"Shipped" by Meredith Tate is a great teen novel especially if you enjoy the classic enemies-to-lover trope. This can also be very relatable for many readers since it deals with the stress of grades and getting into college which many kids go through and may pique the interest of people who love sci-fi and fanfics which the characters enjoy. In this book there are two main characters named Stella and Wesley who both are trying to be valedictorians, therefore, they hated each other and kept trying to get a better GPA than the other. Both of them love sci-fi, specifically Warship Seven, which was canceled after one season. Through the struggles of life, they found comfort in the characters and relate to them which made the show close to their heart. Due to this, they both are going to SciCon which causes them to meet online with different names. While they get close online, they start becoming closer offline. The question is will they stop being enemies? Overall, this book was delightful to read without having a dull moment. The book does change the narrator in each chapter which I enjoyed but may be annoying for some so if you don't like that style, you may not enjoy the book. The one thing which I didn't love was the mini chapters, but they weren't terrible just a bit boring sometimes. If you like high school teen dramas, are a fan of sci-fi, or love the classic enemies to lover trope this would be a great book for you.
About This Book
Stella Greene and Wesley Clarke are Gene Connolly Memorial High School's biggest rivals. While the two have been battling it out for top student, it's a race to the bottom when it comes to snide comments and pulling the dirtiest prank. For years, Stella and Wes have been the villain in each other's story, and now it's all-out war.
And there is no bigger battle than the one for valedictorian, and more specifically, the coveted valedictorian scholarship.
But Stella and Wes have more in common than they think. Both are huge fans of Warship Seven, a popular sci-fi TV drama with a dedicated online following, and the two start chatting under aliases—without a clue that their rival is just beyond the screen. They realize that they're both attending SciCon this year, so they plan to dress in their best cosplay and finally meet IRL.
While tensions at school are rising and SciCon inches closer and closer, the enemy lines between Stella and Wes blur when a class project shows them they might understand one another better than anyone else—and not just in cosplay.
