The Bookish Mindset

Overview:

Title: Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute
Author: Talia Hibbert
Published: 2023
Genre: YA, Romance
Themes: OCD, rivals to lovers.

One sentence summary: Academic rivals sign up for the same extra curriculum outdoor adventure for extra credit, but they get a lot more than they bargain for.

One sentence review: In typical Hibbert fashion, this is another beautiful romance to add to her repertoire.

Review:

Celine and Brad used to be best friends. That was until Brad ditched her and started hanging out with the cool football guys instead (in Celine’s opinion).

But Celine is over it, she has a successful TikTok channel for conspiracy theories and is smashing her school grades. So now Brad is just her academic rival, and a cute one at that.

When the option to sign up for her idol’s extra curriculum outdoor adventure, she jumps at the chance but did not expect Brad to signing up too..

Hibbert has hit the nail on the head with this one and I know I’m not surprised. While her adult books have beautiful spice, she’s proved she can write romance for YA without it and it’s an absolute delight.

YA romance is fast becoming a favourite for me, especially when it’s done this well.

This book is like a warm, comforting hug. The connections our protagonists have and the depth they show is of typical Hibbert style and wonderful.

If you’re a YA romance or a Hibbert fan then I’d definitely recommend it.

If reading more is something that you’re looking at doing this year then should check my reading challenge out here! Read nine books from nine prompts over the first six months of the year and be entered into a draw to win a bundle of bookish goodies.

If you’d like to get yourself a copy, you can support local bookshops while doing so on Bookshop.org with this link here.

If you like what you’ve read and would like to access more content, I’d love if you could take a look at my patreon and consider supporting my content on there too.

And don’t forget to check out my other blogs and reviews – you can find books with similar themes in the same folder link below, or click back onto blogs to see the whole offering.

Last updated 07/02/2025