ARC Review: Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert
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Series: None
Author: Talia Hibbert
Published January 3rd 2023 by Joy Revolution/Piatkus
Goodreads Synopsis
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?
Goodreads
Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.
Discovering that she can apply for a place on a prestigious survival course, run by her idol, overachiever Celine Bangura jumps at the chance to do it, and is in shock when she discovers that she got a place. However, that's nothing like her shock when her ex-best friend, Bradley Graeme turns up, and she has to show that she is apply to work with someone who broke her heart and dropped her when he became more popular. Bradley may be a genius, and a star football player, but his popularity has no appeal, and he has always regretted losing Celine's friendship, or the rivalry that has formed since. Forced into the countryside with only a handful of others to act as buffers, they need to work through their differences, and also fight the romantic feelings which are about to ruin all their best laid plans.
I've not read any of Talia's books, though I've seen them all over GR and Twitter. When this one appeared, and the synopsis sounded really interesting, I decided to give it a go, and had mixed feelings. On the one hand, it had great representation, and Celine and Bradley's quirks were interesting, but on the other, it didn't grip my attention as much as I would like. I liked how "British" the book was, as a lot of the hyped YA books at the minute are American, so this was refreshing, definitely. Celine and Bradley were okay main characters, but I didn't love either of them. I really liked the way they worked through their differences, and though they had been hurtful to each other in the past - both were at fault - they eventually apologised and hashed it all out. Their chemistry was definitely passionate, and all of their new friends on the course could clearly see that they had feelings for each other, but it took them a long time to get there. I think I might try the author's adult books in the future, and see if they grab my attention more.
Dates Read:
October 5-11, 2023
Rating
4 Stars
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