A review by buffyreads
Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert

5.0

“You’re the bane of my existence. Did you know that?” She grins. “I hoped.”

Characters:
Celine is an ambitious overachieving alien loving tiktoker who dreams of being a lawyer (a barrister as the british say) and is working hard to make that dream a relatively. Bradley is a bisexual footballer with OCD with dreams of becoming a Sci-fi writer but if asked, wants to be a lawyer like his father. The pair used to be best friends until they had different schedules and Bradley joined the popular kids and Celine was left behind. Making them become archenemies of epic proportions.

Plot:
The archenemies end up sharing a class together, reintegrating themselves into each other's lives. This lead to them both applying and ending up in a competitive outdoors excursion to win a scholarship from Celine's career idol.

When learning about their friendship breakup I was biased because I understood Celine and where she was coming from. Bradley could assimilate and Celine couldn't. He wanted her to do what he did and when she didn't want to he blamed her for it. He also did not recognize that she might have some issues with feeling abandoned because of her father that might have influenced her behavior. (Which, I understand why connecting those dots might be hard for a teenage boy but god open your eyes kid.) However, I really liked their path to forgiving each other and becoming friends (and then more) again.

More than anything I enjoyed the personal journeys they each went through. They were so deep and their problems felt real. I loved both of them so much and I loved them together so much.

Secret Sauce:
The banter is well written and they sound like teenagers arguing. This was actually friends to enemies to lovers done well in YA romance which is rare. This was more than any tropes could encapsulate. I loved their relationship and their growth apart and together.

Rating: I give this book a 5/5