An adorable YA romcom debut from @taliahibbert
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Bradley Graeme is just about perfect: he’s a star football player, brilliant student and is handling his OCD pretty well. Celine Bangura is also a straight A student and TikTok star. The two used to be close friends until Brad started getting popular. Now they’re enemies. When they find out about a Scottish survival wilderness retreat that could earn them a sizable scholarship, both end up applying and getting into the program. But as they start to spend more time together, the two realize they miss what they used to have together…and maybe it could be even more.
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This was such a delight to read. From Brad’s sunny disposition to Celine’s stand-off behavior it was a couple of tropes that I love: grumpy/sunshine, enemies to lovers, friends to enemies to lovers, academic rivals, and opposites attract. And the male MC is bisexual? Here for it. I can’t wait to get this in my #library when it releases January 3! Great choice from @joyrevbooks @nicolayoon @davidoftheyoon

CW: OCD, parental abandonment, cheating, hospitalization, concussion

Excellent! This will make a great addition to our YA collection. I loved the premise of the book and all of the little imperfections of the characters. It was not only an enjoyable read but also taught me a thing or two about tens.

Decent read. I loved the little nuances about the characters. I did find that the story started to drag after about 50%. Lots of back and forth but not getting anywhere.

I would recommend the book to students as it is tastefully done and a cute read.

Best friends --> enemies/rivals --> friends...and more?

Celine Bangura:
--grumpy, cynical
--obsessed with conspiracy theories (and uses her TikTok to explore them)
--wanting to become a corporate lawyer (not that that has anything to do with the dad who abandoned her)
--idolizes human rights lawyer Katharine Breakspeare and wants to sign up for the Breakspeare Enrichment Program (a nature survival program)
--has nothing (NOTHING!) but disdain for popular guy and former bestie Bradley Graeme

Bradley Graeme:
--sweet and easygoing, popular and athletic
--learning to live with OCD after years of therapy
--says he wants to be a lawyer like his dad but really, secretly, wants to write science fiction
--enjoys poking at Celine and feels guilty for causing her fractured wrist, so he drives her to the Enrichment Program info meeting
--decides to apply for the BEP along with Celine for the chance at the full scholarship offered to the winners

Take these two characters, throw them into the wilderness (supervised and with other students, of course), and give them the time to sort through their past and to be honest about what they want for their futures -- and sit back and watch the sparks fly!

Talia Hibbert is one of my favorite romance writers, thanks to her ability to create smart, sarcastic, sweet, and funny characters who grapple with mental health issues and neurodivergence, and in this book (her YA debut) she creates two memorable teens who support each other even when they think they're enemies. Celine's prickly nature hides a hurt, lost girl still wounded by her father's abandonment, and Bradley is the only one who recognizes that wound and helps her face it. Bradley's easygoing attitude covers his occasionally panicky OCD spirals, but Celine is the one who knows how to help him through those difficult moments. Their banter sometimes scrapes each other raw, and their individual confusion about what they want in the future leads them to overthink their relationship, but the trust at the core of their early friendship guides them through their missteps in communication. This is a hallmark of Hibbert's writing, and it makes her stories and characters so relatable to those of us who try to understand ourselves and communicate honestly with others.

The book serves up plenty of wonderful side characters, from Celine's bestie Michaela to Brad's sidekick Jordan, their families (Trevor gets Dad of the Year in my book), and the new friends they make in the Enrichment Program (Aurora, Raj, Sophie top that list).

Because the Enrichment Program takes place during the school year, the book follows Celine and Bradley through school and their classes and extracurriculars as well as exploring their plans for university, making the pace of the story almost as hectic as high school itself can be. Fortunately, Hibbert skillfully weaves all these different threads into the true conflict of the story for a satisfying and uplifting conclusion.

Like all of Hibbert's books on my "read" shelf, this book brought me straight into Celine and Bradley's world, made me care deeply about these young people, and moved me with their growth and love. I admit, I am seriously biased in favor of Talia Hibbert's work, but I really think this will be an excellent book for older teens wanting to be seen and heard and given a chance to grow.

CW: parental abandonment, panic attacks

NOTE: This book marks the launch of the new Joy Revolution imprint at Random House, headed up by YA authors Nicola and David Yoon. According to the mission statement, this imprint will offer "books whose revolutionary act is to simply depict joy" and will celebrate "the full breadth of humanity of people of color." This is work we very much need right now, and after this brilliant beginning, I'm really looking forward to what Joy Revolution brings us in future.

Thank you, Joy Revolution/Random House Children's Books and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.

Another enemies to lovers story--This one focuses on Celine and Brad, who used to be best friends before a falling out a few years ago. Since then, they've hated each other (or have they?) When they both enter a wilderness competition (think: Survivor) they compete in a group of 20 kids to win just a few coveted scholarships.

More could have been done with the competition (they really didn't have much here about it). But I did really like how Celine responded to seeing her absentee father in this story.

4.5

THIS WAS SO CUTE I CANNOT. childhood best friends to enemies to academic rivals to secretly pining best friends to lovers?? sign. me. up. and it takes place in the scottish forests or whatever? AND has mental health representation?? yeah okay it was literally so so good!! the banter. i just. i loved both brad and celine so much and i related a lot to both of them which normally is not the case when i read romance books, so i really appreciated that. also the concept was really interesting. i would HIGHLY recommend this book. it is not one to miss.

3.5 stars

This book was highly cute but unfairly forgettable :/

It's just ABOUT so much.. Bradley and Celine are ex-best friends, actually sort of enemies. They have to work together on a school project. Something happens and Bradley ends up driving Celine to a talk she's interested in. They both end up being interested in it. It's a nature camp internship type deal. They both go to it. Then even more stuff happens... it's just hard to tell where the plot started? It sort of is like lifelike in the fact that things just keep happening, but that level of realism is sort of high for what I'm used to in YA romances lol

Celine is a weird kid - she's a conspiracy theorist TikToker, a fact that kind of doesn't get brought up in the right way enough for me? They mention it a lot lol but there are not many conspiracy theories over the course of the book tbh

Bradley is a popular kid who hangs out with the jocks and he has OCD

Their moms are best friends and that led to them being best friends growing up but they grew apart when their interests started to change in separate ways

I mean, yeah, their relationship is really, really, cute, and it definitely saved what was otherwise a somewhat unexciting book for me. I don't think the book is bad by any means, and I don't think I should dissuade anyone from reading it, I just don't know that I'd be encouraging anyone to pick this specific book up either

It's the first title that will be released from the Yoons' publishing imprint, Joy Revolution, and I like the message behind the imprint a lot: inclusive romance that is about LOVE and not like, a hard topic kind of book that happens to have a relationship in it. Definitely need to see more of that, and I still wanna celebrate this book, the imprint, AND this cute ass cover even if it wasn't the most standout book I've ever read!!!

Enemies to lovers in Hibbert's first YA novel. I love Talia Hibbert's other books and this one is no exception. Well written, well paced, and fun to read!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own

This is Talia Hibbert's first venture in YA and to the surprise of absolutely no one, it's a triumph.
The glossary at the start of the book is a delight and to be honest, so is the rest of the book. Both Bradly and Celine are complex characters who are dealing with some serious issues, and they both handle them as well as they can. It takes them some time to accept they're actually in love with each other, but it's a beautiful journey. And there's so much fun in the book as well. It's actually unfairly cute :P

Part adventure and part love, this celebration of getting together between the two main characters is totally adorable and that's the intention with the new Joy Revolution imprint that the Yoon's have put together. Then they included Hibbert's book as their inaugural book. Apparently Hibbert is an adult author and her first YA book is this fantastic romance.

They are enemies to lovers and no one is mistaking it for anything else. Then you throw in an Expedition competition that puts them in the wilderness and you've got the trappings of some entertaining hijinks. Celine has one thing on her mind-- getting the grades and moving on with her strong self, Bradley on the other hand doesn't have to work much for his success, however he does have to work to keep his OCD in check. Their connection gets stronger and more adorable as the challenges keep coming.

This is the bright side of YA and I'm here for anything the Yoons want to do.

A cute, breezy book that is over so fast it's impressive how real and unique the characters feel. How does Talia Hibbert make every book seem so EASY? I spent a chunk of time reading lines aloud to my roommate because they kept making me laugh.