The first book from the new Joy Revolution imprint from Nicola and David Yoon is by an author I love. Her name is Talia Hibbert and she is a Brit who mostly writes very, very sexy and heartfelt romance novels for the growns, but this time she’s bringing us a funny, quirky, mouthy, sparkling Young Adult love story called Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute. (Such a good title.)
Talia Hibbert has a gift for two special things, and this is something I talked to Nicola about on Geek Girl Riot, Talia has an acute observational eye for humanity and our idiosyncrasies—but also for dialogue that sounds like poppin’ champagne. It just sparkles.
The story is about a guy named Brad or Bradley, who is a star footballer (not a football player for those of you who know). The heroine’s name is Celine and the two of them used to be the best of friends. But then something happens where Bradley chooses to be pop-u-lar. Celine, however, chooses to be her weird, wonky, alien-loving, and amazing self. That caused a rift between them and from there, you guys will have to read the book to find out.
Here’s a clue, this is a friends-to-lovers trope. . .or a friends-to-enemies-to-lovers trope (to be more specific). When we meet them, they are rivals. They hate each other and yet their hate feels like it might be disguising something more real—real warm, mushy feelings. So that’s the “highly suspicious” part. They don’t trust each other and it’s “unfairly cute” because both Brad and Celine are too ‘qwoot’ to be denied.
This book was a great choice for Joy Revolution to launch with. It is just so warm and cozy and you often have to smile at how quirky these characters are and the ways that their minds work. Although this first YA doesn’t reach the highs of her Adult rom-coms, Talia Hibbert creates characters who are oftentimes “neurospicy” or they may have chronic illnesses or phobias, and she writes them with such kindness and without any of the artifice of ‘inspiration-gratification.’ There’s none of that, It’s just the diversity of the human mind and the human body and I think that’s really amazing.
