Blog Tour: Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute 💕 Banter, Angst & Romance

Hello fellow bookworms 📚 I was fortunate enough to receive a digital copy of Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute through participating in the TBR and Beyond Tour! I love Talia Hibbert and was so excited to read her 2023 YA romance debut 🥰 For now, let’s get into what this book is about! Check out the blog tour schedule, so you can read all the other amazing posts! ❤

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute
by Talia Hibbert
Published by: Joy Revolution
Publication date: January 3rd, 2023
Genres: YA Romance

CW’s: Injury, Mentions of OCD, Racism & Parental Abandonment

Representation 🌷 Black MC’s, Bi LI, OCD

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Brown Sisters trilogy, comes a laugh-out-loud story about a quirky content creator and a clean-cut athlete testing their abilities to survive the great outdoors–and each other.

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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About the Author

Talia Hibbert is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author who lives in a bedroom full of books. Supposedly, there is a world beyond that room, but she has yet to drum up enough interest to investigate.

She writes steamy, diverse romance because she believes that people of marginalised identities need honest and positive representation. Her interests include makeup, junk food, and unnecessary sarcasm. Talia and her many books reside in the English Midlands.

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Facebook

Thank you to Joy Revolution, TBR and Beyond Tour, and Netgalley for providing me with a digital Arc in exchange for an honest review! All quotes are taken from the Arc and therefore subject to changes.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

Celine is used to being seen as the ‘weird girl’. 💕 She’s passionate about researching conspiracy theories for her TikTok Account, plans to study Law, and is proud to be different. I loved that she was so headstrong and determined! 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 got a good heart but keeps her feelings buried deep inside, so no one can hurt her after her father abandoned her family. The story did a great job showing Celine’s vulnerabilities and why she so desperately wants to keep them hidden.

Bradley’s joined the more popular crowd but still has a soft side. 💕 He’s a football player and on track to study Law like his father … but not sure if it’s really right for him. Brad loves writing, yet he’s unable to finish his book and doubts that he’s good enough 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 a very kind-hearted and considerate person! The perfect sunshine to Celine’s more grumpy personality 🥰

You don’t need to be special or significant to have value. You’re just important, always, and people either see that or they don’t.

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

I also loved the focus on mental health, the future & family expectations! 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. The complicated family dynamics and mental health were well explored here! Apart from Celine’s father being horrible, we have a lot of supportive relationships! Celine has a close bond with her mother and sister. Bradley’s family is very sweet, even though his father is unconsciously pressuring him to pursue Law. With college looming on the horizon, Bradley and Celine have to figure out what they want out of life, apart from family expectations and influence.

The element of the outdoor competition was so much fun as well!  One of the things bringing Celine and Bradley together is an outdoor competition by Celine’s idol. The top 3 students receive a full scholarship, so each of them is determined to win! I loved seeing the competition, as it introduced us to new characters outside of their friendship group 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!

“Mate. Just marry her already.” Not a bad idea. Wait, no, I am a teenager.  I can’t get married; Mum would cry.

IN CONCLUSION. ➽ Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute was a fantastic, swoony and sometimes angsty romance! 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 🥰

Are you going to read Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute? What is your favorite book with the enemies to lovers trope? 💕

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