What’s Not to Love | ARC Review

Synopsis

An academic enemies-to-lovers YA with all the nerdy drama, high school antics, and heartpounding romance of the Netflix original series Never Have I Ever

Since high school began, Alison Sanger and Ethan Molloy have competed on almost everything. AP classes, the school paper, community service, it never ends. If Alison could avoid Ethan until graduation, she would. Except, naturally, for two over-achieving seniors with their sights on valedictorian and Harvard, they share all the same classes and extracurriculars. So when their school’s principal assigns them the task of co-planning a previous class’s ten-year reunion, with the promise of a recommendation for Harvard if they do, Ethan and Alison are willing to endure one more activity together if it means beating the other out of the lead.

But with all this extra time spent in each other’s company, their rivalry begins to feel closer to friendship. And as tension between them builds, Alison fights the growing realization that the only thing she wants more than winning…is Ethan.

Review

If you enjoyed Today, Tonight, Tomorrow, then this is the book for you! Filled with good ‘ol rivalry banter and academic-based competition, this is another must-read from this rom-com author duo.

I really enjoyed the banter in this book. It gave me a vague Elizabeth and Darcy feel which, of course, only made me like it more. Their rivalry was also a lot of fun, but it could get intense sometimes. Honestly, we don’t really even see the romantic side of their relationship until halfway through. There is nothing more than mutually agreed upon destruction until that halfway point. I wouldn’t have minded if a little bit of the romantic feeling awareness began sooner, but it was okay as is.

Alison’s parents are the literal best! I think they were my favorite part of this book. They were so laid back and so funny and just made me want to read a whole book about them. There was a lot of comedic relief whenever they were in a scene. I just wish I could have them in every book read.

One negative is that I didn’t always feel consistency/understand the two main characters’ personalities. I’m not sure if their development was rushed or if their personalities just weren’t clear enough to me, but something wasn’t quite right. Sometimes, when they would say things or do things, it just didn’t quite line up with what I knew about them. I haven’t been able to pinpoint what threw me off so much about them, but once I figure it out, I’ll add it here.

Overall though, this book was a delight! I loved the enemies-to-lovers trope and appreciated the lesson on life after high school this book provided.

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed a gifted and advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rating

To check out my other reviews, click here. Or to check out more books by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka, go to Emily’s GoodReads profile and Austin’s GoodReads profile, or their shared website.