliet, but ending up spending time with her together instead. This is where my biggest gripe with the book comes in, despite Juliet being the lynchpin of the plot, her character is honestly quite flat. We see her as the quirky, awkward, nerdy new kid who happens to be very pretty, and while we do find out more about her throughout the book, it doesn’t feel like enough to solidify her as a character rather than just a plot device. Considering the plot initially revolves around this competition, it’s a little disappointing that it could very easily be a competition over literally anything else and very little would change. My best guess is the author was trying to lean away from them doing anything that was actually creepy, and in doing so shied away from their own premise.

Where the book excelled was in the relationship between Caleb and Emma. Throughout the course of the book we find out how their friendship started, developed, and eventually ended. Emma’s reasons for ending the friendship make sense given the environment she was in and the trauma she was going through in regards to her mom. And Caleb’s response makes sense given his trauma surrounding his dad. It isn’t something they’re able to sit down and work out over the course of one conversation, but as they interact over several weeks, they start falling back into their old patterns from when they were friends. It’s clear that they’ll end up back together, but it had me rooting for them regardless of if it would be romantic or platonic.

Overall, I liked the book quite a lot. While I do think the premise fell flat, the strong characterization of the protagonists and their relationship carried it quite far. I would love to have seen better development of Juliet, but I did like what was established about her. I’d recommend this to anyone who likes a bit of rivalry and antagonism in their romances.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book just like I loved “They hate each other”. Woody does an amazing job of mixing a cute romance with serious topics being discussed. I would definitely recommend this book and read their future books to come.

Thank you to netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group | Viking Books for Young Readers for allowing me access to this book. This was such a fun and quirky story. I loved the characters and their journey.

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!

Emma is a troublemaker - always has been, especially when it comes to bullies. She’s never been able to keep her mouth shut or her hands to herself - even when it comes to her emotionally abusive mother who’s been chipping at her self esteem since she could talk, making her believe she’ll never be worthy of a friend like Caleb. So Emma decides to stop dragging him down with her. Until they both start crushing on the new girl.

Juliet may be the catalyst but this is the story of Caleb and Emma, kf them finding their way back to each other, forgiveness, and realizing they're stronger than they think they are. its a little slow to begin with as they focus on their competition for Juliet and we really only see Juliet as a caricature of herself through their eyes, rather than the three dimensional person she actually is (which we see later on). Once they give up the animosity, Caleb and Emma are actually really cute together, opposites but in a way that complements.

I enjoyed the diverse representation, the demisexual rep, the bisexual chaos, and trans rep!

This book gave me everything I wanted from it and more. The characters, while flawed, were extremely loveable, the couple has an amazing chemistry which made me root for them from the very start. Having read many young adult romances I know how difficult it is to portray teenagers as they are without it coming off as too cringe and forced, but Amanda Woody managed to pull it off fantastically. I also love how this book shows different relationships people have with their parents and how much that affects their life, and how finding the right group of people where you can be your true (sometime queer) self is one of the most important things. Overall, I think this is an instant classic when it comes to queer young adult romances and I hope other people will see it too.

thank you netgalley and penguin viking for the e-ARC!

exes and foes is such a fun and healing read. amanda woody does an AMAZING job creating a hilarious story that is also healing and i know will reach teens struggling with self-esteem issues, parental trauma, and exploring one's identity and sexuality.

i'm a huge sucker for the meticulous x messy romance dynamic and caleb and emma were such a wonderful example of that. even though their personalities are so different, it was endearing to see how they fit each other so well. i also really enjoyed the found family and friendship group.

this book is perfect for fans of childhood friends-strangers-to-lovers, healing from parental trauma, and themes of self-love and knowing your worth, definitely a worthy and wonderful read

Exes & Foes is a YA Contemporary novel that had me crying I loved it so much. Amanda Woody simply does it again 👏🏼

Caleb is interested in the new girl, Juliet, at school. Caleb is demi and takes his time getting to know someone as his crush develops. This isn’t a problem except for the fact that while he’s taking “too long” to make a move, his ex best friend, Emma, always swoops in and steals away his crush and dates them herself. So with Emma showing interest in Juliet as well, the two make a deal that they’ll both pursue Juliet but are leaving it up for her to unknowingly pick who she’ll date.

As Emma and Caleb crash one another’s alone time with Juliet, they’re forced to spend more time together. And that’s where the true fun begins.

I adored Emma and Caleb as characters. And ugh these poor kids and their traumatic childhoods that has me wanting to wrap them up in a massive hug. Heaviness aside, I often found myself laughing/smiling while reading. I love the writing style and the way Emma was constantly describing Caleb’s height and lanky limbs (it was cracking me up). Both these kids need to be protected at all costs.

Overall this is a fantastic story I highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers group for a copy of this eARC in exchange for a honest review.

This was so hard to get through. I’m not sure if it was just the font and size of the font. I will always support YA books with representation though.

This book pits ex-best friends Caleb and Emma in competition to win the same girl.

Years ago, Caleb and Emma were inseperable. Emma, a firecracker of energy, angry at the world, protected shy, anxious, gentle, Caleb from bullies. But when Emma mysteriously cuts Caleb out of her life in 8th grade, both go reeling.

Now, they are forced back together when they each decide to pursue Juliet, a bubbly, talkative, kind, pretty, new girl at school.

Tropes abound in this friends-to-rivals-to-lovers, forced proximity, hurt/comfort, gem of a read.

Like Woody's book, They Hate Each Other, the characters grapple with familial trauma that makes trusting their own worth a challenge they must face to be able to love and be loved. That's where the tears come in and the book gets it's depth beyond its tropes.

I received this digital ARC from @netgalley and publisher @penguinteen in exchange for an honest review.

Exes & Foes will be released on July 23, 2024.