5 ⭐ 0 🌶️ 5 🎧

Emma never ceases to make me feel all the feels. Her coming of age books bring you back to that point in your life when everything feels like it's end all be all and one little mistake can ruin your life... In The Rival we get so much enemies to lovers goodness but with an unexpected touch of childhood best friends to lovers, it comes together in the perfect rivals to lovers story.

I really enjoyed Sadie and Seb. They were both flawed in ways that made them feel like they could have been your best friends. The push and pull of their relationship was really fun to watch, especially as they took on the administration. I also really enjoyed watching their relationships with friends and family side characters grow, especially Christina and Joey.

The audio was fantastic. I can't remember if Jesse Vilinksy has done other Emma books, but her acting and narrating is phenomenal. I felt like I was in Sadie's mind and felt so much while listening.

I went into The Rival knowing nothing except for the fact that I like how lighthearted Emma Lord books can be... which is exactly what I was in the mood for. It did not disappoint! We meet Sadie and Sadie. Childhood friends (their parents are all besties), neighbours, and long time rivals for as long as they can remember.

I loved the flow and progression between Sadie and Seb, as well as their journey navigating their first year of college. It felt very natural. One thing that is a pet peeve of mine in books of this genre is when the main character isolates themselves to the point of alienating themselves from their friends, family, and love interest... however, none of that was present here which filled me with much joy! Sadie had such a strong support system even as she navigated through a new environment alongside Seb. It was quite wholesome and such a feel good and happy read!

A cute coming of age. Enemies/rivals to lovers. A sweet story. Loved the family and friendship dynamics that were included.
Great narration.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this book!!

What a great book! I really enjoyed this book. I couldn’t put it listening . The author has such a good writing style. This was a first for me by this author but will not be my last! I enjoyed the characters. They had good chemistry.

3 stars

Emma Lord has become quite the prolific YA romance writer over the past few years, and, of course, some of these projects are more compelling than others. This one is good - for the genre - but lacks the special something that well versed readers will hope can make it stand out in the crowd.

Sadie and Seb are remarkably intertwined. They're so close that they grew up with a shared backyard. As an only child, Seb has felt the ongoing pressure from his parents to perform. Sadie's parents - and really Sadie and her family as a whole - have been an incredible oasis where Seb feels free to just be himself. Sadie, of course, has a totally different relationship with her family and is just growing into appreciating them for their quirks. The pair are off pursuing their higher ed dreams now, and this space from their known surroundings allows them to grow just a bit.

As the title suggests, the two leads have been rivals for the bulk of their lives, though it does appear that Sadie has committed to this for longer than Seb, perhaps. She is, in some ways, absolutely insufferable, and while he is not perfect, I cannot figure out why he stuck it out with her (unless he just really, really wants to be part of that family, which, at their age, is fully acceptable).

This is a formulaic YA romance without surprises, and the highlight for me was much more in the relationships with ancillary characters than in the focal connection. That noted, readers who come to this looking to scratch a very particular itch will feel satisfied. The rest of us? We will be left hoping for a brighter spark in the next one. I'll be in the later camp, but to be clear, my meh feelings about this one overall do not change my lasting appreciation for what Lord has been putting together in the genre.

This was cute! It's definitely a VERY angsty teen feel and it feels like they're in high school rather than college. This might make sense though since they are still freshmen. I guess I probably acted like that too in my first year of uni, I just don't remember!

SO CUTE
The pancakes and the sprinkles?? I love when she goes to the pancake place and the woman is like, what is with you kids, this other punk just asked me the same thing. And Seb is sitting there. One of my fave scenes.

Also my fave line in this book- "You know how it is, can't stay away from things that don't like me." I was kicking my feet at this.

I love an enemies to lovers- they call this 'rivals to lovers'. It's a fun trope. I liked both characters but I found the main character to be a little whiny for my taste. Which, in all honestly, I think I just don't like the teen angst like I used to. I think for someone 15-20 this is probably a perfect amount of angst.

I would like to note that I physically gagged everytime they said the word 'Zine' (Zeen). Do people actually call magazines this? I wasn't clear if that was the name of their specific magazine or what was happening because I thought it was called news bag but then they would say 'the zine' *queue gag* lol. Anyways, I just wanted to mention that because it was cringey.

Because this is an audiobook I will rate the narrator- 3/5. Her voice just wasn't awesome which is completely preference based. I'm VERY picky with audiobook narrators. Funnily enough I liked the voice she put on for Seb better than the voice for the main character.

“The Rival” by Emma Lord is a sweet YA romantic comedy.

I read “Tweet Cute” from Emma Lord and it was very cute so I wanted to read more.

In this book we have rivals Sadie and Seb that compete for the same position at the college newspaper. They were neighbors growing up and competing against each other all throughout school.

I liked the story, but we only have Sadie’s POV so we just see Seb from her subjective perspective. It would have been interesting to find out more about him.

The audiobook is narrated by Jesse Vilinsky. This is my first time listening to a book that she narrated and I think she did a good job with all the characters. I was able to differentiate them and it was easy to follow the story.

I would recommend this book if you like YA novels in an academic setting with rivals to lovers.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the ALC. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Two high school rivals find themselves competing for the only open spot on the campus newspaper. Great on audio narrated by Jesse Vilinsky, this was full of snark, humor and the two leads had amazing chemistry. Highly recommended for fans of authors like Lynn Painter or Rachel Lynn Solomon. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!