Reviews with content warning for Ableism - Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute

I loved her other books but this one was more of a slow burn for me initially. I ended up enjoying it by the end. It’s a really adorable friends to enemies to lovers and coming of age all wrapped up in one. Like in Hibbert’s other novels, the characters are well-written, distinctive, and so very loveable.

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vaguely_pink's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

While this book made me realize I have major distaste for stories that romanticize overachieving teenagers burning themselves out (definitely not because of my own high school experience why would you even say that), Talia Hibbert has made me cry over disability rep once again.

It's also made me realize that British narrators with terrible American accents is my favorite audiobook genre.

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jessthanthree's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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jkneebone's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was SO CUTE! I figured I would like it given that I've enjoyed Talia Hibbert's Brown Sisters series, and it did not disappoint. It was funny and heartwarming in equal measure. I laughed. I squealed. I made embarrassing faces at the computer (thankfully no-one noticed).

Main characters Celine and Brad are former best friends turned bitter enemies, after a falling-out at the beginning of secondary school. I appreciated that, unlike many enemies-to-lovers or former-best-friends books, Hibbert *shows* us both of these things in equal measure. It's understandable why Brad and Celine don't get along at the beginning of the book

(even though they work through it about midway through, I believed that it had caused discord between them for so long)

and their former friendship, and how well they know each other because of that, is a consistent through-line. The main plot involves Celine and Brad both joining an exclusive outdoor exploration program where they have a chance of winning a scholarship, which (of course) forces them to put a pause on their feud.

Brad has OCD and is struggling to believe in his dream of being a writer, and Celine is mostly motivated by proving her deadbeat dad wrong, so there is plenty of individual character growth to be had amongst all of the relationship development. Both characters' POVs were hilarious, and all the side characters were really fun as well. There was a fair amount of cursing, and some mention of past sexual experience, but in my opinion this would be a great read for high schoolers.

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