Exes & Foes by Amanda Woody (2024)
Even if the journey of the love story here is as inevitable as the sun coming up each morning, you won't find a sweeter, more heartfelt YA romantic triangle. It's loaded with hugs, tears, long overdue emotional showdowns and a sigh-worthy ending you can't wait to wallow in even if you knew it was coming all along.
Caleb and Emma, were lifelong best friends until something dire and unspoken split them apart in 8th grade. But yet their undeniable attraction and unspoken love for each other has continued to make them battling frenemies through high school . Caleb, gentle, gangly and easily bullied, still finds himself often protected by the feistly, hot tempered Emma, whose reputation for not suffering fools (and bullies) gladly lands her in trouble over and over. Each of them copes with their separate parental woes....Caleb, from his indifferent divorced dad who can barely spare the time to meet him and Emma from her toxic mother, who's spent a lifetime belittling and denigrating her.
Now a new complication comes between them - they've both fallen hard for Juliet, the new girl in school who's so adorable, she's impossible to resist.
They agree to engage in an all out competition for Juliet's heart, with the winner declared as the first one who kisses her. And the race is on, with no quarter given.
The ongoing drama in Caleb and Emma's home life throws all kinds of bumps in the road for them, so readers should be prepared for multiple tender, heart rending moments, right up through the final pages. No real surprises here, but if you can't resist a book that literally envelopes you with warm, fuzzy feelings, look no further.
4 stars (****)
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