Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute

Author: Talia Hibbert

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 4/5

Diversity: Plus Size Black MC, Black Bisexual Male MC with OCD, Black characters, Character with Dyslexia, Character with Celiac Disease, Queer Character

Recommended For...: young adult readers, romance, contemporary, UK set, rivals to lovers, wilderness exploration, LGBT, Black MCs, mental health

Publication Date: January 3, 2023

Genre: YA Romance

Age Relevance: 16+ (anxiety attacks, cursing, religion, underage alcohol consumption, abelism, sexual content, romance)

Explanation of Above: There are a couple of short scenes showing some anxiety and anxiety attacks as well as some OCD tendencies and talk, especially with germs, dirt, etc. There is some cursing in this book. There is one mention of underage alcohol consumption. There is one slightly abelist comment. There is slight sexual content mentioned and there is some romance.

Publisher: Joy Revolution

Pages: 336

Synopsis: 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?

Review: For the most part I thought this book was fun. I loved the rivals to lovers storyline and it was a great fast paced read. The book had amazingly well written characters and it was so easy to get into the mindset of the two MCs. The duel POV felt very well written and helped drive the plot forward a lot of the times. The character voices felt distinct and the world building was well done as well. I also loved that this was a British YA romance book as I don’t think I’ve read many of those.

However, I did have some slight issues. I felt like some of the plot was a bit rushed in the beginning and that the book finally felt in pace with itself towards the end. Some of the references are a bit dated in this book and some of the writing was a bit disjointed. The writing also, at points, felt a bit forced as well. I also had a tiny concern about one of the MC’s fascination with conspiracy theories. It’s brought up a bit, supposedly what made her “famous” on TikTok, but it’s never really shown in her personality and the pun of the title never really came through. As someone who’s also a bit of a conspiracy theorist, that was one of the main draws of the book to me and I’m kinda sad that didn’t shine more in the book. There’s also a very slippery slope when it comes to conspiracy theorists and extremists, which I thought could have used maybe some commentary.

Verdict: It was good overall!