This story follows Brad and Celine who were childhood best friends, but when Brad joined football and Celine started being called "weird," their friendships took a hit. Now all they know are passive insults. But when Brad and Celine both sign up for a survival course in the woods, they're challenged to work in teams to win the grand prize. This might spark something back for the old pair...

I thought this book was so cute with the perfect balance of plotline and romance. I love how readers got to dive into each of the characters' lives alone — seeing how Brad manages his OCD at home to how Celine grew up without a father figure really gave me an understanding of how she stayed guarded as a teen. I also adored the friendships in this book. It was such a pure book. There were also so many I laughed out loud because their banter is hilarious. Perfectly showed the worries of a high school senior, such as college worries, friendships, school drama, and anxiety, while also addressing family issues and mental. Talia Hibbert does it again!

I was extremely grateful and excited to receive this book from Random House Children's/Joy Love & NetGalley, but unfortunately, this book missed the mark for me.

First I want to start out by saying that I loved the representation! I love that BIPOC authors are getting more opportunities to have their work published and pushed to mainstream audiences. Stories like these are so important and everyone deserves to see themselves represented in media. I also enjoyed the OCD and overall mental health rep. I appreciate Hibbert always going out of her way to handle important topics such as these with care. In addition, I loved the snarky humor and witty banter between Celine and Brad. It's always entertaining to read about or watch folks who can verbally spar with one another, go back and forth. I did feel like it got a little bit exhausting at times, but at least there was never a dull moment between these two!

However, I'm not sure why, but I couldn't fully suspend my disbelief with this one. I typically enjoy YA books, specifically YA Romance from time to time, but there was something about this one that I couldn't quite fully get on board with. Maybe I am starting to grow out of them? Idk. In addition, I felt like there was a slight imbalance of the real side of love/life vs the comedic antics. I felt like there was a lot of setup to explore Celine's relationship with her father but we never really get a resolution to that. That storyline fell flat in my opinion. Also, I felt like we glossed over why/how Celine and Brad fell out. There was a lot of resentment and hostility between the two for years and then one day they magically remember or realize that they're in love with each other? Again, Idk. Lastly, I wish we could've got more of Celine and Brad's intimate/romantic moments they spent with one another (after the expedition) on page vs off. The more that I sit back and reflect on this book, the more I wonder if this would've benefited from being somewhat longer.

Now I still think many people will identify with and enjoy this story, but this one just wasn't for me. However, I still appreciate Random House Children's/Joy Love & NetGalley for gifting me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Best friends to Enemies to Secret Relationship to Love! ♥️ This book is a fun YA romance with the feel-good tropes. Easily a 4-star read. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Gist: Celine Bangura is an aspiring corporate lawyer and her life plan involves finishing uni at the top of her class while proving to her deadbeat dad that abandoning his family was a HUGE mistake. Celine joins a program that is spearheaded by her inspiration, Katherine Breakspeare and only three people will be able to win a coveted scholarship by the end of it. ⏭️ Unfortunately, her archnemesis (and former best friend) Bradley Graeme is also joining the program. And even though Brad really wants to be a writer, he knows that the scholarship would really help him pay for uni and avoid the possibility of having to room with someone he knows nothing about. This is especially a problem beacuse he has high-functioning OCD and (also) hasn't told his parents that he wants to pursue a career in writing instead of law like his dad. Celine and Bradley now navigate this new territory where they have to co-exist and work together during the program and it reignites old & ✨new✨ feelings.

The BEST Part: The reminder of how it is to be an awkward teen trying to understand your feelings about love and how to express yourself. Both Celine and Bradley are a lot more honest and open with their feelings than I was at this age, BUT teens today are wayyyy more advanced! I also enjoyed that one of the main characters, Bradley deals with his OCD throughout the book. It's a great insight into how he responds to situations and what his triggers are.

WTF Moments: As an American, there were many times I did not understand some British language 😬.But I appreciated that there was a sort of "dictionary" at the start of the book which turned out to be quite helpful. Oh and I loved that Brad would occasionally drop these random (and totally made up❗️) compound words about how he was feeling... like disbelief and relief being "disrelief" it was funny and really lighthearted (see also, adorb 🤭)

Why You Should Read This: Because YA rom-com is completely light and fun. Plus you need this reminder that life will not always go according to plans and finding your voice and opening yourself up just might be exactly what you need to move forward. The title of this book says it all... it's unfairly cute how much I enjoyed it!

I was super excited to get this through netgalley as I've read several of Talia Hibberts other books but sadly this book fell short for me.

I've loved everything else I've read by Hibbert and I went into this knowing it wouldn't have the same steamy vibe that her other books had with this being a YA book but I still expected the same sweetness and awesome emotional character development.

Right off the bat I hated Celine and I tried so hard to give her a chance but I never felt like her character really got redeemed. She was rude and mean and repeatedly praised herself on this being an attribute of her personality that she wouldn't ever change and that she loved about herself. Being strong willed and determined isn't a problem but being bitchy isn't a trait to be proud of. Bradley on the other hand was a much more likeable character. He was snarky with Celine but in a good-natured bantering type of way and he repeatedly apologized for anything he may have actually done wrong.

Once the actual romance got under way the story was more enjoyable for me but it still wasn't everything I hoped for. Bradleys arc of starting to like Celine felt smooth and expected where as it felt like Celine went from loathing Bradley straight to being in love with him. She obviously stopped being mean and made friends but it felt like she never really acknowledged her own mistakes along the way the same way Bradley did. The first chapter also threw me off a little with a lot of nicknames to keep track of and what felt like a huge dump of teen references. I get that it's a YA book but it felt sort of cringey and forced.

The overall romance wasn't bad and the smaller romantic moments were cute so it wasn't horrible. At the end it felt more happy than when I started it but it just didn't meet the expectations I had going in.

I was excited to see that Talia Hibbert’s new book was a YA romance! It was a fun read where Bradley and Celine were friends, enemies and then lovers. Their attraction to each other gave me butterflies. It was a unique story with the outdoor adventure competition and Celine obsessed with conspiracy theories. Told through alternating POV’s of Bradley and Celine, both characters were well developed and showed tremendous growth. Also Bradley had OCD, which played a major role in the book and the author handled very well. I highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was really cute and a book I wish I had to read when I was in high school. It made a lot of the anxious thoughts I had during that time of life feel validated. Hibbert has always delivered when it comes to having inclusive and diverse characters and this book is no different. I will continue to read anything she writes!

I was super excited when I saw that Talia Hibbert was coming out with a new book this year, and it being YA made the prospect even more exciting!
I really loved this book so much. It was different, it was new, it was everything I could have asked for. I really loved the setting, it mainly being set in the woods in a competition was super fun. I absolutely loved seeing the other competitors, alongside Celine and Brad, going their own ways to attempt to win the competition for the scholarship.
I also really enjoyed seeing Brad being a (somewhat) openly bisexual leading main character. I feel like it isn't seen very often, and I absolutely loved seeing it in this book. Also Brad having OCD really made him feel more real. One honestly doesn't see characters like Brad in books often, especially in young adult!
Thank you to NetGalley and Joy Revolution for an eARC copy of this book.

Friends turned enemies turned??? I really loved this title, happy to give it 5 starts. The characters were great and the author created fabulous chemistry between the main characters, Celine and Brad. Mental health, specifically OCD, and emotional abandonment were forward in the book and handled very well. I would definitely recommend this title!

This was my first Talia Hibbert book, and it was, indeed, unfairly cute! This checked all the boxes for what I'm looking for when it comes to contemporary YA books. The snappy dialogue had me laughing out loud, my heart was in my throat at certain parts, and the development of the two MCs' relationship was believable.

Reading a YA that doesn't use the insta-love trope feels rare, and Talia handles their dynamic so well! It felt like an incredibly realistic friendship that turned into something more. From friends-to-enemies-to-lovers, Celine and Bradley are both well-fleshed out characters that have so much depth to them. The alternating POVs were perfectly spaced, I loved the care that was taken with writing an OCD character, and the personal growth for both characters was amazing!

Thank you Random House Children’s and Netgalley for this arc, in exchange here is my honest review

Anything Talia Hibbert writes is a 5 star from me. ‘Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute’ follows two teens Bradley and Celine, who used to be best friends but now despises each other.
Every thing about this book was so cute and well put together. The text messages from each character and how it contributes to the book. AMAZING. The side characters were so fun to read. They contributed to Brad and Celine’s humor, making the book 10x better.

Watching Bradley and Celine build back their chemistry and coming to an agreement on their relationship was so heartwarming. As you read through the book, it shows both POVs from Brad and Celine and how they felt about their friendship/relationship. The chemistry between the two was just everything.

A fun and fast-moving YA novel featuring former best friends to enemies to friends/mutual crushes. Bradley has OCD and Celine has anxiety and when their friendships starts to change, neither of them handles it well. Eventually, they find their way back to each other and agree to renew their friendship, except they both secretly want more. Their witty banter while orienteering through the woods is fun and funny and made the book fly by. 4/5 stars.

miss talia hibbert never misses!

i loved the brown sisters trilogy by talia hibbert since i read them (and reread them) last year so you can imagine my excitement when i get approved for her ya debut that features my FAVORITE trope, academic rivals to lovers! i was ecstatic and it definitely delivered!

highly suspicious and unfairly cute is about two ex-best friends, celine and bradley who find themselves needing to work together on a survival course in order to win the grand prize and as they team up, start to find themselves growing closer... this is a simplified version of the plot so i just recommend you read it !

to start, while there's like the slightest hint of academic rivals, the story is more focused on how the two main characters go from childhood friends to rivals to friends to lovers. although not technically what i signed up for, it's done amazingly and i adore childhood friends to lovers as well so i enjoyed this book immensely. not only the romance but the characters themselves are exquisite and their troubles and quirks are wonderfully written. celine and bradley are quite literally so relatable in so many ways and they just feel so REAL. the side characters have depth and the friendships that form are incredible and heartwarming to read about. at times it doesn't feel like you're reading a book but you're with the characters.

and in talia hibbert fashion, this book is HILARIOUS both main characters are immensely smart teenagers who succumb to their idiotic tendencies quite a lot and as a teenager who's kind of smart and incredibly stupid i had so much fun reading their antics.

i laughed, i cried, and all together had a great time reading! thanks to netgalley and random house childrens for the arc!

Childhood friends turned rivals. We open the story to Celine and Brad whom have know each other practically their whole lives. Things happened and now they find themselves as academic rivals. They end up being paired in philosophy and well somehow they spend their time arguing then doing the work. Through a series of events, Celine breaks her arm and this begins the warming of the glacier between her and Brad. Brad finds out Celine’s plan to do a wilderness survivalist program to win a scholarship. Brad then signs up as well. Once the mud flies between these two a romance is born.

I love the complexity of the characters in this story. Some things may be trigger warnings to readers so I suggest looking into that.

4.5 stars!

"I wonder if Brad tells his perfect, plastic friends about the way we used to be. I wonder if he tells his only likable mate Jordan Cooper about me, and whether they talk about it seriously, the way they sit under the weeping willow on the field and talk about books."

This dynamic is everything I ever needed. It was literally the amalgamation of all my favorite tropes (with one tiny caveat). Childhood best friends/family friends and grumpy/sunshine with the girl being the grump. This book twisted the childhood best friends trope to also include some enemies to lovers as Celine and Brad had a falling out in early high school. This was the aspect I didn't care for as much, but it did make me realize I only like enemies to lovers if they don't know each other yet. For example, if two people are forced to kill each other but then they can't because they fall in love once they actually meet. In the case of this book however, Celine and Brad are "enemies" because of their fight, but they don't actually hate the personality of the other person (obviously lol, although Celine has her warranted observations about the type of people Brad hangs out with).

I found that resentment to be pretty realistic and relatable and it reminded me a lot of a similar dynamic in Normal People, as both feature a "weird" girl and soccer (sorry Brits) player who's popular and is slightly embarrassed to be seen around her. I like that both Celine and Brad have faults in this regard as Celine is sometimes too quick to judge his friends just for being popular and what he enjoys doing, like going to parties. But on the flipside, Brad is also too caught up in making friends just for appearances, even when those friends are assholes while he isn't.

"Anyway. The point is: he was Bradley Fucking Graeme and he was too special to play a crudely drawn role in some tacky 2000s high school movie. But he didn't even know it."

Speaking of Bradley Graeme. I can't tell if I'm in love with him or if I am him. Maybe both. He has OCD, goes to therapy, constantly makes Dune references to combat his intrusive thoughts, reads modern sci-fi and fantasy, and is going through a crisis about being a writer. I mean. Hello?. Oh, also he's on the varsity soccer team. Like can we drop this man into my life stat. (I also loved the casual bi rep!! Brad is bi, but it's not a big part of the story at all).

Celine was also iconic. She doesn't care what a single person thinks about her (cough cough, except maybe, just a teeny bit, Brad) and is super driven when it comes to academics. She is dealing with the emotional turmoil of a father who left her, and I found that aspect very interesting and handled really well. I also lovedddd her mom. Of course, Celine is also a grump and severely emotionally repressed. BUT, when I say that I mean outwardly. It's frustrating when characters are emotionally constipated when it comes to internal reflection (like, grow up), but Celine is not like that at all. She's very self-aware of her emotions, she just can't say them out loud (because, ew). I loved seeing Brad rope that out of her, it was necessary but also so funny. Also the way she handled Brad's OCD 😭😭 literally perfect. Like she didn't belittle him or make him seem crazy, she just remembered little details of things to do or avoid.

This is a fabulous YA debut from Talia Hibbert and I hope she writes more!

"No arguments in Philosophy, no bitchy comments in the halls. You'd think we were ignoring each other, but whenever our eyes meet, he gives me this tiny, tentative smile and says: "Hey." And I reply, helplessly, "Hey." And then we lapse into a silence I don't know what to do with."

The title is very apt for this book! It is also unfairly cute. I'm glad Talia Hibbert has crossed over into YA, after writing in adult romance for so long. She makes the transition successfully and full of adorablness.

Ahhh, another Talia Hibbert. <3 Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a delight! In this new YA rom-com coming out next week, Celine and Brad are ex-best friends and arch-nemeses. Celine is a perfectionist and conspiracy theorist who signs up for an outdoor challenge to get a full ride scholarship to her dream college. Bradley is a football star and cool bro...except that's just the crowd he's in. He's bi, OCD, and has a secret dream of writing a novel. Brad ends up on the outdoor adventure with Celine and they become friends again, ultimately falling in love.

<I>Highly Suspicious</I> does a wonderful job navigating mental health struggles in teens, but I wouldn't expect differently from Hibbert. It had a bit of the sunshine/grump trope, which I enjoy, particularly when the woman MC (in M/F pairings) is the grump. Bradley is MC GOLD and I loved him so so much.

Once again, I am wishing I took some notes, but it was just very enjoyable...

If you've been a fan of Hibbert and wouldn't mind reading something YA, I really highly recommend it!

This was the perfect little post-Christmas treat! Talia Hibbert is one of my favorite romance writers, but I was a little nervous about her first YA book, and of course I should have trusted her. I’m pretty picky about YA romance, but this checked all my boxes, and will likely check lots of yours — friends to enemies to lovers, grumpy sunshine, and of course wonderful mental health rep that I’ve come to expect from Talia. I loved Celine and Bradley’s personalities, but I did think there were elements that could have been followed through on a bit more. Small gripes though! I recommend picking this one up when it’s out Jan. 3!

Thank you Random House Children's, Joy Revolution, and Taliah Hibbert for an advanced Readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Things you’ll find in this book:
- Enemies to Lovers
- Forced Proximity in the way of camping
- Sarcastic Alien Believing heroine
- Bi Hero with OCD
- Parental Abandonment (and dealing with that trauma on page)

Things I enjoyed:
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The banter was so amazing that I would laugh out loud or find myself grinning throughout the scene. I also loved Brad’s friendship with Jordan and seeing him at least have one friend where he can fully be himself. The build and the pace of the book was wonderful, and I felt so engaged and just wanted to keep flipping for more.

With Celine in particular, I felt so connected with her due to the lack of a relationship with her father and how she handles that situation in her life. It was heart wrenching and just handled so well.

Things I didn’t enjoy:
The lack of an epilogue. I would have loved to have seen them at least a couple of years in the future. I feel like while loops were closed, there were still conversations that Brad and Celine hadn’t had about what the future, come college, entailed and I would have loved to have had that closure for them. So it felt slightly unfinished for me.

Overall:
I’m a romance reader by default, so while reading a YA I had to constantly remind myself that it was a YA, both in how Brad and Celine communicate to the overall romance aspect of it. With that said, it had all the marks of what I love about Taliah Hibberts books.

This was my first Talia Hibbert book and I enjoyed every second of it. This is also her first YA novel and I would highly recommend it.

Brad and Celine were best friends growing up until a few years ago when they became sworn enemies. Now during their final year before university, they are both competing in a wilderness survival competition for the chance at a full scholarship. The two must put aside their differences in order to work together, and reignite their friendship in the process.

I was smiling so hard throughout this book. Go pick it up next month!

Read if you like:
• Talia Hibbert
• friends to enemies to friends to lovers
• YA romance
• funny and adventurous reads

Thank you NetGalley and Joy Revolution for this eARC. This review is my honest opinion and thoughts. There are also minor spoilers so please read at your risk.

This book was an absolute delight!!! Talia Hibbert’s YA debut is a literal gem. A lot of people are probably going to be going into this book thinking it’s just like the Brown sisters books but it is not. It is deeply YA in all aspects.

The main characters Celine and Bradley are literally delightful because they feel like true teenagers. Both of them act like they have it all together when in reality they don’t. They are allowed to make mistakes and learn from them. So many YA books have the characters acting like full on adults. In some circumstances, that is okay. But with this book, the characters had flaws but they also could grow.

All of the chapters are written in first person but some chapters will have either Celine and Brad narrating or have one of them. The book is also divided into months and the timeline is great. It feels as if time has passed by quickly as you read it.

The supporting cast of characters are also fabulous. We have Celine’s mom and sister, Brad’s family, their school friends, and the people they meet in the wilderness program. All of the characters brought something to the table, being great foils to our MCs.

As for the setting, it was very English in the best way possible. In the front of the book was a glossary of terms which I know will help a lot of American readers. British readers will be fine and will feel absolutely seen on the page. With the book taking place during the last year of school (sixth form which is slightly the equivalent of the American high school’s senior year), the stress about college applications is apparent and any reader who has gone through that stress or will be going through that stress or are even currently going through it will feel appreciated.

Overall, I give this a 5/5. It was a fantastic YA debut from both Talia as well as Joy Revolution. I am so excited to see what the Yoons have in store with this imprint.

Once again, thank you so much to NetGalley and Joy Revolution for this eARC.