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

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I’m a little conflicted about this one because while I enjoyed Celine and Brad’s cute banter and their individual oddities, there were many technical issues with the story.

The pacing was janky and there was a time jump that made no sense. It also felt very rushed for some reason. Their characterisations weren’t too bad but Brad’s was better than Celine's even though Celine had more plot points for a richer and more complex story—a girl whose father left when she was younger and is now dealing with rejection issues definitely needed a little more than a pretty terrible conversation with her older sister and a barely-there one with her mum. Speaking of her mum, Celine is being raised by a single mother who is said to be very important to her but we barely see her mum in the story. The absent dad is mentioned a lot though and to what end? The possible conflict from there died a sad death.

Celine’s injury early on in the story irked me with how it was handled. It was barely acknowledged even though it would have affected the dexterity she would have needed at the camp.

The camping thing sucked. For something that was meant to be competitive and with pretty competitive people involved, It was dull and I hated every moment of it. 
I could also mention how quick Brad and Celine went from hating each other to love declarations but they're teenagers so I'll allow it.

I’m a little disappointed with this one because I’ve loved many of TH’s books but I guess there’s plenty time for improvement seeing as this is her first YA.