The Only Thing Worse Than Me is You by Lily Anderson

It's senior year and that means that the war that's been raging between Trixie Watson and Ben West since first grade - when he broke her arm on the monkey bars - has reached its peak. With just one year left, Trixie has made it her goal to come out the ultimate winner in the fray by vowing to edge Ben out of his third place spot in their class ranking for good. But when a string of cheating accusations begins making the rounds, eventually targeting one of Trixie's best friends, she finds that her efforts are inevitably affected. Rather than focusing on Ben, Trixie is determined to clear her friend's name. And it turns out her worst enemy may be her best ally in this fight!

Oooh, Lily Anderson's debut is CYUTE!!! All caps worthy for sure!

Let's start with the fact that Trixie and her super genius friends are nerd girls to the max, with impeccable nerd taste. I mean, I knew this just reading the official synopsis - Trixie is a Doctor Who fan and all Whovians know a fellow Whovian is by default awesome!

Trixie is witty and can spin an insult at the drop of a hat, a super power she uses most often against Ben West, her nemesis supreme, and it makes for some hilarious reading. Don't worry, he does fight back. But then a funny thing happens: one of Trixie's friends begins dating one of Ben's friends, bringing the two groups together for way more socializing than previous years. Shared space in the form of the cafeteria lunch table means Trixie and Ben are forced into an awkward truce for the sake of their friends. And of course when their friends become caught up in the growing plagiarization scandal, they find common ground.

All of the teens are uber intelligent. The school they attend is one specifically catered to gifted teens, offering classes like "the physics of Star Trek and the chemistry of emotions" (Sounds a bit like my own college special topics dream school! Special topics being the cool but limited classes my own university offered on things like SFF lit and History of Film.) But the school is incredibly focused on academic standing and rank. So much so that when the cheating scandal breaks, no adult or student really questions the whole thing, immediately blaming the high stress and requirements of the school as the obvious reason any one of their students would break and turn to cheating. Except Trixie. Trixie knows that her best friend isn't the one behind the whole thing and stands by her no matter what, making her a pretty fabulous friend indeed. One who, although she's not a troublemaker or problem child in any way, is willing to test those boundaries if necessary.

The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You is delightfully fun and charming. A teen contemporary that'll give you the warm and fuzzies even if you've fallen victim to the Cybermen! In fact, it's a book the Doctor could probably use to combat the Cybermen considering their goal is to wipe out all emotion. I'd place money on the fact that Anderson's tale could replace a "Delete!" with a chuckle or giggle for sure! (If you're a Dalek, there's probably no hope for you.)

Rating: 4/5