Two teens in the UK that were once best friends are enemies at the beginning of the book. Both extremely smart, they join a scholarship competition that consists of wilderness challenges. It is not a forte for either of them, but both rise to the occasion in their own way. One of the main characters has OCD, but has received extensive, helpful therapy for it, and demonstrates great coping mechanisms, though still struggling from time to time. I think the author did a good job of writing OCD in an authentic manner, when it has often been very stereotyped in many fictional plots. The two main characters are forced to work together, and slowly begin to understand each other and move past their differences and incorrect assumptions of each other. Since the story was told from both points of view, sometimes it was almost painful how much they misunderstood each other. The main female character really did a great deal of changing, learning to look inward and growing.

A cute and fun teen romance. I had a little bit of a hard time getting into it at the start, but then once I was into it I was able to enjoy the humor and be charmed by the characters. I would recommend this to readers who like the friendships and lighthearted aspects of Alice Oseman's books. I was a little annoyed with the

third act breakup

, but it was a much less frustrating instance of the trope than I've read in other books.

I listened to this audiobook through my library with Libby.

Brief Summary: Celine and Bradley used to be friends. However, after a misunderstanding led to a fight several years ago they have become rivals. Now in their final year of high school Celine, a conspiracy-obsessed internet sensation, and Bradley, a popular footballer managing his OCD, are thrown back together by one fateful accident. As they are trying to navigate the boundaries of their new relationship they both begin to realize that maybe they are not better off without each other. Perhaps they are meant to be so much more together.

Thoughts: I absolutely one hundred percent loved this book!! Hibbert is an excellent and engaging writer and I am so mad at myself that I have not read any of her books sooner! Everyone should read this book. It is the perfect combination of teenage angst and falling in love for the first time. 

Celine and Bradley were such interestingly written characters and I enjoyed their character arcs throughout the book. The way that Celine comes out of her shell and starts to let her guard down with Bradley and her new group of friends is heartwarming. I also love how Hibbert tackles the emotional trauma that Celine is navigating throughout the book. 

Bradley's growth throughout the book is also so beautiful. The way that he finally was able to stand up for his dreams could be a whole motivational talk. 

The secondary characters were also great throughout the book. I loved the best friends, and the new friends, Celine's sister was the perfect combination of a wise older sister giving you advice and giving you a hard time. I would honestly read a whole series of books that focus on each of the side characters.  

If you love reading heartwarming romance novels this is the book for you, but honestly, if you just love love and joy read this book!

For over half of the journey I enjoyed this book so, so damn much. It's written in such a fun way! The banter and the characters' inner thoughts made me laugh out loud all the time. I really liked how, at least at the beginning, both leads were pretty self-aware, except for when they were each other's blind spots (and except for when Bradley very relatable avoided considering specific things that caused him anxiety). I liked how Celine unapologetically owned her flaws while also trying to balance them with her need to succeed and being willing to listen to other people and learn about them. Even more so, I liked Bradley: his personality, his conflicts including his super relatable writing angst, the way his OCD was handled. Very often in YA, if there's a character with mental disorder, their arc is largely built around learning to handle it, so I expected something like that. Instead, Bradley comes into the story already pretty well equipped to manage his condition. There was that one highly relatable scene where Celine expected him to break down after encountering a trigger and he instead talked himself down, employing the same tricks I use to manage anxiety and emotional spikes, loved how that played out.

There were also a lot of cool side characters who, while at large they didn't get much page time, were all believable and interesting. The chapters that dealt with the Explorers program were my favorite because of all those characters and interactions the leads had with them, in addition to the fun camping stuff. But I also enjoyed the leads' families and how they interacted and how Celine and Bradley perceived each other's family life. Honestly, the parts of the book that were more pure YA than romance ended up my absolute favorites.

As for the romance, wellll... At first, I was hooked. While these two were in their enemies era, they were endlessly entertaining together. Besides, best friends to enemies to lovers is my favorite dynamic in the world, so I had high expectations from the get go. Up until they struck an uneasy truce and started talking about what transpired between them years ago, I was eating it up. But afterward, their dynamic started changing in ways that kind of made me feel they'd be better off as friends. Perhaps not even super close ones. Like, keep talking it out, sure. Then maybe drift comfortably apart pursuing your own goals, but keep in touch and keep reconnecting now and then. The egregious miscommunications and the third act break-up really didn't help me ship these two. There was also this overall mismatch between the way their individual character arcs and the romantic arc played out. Like the romance practically stood in the way of each of these kids from working through their individual challenges and succeeding at their individual goals. So that wasn't very shippy to me at all.

On the other hand, like I've said, the YA/coming-of-age novel parts were super well done, the humor was awesome, and the characters themselves were super fun to follow. So this book gets a high mark from me regardless.