This is a perfect fit for readers who crave a sizzling romance that combines the thrill of competition with the passion of forbidden love, as they follow the tumultuous relationship between two rival coaches who must navigate their intense attraction amidst the high-stakes world of college sports.

I enjoyed this sport romance story with all of the characters. The main characters were Lauren Chase and Jeremy Trent.

Lauren Chase is a volleyball coach for the Ohio State University. She is hoping to get a star recruit play to join the volleyball team. But the person has a twin brother that has join the state of Michigan. She not sure if they will decided to go the same university as her brother. While seeing her star recruit she run cross paths with the coach of Michigan.

Jeremy Trent is a football coach for the state of Michigan. He runs into the Ohio volleyball coach when he visits one of the star player.

This was a fun story to read. It had action and drama throughout. It had a few laughs within.

I received a complimentary copy via Netgalley. This is my honest unbiased opinions.

I received this arc for an honest review.

A recruiting trip for a volleyball coach from Ohio State and a football coach from Michigan have put these two people together. First Lauren Chase is the head coach for the women's volleyball team at Ohio State. She has put pressure on herself because her team has not won the NCAA championship since her first year as coach and so she feels she needs to really add someone to her roster for the new season.
Then you have Jeremey Trent, an assistant coach for the Michigan Wolverines who have already signed the twin brother to the player Lauren is after. After the two of them meet sparks fly but Lauren works at keeping everything hidden for she cannot be falling for a coach from her own rival school. Everything changes when Jeremey begins to find out little secrets about her which really does not help her cause at all. Each one has their own problems at their schools and the author does a good job bringing in everything that goes on with sports and other parts of life. A very good story.

This book is one that I could not put down. I absolutely loved it! Good guy, vegan, Michigan QB football coach/Jeremy and a sassy, foul mouthed, junk food eating, Ohio State volleyball coach/Lauren. Sparks fly when these two opposites attract. Adorable romance with rival sports team drama. Loved Jeremy and Lauren. J.L., this one was a winner.

Pretty hilarious but the female was a bit irritating. Could be better for others. I liked the writing style.

I freaking loved this book. The author did a good job. The games, the relationship and most importantly the simplicity of this book kinda blown my mind. I was holding my breath the whole time from 70% till the last chapter thinking Lauren and Jeremy's gonna break up for some reason. I know I was being paranoid. And when they argued, I thought, this was it. They're gonna break up now. But I was shocked when it didn't even fazed their relationship at all; merely a bump on the road kinda situation. The break up or hurtful stuff never came. I was glad. It's the main reason I loved this book so much.

What an amazing book!

I could not put this book down! It was so witty, and funny and so well balanced for a sports romance! I think this is the first sports romance I thoroughly enjoyed, the author did an amazing job in balancing both sides of the story to make sure it wasn't just one aspect that was more heavily favored. It was such a refreshing thing to see.

And the characters! The main characters were the literal best, honestly, Lauren with her swear words got me every time, it was an art form in itself.

I'm so excited to read other books from Jennifer Lane!

Thank you to Netgalley and Psyched Publishing for the earc in return for an honest review.

As an avid Michigan fan (staring at the block M on the wall in front of me), I had high hopes for this book. Enemies to lovers is also one of my favorite troupes as it allows for hilarious moments. This book didn't hit the mark. It definitely had great moments, but didn't make me laugh out loud as much as I'd hoped. The romance was a bit too easy as well. I'd have a hard time falling for someone from that school down south.

Thank you for allowing me to read it and give my honest opinion.

I don't think this checks the enemies to lovers trope at all. This was an easy lighthearted read about two coaches (different sports) from opposing universities.
Lauren and Jeremy were nice and interesting characters with a well-rounded romance ending.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book received from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

***Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
I've been reading a lot of sports romances lately and I love the enemies-to-lovers trope, this was not exactly what I was expecting. Too much was resolved too quickly and left a lot to be desired. And, I know this is petty, but it was a major turn off that the main character was a smoker.

A quick, easy read. The slow build and tension was missing to really categorize this as a true enemies to lovers trope. Portions of the story wrapped up a bit too quickly and led to some flat pacing.

Oh boy did I enjoy this book. As a lifelong Buckeye fan and knowing many "bi-rival" couples this was just great. I found Lauren to be a bit too crass for me in the beginning but she really grew on me through the story. Jeremy was awesome from the start, I just loved his character and integrity! This was a very fun easy read that I hope others enjoy as much as I did.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC to read for a an honest review.

I enjoyed the characterization of Jeremy and Lauren. He is a football coach for Michigan and she is a volleyball coach for Ohio State, two schools that have a rivalry but these coaches seem to cross paths...often. I would not call this an enemies to lovers story there was not that much animosity between them I liked this story overall when it was more about Jeremy and Lauren, the sidebar characters were annoying and the secondary plot was irritating as well. I also got the references throughout the book that the author was trying to promote Color Street nail stick ems, kind of immature and moronic, in my opinion. Focus on the two main characters, duh..

Still a likeable and recommended book if you can put aside irritating sidebar characters and trying to promote a product.

Thanks to Netgalley, Jennifer Lane and Psyched Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 3/19/21

*Thank you to Psyched publishing, Jennifer Lane and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Lauren Chase is a volleyball coach at Ohio State, and Jeremy is the football coach at Michigan. Both rivals and big 10 schools. While they are both actively recruiting sport superstars, Emma and Evan Watkins, they meet outside their house and are instantly attracted to each other. While Lauren can recruit Emma and Jeremy is able to recruit Evan, they do not let their rivalry impede their relationship.

These are unique characters that the author has created. For example, Lauren is a smoking, junk food eating, addicted to Mountain Dew coach while Jeremy is a vegan who works out regularly. They both have histories which are reconciled in the book. They spend most time trying to hide their relationship from their schools until the secret gets out.

If you love sports romances, this is the book for you. It is very heavy on sports related themes and more focused on the individual sports than the romance.

Well, this book was not what was expecting based on the description. I was expecting a very heated enemies to lovers romance while fighting over recruits (because that’s what the description says it is) however, this book resolved ALL of that by the end of chapter 5 and there were still 21 chapters to go.

Overall this book was just okay for me. Lauren and Jeremy were fine. I had a good sense of who they were and their motivations. I enjoyed some of the side characters, but others felt like caricatures (the gay best friend, the very religious parents, the brutish head coach, etc.). It was an easy read, but not one that I will reread.

Part of my problem with this book was setting it in the “real world” with real schools. I’m sure if I was from the midwest I would have a lot stronger feelings about the OSU / Michigan rivalry, but I don’t even think I knew they were rivals. I think the author was relying too hard on that understood animosity between the two schools to fuel the internal and external conflict, and as someone outside that rivalry I felt very little of that tension. My other big issue with setting it in the real world was name dropping Brigham Young University as a team that OSU beats at volleyball. That is my alma mater. I know for a fact that BYU and OSU play against each other so rarely and BYU’s women’s volleyball team has not lost OSU in at least the last decade. Don’t insult my school like that.

This is kind of random, but it felt very random book, I’m like 99% sure the author sells Color Street (MLM stick on nails), because it was a talking point at three different parts of the book. No joke. At least 3 times in the book Lauren talks about the nail polish strips one of the assistant coaches sold her at a party. The name of the MLM wasn’t dropped, but it was painfully obvious. One of the references was Lauren giving a full-on sales pitch to Jeremy’s mom. It was word for word the sales pitch that Color Street huns give strangers to try to get them to buy and start selling the strips, all that was missing was an excess of emojis for no reason.

I felt very weird about the ending of the book. ***Very mild spoilers ahead*** Where Jeremy ends up felt very very very unrealistic (again it’s the whole these characters live in the real world thin). Also it was extremely weird to me that the first time Lauren and Jeremy say “I love you” is literally after they get engaged. That’s wrong in the real world and wrong on so many levels in the romance genre.

Thank you to NetGalley and Psyched Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Let me tell you, Jennifer Lane knows how to write a fun romance. Rivals is a good time.

Jeremy and Lauren are both young coaches of division one college sport. Both of them have made sacrifices and worked hard to get where they are. When they meet on a recruiting visit for two athletes in the same family sparks fly. There is a catch, they are coaches for rival schools, they can't like each other, right?

Rivals is one of those light reads not to take too seriously, but it also has heart and meaningful moments in spades. A cast of vividly written characters makes Rivals a well-rounded romance.

One line in particular made me admire the author "Beneath the sheen of his windbreaker...." Jennifer Lane had the balls to try and make one of the ugliest items of clothing hot; dare I say she succeeded.

Next time you are looking for that cheeky, fun, romance as an escape pickup Rivals.

I really enjoyed Rivals by Jennifer Lane. This book was expertly written and the story really progressed the way a real relationship would. I liked that we never had to contend with anyone else trying to come between the two main characters. Lauren is funny and really is what I imagine a female head coach would be like. I think Jeremy is a really good guy and I would also think that in real life it would be hard to find a college level football coach that was as moral as Jeremy. Well written and well paced, this book is 5 stars! Thanks NetGalley for the advanced copy.

❤️❤️❤️❤️
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This was a really refreshing and interesting story.
A sports romance between enemies that will have you sighing with pleasure.

I Thoroughly enjoyed this book.
It filled all the right zones and left me very satisfied with the ending.

Jennifer is a new author to me but I’m now off to look up more of her past books .
I pray she brings out more in this series there are some great characters that she could build into excellent stories.

I received an Arc copy of this book and chose to post this review

This is a cute book. The team rivalries made for such a good love story. The character development is great!
This review is my own.

Rivals is a fantastic sports romance. Lauren will put a smile on your face when it comes to her play on swear words. Jeremy will make you swoon. Together Jeremy and Lauren are simply lovely. I love their chemistry and banter. They bring the school rivalries to life and you feel it. Being one that bleeds scarlet and gray myself I just simply love it so much. This was such a refreshing read. I feel in love with these coaches from the very start. I could not get enough.