I think Talia Hibbert did a great job with her first YA novel! Her characters maintain the same witty banter and charming personalities as in her adult novels. I love that she didn't dumb anything down with her writing. She just made the romance bits be closed door and had the characters be younger. I felt like Celine would still fit right in with her Brown sisters, because she had that same amazing, sparkling personality. Bradley was a wonderful hero. I think his OCD was well-represented on page and was just part of him, not made to seem like a big deal, because it was being managed.
This second chance romance between two students getting ready to go off to college and competing for a scholarship via a series of weekend survival courses was just so fun. That's not to say, though, that it is all light, fluffy rainbows. This books still has so. much. depth. It was wonderful to see the characters change and grow throughout their story, both individually and as a couple.
If you love YA or romance, I highly recommend you read this!

Talia HIbbert is a master who's outdone herself with this one. She crafts such well-drawn characters and a sweeping enemies-to-lovers YA romance that rivals any adult tale.

When Celine signs up for a survival course in the woods, she never expects her ex-best friend Bradley to be there. Forced to work as a team in order to win the grand prize, they begin to see why they were friends…and could possibly be more?

I requested this on NetGalley because I loved Tali Hibbert’s Brown Sisters Trilogy. I feel like this one was fine, but I think I just don’t appreciate Young Adult as much as I used to? I listened to the audiobook, and it was fine.

This was such a cute YA romance. A friends to lovers that will warm your heart. The mental health and neurodiverse representation was very well done in my opinion and it was lovely to see these friends turned enemies turned lovers find their way back to each other as they navigate coming of age, high school and post high school plans.

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute

I Picked Up This Book Because: I’m a fan of the author’s work.

Media Type: Audiobook
Source: Library (Have ARC from Netgalley)
Dates Read: 5/7/23 - 5/11/23
Stars: 4
Narrator(s): Amina Koroma and Jonathan Andrew Hume

The Characters:

Celine Bangura:
Bradley Graeme:
Various friends, parents and siblings

The Story:

In interesting friends to enemies to friendly lovers story. Celine and Bradly honestly could have talked and saved a lot of agony but then we wouldn’t have a story would we.

The Random Thoughts:

For the age group intended this is a cute, relatable story. I enjoyed the writing, the characters and the story overall, but the story felt slow moving at times and nothing grabbed at me. Although I am out of the audience this was intended for, it is relatable to anyone. We can remember going through hardships with parents, losing and making friends, and trying to get the future we want.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

4.5 starsHaving previously read Get a Life, Chloe Brown and giving it a five star rating, I was a bit worried that my love for Talia Hibbert would be a one-hit-wonder type of situation. On top of that, I think Talia is someone that is well known for adult romance novels, so I was curious to see how that would translate to a young adult novel. Reader, this book was amazing.

As my age increases, I’ve found myself feeling more and more disconnected from the YA novels that I normally love to read. Typically, I find myself feeling annoyed at the immaturity of the characters and the poor decisions that are made by them and their loved ones (adults and children alike). Yet every time I begin feeling like maybe I should move away from the YA age group, a book like this one pops up to prove to me that I definitely still can find young adult stories that I enjoy; I just have to find the right ones.

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute follows two teenagers who are currently mortal enemies, but who used to be best friends. The two begin a group competition for a college scholarship and, through these events, are finally able to rekindle their connection and move towards a friendly (or maybe more) common ground.

The romance in this book was so freaking cute, and I’m beginning to think maybe that’s Talia’s signature style. They clearly had amazing chemistry with each other, whether that be through teasing banter or straight out flirtation. The characters were realistic and flawed, but they also maintained decent communication with each other and with everyone else. At no point did I feel like there was unnecessary drama being added to the plot for the sake of shock value. The conflicts in this book were believable and were resolved in nice healthy ways. I really want teenagers (and even adults) to read more books like this. I think there are a lot of valuable lessons about accommodation and compromise to learn from them.

Bradley Graham and Celine Bangura used to be best friends, but now they are sworn enemies. They both enter a wilderness survival competition, the grand prize being a scholarship to the university of their choosing. As they are forced to spend more time together, they start to realize maybe they aren't enemies after all.

This is my first Talia Hibbert book, and I was NOT disappointed. I LOVED THIS SO MUCH. I loved both of these characters! They were so relatable and felt like real people. I loved the banter between the two, and couldn't get enough of their relationship developing. We love a grumpy sunshine pairing, then compliment that with a friends-to-enemies-to-friends-to-lovers trope and I am SOLD. I adored the inner monologue we get from both Brad and Celine, I found them to be hilariously witty and they both had me giggling at multiple points in the story. I loved how Brad's OCD was handled with such care. I also really liked how Celine went through a self-discovery journey along the way and realized that she is more than her accomplishments and her father's abandonment. I loved the supportive family dynamics as well with both Celiene and Brad's families. The supporting characters were also really well done, and all had unique personalities that helped propel the story.

Overall, I really enjoyed this, I will be picking up the rest of Talia Hibbert's books ASAP.

Thank you to @joyrevbooks for the eARC of this through NetGalley! This is available now. As stated in the title, this is in fact a very cute book! I really enjoyed following the two characters’ journeys in this story. This is Talia Hibbert’s first YA book. I’ve read one of her adult romances (Chloe Brown) and want to read more of them!

I loved the character development of both Celine and Bradley! These two former best friends turned rivals who don’t like each other were the perfect combination for an eventually cute romance. In this book, we get the perspectives of both the characters, which I generally enjoy and liked here. Bradley has OCD and Celine has some issues to work with regarding her relationship with her estranged dad who has chosen not to be a part of her life. I enjoyed their own personal character development alongside their growing feelings for each other.

I enjoyed the plot with the wilderness exploring aspect! I found those parts fun to read and I liked the characters that Bradley and Celine met there, especially Celine’s roommate and quick friend, Aurora, who was super sweet. I was invested in the competition for the scholarship associated with this program and rooting for both Celine and Brad.

This was a really cute YA romance! The characters are great and I definitely recommend it. Let me know your thoughts if you’ve read it!

(4.5 Stars)

The number one thing I can say about this book is that it’s absolutely hilarious. No one does sharp, witty, flirtatious banter quite like Talia does, and I’m so glad that part of her narrative voice translates perfectly to the YA space.

In fact, I think that’s one the biggest compliments I can pay to this story: the fact that she’s able to preserve what she does so well in adult romance and effectively showcase that for a young adult audience. If you had never heard of her before and you picked up this book, you would think that this is what she write all the time, which is impressive, because being able to make that shift between audiences so seamlessly is never guaranteed.

Genuinely, I had such a great time with this. I was ugly-laughing for like 80% of the book. I love how Talia is able to craft these characters who are stubborn, infuriating, and deeply imperfect but she also makes them so incredibly endearing and human in really prevailing ways.

On the one hand, this is a super funny rom-com full of absurd shenanigans, but I think it’s also a really necessary interrogation of the astronomical expectations we place on the shoulders of young folks. Both Celine and Bradely want to practice law, because it’s what their fathers do, and they both have very different reactions to those legacies, which causes them to internalize what they think they should be doing with their lives.

In the truest sense, the dreams they have for themselves are not even *about* themselves, and that’s a really hard realization for any young person to come to. I don’t think we see enough stories where young characters are really questioning where their drive and where their interests stem from in this way.

Both Bradley and Celine are at that age where people are always asking them, “What do you want to be? Where do you see yourself in five years? What’s your dream job?” And there’s this really striking line where Bradley says, “Is work the only think people are supposed to dream about?”

I think that’s a really powerful question, especially for young folks, who we expect to make decisions based on a future that is highly unstable for so many reasons, to the point where they don’t even get to enjoy living in the present moment.

That’s a big conversation in this story, especially considering how Celine and Bradley are resisting being together "for real," because with the future bearing down on them, they've decided it’s pointless. They both believe that high school romances are short-lived anyways, so why bother?

I feel like the project of dismantling that mindset is a huge part of this story’s thesis. It’s really about being brave enough to fully experience and embrace happiness while we *have* happiness to experience.

So this was wonderful overall. There’s really strong thematic parallels between the characters. Great conversations about addressing trauma, finding strength in ourselves and our relationships, and discovering what it means to grow. The fact that it’s utterly hilarious, delightful, and heartwarming is just the cherry on top!

my first read from talia and I'm so obsessed with the characters!! they were wholesome and made me smile so wide and I got through the book so fast while also not wanting it to end <3

Ridiculously delightful. I had a huge grin on my face while I was reading most of this lighthearted book. The story shoves oodles of kindness into every nook and cranny.

I adored pretty much every character, but especially sunny bisexual footballer Brad, and brilliant iconoclast Celine. I’m an occasional YA reader, and this reminded me of the best part of the genre, giving people a chance to gently mess up, learn, and be their best selves. If every YA romcom was like this, I would read them every day.

Thank you to netgalley for providing an e-galley for review. Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute is a perfectably adorable story about two students who are vying for a scholarship and they have to compete in an Outward Bound like competition that rates different skills to show their worthiness of the scholarship. The two used to be friends, now they are in competition for everything with each other. This was a very sweet second chance romance enemies to lovers young adult romance, with main characters with real experiences of anxiety, divorce, and financial worries among other things. But ultimately, this is a happy book.

Can anything ever really top a Talia Hibbert story? I adored Hibbert's first foray into YA here, with smart and witty characters, a delicious rivals-to-lovers trope, and the perfect setting.

Unfortunately, I did not finish this book. I really wanted to like it and maybe I will another time.
But Hibbert really hasn't worked for me,. The first book in the series was cool but I wasn't blown a way by it and I keep trying each new release and I just cannot get into it.

As a fan of the enemies to lovers trope, I obviously enjoyed this book. It wasn't predictable, as I feared it might be.

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert is Talia Hibbert's first YA novel. It delves deep into the minds and lives of two teens. The story starts out slow but picks up quickly about 14% into the novel. The characters are extremely lovable and I wanted them to win at their perspective goals throughout. Talia Hibbert's humor and wit shine through in many moments of the book. Hibbert really shines here in capturing the mental health of these two teens. I highly recommend anyone who likes YA, humor and two people finding a second chance at best friendship.

Thank you #netgalley for the early read. All opinions are my own.

Talia Hibbert has ventured into YA, and honestly, I am so jealous of every highschooler that gets to read this while they're still in highschool. So good. I loved seeing these ex-best friends figure out what they were to each other, and I liked that we hopped between being out in the woods on adventures and also at school with normal school pressures. I will always be happy for more positive bi rep, and I found the OCD rep to be important as well. Teens deserve to see themselves in books, not just surviving, but thriving. Definitely recommended if you're a fan of YA contemporary romances.

There is nothing Talia Hibbert fails at, and of course this one did not disappoint! Loveddd this book and I hope others do as well!

This book was cute, but I'm not sure if it was for me. Fun and playful high school rom com.
I really enjoyed Talia Hibbert's novels about the sisters and this one just didn't hit the same for me.
Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to read an early copy.