What is Foes & Cons by Carrie Aarons about?

Sawyer Roarke was my best friend.

Growing up, our families were inseparable. We spent summers vacationing at the beach. In the school yard, it was us against the world. Then puberty hit, and we skated the thin line of staying buddies, or becoming more.

Until I accidentally found the pros and cons list he made about whether or not to date me. And there were definitely more bullet points on the no side. Acting out of rage and hurt, I embarrassed him in the most public way possible. Now, we’re enemies.

We’ve spent the last two years tearing each other to pieces. Everyone knows that Blair and Sawyer hate the ground the other walks on, and unfortunately, I got the unpopular end of the stick while he became Mr. Prom King.

Until senior year starts, and I’m tired of running scared. For the first time ever, I stand up to the golden boy with the whip-smart tongue. As the challenges and dares pick up speed, hearts start to fall and feelings get entangled. Despite my initial discovery, I wonder if being caught by each other wouldn’t be so bad.

Except Sawyer has no idea what I found all those years ago. And if the truth comes out about why I pitted us against each other, not only will he add one more con to his list … but he can add my broken heart as well.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Review:

At one point there was a shift in their outward attitudes towards each other, which felt like of like a left turn and more out of the blue (Sawyer does a big grand gesture). There are some events that get started like a scavenger hunt that never get resolved, which was kind of frustrating. I would’ve thought we would’ve seen how prom went, but I don’t think it was all that relevant to the plot. I still expected more backlash from the people who had bullied Blair when suddenly her and Sawyer were together, given their history of the past two years. 

This is classified as a bully romance (at least I’m 99% sure that was how it was advertised), and I don’t know that I’ve read many if any of those (I love enemies-to-lovers but bullying not so much) and jeez were these two brutal to each other — I’m surprised they bounced back so quickly. I think a lot of that had to do with how close their families were, and the connection each of them had to the other’s parent.

Overall, I liked the characters (when they weren’t being mean to each other, of course) and thought it was interesting how misunderstandings can derail even the closest of relationships. Both Blair and Sawyer’s friends were pretty cool, and it would be great to see them pop up in future books, like in some of Carrie’s college series’.

Huge thanks to Carrie for providing me with an eARC to review! The book is out now.