Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute

Bradley Graeme is pretty much perfect. He’s a star football player, manages his OCD well (enough), and comes out on top in all his classes. . . except the ones he shares with his ex-best friend, Celine.
 
Celine Bangura is conspiracy-theory-obsessed. Social media followers eat up her takes on everything from UFOs to holiday overconsumption—yet she’s still not cool enough for the popular kids’ table. Which is why Brad abandoned her for the in-crowd years ago. (At least, that’s how Celine sees it.)

These days, there’s nothing between them other than petty insults and academic rivalry. So, when Celine signs up for a survival course in the woods, she’s surprised to find Brad right beside her.

Forced to work as a team for the chance to win a grand prize, these two teens must trudge through not just mud and dirt but their messy past. And as this adventure brings them closer together, they begin to remember the good bits of their history. But has too much time passed. . . or just enough to spark a whole new kind of relationship? 

Celine Bangura and Bradley Graeme were once best friends, but their relationship fractured when Brad joined the soccer team and embraced a new social circle. Now Celine’s life revolves around two goals: beat Brad academically and become a corporate lawyer to outdo the father who abandoned her family. When she learns about Katherine Breakspeare’s elite leadership program—where winners gain admission to any university—Celine sees her path forward. 

Brad, meanwhile, secretly envies Celine’s passion and her mother’s support. While everyone sees him as the perfect student destined for law school, he dreams of becoming a writer. His family can’t support a struggling artist, and his father insists on law school. But the Breakspeare program offers something Brad desperately needs: free tuition to pursue his own dreams. 

The parallel structure of their goals—both chasing the same prize for opposite reasons—creates compelling dramatic irony. While Celine runs toward law to prove something to an absent father, Brad runs toward anything but law to escape a present one. This reversal highlights how parental pressure manifests differently: abandonment can drive ambition just as forcefully as overbearing expectations. 

As the competition unfolds, Brad and Celine discover unexpected common ground. They forge new friendships, rebuild their old connection, and eventually develop something deeper. Both characters are interesting, complex characters who are flawed in ways that make them relatable and easy to root for. Their journey from enemies to something more feels authentic and earned.  

The wilderness survival program serves as more than just a romantic backdrop—it’s a leveling ground where social hierarchies dissolve, and both characters must confront who they are without their usual armor. Stripped of Brad’s perfect-student persona and Celine’s defensive competitiveness, they rediscover the people they were before external pressures shaped them. 

The book is well-written with clear, accessible language and satisfying character development. However, the story suffers from too many location changes that are difficult to track, and the transition from the Breakspeare program to the characters’ everyday lives feels rushed. 

Readers who enjoy enemies-to-lovers dynamics, ambitious protagonists, and competitive banter will find much to love here. Beyond the romance, Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute teaches about independence and self-definition. By showing two teenagers trapped by different forms of parental influence—one by absence, one by presence—the novel highlights that living authentically requires rejecting others’ scripts for your life, whether written by those who leave or those who stay. In the end, Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute delivers a meaningful message: live for yourself, not for others, and pursue what truly matters to you. 

Sexual Content  

• After Brad realizes his romantic feelings for Celine, he works up the nerve to confess. Celine kisses him. “Then [Celine] very gently presses her lips to [Brad’s]—only for a second, the single softest second of [his] life. An electric shock runs from [his] head to [his] toes and [he’s] vibrating with it. . . [then he kisses] her. Longer. Harder. [Celine’s] mouth is warm and silky and her breaths come quick. [Brad’s] brain falls out of [his] head. She holds [his] wrist again, and [he] can feel [his] pulse against her fingers, and it is very fast.” They kiss a couple more times, but this is the most detailed description.  

• While discussing the other high schoolers who have been eliminated from the Breakspeare program, Celine’s friend Aurora tells the remaining teens that she “heard [one of the eliminated teens] was caught last expedition having sex with someone in the laundry room. Apparently, they used a Mars bar wrapper and a rubber band as protection.” 

• Brad notices Celine more after they kiss. During one of the expeditions, he notes, “her Breakspeare-issued rucksack is doing magnificent things to her boobs.” 

Violence  

• None 

Drugs and Alcohol  

• In order to throw a proper eighteenth birthday party for her new friend, Aurora, Celine has Brad acquire alcohol for the party. While there are a couple of minors at the party, this story takes place in the United Kingdom, where most kids are of drinking age. Celine describes the layout of the party, “One of the beds is covered in cans of Coke and Sprite and packets of popcorn, and on the desk, there is a single can of gin and tonic beside a Tupperware box.” Aurora is the one to have the gin and tonic, but a couple of the other teens have a sip. 

• While Brad is in the hospital after falling down a hill, his father is concerned about Brad’s pain. His father yells, “CAN WE GET SOME MORE PAINKILLERS FOR MY SON, PLEASE?” After Brad gets out of the hospital, there are a couple more references to him still taking painkillers.  

Language  

• Profanity is used frequently and includes fuck, dick, shit, crap, and arse. 

Supernatural  

• None 

Spiritual Content  

• In Celine and Brad’s philosophy class, their professor tells them, “As you can see, we’re beginning with arguments for and against the existence of the god of classical theism.” 

• Religion comes up again in philosophy class. Celine describes how “Mr. Taylor tells [them] all about C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity.” 

by Kate Schuyler