Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A pair of ex-best friends turned high school rivals must work together to survive the great outdoors—and each other—in this cozy enemies-to-lovers romance from the beloved author of the Brown Sisters trilogy.
“A pure delight. This book is confirmation: no one does love stories like Talia Hibbert.”—Leah Johnson, author of You Should See Me in a Crown and Rise to the Sun
Bradley Graeme is pretty much perfect. He’s a star football player, manages his OCD well (enough), and comes out on top in all his classes . . . except the ones he shares with his ex-best friend, Celine.
Celine Bangura is conspiracy-theory-obsessed. Social media followers eat up her takes on everything from UFOs to holiday overconsumption—yet, she’s still not cool enough for the popular kids’ table. Which is why Brad abandoned her for the in-crowd years ago. (At least, that’s how Celine sees it.)
These days, there’s nothing between them other than petty insults and academic rivalry. So when Celine signs up for a survival course in the woods, she’s surprised to find Brad right beside her.
Forced to work as a team for the chance to win a grand prize, these two teens must trudge through not just mud and dirt but their messy past. And as this adventure brings them closer together, they begin to remember the good bits of their history. But has too much time passed . . . or just enough to spark a whole new kind of relationship?
“A pure delight. This book is confirmation: no one does love stories like Talia Hibbert.”—Leah Johnson, author of You Should See Me in a Crown and Rise to the Sun
Bradley Graeme is pretty much perfect. He’s a star football player, manages his OCD well (enough), and comes out on top in all his classes . . . except the ones he shares with his ex-best friend, Celine.
Celine Bangura is conspiracy-theory-obsessed. Social media followers eat up her takes on everything from UFOs to holiday overconsumption—yet, she’s still not cool enough for the popular kids’ table. Which is why Brad abandoned her for the in-crowd years ago. (At least, that’s how Celine sees it.)
These days, there’s nothing between them other than petty insults and academic rivalry. So when Celine signs up for a survival course in the woods, she’s surprised to find Brad right beside her.
Forced to work as a team for the chance to win a grand prize, these two teens must trudge through not just mud and dirt but their messy past. And as this adventure brings them closer together, they begin to remember the good bits of their history. But has too much time passed . . . or just enough to spark a whole new kind of relationship?
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Community Reviews
I absolutely loved Get a Life, Chloe Brown so I was so interested in a YA romance from her. And she definitely DID NOT DISAPPOINT!
Quick summary: Bradley Graeme and Celine Bangura used to be best friends, now they competitive enemies - at the top of their classes and trying to figure out what their future holds next. Celine really wants to be like her idol, Katharine Breakspeare, a successful lawyer and inspiration. When Katharine puts out information for her Enrichment Program, Celine cannot wait to apply. But then she finds out that she will have to survive and prove herself in two outdoor expeditions...with Bradley! Can she prove that she is worthy of a scholarship? And is there something more between her and Bradley?
The banter between the two characters was HILARIOUS! Although I am glad that the book had a fantastic plot, I could have read just their banter for so many pages!! I would say that this is a friends to enemies to friends to lovers. So adorable! The writing in this book is so playful, creative, inventive, and so hooking. You never want to put it down!
I really felt like Hibbert did a great job with these characters. They feel so relatable even to someone like me who is in their 30s. And I feel as though she did a wonderful job portraying the reality of so many tough topics: OCD, anxiety, perfectionism, parental expectations, dysfunctional family dynamics. Sometimes YA books don't always explore just how deep some of these things can be for characters of that age. However, here, Hibbert really allowed us to feel and understand exactly what Bradley was going through with his OCD and what Celine was dealing with in terms of her father and her anxiety. In addition to that, it was nice to see the flip side as well. It was nice to see how someone can get through life fantastically while dealing with these mental health diagnoses and family issues. It doesn't have to stop you from living your dreams!
I absolutely loved the ending. I honestly did not see any of it coming. And I liked that it ended sort of tied up in a bow while also leaving some to the imagination of how the story could continue. Overall, this book had such emotional depth, phenomenal dialogue, and overall a fabulously beautiful theme :)
HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! Even if you aren't a huge YA reader, give it a try.
Quotes I loved:
"Is everything you do a calculated display of masculinity, and if so, aren't you afraid the constant pressure of performance will lead you to snap? One day you're going to leave education forever, and you'll have to face the fact that memorizing a thesaurus doesn't make you interesting." pg. 19
"We were best friends for years and then suddenly that was it! Like we never even happened. Because you weren't you anymore. You were a completely different person" pg. 98
"There's really not much more to say. He decided he wanted us to be normal more than he wanted me to be myself" pg. 109
"I've never minded people saying I'm annoying or weird or a bitch because I don't think those things about myself are bad. It never occurred to me that some people deal with the weight of everyone else's judgement and their own. That never occurred to me at all" pg. 111
"I'm too busy grappling with this unwelcome reminder of what a good friend she can be. She doesn't care about people easily, but once you've got her, you've got her. Until you give her up" pg. 120
"I have a theory about you, Brad Graeme. That you're exactly who you claim to be. A decent person. The person I thought I knew. I'm sorry, by the way. For all of this, everything we've...But mostly for what I said to you back when we fell out" pg. 154
"You're the kind of person who wants justice, and that's not him - that's the opposite of him. You've been doing the most to balance the scales. So what? That doesn't make you pathetic. It makes you yourself. You just needed to figure out on your own that...that fairness is about you being happy, not about him being punished." pg. 221
"Me and Celine, we've been best friends. We've been enemies. We've even been secret. But right now? We're everything. Anything. Whatever we want." pg.315
Quick summary: Bradley Graeme and Celine Bangura used to be best friends, now they competitive enemies - at the top of their classes and trying to figure out what their future holds next. Celine really wants to be like her idol, Katharine Breakspeare, a successful lawyer and inspiration. When Katharine puts out information for her Enrichment Program, Celine cannot wait to apply. But then she finds out that she will have to survive and prove herself in two outdoor expeditions...with Bradley! Can she prove that she is worthy of a scholarship? And is there something more between her and Bradley?
The banter between the two characters was HILARIOUS! Although I am glad that the book had a fantastic plot, I could have read just their banter for so many pages!! I would say that this is a friends to enemies to friends to lovers. So adorable! The writing in this book is so playful, creative, inventive, and so hooking. You never want to put it down!
I really felt like Hibbert did a great job with these characters. They feel so relatable even to someone like me who is in their 30s. And I feel as though she did a wonderful job portraying the reality of so many tough topics: OCD, anxiety, perfectionism, parental expectations, dysfunctional family dynamics. Sometimes YA books don't always explore just how deep some of these things can be for characters of that age. However, here, Hibbert really allowed us to feel and understand exactly what Bradley was going through with his OCD and what Celine was dealing with in terms of her father and her anxiety. In addition to that, it was nice to see the flip side as well. It was nice to see how someone can get through life fantastically while dealing with these mental health diagnoses and family issues. It doesn't have to stop you from living your dreams!
I absolutely loved the ending. I honestly did not see any of it coming. And I liked that it ended sort of tied up in a bow while also leaving some to the imagination of how the story could continue. Overall, this book had such emotional depth, phenomenal dialogue, and overall a fabulously beautiful theme :)
HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! Even if you aren't a huge YA reader, give it a try.
Quotes I loved:
"Is everything you do a calculated display of masculinity, and if so, aren't you afraid the constant pressure of performance will lead you to snap? One day you're going to leave education forever, and you'll have to face the fact that memorizing a thesaurus doesn't make you interesting." pg. 19
"We were best friends for years and then suddenly that was it! Like we never even happened. Because you weren't you anymore. You were a completely different person" pg. 98
"There's really not much more to say. He decided he wanted us to be normal more than he wanted me to be myself" pg. 109
"I've never minded people saying I'm annoying or weird or a bitch because I don't think those things about myself are bad. It never occurred to me that some people deal with the weight of everyone else's judgement and their own. That never occurred to me at all" pg. 111
"I'm too busy grappling with this unwelcome reminder of what a good friend she can be. She doesn't care about people easily, but once you've got her, you've got her. Until you give her up" pg. 120
"I have a theory about you, Brad Graeme. That you're exactly who you claim to be. A decent person. The person I thought I knew. I'm sorry, by the way. For all of this, everything we've...But mostly for what I said to you back when we fell out" pg. 154
"You're the kind of person who wants justice, and that's not him - that's the opposite of him. You've been doing the most to balance the scales. So what? That doesn't make you pathetic. It makes you yourself. You just needed to figure out on your own that...that fairness is about you being happy, not about him being punished." pg. 221
"Me and Celine, we've been best friends. We've been enemies. We've even been secret. But right now? We're everything. Anything. Whatever we want." pg.315
It was slow in places but I will forgive it for being a little slow because it has the rare achievement of making me laugh out loud more than once! Very cute!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 4 stars
This is a really cute young adult romance featuring characters of color.
There's lots of fun banter between the confident and sassy plus-sized female and the book-smart hunky jock male.
I enjoyed the dual POV and narration and I look forward to reading more from Talia Hibbert.
Many thanks to the Libro.fm Librarian ALC program, Penguin Random House Audio, and the author for this complimentary Audiobook Listening Copy.
This is a really cute young adult romance featuring characters of color.
There's lots of fun banter between the confident and sassy plus-sized female and the book-smart hunky jock male.
I enjoyed the dual POV and narration and I look forward to reading more from Talia Hibbert.
Many thanks to the Libro.fm Librarian ALC program, Penguin Random House Audio, and the author for this complimentary Audiobook Listening Copy.
It was absolutely adorable. I loved this book and I'm so glad that I decided to read it even though it's a "teen romance".
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