It’s the start of Sadie’s freshman year of college, the start of Sadie allowing herself to fully be who she is, the start of a new era without her longstanding rival by her side continuously upping the ante—or so she thinks.

Seb has basically been by her side since birth. Sure, at one point they were friends, but their near-constant battle of one-upmanship has been going on for a decade. She’s supposed to finally be getting a break from him.

But no, sure enough, there he is also going into the interest meeting for the school’s zine that she has been planning to join for years. And there’s only one open spot on staff and that’s only if the zine can manage to get the proper funding from the school to keep itself in print.

Y’all, this is not how Sadie’s freshman year is supposed to go.

At a glance:
- Single POV
- YA / new adult (kissing only)
- Friends to rivals to lovers
- Coming of age
- People pleaser + the one with charm that seems to effortlessly collect admiration wherever he goes
- Neighbors and family friends
- Straight-laced with a comedic perspective + a “meme lord” with an investigative journalism bent
- Queer rep
- Will absolutely make you hungry

Read it for
- Seb (oh my heart)
- Sadie growing the confidence to share herself with those around her
- The banter
- Some open and honest conversations
- The friendships (even with the bumps along the way)
- The food descriptions
- Betty, the pancake proprietor

Recovering people pleasers, consider yourself forewarned: Sadie has to learn to stop making herself responsible for maintaining the balance for everyone. She has to learn not to always subjugate her own needs to those of her family. It’s a learning process for her.

I received an advance copy of the ebook from Wednesday Books. All review opinions are my own.

"The Rival" is an enemies-to-lovers YA rom-com about two former high school rivals who are now competing for a position on their college zine's staff. This was my first time reading one of Emma Lord's young adult novels. I always enjoy a good rival story, but I didn't totally love this one. It was a slow-burn romance, and some of the story dragged a bit. I really liked Sadie as our main character. Even though she frustrated me at times, she actually reminded me a lot of my overachieving self at her age, so I felt connected to her. I think I would have liked this book a bit more if we had a few chapters from Seb's point of view. Overall, a cute and fun story that I think young adult/new adult readers will really enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Emma Lord has her system down, and delivers every time. You know exactly what you’re signing up for in every one of her books, and I can appreciate that.
- Delicious desert and/or breakfast food central to the plot? Check
- Family problems? Check
- FMC with a quirky sense of humor? Check

I knew Emma Lord could do rivals to lovers after her book When You Get the Chance featuring the same trope that I adored (and of course Tweet Cute as well), and she nailed it yet again. The characters are full of so much heart and depth. Emma Lord’s characters always have the perfect amount of contradiction— being bold and brave and chaotic yet serious and subdued at the same time. They always feel so much more realistic than other romances I read, and on that alone I’d recommend this book.
But this book also tackles great points and themes like being yourself around others, funding discrepancies for college sports and organizations, and burn out in college (especially when it comes to keeping scholarships) to name a few. The competition to be a writer for the zine was the perfect back drop to explore those ideas, but I felt like it never really took center stage as the characters spent most of the plot getting up to various shenanigans, like a reverse murder mystery party and dorm food cook off, which wasn’t a bad thing, although the situations were a bit too quirky to be realistic (at least in my experience).

My only complaint is that I thought it felt a bit repetitive and I would have liked more to happen. The characters were pretty much in love with each other for the duration of the book, and I wanted more development or angst. Maybe if they didn’t already have such a history I would have enjoyed the development more, but then so much would be different.

Overall, this was a fun book I’d recommend if you’re in the market for a new YA college book, but it doesn’t stand out against Emma Lord’s other books. Although I will say, as a current college student, I don’t understand how my university doesn’t have an Alphabet Party or interactive theater experiences, I am truly missing out.

This was another fun YA by Emma Lord. I have to add that I am a MUCH older adult and I still enjoy Lord’s books. It was a great twist on the frenemies to more theme. I really liked the family side plots and Sadie’s roommate was a plus. Sadie and Seb were rivals from childhood although their families were best friends. This meant they knew each other quite well, but Sadie was so wrapped up in her own goals that she really didn’t “get” Seb. I have to confess that I really liked Seb so much more than Sadie. Her character was a little too clueless and rather self-absorbed even though he was super sweet to her. They were freshmen in college, so there were a lot of college situations, and of course a competition, along with various misunderstandings. It all untangled satsfactorily and the romance was sweet.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for an ARC in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

something about an emma lord ya novel hits every time! they are just so face-paced, bingeable, and filled with the best banter and cutest moments. this was such a fun take on a rivals to lovers story because they had such a deep backstory and so many layers to their complex relationship, seeing as while they have been rivals for years, their families are also best friends and they have known each other since birth. this created such a fun dynamic as you really get to see how well they know each other in such unique and intimate ways and the brief moments of understanding that pass between the two which were just so beautiful. the banter between sadie and seb was too good and there were definitely a few moments that had me giggling aloud with excitement. such a fun and cute read that I simply could not put down!

Fire up your griddle, flip those pancakes, and get ready for a sweet rom-com!

Yet again, Emma Lord delivers another YA (or rather, new adult?) win! The Rival is great for fans of the slow burn / childhood friends tropes. Throw in a healthy dose of family dynamics and college drama, and you have yourself a read. I really enjoyed Sadie's and Seb's back-and-forth banter with an edge of competitiveness. Great dialogue and realistic conflict. Sadie's development made me groan at times but really fit the genre. My only downgrade was pacing... I thought we really could have gotten to it a little quicker. But the characters and setting and plot helped tilt this closer to a 4 star read than a 3 star read. (My true rating falls somewhere between 3.5 and 3.75 stars.)

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books for an early copy of this book in exchange for a honest review. I loved this book and it is my favorite troupe. I enjoyed the storyline and the development of the characters. I would definitely recommend this book.

This rivals to more story has all the charm (and snacks) we expect from an Emma Lord novel. I’m so grateful to @WednesdayBooks for this copy with an autographed bookplate and to @macmillanaudio for an ALC of this one!!

For as long as she can remember, Sadie has been battling next door neighbor and family friend, Seb to be the best. When she got the coveted spot at their dream college, she thought she was leaving the rivalry in the past, so she’s less than thrilled to run into Seb on campus where he informs her he got a spot off the waitlist. And not only is he here, he’s also vying for the one staff job on their college’s famous zine—the zine Sadie has dreamed of working on for years.

There’s a lot to love about this one. Seb is a doll. Sadie is a great friend who works to make things right when she messes up. Sadie’s family is hysterical. There’s a great subplot about what organizations get college funding and why as well as how hard it can be to maintain a sports’ scholarship and the pressure that comes with it. And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the pancakes. I definitely enjoyed the ride with Seb and Sadie even though it was obvious where it was headed from the get go. My one quibble was that there was a bit too much ruminating about everything for my taste. There were many moments in the book where Sadie had a mental breakthrough only to not act on it and have a similar breakthrough chapters later. I wished she figured out some of these things sooner, but her process was probably pretty realistic.

Sadie and Seb have been family friends and mates since forever. But along the way they’ve become friends to enemies.

Away from home, they’re both figuring out their new roles as college freshman as well as their new friendship dynamic.

It was a sweet YA rom com with little to no spice.

I enjoyed the little and big revelations our characters had and find that it’s easily relatable.

Emma Lord has such a talent for writing friendships and family with just the right amount of drama to keep is realistic, frustrating and finally heartwarming.

I really enjoyed Sadie and Seb’s story. The way they went from childhood friends, to the funniest rivals ever while maintaining a “friendship facade” to their families, to lovers was so cute and fun to read.

I did read this on my kindle as well as listen and I really loved the audio. Jesse Vilinsky did a wonderful job putting the perfect amount of emotion into this story with her narration. 🙌🏻

Emma Lord writes some of my favorite YA romances. I love the banter, the chemistry, and rivalry in this one. I think it would make the cutest movie. The supporting characters were also hilarious and sweet. Can’t wait to read the next one.

🥞 Happy Pub Day to @dilemmalord 🥞

Thank you @wednesdaybooks for the #gifted copy of "The Rival." Extra big hugs to @just_talking_to_my_shelf and @bookswithnopictures for organizing the super fun traveling book! [PUB DAY: OUT NOW (Jan 21, 2025)]

I will now and forever only eat my pancakes with sprinkles because of this sweet young adult book.

Emma writes the B E S T & S W E E T E S T little books. This one has a special place in my heart because it gave me so much nostalgia from college.

Seriously, it sent me straight back to my dorm room living, sweatpants wearing, Ramen dinner days. It made me want to hug my college besties super big.

I loved that she included all the stresses that we all went through... the freedom... the extracurriculars... getting good grades... discovering independence... taking care of family... mental health... juggling being an athlete... navigating relationships. It's all perfectly composed in this story!

My favorite part had to be all the chaotic antics between the different clubs on campus. (Hint: the antics are for a cause...) You will get a kick out of the mischief that the Random Acts of Chaos get into.

Oh...and don't even get me started on ✨️BETTY✨️

Emma's latest is just the definition of fun. You'll be so happy reading it that your face will physically hurt from smiling.

🥞 Rivals to Lovers
🥞 College Setting
🥞 Best Friends
🥞 B A N T E R
🥞 Slow Burn

❔️#QOTD What's your favorite Emma Lord book? If you haven't read her yet (and you probably should), what's your favorite sweet snack?

Truly... A classic Emma filled with random, unique, and quirky goodness we've all comes to love so so so much.

If you want to know anything about my reading tastes (at least for straight YA romance), all you need to know is that I am an Emma Lord stan first and everything else second.

Emma Lord does many things well. Her friends-to-lovers stories can’t be beat, with You Have a Match, When You Get the Chance, and The Getaway List ranking at the top of my favorite books of hers. However, her enemies- or rivals-to-lovers stories are also strong—Tweet Cute had a online enemies relationship between two people who knew each other in real life, while When You Get the Chance had two rivals from a high school theater department competing for an internship.

The Rival should have been a slam dunk for Lord, combining tropes that she is already well-versed in. It has the long history between the love interests of Begin Again, as Sadie and Seb’s parents are two sets of best friends, and the pair grew up next door to each other and in constant contact. If you like stories where the main couple know each other better than anybody else could even attempt, this is for you. Lord also proved with When You Get the Chance that she can do rivals-to-lovers driven together by a competition effectively, and, indeed, I could see a lot of parallels between these two books.

I’ll begin with the thing the book does best, which is the connection between Sadie and Seb. They have known each other their entire lives, grew up best friends, and were driven apart when a prank turned malicious in middle school. From there, they spent their time competing for all of the same extracurriculars and grades at school, pranking each other at home, and putting on a nice face for their families so that they wouldn’t know about the animosity between them. The story starts with Sadie thinking she has finally escaped Seb’s orbit, as he didn’t get into their first-choice college, until Seb shows up having gotten off the waitlist They now must compete for the single staff position available on their college’s prestigious zine. The tension between Sadie and Seb is palpable—while many rivals-to-lovers stories begin with the protagonists not knowing they have feelings for each other, Sadie knows from the start that she is attracted to Seb but tries to convince herself it doesn’t matter. The deep connection between the two drives the book’s plot, as both work for what they want but know they can’t get it without the other losing. Their chemistry is tangible in every conversation, to a point where the reader truly can’t help but root for them.

The plot falters a little, however, when it comes to Sadie’s character. She wants to be a comedy writer and refers several times to her running internal comedic monologue, but her narrative voice just isn’t funny enough for that to truly be believable. It’s not that I was expecting biting wit from Emma Lord, but the choice to write this book in the first-person meant that the disconnect between Lord’s natural writing style and the personality of this protagonist is striking and disrupts the reader’s immersion. It’s not that the prose is bad, but rather that it just doesn’t quite work for this protagonist.

I’m not quite sure what to say about the most prominent side plot of the book, which is Sadie’s college cutting funding for student organizations. I’m not sure if it’s because Emma Lord hasn’t been in college for a while or if we’re just supposed to buy that this is a very strangely run college, but so much about the budget issues that were a central plot point just did not make sense to me, at least in comparison with how I know my university runs its budget. There was just too much going on, and Lord’s worldbuilding choices seemed strange—why are there no typical clubs (Model UN, Debate, a regular newspaper, etc.) but there’s an Apocalypse Club and a Paranormal Investigation Club? What does Sadie’s roommate’s scholarship and strenuous athletic schedule have to do with cutting funding for clubs? Why can’t the clubs do fundraisers to supplement school funding? There were just so many things going on in this plot that didn’t help much to develop Sadie as a character or drive her and Seb’s relationship forward. It’s fun and chaotic and a good time, but I had so many questions about it as well.

There’s also a smaller note of it being unclear who the target audience is meant to be. It’s marketed as YA, and the plot complexity and maturity of the characters definitely mark it as YA (there’s no mention of sex outside of a poor sexual education system for one), but the characters curse all the time (“f**k” is dropped 42 times), leaving me unsure of whom, exactly, I’m supposed to recommend this to. It’s bridging the gap between YA and NA, so if you like both then you’ll enjoy it, but it’s written in such a way as to be difficult to place in either category firmly.

I want to be clear that this is an excellent read. Emma Lord is at the top of her romance-writing game here, with Sadie and Seb being quite possibly my favorite couple of hers (and, if you can’t tell, I’m very familiar with her work). The competition setting is fun, and the chaotic personalities of the two protagonists makes the book a wholly entertaining read. Lord also uses the opportunity to talk about sex ed, particularly the lack of information for queer teenagers, in a way that I do think is important to address in a book about adjusting to life at college and figuring out how to be an independent person. The things I’ve raised as concerns aren’t dealbreakers at all, and rather are small weaknesses in Lord’s writing that are slightly strange for somebody usually so adept at writing YA contemporary. I would wholeheartedly recommend The Rival to anybody who’s a fan of both YA and NA contemporary books or who’s just looking for a cute romance about transitioning to college life and adulthood. 4/5 stars.

In The Rival by Emma Lord, Sadie finally beats her lifelong academic rival, Seb, by earning the only spot at her dream college—until he gets off the waitlist and forces her to compete again, this time for a spot on the school’s prestigious zine. As she juggles family chaos, self-doubt, and surprising feelings for Seb, they uncover flaws in the school’s system that force them to work together, revealing they may be more evenly matched than they ever imagined.

Emma Lord delivers another delightful hit with The Rival, a charming rivals-to-lovers story brimming with wit and heart. Set against the vibrant backdrop of a college campus, Sadie and Seb are dynamic, well-drawn characters whose personal growth is just as compelling as their fiery competition. The banter and rivalry between them sparkle, making every shared moment feel electric, while the college events they navigate together add a playful and authentic touch to the story. As their chemistry grows, you’ll find yourself rooting for them to drop their guard and finally admit the feelings that are so clearly written in the stars. If you’re in the mood for a fun, feel-good young adult romcom, The Rival is a must-read!

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

♡ Thank you for the free ARC, Wednesday Books and NetGalley. Thank you for the free ALC, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley. And thank you for the finished copy, Wednesday Books!

I have thoroughly enjoyed the Emma Lord books that I have read, and this was another fun one! And another adorable cover, too. I loved Sadie and Seb together. This story is for fans of Rainbow Rowell and Lynn Painter. If you love a sweet young adult romance with witty banter and a bit of rivalry, this is one to add to your TBR.

Another adorable YA romance from Emma Lord! Sadie and Sebastian used to be friends as children but after an unfortunate puppet incident, they became rivals-one-upping each other at everything. Sadie wants to be a comedy writer and is thrilled to be in the running for her new college's zine "Newsbag" -until she realizes that she's up against Sebastian for the only available spot. As the two spar both personally and professionally, Sadie is forced to figure out who she really is, who she wants to be and who she wants to spend time with. Of course Sebastian is her match. It was fun watching her come into her own. This story made me hungry for pancakes. Just a warning!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for my honest review.

Sadie is excited to kick off her freshman year of college as she pursues her passion for comedy writing and gets a break from her chaotic family... until she finds out her high school academic rival Seb got off the waitlist and she's competing with him all over again.

I love Emma Lord's young adult books and especially appreciated the college setting of this one. The characters are trying to find their place in the world, figuring out who they are and who they want to be (with a slow-burn romance thrown in of course). I loved the teasing friendship between Seb and Sadie, and how they supported each other through their complicated homesickness with a secret pancake hangout.

There are fun college antics and a great cast of supporting characters. If you're looking for a heartwarming book with chemistry, pick this one up!

Happy release day to the sweetest college romance I’ve read yet 🥹

This book did such a wonderful job of capturing the roller coaster that is freshman year. On one hand, you’re an adult! You get to make decisions for yourself! On the other hand, you’re an adult but still feel like a kid, and you have absolutely no idea what you are doing!

I loved getting to read Sadie’s POV on this experience. She feels the weight of family and outside expectations, and she wants college to be her fresh start! She has big dreams of joining the school newspaper and figuring out who “college Sadie” is. And this process just felt so real and set a great foundation for all of the other plot points.

Speaking of other plot points, the romance in this story was so fun and sweet!! The rivals to lovers plotline was top tier. Emma does such a beautiful job of creating a rivalry so real you’re unsure how it’ll be anything else, and then she turns it around with small moments over time that make for a realistic transition. They’re such an easy pair to root for, and I had such a sweet time reading their story 🥹

This book is for you if you enjoy sweet and mostly lighthearted coming of age stories! If you’re a fan of rivals to lovers and tender romance! Or if you’ve ever wondered what college freshman Sammy was like haha!! (I have never felt more like a character was written for college Sammy than Sadie 😂🤭)

Thank you Wednesday books and Emma Lord for this early copy! It was such a joy to read :)

3.5 stars rounded up.

I love Emma Lord, and I normally love her books, but this one was just a like for me. The main characters were okay, but Sadie got on my nerves quite a bit in the first half of the book. I felt like she just blamed everything in her life that went wrong on Seb or her family. Honestly, it really seemed like she could have used some time with a therapist to work through her issues.

The romance was sweet, though, so I liked that aspect.

The Rival was such a cute and quick book! It’s a YA following a pair of childhood rivals as they embark on the new world of college life.

The banter between these two was so cute - it was innocent but adorable because it was SO clear from the beginning that Seb was already pining for Sadie and I loved it. It’s such an easy read and the words were naturally flowing, nothing felt awkward at all and I was able to follow the plot. There’s pining, some angst, and some super cute moments between these two.

We also have some family trouble in the background of the book - Sadie is the middle child of the book and has some negative feelings surrounding her family, mainly on how they make her feel like the ‘reliable’ kid since she had to grow up from such a young age. This felt so relatable and I quickly built an emotional connection with her.