“Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute” is a v fitting title, because this is definitely one of the cutest YA books that I’ve read in quite a long time!

The romance is sugary sweet, the friends ⮕ enemies ⮕ lovers vibes are ✨spectacular✨ & the OCD representation with Bradley is so so carefully done! Bradley & Celine’s chemistry is a magnetic force that just keeps bringing them together & Celine is such a strong/confident heroine that she honestly might be my new fav Talia Hibbert heroine! 🥲💗 Also the communication in this book?? Truly ten times better than the communication in so many of the adult romance books that I’ve read lately!

Some parts were a tad bit slow for me and I’m so so sorry, but tiktok existing/playing such a large part in this universe made me inwardly cringe every time it was mentioned 😭 But all in all, this was still a v sweet book that gave me all of the warm and fuzzy feelings! I’d definitely recommend it for Talia Hibbert fans as well as anyone who regularly reads/enjoys YA books!

Thank you sm to @netgalley & Random House for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review!

A YA favorite for the year! Filled with butterfly-inducing absolutely adorable moments and complex absolutely loveable characters, this was a fast, fun and really well done YA read. These characters will forever have my heart.

I really enjoyed the dual POV and thought it was particularly effective as we learned more about the characters from their own POV and from the POV of each other. I usually find myself enjoying one characters chapters more, but both Celine and Bradley and so easy to root for that both POV really just compounded on top of eachother.

Add in a remarkably special humor that only Talia Hibbert can add to her books and I will be reading this book over and over!

What happens when you put an alien believing conspiracy theorist with daddy/abandoment issues together with a jock who has mildly controlled OCD and surpressed career goals? In the middle of the Scottish woods? Camping? Where there’s mud, germs, and the possibility of mucking up everything and never proving your POS father that you’re a capable woman who will be a better lawyer than he ever was? And did I mention that the aspiring lawyer and jock are ex-best friends?
Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute is all of that (and more!) and we get to see both sides of the story told by Celine and Bradley. They must work through their own broken relationship, and also work on their relationships with their families, all while navigating their final year of school before college.
I love Talia's adult romcoms (if she wrote even more Brown sister books, I would gobble them up in a heartbeat) so of course when she announced Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute, I knew I needed to read this YA romcom. There is a ton of classic Talia Hibbert wit and charm in this book and couldn’t put it down!
Thank you to Talia Hibbert and NetGalley for the digital ARC of Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute!

Banter, check
Adorable characters, check
Academic rivalry, check
Friends to rivals to lovers, check

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I don’t usually go for YA romance, but this really was unfairly cute. The banter was hilarious and adorable and kept the story moving quickly. I was really rooting for both of them individually and together, and it felt age appropriate for them to be in high school.

This was an adorable, funny, heartwarming read of a friends-turned-enemies-turned-friends-turned-lovers YA romance with fantastic OCD rep between a driven girl with abandonment issues because of her father and a bi boy who’s trying to reconcile his dreams for the future with his reality.

I love Talia Hibbert. I love how she writes love. I love how when I read her writing I find bits and pieces of myself in all the characters. I love how she makes me laugh with just a witty turn of phrase and how she can make me understand myself and others better.

From the very first page, which was a glossary of British terms for Americans, I knew I was going to love this book because I started laughing just reading the definitions.

Then we meet the characters, with their nuanced personal struggles, their quirks and their perfect wit and I knew Talia Hibbert had spun magic yet again.

I was totally on board with their developing friendship, and then their romance, which felt so delicate, vulnerable and truly read like first love. They had me grinning like crazy.

👍
+ The OCD representation in this book was superb, nuanced and felt authentic.
+ The banter is FANTASTIC! I wish I had the skill for comebacks either of these two have.
+ Celine is a flawed character and I enjoyed her journey to understand the mistakes she has made along the way. Also I loved that Celine is a conspiracy theorist!
+ Brad is flawed in some ways too, but he is a perfect book boyfriend! He’s so loving, thoughtful and just overall so amazing to Celine.
+ And together they’re magical, how they support each other with what they’re dealing with, how they deeply understand each other, how they know how to navigate the other person’s emotional turmoil... And it feels real because they’ve known each other for so long.
+ I also really liked a lot of the side characters, especially Aurora.

Thank you so much Joy Revolution, Random House Kids and NetGalley for this fantastic eARC!

4.5 stars
This was absolutely delightful and fuzzy and warm, and I adored it. Talia Hibbert is officially one of my favorite romance authors, easily. Everything she writes is so full of authenticity and care, and this was no exception.

Celine and Brad are former best friends, now sort-of enemies, getting ready to face an important year before they start university. In preparation for their futures, they both sign up for the same extra curricular activity and end up having to spend a lot of time together. Naturally, sparks start to fly.

Hibbert writes these characters so well. I believe them, I believe their relationship as it grows, and I believe their individual journeys. These are two full, incredible characters that move toward each other so perfectly. I was rooting for them from the beginning.

I'm not normally a YA romance reader, but Hibbert is just so good (clearly I'm obsessed). Lots of laugh-out-loud moments, coupled with tender, romantic, butterflies-in-your-stomach moments. Just lovely. I only wish we got an epilogue, because I would've loved to see Celine and Brad in university!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children's for the ARC in exchange for review!

🥾⛰️REVIEW🧭🔦

✨Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute✨
By: @taliahibbert
Published: TOMORROW! 1/3/23
(Definitely pick it up)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 stars

-Academia Rivals
-friends to enemies to lovers
-Dual POV
-YA romcom
-OCD representation
-Witty Banter ALL THE TIME
-An entire glossary in the beginning breaking down British language translated into American understanding

My first book of 2023 and Talia delivered! I’ve previously read her Brown Sisters Trilogy and was obsessed with it as it highlights romance with black, plus sized, queer, disabled, and neurodivergent characters. But when this was said to be a Young Adult book (Talia’s first) I wasn’t sure it would live up to the others. SURPRISE- it’s fricken adorable and perfection.

I loved that not once was I bored with the storyline. I was grinning from ear-to-ear watching Bradley and Celine verbally spar throughout the book and literally laughed out loud at some parts.

Both Brad and Celine learn to love themselves and be who they are truly meant to be as individuals, even if that goes against what other people expect from them. I loved how their love grew and it was all so innocent and sweet.

I think this book is for anyone who enjoys the feeling of falling in love for the first time and remembering the stress that came along with growing up and forging a path of your own in the world. I really want to hear the audiobook of this because I feel like it will have me in stitches with the banter😂

I will say that I was a little disappointed that a conflict in the story wasn’t fully resolved in my eyes (Celine’s father) and the lack of epilogue made me sad. But I realize with it being a YA book, it was truly a great story and did a great job of wrapping everything up nicely.

Thank you @netgalley and @joyrevbooks for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so cute, getting taken on the journey between Celine and Bradley. I loveddd the humor in the book and it was a great first read of the year. The author also beautifully captured Bradley and his struggle with his OCD! I don't usually read YA but this was done beautifully and I definitely want to read the authors other books!

The banter queen does it again!! This book was actually “unfairly cute”!! You wouldn’t believed this was Talia’s first venture into YA. So amazing, can’t wait to see what else she writes in this genre!

I enjoyed this story, but it took me a long time to get through. Normally I fly through Talia Hibbert’s books, but this one took me over a month to get through. The book jumps around settings and will skips months and weeks of the timeline. I think that just threw me off.

The characters are likable, but the plot was a bit predictable.

I love that’s there’s real representation of the anxiety associated with OCD. There’s also a character with Celiac disease—which I also have, and the joy she has when there’s gluten free options was so real.

Overall, I thought the story is good. I think as both a YA fan and a fan of the author, I had higher expectations that just weren’t quite met. But, I would definitely recommend it to my middle school students who want a sweet enemies to lovers story.

Unfairly cute is definitely a good description. Add all the heart eyes here.

Talia Hibbert has a way of writing characters that you just relate to. While ultimately going in, I sided with Bradley because I found Celine unlikeable at first, she really grew on me as a character. Once I started understanding where her snark and barriers came from, it was easy to see why she was such a closed off character. Watching Brad pull her from her defensive shell, I immediately started rooting for this friends to enemies to more duo.

Diversity and representation is always present in Hibbert's work and she does it so well. Having a Bisexual male character in a lead role that wasn't labeled as queer was such a refreshing take and I couldn't get over how well it was done.

This was such a cute romcom book! I loved both of the main characters. Celine was frustrating but moreso because she reminds me of myself. I am not good with emotions and i always worry about the endgame and assume the worst. This leads to withdrawing and refusing to participate in things at times lol

I love that Brad wasn't like typical jock. The OCD gave him a diff dimension than just he's top dog at the school who just wants to please his dad. We have seen that so much so I was happy to have more to him.

The will they won't they saga is right up to the end but you get little wins along the way. It was syrupy sweet too but i loved it. I couldn't put it down.

This book was fun and very cute. I really loved the OCD rep and the Queer rep. Both were very well done.

However, the pacing of this book really dragged for me. And a few scenes just seemed to go on and on without it adding much to the story.

Overall this was a good read, but not a great one (for my taste).

So adorable, I had a permanent smile as I read. The characters were so sweet, I cared about their struggles and their feelings. The plot was simple but relatable. Hibbert’s writing was so fresh and funny. Truly the perfect way to start 2023.

Well this may have been the best book for me to start off 2023 with. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC and sorry I was so slow getting to read it. Here we go!

Bradley and Celine hate each other. But they didn’t always. They used to be Bradley and Celine. The Bradley and Celine. When they got older, they had a friend-break up. But a broken wrist leads to an offered ride leads to them somehow looking out for each other to survive in the wilderness. All this time together makes Brad and Celine remember why they were friends in the first place and maybe realize that there are even more feelings exist along the way.

This is a story of finding yourself and growing up while trusting your friends to be there for you when you fall. Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute is the kind of hilarious, heartfelt story that our teens need! Talia Hibbert’s voice is fun and engaging, and made me want to root for these two the whole time.

“I don’t enjoy snapping at Celine. It just… happens. This girl would provoke the Pope.” (Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute, Chapter 3)

Well, it’s definitely cute. So so cute. I loved the characters, individually and together. They have great backstory and obstacles to overcome. Their animosity is hilarious and so sassy without being annoying. And in true Talia Hibbert fashion, even though this one’s YA, there is great chemistry and sensible dealings with mental health and emotional forays. It’s not gimmicky or laden with dramatics, it’s a beautiful story of two 17 y/o’s growth and aspirations.

Is it as enthralling or heart racing as her adult books? No. And, despite my applauding above of the unnecessary dramatics, I do think it could have been heightened a bit. I hoped for more expedition scenes, more down and dirty and game smarts on the page. It was mellow.

But still, the overall experience is adorable and filled with resilience and feeling. As a YA Comtemporary I’d recommend it to many.

* I received a free early e-copy from the publisher

I’ve always enjoyed Talia Hibbert’s books, and this one was definitely cute, but I think it was a bit more drawn out than it needed to be. That said, to be fair, I think that could be due to having listened to it on audio – and the first quarter of the story felt very slow.

It could also be due to the fact that I haven’t read many YA lately, but even still, it was a cute story with characters representing mental health from all directions, and I truly appreciated that.

When two high school students find themselves in a competition for college scholarships, these two once-best-friends turned enemies reconnect… but now it might be more than just friendship. But what happens when things start to spiral? Can they handle the tumultuous events of life in their relationship? Can they do it together?

Tropes:
- Forced proximity
- Friends to enemies to friends to more
- High school/ YA
- Mental health rep: OCD
- LGBTQIA+ rep

This was a very cute YA contemporary! Loved the inclusion of a bi lead, as well as the OCD rep. I also really enjoyed the over-the-top bickering and bantering in this. Hibbert really shines in her writing style!

I knew right off the bat that I would love this book. Talia Hibbert has become one of my favorite authors. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone!

This is by far my favorite YA romance I've ever read. Absolutely adorable and fluffy without being unbelievably unrealistic. I was skeptical if Talia Hibbert could craft a YA, some authors attempt to write outside of their usual target age and they can't do it. Hibbert is unstoppable. This felt like one of her stories but so wonderfully teenager, it was such a scrumptious read. I will never doubt Hibbert again and will read whatever she writes. I do appreciate that there was no sexual expression, meaning I can suggest this to kids who aren't interested in that content but do want romance. Thanks to NetGalley and Joy Revolution for an early read in exchange for an honest review.