Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute

If I had one word for this book, it would be cute. The banter between Celine and Bradley was top-tier. There were many lines that made me laugh out loud. In fact, it was probably my favorite part of the book. I also liked the premise that they were both competing for the same scholarship. It really raised the stakes and added to the tension between them that was already there. I also liked the main characters, but the others fell flat. It is probably because many of the side characters weren’t in it for long enough for me to really like them. Celine’s supposed closest friend is really only in it for a couple chapters when Celine needs a warm body to talk to. I also wish that more of the competition had been shown. There was only one real challenge that I got to experience alongside the characters. For a competition that is the BASIS of the novel and which lasted a week (more if you count the second part of the competition), it was barely shown. It was more of a “fade to black” type of event which made no sense to me. As a result the book was a little too much inner narrative for me. I felt like the main characters worked things out in their head more than they talked to any one character. It felt hard for me to really see any personal growth that way. Overall, it was a cute book, but not my favorite. I wouldn’t steer anyone away from it.