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What I Liked:
*Narrator
*Enemies to lovers trope
*Alison's family
*the realistic HEA especially since it's a YA book.

What I Didn't Like:
*The characters. Alison was just too much. I'm a type A, school overachiever (back in the day), and I didn't feel like she was very relatable. Ethan started to grow on me...kinda.
*They took their rivalry a bit too seriously. Typically, the teachers don't hate the kids vying for top honors.

However, I do think the intended audience will likely enjoy this book and I did appreciate the growth in the characters as they decided what life would be like after high school.

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This is an enemies-to-lovers YA romcom following two overachieving high school students, Alison and Ethan. When an alum drops the ball on planning his class reunion, the principal puts Alison and Ethan in charge, forcing them to work together.

This was a cute story and I appreciated that they were truly enemies before realizing the energy they put into hating each other may also spark an attraction. At times it felt long and repetitive because their competitiveness was so toxic, and the romance takes a while to kick in. I loved Alison's parents who were older and had a laid back parenting style. I also appreciated the characters reflecting on whether their friendships can withstand the time and distance that comes with college.

Overall the characters were a bit immature (Alison especially could feel particularly young and whiny) and I wish we got more from the romance - maybe Ethan's point of view. If you like light and easy YA romance, check this one out.

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I received a free digital ARC audio book of this title through NetGalley. A fun rom-com for fans of Jenny Han. I'm looking forward to reading other titles by this author.

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Unfortunately, I did not love What's Not To Love. Firstly, Allison and Ethan are very immature, annoying, and quite frankly obnoxious main characters. It seemed like Allison spent half the book talking about how she is sooo mature but then acted the exact opposite the entire time. I know if I was a teacher at their school they would be the students I'd avoid eye contact with when I asked a question. I thought I would love the concept of an academic enemies to lovers storyline but this "romance" just seemed to produced and unnatural to me.
I had such a hard time rooting for them to get together because they spent 3/4 of this book hating each other and never even had an inkling that maybe they liked one another. This is before I even mention the scene where they finally did get together was nothing more than laughable and cringeworthy. The only redeeming part of this book was the side characters. Allison's family seemed to nice and supportive. This one just didn't do it for me. I think I'll still give this author another try but this one just seemed a bit too young and immature for me. Thank you to NetGalley and PenguinTeen for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

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This is a cute YA enemies-to-lovers between two academic rivals at the same school. Only one of them can get accepted to their dream college and they compete against each other for the top spot. Cute story, loveable characters, and a medium-paced plotline make this an excellent teen read.

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I just think that maybe Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka might not be for me, but I think that the premise for all their books sounds fantastic - and this rivals to lovers had me the most excited yet. But I just did not like either characters enough to care about them individually or the budding romance, so the whole thing fell pretty flat for me. '

I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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Actual Rating: 3.5

“What’s Not to Love” was a cute enemies-to-lovers book about two teens battling for valedictorian. I picked up this book because I was looking for something romantic and cheesy, like a Kasie West book. There’s cursing and the such, unlike a Kasie West book, but it’s still satisfied my needs.

“What’s Not to Love” had an addictive quality to it that made me never want to stop. I loved having this audiobook on in the background and the narrator was good.

I’m not sure there was anything overly remarkable about this book other than that. It wasn’t the best, but it also wasn’t terrible.

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I don’t usually go for YA but this book sounded like it had some Today Tonight Tomorrow vibes so I new I had to give it a read because that is one of my all time favorite books.

This is the first book I have read by these authors but I thought it was interesting that this story is loosely based on the writing duo’s own high school rivalry, except I don’t think they actually hated each other.

I switched off between reading the physical book and listening to the ebook and I really liked the narrator for the ebook. I can be kind of picky about ebooks because sometimes the narrator is annoying but that wasn’t the case with this book luckily.

This was told from the heroine, Alison’s point of view.

Both Alison and Ethan are a little bit hard to like at first. Alison is really judgmental, especially of her sister Jamie. And Ethan doesn’t seem to really care about anything and his only real motivation in life is to beat Alison.

This was a really cute story and I did enjoy it although their rivalry was a bit immature and got to be a bit much at times.

Also this may or may not be a SPOILER but I thought it was super cute that the main characters from one of their previous YA novels, Time of Our Lives made a little cameo.

I received an audio book copy of this book from NetGalley and Dreamscape Media and I also won a hardcover copy from a goodreads giveaway.

⭐️⭐️⭐️✨/5

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Alison Sanger and Ethan Malloy have an intense rivalry, competing on almost everything in high school. They have every single class together, are co-vice presidents in student government, work on the school paper – and every assignment is a chance to try to one-up the other. Each want to be valedictorian and go to Harvard. Alison can't wait to get accepted to Harvard and leave Ethan behind because she hates him. When their principal makes them plan a ten-year class reunion together with the promise a Harvard recommendation, the two have to work together on one more task. Suddenly, though, they realize the tension between them might be more than hatred and rivalry.

I can enjoy a good enemies to lovers romance, but this one just wasn't for me. It didn't feel like they had any chemistry; they just truly seemed to hate each other. I think when the chemical high from making out wears off, they are going to realize that they really aren't good for each other. The writing itself is good, so I would check out more from these authors, so I can't recommend this particular book.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

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This audio book is fantastic! The narration is great, well modulated and will keep you interested throughout. I like the premise of the book and strongly recommend to any YA struggling to stay motivated during these challenging times. Alison and Ethan, two smart, high achievers competing against each other to stay on top of their game while setting the goal to get accepted to Harvard. Some might think that Alison is too driven and competitive. She is merely self-assured, strong and focused as she worked towards her goals. Great character traits!

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This one was okay. Alison's perfectionism got annoying. She's the kind of student very few teenagers will relate to so I think only certain students will "get" her and appreciate this book. It's been compared a lot to Today Tonight Tomorrow which has a similar premise. I'm reading it next. All in all, I liked the book pretty well but I didn't love it. I will purchase it for my high school library for those certain students who may really appreciate it, but it's not for everyone.

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I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What's Not to Love took the interesting and at times very intense enemies to lovers troupe involving two overachieving high school seniors, Allison and Ethan. Their antics affect not only their GPAs but also their life goals. This story hit close to home as someone who was driven academically however, I did find Allison and Ethan to be far less mature than either thought of themselves, based on their behavior towards one another.

I might have enjoyed the story more if there had been an alternating point of view between Allison and Ethan. I often found myself wondering what his side or take of a situation was. In the end, it was the side characters I found the most interesting. Allison’s parents were funny, honest, and genuine. Jamie, Allison’s older sister, was supportive and friendly, all while dealing with her life struggle of loss of ambition. When Allison stopped to listen, Jamie gave great advice and insight. I would love to read Jamie's story.

While this might not have been my favorite YA novel, I did enjoy the writing style and look forward to reading more books by this writing duo. I could see recent graduates resonating the best with the themes of the story, especially in today's competitive high school/college world.

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Delightful rivals to lovers romance! Very relateable, as I too was once a super grades focused, competitive, high school newspaper editor. Very fun, slow burn, emotionally charged read.

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This was such a fun cute read, I adored the enemies to lovers aspect between bitter rivals Ethan and Alison. By their senior year of high school, they are competing in everything and fight over everything. The tension between them is well established pretty early on, and all the tension made the ending that much more rewarding. The story is told from Alison's point of view, and while I wanted her to have some fun in high school - I also understood her competitive and goal-oriented nature. Ethan was less well-established, especially how he was able to be such a good student and manage his fairly busy social life. The communication issues went on a tiny bit too long for my taste, I was ready for the story to wrap up like 75% of the way through. The side characters of best friend Dylan and sister Jaime added an aspect to the story that I really liked, and their subplots did add a really nice layer. In the end, the same plot (HS seniors, bitter rivals, enemies to lovers) is done by Rachel Lynn Solomon in "Today Tonight Tomorrow" and done better but this was still a fun read.

I received an audiobook copy courtesy of Viking Books and Netgalley. I also liked the narrator, she really fit the tone and style of the writing.

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I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What's Not to Love didn't mesh with me in the beginning. Honestly, I was never the girl who was completely competitive in school. I hated the schools I went to so I just wanted to go in and get out. That's it. Doesn't mean I wasn't competitive in anything else - hellllllllo sports. Heck yes!

Other than that, I didn't really connect with Alison and Ethan. If I'm going to continue this honesty trend - I didn't like them either. Alison could be pretty harsh at times. Now I was raised by parents who didn't sugarcoat anything.. but Alison clearly wasn't. So, yeah, she was really harsh to her own family at times.

A couple of times she started to become relatable to me, maybe even borderline likable. She would fail at something and no one would give her crap about it. Seriously no one but herself. One needs to go into life knowing that they are going to fail at something. Doesn't matter when it's going to hit you - you just need to know that it's going to happen and you are going to be okay. Yet, for Alison - it wasn't.

Then there's Ethan. I don't really get what they were trying to do because they just annoyed me. Tension? Sure they had some weird version of it but nothing that made my heart pitter patter. Were they cute? At times they could be but I still didn't connect to anyone. Am I glad that I dove into this book? Sure, with a glass of wine I can always be glad to dive into any book.

In the end, it had cute moments even if I didn't connect to anyone.

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I love the term 'rivals with benefits.' It's such a great way to describe the characters in this book and is a trope I adore. Alison and Ethan compete over absolutely everything, grades, clubs, who can get somewhere fastest. They never let up, to the point that Alison goes to school even though she has food poisoning, talk about commitment. When Alison tries to stop fighting with Ethan so much, she realizes that she misses their banter and they end up hooking up. I really enjoyed that their passion for arguing turned into lust and they toed the line between love and hate.

I think this could have been a bit better if we'd gotten Ethan's point of view to see his dislike of Alison turn into something else. The back and forth would have been fun and we could have had a bit of a break from Alison's superiority. I was frustrated with how much better she thought she was than everyone else. She judged her parents, sister, and best friend constantly and it got old. Luckily she had a decent character development and was more likeable at the end.

The audiobook was cute and the narrator did Alison pretty well. I'm glad I had the chance to listen to this!

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the copy.

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I'm upset because I really, really wanted to *love* this.

While it was still an enjoyable listen (despite some very noticeable inserted or edited audio that threw off the continuous narrative sound), I just felt like this story genuinely had no PLOT. I thought, "Oh, they're going to fall in love while planning this reunion together!" and that...was barely part of it. They just...excelled at school. I didn't feel invested in any of the characters, and there was hardly anything at stake to grip me to the story. I felt like Alison's character was wildly unrelatable and (sorry!) annoying. Like, failing a driver's test is your identity-crisis-causing failure? Cringe. By the end, I had the audio speed turned up in order to finish. I'm bummed.

(Also, even if it's not common in single POV audiobooks, I think it really could have benefitted from a male narrator doing the voice of Ethan. It would have given it that extra oomph and highlighted their dynamic.)

But story-wise, not a slam dunk for me, sadly. I'll try this duo's next one!

A big thanks to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for the audio review copy in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.

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Alison is a oerfect student aiming for valedictorian and to get into Harvard, the only issue? Her rival Ethan is also aiming for those things. They have every class together and every extracurricular activity, which makes their competition unbearable not just for them but everyone around them, and when they are forced to plan a big school event together they will have to learn to work together or fail for the first time in their lives.

This is the perfect coming of age book with a true enemies to lovers trope. I have always felt disappointed when characters change rheir dynamic or personalities once they start having feelings for each other and I was happily surprise that this wasn't the case. All the characters are relatable and the author gives us glimpses into even the smallest characters in a genius yet short way.

I devoured this book and couldn't put it down, so I definitely recommend it.

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What's Not to Love by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka is a fun addition to the series of YA contemporary books written by this duo. This time we are met with an enemies-to-lovers storyline about fierce academic competitors Alison and Ethan who go head-to-head on everything - AP classes, newspaper, even somehow planning the ten-year reunion for a previous class. What everyone else figures out before they do is that there is a thin line between love and hate.

I had the chance to listen to this one as an audiobook, and it was a delight. It's definitely a fun book for the summer.

Many thanks to the author, narrators, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

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The narrator is excellent and the voices were clear and distinct.
The story is age appropriated, younger YA readers will probably enjoy this book.

I couldn't really connect with Amanda and Ethan, but I am NOT the target audience for this book, so take the rest of my review with a grain of salt.

Their rivalry seemed a bit much at a times, and some of the things mentioned in this book felt unrealistic.
Yes, I know it's fiction, but even fiction has to follow certain rules.

But I think that younger readers, upper middle-grade and high school kids will enjoy this book.

Thank you for letting me listen to the audible.

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