This was a simple somewhat fun but annoying read (at times). I normally like YA but the two main characters were just a little too annoying at times. The back and forth started out fun but after a while got old. The read was still cute though so I think I would give this author another shot.

Okay, so brutal honestly? This book is incredibly predictable. There is not a single thing that takes place that I was not 100% expecting.
Also honest? I enjoyed every second of it. There's a reason why the plot is a cliché. It's comfortable, familiar, and entertaining.
Alison and Ethan are textbook overachievers and seeing Alison finally realize that there are more ways to look at things than she's used to makes a great coming-of-age story. Not to mention that there's so much witty banter. I loved everything about how Alison and Ethan interact. The way they push each other to do better even after the inevitable realization, even with the stress of it, made for some rather romantic first-love interactions.
It brought back not just the stress of being an overachiever in High School, but it also made me think back fondly on those times. As I said, it's a story that I've read 100 times before, but there's a reason I've read it so many times. Plus, it's well-written, witty, and entertaining. What's not to love? ​

Narrator Elizabeth Cottle does a fantastic job of bringing Alison's slightly neurotic doubts and excitement to life. Not only Alison's parts, she conveys each character and emotion perfectly. I'm partly convinced that I'm rating this a bit higher than I probably would if I'd read it just because I enjoyed her work so much.

Many happy thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the listen

What's Not to Love by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegmund-Broka follows high school senior Alison Sanger and her rivalry with Ethan Molloy. If Alison could avoid Ethan until graduation, she would. Except, naturally, for two over-achieving seniors with their sights on valedictorian and Harvard, they share all the same classes and extracurriculars. So when their school’s principal assigns them the task of co-planning a previous class’s ten-year reunion, with the promise of a recommendation for Harvard if they do, Ethan and Alison are willing to endure one more activity together if it means beating the other out of the lead.

I love Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegmund-Broka's books. Each book always leaves me smiling over the cuteness and wild antics of it's cast of characters. This book was no exception. I will say Alison often comes across irritating especially in regards to how she treats her sister. Overall, this book was a delight! I also really enjoyed the narration of the audiobook.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Allison and Ethan are constantly competing. Who wouldn’t when you’re in all the same classes and extracurriculars for years? As they near graduation, they are given one final project to work on together - with the promise of written recommendations once it’s completed, of course. It’s no secret that they’re obsessed with each other, but with their tension reaching a boiling point, could it be more?

I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy of the audiobook to review (thanks NetGalley and Dreamscape Media!) and overall, I enjoyed it! They really nailed the casting with the narrator - Elizabeth Cottle’s voice really fit Allison, and sounded young and full of expression. Audiobooks definitely hinge on their narrators, and she gets a thumbs up from me!


While this has some of the same vibes as The Hating Game, it is definitely for a younger audience. In general, I’m also a pretty easygoing person, and since schools aren’t as competitive here in Canada(at least the ones I went to!), I can’t relate to the endless pressure that Allison and Ethan put themselves under. It’s no wonder they don’t have time to have much fun with how packed their schedules are!

I love books set in high school because I didn’t experience drama in my own life, so this gave me a healthy dose of it. I wouldn’t consider myself the primary audience for this book, so while I enjoyed it, it didn’t have as big an impact on me.

If you’re intrigued, definitely pick this up! The audiobook was a great option.

Hello Bookish friends! Today I listened to the new book, What’s Not To Love by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund Broka. In a classic enemies to lovers YA book, these high schoolers learn that there is more to life than their rivalry. This book follows two high school seniors who are fierce academic competitors. The story discusses the correlation between hate and love and how thin that line can become. When forced together on a 10-year academic class reunion, they decide to call a temporary ceasefire to get this task accomplished. I honestly couldn’t tell you if they followed one of Shakespeare’s plays like their other books. The audiobook provides a fun way to hear their rivalry firsthand. The narrator perfectly times the moments when their competitiveness is at an all-time high. However, it seemed like the audiobook kind of lagged and skipped in a few places. I couldn’t tell if that was due to the audio file or the app I was listening through. I always love books by this husband and wife duo and this one is no exception. I highly recommend it! 5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


QOTD: What is your favorite YA trope?

Allison and Ethan LOVE to HATE each other, spending every single day of high school competing and one-upping each other. They absolutely cannot stand one another, but with feelings that strong, lines are bound to be crossed. This story does a really great job of writing the MC’s strong emotions and subtly showing that what they view as disdain is simply passion at times. I flew through this story and really enjoyed it, despite the fact that I found Allison to be obnoxious and insufferably arrogant. I also wanted to know more about Ethan in the end. You can tell that the authors were writing from personal experience because they brought out the point that not everyone’s high school experience has to look the same in order for it to be meaningful, worthwhile, and even enjoyable. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me a chance to read this book early! This book started off so strong and I loved our heroine Alison. Alison is a senior in high school and a Harvard hopeful, but one thing stands in her way- Ethan. They compete over EVERYTHING. They are constantly trying to mess the other one up and get in their way. Then they are given the task of working together to plan a 10 year reunion for the high school class of the past. It's so similar to planning a wedding it was a funny juxtaposition. However, I had a really hard time buying this as a love story because they were just SO ugly to each other for the first half of the book. I am not a huge fan of enemies to lovers, so take my review with a grain of salt, I just thought this was too ugly to ever believe they would turn to love. This book also was a little too long for a YA contemporary, but overall a decently cute read, especially for a fan of extreme enemies to lovers. I really liked the discussion around high school loves and decisions and how much you can trust them to be long lasting. I thought these characters were very mature in that sense if nothing else. I also liked the side character of the sister and would love to hear more from her!

SPOILERS AHEAD:
Alsion's kryptonite is driving and she fails her driving test. In the end her and Ethan end up dating but then when they both get into Harvard they decide to take a break to decide if they really want to be together or not. He takes a gap year and she goes.

Alison and Ethan have competed on everything throughout their high school careers: grades, test scores, college applications, extra-curriculars, literally everything. When the school's principal tasks them with planning at 10 year reunion together, these rivals wonder how they could possibly work together on this one. But as they spend more time together they start to realize they actually like each other more than they thought.

I am a huge fan of teen drama so I was all about this book,. It was slightly immature at times, however, these characters acted like actual teenagers which I appreciated. I think teens would relate to Alison and Ethan and their competitive nature and their problems. I appreciated that the characters actually had discussions acknowledging that they went from enemies to lovers, and that the book dealt with the awkwardness that happens post- high school. This was a fun read that I would recommend to any YA romance fan!

As for the audio, it was good but throughout the book it sounded like the narrator would randomly change for a few seconds and then go back to the original narrator. That would sometimes distract me as the voices were pretty different. Otherwise, the tone and the pace were great!

Alison Sanger has been arch-rivals with Ethan Malloy for as long as she can remember. They have been competing for valedictorian since the beginning of high school. If Alison had a choice, she would avoid him, but unfortunately they have every class together and the dream of attending Harvard. When their principal asks them to plan the upcoming 10 year reunion, they are hesitant. When she points out it will look good on their Harvard applications with a promise of a strong recommendation letter, they both jump on the chance. As they begin to spend more time together, they become closer and their rivalry turns into something else.

This is an enemies to lovers romance, which I'm usually a sucker for... but these two drove me crazy. They were very immature and annoying in my opinion, which I found frustrating since they are meant to be high school SENIORS about to graduate. I'd understand if they were freshman, but they are meant to be 17 or 18 years old. I really liked Alison's parents, I thought they were so funny and supportive. I was also a big fan of Jamie, Alison's older sister. I hated the way that Alison treated her, and it made me uncomfortable how rude she always was for no reason. I'm not going to lie, my favourite character was the driver instructor, and I would have rather had a story all about him rather than Alison and Ethan... I think what I liked about the story was the different explorations of the paths that life can take you on rather than the romance aspect.

Star rating is 3.5 but rounding up

Darcy and Elizabeth, Anne and Gilbert and now Alison and Ethan.

There are many books and stories where the leads have disagreements and don't get along, even having a rivalry at times. It is a trope as old as time, but it has had a long lasting effect because it is so familiar and enjoyable to watch unfold.

Alison and Ethan have been academic rivals for years in school, with it now to the point where even the teachers are tired of it. I honestly am not sure why administration keeps putting them in the same classes when it is nothing but a hinderance and honestly a disruption, but a similar thing happened to me in middle school and they didn't put us in separate classes when they said that they would so maybe adults are just sadists when it comes to school administration.

Alison and Ethan get into worse and worse heated arguments and straight up try to ruin each others academic career, which to me just doesn't seem healthy? But after a particularly bad argument they end up making out. The physical scenes come off as intense and the book being written in the first person allows us to feel exactly what Alison is, though I am curious about how Ethan is thinking of this whole thing and sort of wish that we had gotten it from multiple perspectives.

The dynamic is interesting to relive though, and the supporting characters are really interesting. I kind of wish we could get a novel from the perspective of her friend Dylan and what she is going through, or even Alison's sister for the slightly older crowd that are having to deal with life after all of the problems school and life have to offer. I just wish that the mains weren't quite so toxic towards each other because that seems like more of a bomb than a promising relationship. I know because I have been through it.

Fun story and definitely took me back. The audiobook was nicely paced with a pleasant narrator that made it all the more engaging.
They are constantly fighting and are even using "blitzes" as a way to punish each other if the other person does worse than they did.

The narrator for this title was great! I was engaged and thoroughly entertained. It was a quick, cute, fast-paced read that I definitely enjoyed. The dynamic between the two main characters was awesome! I cannot wait to read something else by this author duo!

What's Not to Love follows the story of two high school seniors who are academic rivals. They get thrown together and compete with each other on everything.

I loved it!

A cute contemporary young adult love story. The characters are interesting and well rounded, they grow and learn from the events in the book.

The only not I even wrote down was 'I'd like to read the older sister's story."

*Thank you to the publisher for this eARC.

I received an audiobook copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

5/5 stars

This book was one of my most anticipated reads for the year and I'm so glad to say that it totally lived up to my expectations for it. I'm a sucker for enemies to lovers and this one was so good. It's more like rivals to lovers really but it was still a great and very entertaining read. I loved watching as the relationship slowly changed and I think that it progressed really well. Nothing felt rushed and I just loved the banter and the challenges they gave each other. This book is definitely up there as one of my favorite reads for the year so far.

As for the audiobook, I thought the narrator did a wonderful job. Everything was very easy to understand and follow along even when I increased the speed I still knew exactly what was going on the whole time. I would definitely listen to more audiobooks narrated by the same person. There were a few spots where it seemed like the voice changed a bit but it fixed itself pretty quickly.