I thought this was a good first foray into the Young Adult genre for Talia Hibbert. However, I wish there had been more scenes and more exploration of the actual explorers program the protagonists participated in. I didn't quite believe that Celine was totally ok at the end not having won. I did not buy some of the conflicts either. However, I realize I am not the intended audience. I appreciated the plus size and OCD representation, though. Overall, I gave it three stars but I would absolutely recommend it to a friend or even my teenage sisters.

Talia Hibbert is that girl and will always be that girl and she did what needed to be done.
I'm familiar with Hibbert's work through the fantastic Brown sister series. However, when this book was announced my curiosity was piqued. What would Hibbert's writing look like in a YA book in a high school setting? Would the book still bring me just as much joy with the spice toned down?
Would the female protagonist still be sassy?
I'm happy to report she delivered! Hibbert not only created two characters who delivered on-point fun banter, she managed to create two characters with an incredible amount of depth. Well they may be in high school Brad and Celine have far more insight into their own way of being than most adults acquire through their lifetimes. Celine was sorting through the past trauma left by her father abandoning the family. Brad continues to deal with a mental health condition. Both characters' offered relatable and realistic portrayals of the circumstances they were dealing with and how this affected their lives and relationships.
Plus, there was the usual high school drama of relationships, college applications and mean kids.
If you haven't checked out Hibbert's work yet, what are you waiting for?! GO!

First, I’ll begin with what worked for me in this book. I loved the alternating POVs between Celine and Bradley, although I admittedly could’ve done with less Celine and more Bradley. I enjoyed seeing Celine and Bradley out in the wilderness with the other Breakspeare Explorers since it was in this setting that the two of them agreed to put aside their differences and began to piece their shattered friendship back together. I also preferred these portions of the books because I loved the other students where were taking part in the program, especially Celine’s roommate Aurora. I found her to be such an interesting side character and the few details we were given about her as a person made me want to know more about her to the point I found myself wanting the story to revolve around her instead of the actual female lead.

The other thing that I enjoyed about this book came from a discussion that Bradley and Celine had about his OCD and taking care of one’s mental health. Bradley makes a statement that really jumped out at me about how therapy should be like the dentist, something that everyone does for the betterment of their health. Just as this comment has stayed with me, it stayed with Celine and helped her to realize that maybe she should look into seeing a therapist to deal with her feelings towards her father, why she’s been so driven on the path that she’s set herself and to learn to properly deal with her anxiety.

As for what didn’t work for me. I could not stand Celine for the first two-thirds of the book and found her to be such an unlikeable character that were it not for Bradley and the side characters, I probably would’ve stopped reading the book. I found her to be overly rude and the fact that she found her behavior and attitude to be a positive made her all the more of a horrible person. Some may argue that Celine’s presentation of herself was how she protected herself, but it just makes her come across as a bitch and I found myself questioning why Bradley would not only put up with it but even fall in love with her.

I will say that the eventual romance was nicely done and I thoroughly enjoyed the little moments between Celine and Bradley when they took the time to just be together and let down their guards. The truly best thing about their relationship in the end was that Bradley was able to help Celine reexamine her life and the goal she was working towards and he got her to open up not only to him and her family but to herself.

In the end, I enjoyed: the dual POVs, the side characters, the discussions surrounding mental health and seeking help.

Such a cutie YA romance, and one of my new favorites for sure! As a fan of Talia's adult romances, I was wondering how she'd write YA, especially considering her books are known for their STEAM! But this book was wholly adorable, and as someone with OCD, I really appreciated how she wrote a character with OCD into the book and felt like she accurately represented the OCD experience. Thank you, Talia!

✨Book Review✨
Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
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I think Talia Hibbert is officially my favorite author. I am NOT an enemies to lovers fan, but this was such a good one. I will read anything Hibbert writes.
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This YA debut was SO sweet and I loved every minute of it. I'm so grateful to be able to share Talia Hibbert with my students now that there is a PG version of her work. :p
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As always, Hibbert's characters are so full and so kind. I loved Brad and Celine so much, even though they infuriatingly refused to share their true feelings for most of the book. The own voices OCD representation in this book was wonderful, and I was so grateful to read about the different ways OCD and intrusive thoughts show up. If you like YA rom coms, I highly recommend this book.

only talia hibbert can make me love ya romance again🥲

✨ childhood friends to enemies to lovers
✨ ownvoices, poc rep, mental illness rep, bisexual rep

❌ CW: parental abandonment, OCD depiction

holy crap you guys, this book was so fucking funny and cute and cozy and EVERYTHING I NEVER KNEW I NEEDED 😭🥺💕 i was truly CHEESING so hard the entire time i was reading it, i ADORED it :)

this had such good character work and representation of so many different marginalized communities; talia hibbert never fucking disappoints and im so glad i read this!! i honestly thought i would hate it since i don't like YA anymore but... i was proven wholeheartedly wrong... talia is the exception of whom i would love to read more from in this genre.

these two adorable, awkward, enemies to lovers mfs were truly everything. they own my HEART. i loved it. *sigh* so cute

if for some reason you have yet to read it, pls go do or save it for a time where you're looking for just the coziest, adorable reads but with a hint of angst and lots of comedy gold :)

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to the publisher Joy Revolution for the e-ARC via Netgalley! Released January 3, 2023!

<strong>Celine is used to being seen as the 'weird girl'. 💕 </strong>She's <u>passionate about researching conspiracy theories for her TikTok Account</u>, plans to study Law, and is proud to be different. <strong>I loved that she was so headstrong and determined!</strong> Celine isn't interested in what other people think of her and so driven that she sometimes comes across as condescending and judgemental. She's still <u>got a good heart but keeps her feelings buried deep inside</u>, so no one can hurt her after her father abandoned her family. <strong>The story did a great job showing Celine's vulnerabilities</strong> and why she so desperately wants to keep them hidden.

<strong>Bradley's joined the more popular crowd but still has a soft side. 💕 </strong>He's a football player and on track to study Law like his father ... but not sure if it's really right for him. <strong>Brad loves writing, yet he's unable to finish his book and doubts that he's good enough</strong> to leave a very stable career choice. Despite being a top student, he works hard to maintain his grades and is annoyed at Celine's superior attitude. He's good at snarking back at her, but usually <u>a very kind-hearted and considerate person</u>! The p<strong>erfect sunshine to Celine's more grumpy personality</strong> 🥰

<strong>The ex-best friends to lovers dynamic was the perfect balance of angsty, banter, and swoonworthy 🥰&nbsp; </strong>Celine and Bradley <u>used to be best friends until a big fight tore them apart</u>. Years later, they are barely speaking to each other and run in completely different circles. When circumstances push them together again <strong>there is a lot of unresolved hurt and anger between them</strong>. Celine and Bradly might fight and snark at each other all they want, you can <strong>immediately feel the chemistry between them</strong>. I loved the fact that there was a good dose of angst but also some swoonworthy and cute moments. <u>With their attraction growing, Celine and Brad have to figure out how to find to each other again</u>! The book does a great job exploring their past and the difficulties of building a future together.

<strong>I also loved the focus on mental health, the future &amp; family expectations! </strong> Bradley has OCD and manages it well with therapy and medication, but still has difficult moments. Celine has trouble being vulnerable since her father left her to live with his second family. The hurt of being abandoned has left deeper scars than she realized. <strong>The complicated family dynamics and mental health were well explored here</strong>! Apart from Celine's father being horrible, we have a lot of supportive relationships! <u>Celine has a close bond with her mother and sister.</u> Bradley's family is very sweet, even though his father is unconsciously pressuring him to pursue Law. With college looming on the horizon, <strong>Bradley and Celine have to figure out what they want out of life</strong>, apart from family expectations and influence.

<strong>The element of the outdoor competition was so much fun as well!&nbsp; </strong> One of the things bringing Celine and Bradley together is an outdoor competition by Celine's idol. <u>The top 3 students receive a full scholarship, so each of them is determined to win</u>! I loved seeing the competition, as it <strong>introduced us to new characters outside of their friendship group</strong> and it was funny seeing them cope with the realities of camping 😂 I thought this would be a bigger part of the story, but it's more of a secondary setting, as the story spans several months and shows Celine and Bradley's daily life in their last year at high school!

<strong>IN CONCLUSION.</strong> ➽ <em>Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute&nbsp;</em>was a <strong>fantastic, swoony and sometimes angsty romance</strong>! Ex-best friends to lovers has now become one of my new favorite tropes, as it was so well written here. Bradley and Celine were great characters and it was so easy to root for them to be together and find the right path for their future 🥰

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children for this E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I wanted to like this book because I love Talia Hibbert's adult romance books. I found this book to be immature. Yes, I know that this is a YA book, but there's a difference between mature young adult books and immature young adult books.

Okay, so this is Talia Hibbert's debut into a young adult., She does a great job at tackling the genre, especially for someone who's written romance and erotica in the past. The chemistry between these characters was intense and their relationship with each other grew at the right pace (especially since there was animosity at first). This is different for Hibbert and not what I was expecting.

I enjoyed this one. I enjoy everything I read from Talia Hibbert, really. This was especially intriguing to me for the OCD representation.

This YA novel was so well done. It captured the real emotional intelleignce and maturity (and immaturity) of teenagers while rooting in humor and humanity!

I've heard so much about Talia Hibbert's books but never got around to reading one until now. Though I'm not a huge fan of romance novels, HIGHLY SUSPICIOUS AND UNFAIRLY CUTE is a wholesome, feel good coming-of-age romance that had me rooting for every single character.

2.5*
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy.
This is Talia Hibbert’s young adult debut, and I was ….. underwhelmed.
Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute is about friends turned enemies turned friends turned lovers, Brad and Celine. They are seniors in high school and both competing for a scholarship, which requires some time spent in the wilderness.
The mental health representation was amazing. Talia did a fantastic job showing the struggles of living with OCD, and thriving. This book also had some lovely family dynamics. I loved Celine’s relationship with her mom and sister.
With all that being said, I STRUGGLED to get through this book. I even DNF’d it at one point. I love the Brown sisters trilogy by this author, and I don’t know if I went into this book expecting the same level of enjoyment, or if this book just truly didn’t measure up to Eve, Chloe and Dani. I will admit that I don’t read alot of YA romance, but I have read some in the past that I’ve really enjoyed.
Overall, my enjoyment of this book is was gives it less than 3 stars, but her representation is what made it more than 2 stars.

I was a fan of Talia Hibberts other books but I couldn’t finish this one. I was lost after the first few chapters. This one was a miss for me.

I really enjoyed this first YA read from an adult romance author that I've really enjoyed. I like this trend of adult romance authors venturing into YA or writing stories that are more approachable to a teen/high school library audience. While this one has a lot of British-isms in it, I appreciated (for my students) that there was a "glossary" right at the beginning. The story was fun, and once it got going, fast-paced. I can't wait to recommend this one to my readers who are itching for adult romances, but maybe aren't quite ready for them.

I'm a fan of Talia Hibbert's adult romances, but her first foray into YA left me cold. I found it hard to suspend disbelief as much as the plot and character interactions demanded, and the entire camping plot was frustrating to me just on so many, some trivial, levels. More significantly, the set-up for why Celine and Brad have been enemies for four years seemed weak at best, considering how readily they get over it once they actually start talking again, and I found their squabbling before that point more irritating than cute. Not a winner for me, unfortunately, as much as I wanted to find it as cute as the title.

Thanks to the publisher for the advance review copy.

This book was really cute! I’ve read other books by Talia Hubert and I was excited to read a ya book by her and it did not disappoint! I loved how this book explored concepts like OCD and the feeling associated with a distant parent.

“ ‘You’re Brad Fucking Graem. I’d bet on you any day.’
His smile is the softest, sweetest thing, like a spilled bottle of relief. ‘God, Celine. You’re so lovely.’ “

This book had me biting my lip and fighting the urge to squeal, grinning like a fool. I loved watching Brad and Celine develop outside/regardless of the romance. To the surprise of absolutely no one, Talia Hibbert has done it again. Their romances are truly unmatched.

Fans of Talks Hubbard's adult novels will love her first YA outing. Hubbard's signature witty banter sparkles, and her love story between two teen teens kids is sweet and satisfying.

For some reason, when I picked up this title, I was expecting adult characters. I did not realize they were in high school until a few pages in and it threw me off completely. So immediately my expectations were definitely not going to be met, which was unfair to it and the author.

So putting that aside, I still had a good time reading it. The characters were loveable and realistic for high school rival/ex-friends. It was a cute, quick read that I'll definitely recommend to shoppers in my store if they're looking for something easy to get into.