This was ADORABLE.

Despite taking place during freshman year of college, this story definitely read more like a YA romance vs. New Adult, but I thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless! This has everything in it that I've come to love from Emma Lord's writing - coming of age stories, first loves, complicated family dynamics, close friendships, great banter, and life lessons that everyone can take something away from.

Sadie and Seb are the true definitions of "frenemies" - long time (family) friends who are always competing and trying to one-up each other. Their dynamic was so fun and watching them grow into themselves and finally coming to terms with how they feeling about each other was a delight.

Frenemies fall in love in this collegiate romance. Seb and Sadie met when they were babies, became rivals in grade school, and have been competing ever since. And now, they're vying for a single spot on the staff of their college's campus 'zine, the launching point of many famous writers' careers. But they discover they actually can get farther in life if they work together.

This was a mostly fluffy, zany romantic comedy with a LOT of will they, won't they...almost too much. I thought it was written really well, but Sadie's manic narration was way over the top for me and her family was more annoying than quirky. Seb was a really sweet character but I was confused about how he fit into the story at times. The book overall felt much longer than it needed to be. It's too bad because I was really vibing with it and laughing at the characters' antics until about 40 percent of the way in, when I felt like the action was stalling.

The audio narration wasn't bad. Sort of like Leslie Knope on steroids. You may not need your daily coffee if you listen at 1.5x speed.

I always really enjoyed Emma Lord's books and this one wasn't any different. It wasn't necessary my favorite but it still had all the things I love about the author's books. The plot was fun, and I enjoyed the characters a lot. The audiobook was great as well, the narrator did a fantastic job!

I just finished The Rivals by Emma Lord and this is my review.

Sadie sighs a huge breath of relief when she gets to the school of her choice because her long time rival is going somewhere else for school until he is moved from the waitlist and ends up on campus. Her blood boils instantly when Seb is there to continue their rivalry. Trouble is the more time they have to spend together, the more they can see past their rivalry but something more is going on at the school and it's going to take more than the pair of them to bring it to attention.

I didn’t think I was going to like this one. I got the audio and the e-book from @netgalley and honestly the narration was utter perfection and I had a hard time switching to reading.

I loved the rivalry. I thought it was done really well. They weren’t enemies, not really, they were childhood friends who’s friendship turned to a rivalry they never really came back from and it was fun. So much fun to watch them one up each other. The fact they were neighbors growing up too added to the complexity. It was really entertaining. I really enjoyed the setting. Being on a college campus really made it feel more exciting.

Watching them work together when they are competing for the same opportunity made for some compelling banter and they had undeniable chemistry!

I thought it all worked really well together and I enjoyed both Sadie and Seb, even though his name started to feel made up the more I heard it haha.

All round solid YA read.

Read if you like

- Slow-burn romance
- Rivals/enemies to lovers
- Childhood best friends to academic rivals
- University life
- Coming-of-age

4 stars

Thank you to @macmillanaudio and @stmartinspress for my gifted copies

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The atmosphere felt very accurate, the opening scene of having 2 buildings with the same name made me laugh out loud since I went through the exact same thing when the first day of University and I can confirm it is incredibly confusing! The characters both enjoyable but I did prefer Seb! both were easy to relate to and likable. THE BANTER!!!!! Omg it was just so good! It felt very relatable honestly, lot of weirdly similar life experiences in this book which was fun. There were many pacing issues throughout this which did make the book drag on a bit.

The last 30% ish did loose me a little. The conflict with her sisters and her best friend was a little dumb and I had a few issues with it but the resolution was well done.

I will say this is my favorite Emma Lord to date.

I’m a big fan of an author and liked the narration. But this one felt a bit too unrealistic for me. However, it was a sweet and easy read.

🗯Thoughts/sassy musings:

Let me start with a positive - I adore the cover and I am a faithful Emma Lord reader. I really enjoyed The Getaway List.

Buuuuuuut….to say I loathed this book would be kind. The immaturity of the MCs had me wondering wth?? While I look at it as YA these are college students that had no business leaving their mommy daddy nest because they clearly still need to be on the tit.

By 50% I had zero clue what the point was and that I only wanted to never read a book ever again.

Anyways, I will still continue to support the author because she’s a cool queen but this was not the book for me. I already had taken the picture and edited it so I had to post a little something something.

Loved this one! It’s a YA with more substance than expected. The narrator was one of my favorites, she does a great job with every book. Highly recommend this one!

Emma Lord has an incredible ability to capture all of the wild, wonderful, and messy parts of being a teenager. The Rival deals with the big feelings of being away from home for the first time, trying to carve out a place for yourself in the world, and also falling in love in such a fun and nuanced way. As per usual, the side characters are lovable and quirky and the desserts are mouthwatering.

We all know the stars have to align to have a good romance, but Emma Lord aligns galaxies to have the picture-perfect setup for her new YA novel. Seb and Sadie were high school rivals when they unexpectedly ended up at the same college after Seb got off the waitlist. Of course, they're not just high school rivals... turns out their dads were best friends, so their families love each other and are even next-door neighbors, and Sadie has known Seb since she was 3 days old. But due to childhood antics, Sadie and Seb have been competing against each other to be the best in their class, and naturally, that's going to continue now that they're at the same college, competing for the same spot writing for NewsMag, the school's nationally famous "zine". Predictably, over the course of the competition, Sadie realizes she might possibly have feelings for Seb, which everyone else has known forever, and leaves the reader echoing the plea of so many characters: "Just kiss already!"

\\\\\ 3.5 \\\\\

This one was quite cute, exactly what you can expect of a young adult romance with all the rom-com vibes.

Read if you like:
Rivals to lovers
Childhood bestfriends
Academic set-up
Coming of age story
Slow-burn romance

My thoughts:
The bond between our two characters was easy to understand, and I enjoyed their friendship quite a lot. Even though they stuck to saying they were enemies, you still could feel how deeply they cared for each other. The fact that they knew one another so well, made for really sweet interactions. It was a bit hard to not get mad at the miscommunication at the chore of their rivalry.

I have to admit that I would have loved for this one to be a double POV because I had a hard time connecting with Sadie, I did not always agree with how she acted, meanwhile, Seb was simply perfect to me. It would have certainly helped my reading experience to get to his POV once in a while.

The first part of the book was more compelling to me and went by far more quickly than the second part. I'm not someone who enjoys conflict and confrontations, and at some point in the book it was all that was happening and that was not appealing to me. While I do appreciate some deeper stuff, it definitely dragged on and I just wanted to get back to the more quirky and fun vibe.

Overall, the plot was interesting with a touch of humour and a heartwarming side as well. I always love seeing characters learning to be their true self and find their path in life.

As for the audiobook, the narrator did a great job and it was an enjoyable one!

Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the ALC. All opinions are my own.

This is my 3rd Emma Lord book and I she definitely has a knack for writing very sweet, YA rom-coms that offer a little bit of depth to them. In this book, we meet Sadie and Seb, two people who have no choice but to be in each other's lives and Sadie is not always happy about that... or is she?

Things that work well in this book: an "enemies" to lovers where neither person is a bully, create a will they/won't they dynamic that is both obvious yet charming, and a plot that really serves this dynamic well. If you could mash up Today, Tonight, Tomorrow and Better than the Movies, I feel like it would put you in the ballpark of how this book feels.

Things that didn't work for me: the "resolution" with Sadie and her younger sister who, I'm so sorry, was a very frustrating character and her affection for Seb could have had led to much more interesting concepts and conversations.

This book is very sweet and warm and sometimes you want to shake Sadie and Seb a little bit, but generally a very good time.

I thought the narration for this audiobook was great. Jesse Vilinsky is one of my favorite YA romcom narrators. She brings a lot of charm, warmth, and realistic emotions to her characters that serves the book very well. The narration feels real and believable and I really enjoyed this listen.

Thank you to MacMilllan Audio, the publshers, and NetGalley for this ARC Audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Rival by Emma Lord in quick, rapid fire thoughts.

-this dedication is on point! (Obviously I need a snack now!)
-eeekkk! Love when there's a backstory for our characters
-wish I had attended this fun college
-a fresh start and new attitude give us a heroine to root for!
-rivals to lovers vibes with a hint of jealousy
-a diverse group is in Sadie's life - we love to see it!
-multiple college experiences portrayed means everyone can relate
-found family representation both at school and at home
-Sadie's character arc!!! (Also, Sadie's parents get gold stars!)
-loved the message and theme so much it hurts
-ummm... also pancakes!

I'm not sure if I should really say this or not... but the voice Jesse Vilinsky used when narrating Seb's voice was so swoon worthy! Vilinsky perfectly captured the emotions Sadie was experiencing, summing up her character wonderfully! I absolutely loved the monotone voice used for Rowan; it was phenomenal!

All in all, this is exactly what I've now come to expect and love from Lord's writing: fun plot and lovable characters! Can't wait for her next book!

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books, Macmillan Audio and Macmillan Young Listeners for the complimentary copies to read and review.

I liked this. but feel it was definitely geared toward a less mature audience. The main the character was a bit..much. This was probably my least favorite Emma Lord book.

Rating: 4/5
I received the eARC for my honest opinion.

This was a really cute YA romcom, you will find enemies to lovers/friends to lovers, opposites attract. I found the plot to have been written well, the pace of the book was steady, and I didn’t see it really lagging a lot in the book. The book is character driven, and I loved getting to know the characters more throughout the book and watching their growth.

The story starts off with Sadie at Maple Ridge College, she is rushing to the first Newsbag meeting, but she collides with someone and the smoothie from the other person spills all over her dress and ruins it. When she looks to see who she ran into it's no other than Seb Adams, Her biggest high school rival. He is also the same guy who for years was a big part of her life because their families are close friends and of course do everything together. She soon finds out that he is on the Newsbag staff too and he is competing for the same staff writer position and over her dead body he will win.

As I said earlier, I really liked this plot, and I loved that they were opposites that finally understood that it works better for them that way. They also help each other with understanding their own feelings about being an adult, how to really become your own person, how to navigate life, and learning how to forgive each other for past mistakes or miscommunications that occurred over the years. I found the characters to have been well developed, and I liked the fact that the readers will see their development throughout the book. I also really liked the sweet moments, the banter between the characters, the school drama and the uncovering of corruption in their school system. I loved getting to see Sadie and Seb try to fight their attraction for each other and discover if they can be more than what they’re now.

I also received the audio of this book and found Emma Lord did a fantastic job with this book. I loved that I was able to picture what the characters were doing.

Overall, this book was a cute, fast-paced book with cute tropes.

I want to thank NetGalley, St. Martin Press and Macmillan for the opportunity to review this book.

Emma Lord's The Rival is a great addition to the YA rom-com genre, offering a charming and engaging take on the rivals-to-lovers trope. The story follows two ambitious college freshmen, Sadie and Seb, who are constantly butting heads, whether it's in the classroom, during extracurriculars, or just in the hallways. Their competitive spirit fuels a simmering tension that eventually ignites into something more.

Lord does a good job at crafting witty banter and creating genuine chemistry between her characters. The back-and-forth between Sadie and Seb is consistently entertaining, showcasing their intelligence, passion, and hidden vulnerabilities. Beyond the romance, the novel explores themes of ambition, self-discovery, and the pressures of college, adding depth to the story. While the plot may follow some familiar rom-com beats, Lord's fresh voice and relatable characters keep the narrative feeling engaging and fun.

The Rival is a perfect pick for readers who enjoy lighthearted and sweet romances with a touch of humor. It's a feel-good story that will leave you with a smile on your face. While some readers might find certain plot points predictable, the overall charm and execution of the story make it a thoroughly enjoyable read.

This book was amazing from sprinkle pancakes to collage clubs it was truly a rom com through and through. The writing is amazing as all Emma lord writing is and I fell in love with every character she wrote. The character development is phenomenal in every including the way family can be so many things if you look at it from a different perspective.

I'm so excited to have been introduced to Emma Lord, a new-to-me YA romance author!

First off, I loved the LGBTQ+ representation in this book! Sadie and Seb have known each other their whole lives, with their dads being best friends. They've always competed in their journalism goals and when Seb shows up to her new college, their rivalry heats up. But when they team up with a common goal, they start to see each other for more than just nuisances, but actually good people. There are plenty of sweet, heartwarming moments and some laugh out loud moments too that brought me back to my college days! Sadie, Seb, and all of the side characters were very loveable. :)

Jesse Vilinsky is THE Julia Whalen of YA romances! She brings such a fun energy to this story and made me enjoy every minute of it!

"We're going to do so many big things, you and me."
"The you and me part...is the bet of it all."

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I had so much fun with The Rival! This rivals-to-lovers romantic comedy hits all the right notes—perfect for anyone who loves a good academic rivalry mixed with a dash of romance. Sadie has worked hard to secure her spot at her dream college, only to have her irritatingly charming neighbor, Seb, pull the same trick by getting off the waitlist and claiming a spot at the school.

Now, they’re at it again, battling for a coveted spot on the school’s zine. As Sadie navigates her chaotic family life and her own self-doubt, she also has to deal with the surprising feelings she’s developing for Seb. But the rivalry soon turns into something more meaningful when they uncover deeper issues at the school and realize they might have to work together.

The dynamics between Sadie and Seb are entertaining, and I love how their rivalry turns into a team effort. Emma Lord’s writing is witty and heartwarming, and I think my patrons will really enjoy this one! The audiobook, narrated by Jesse Vilinsky, brings Sadie’s emotional journey to life even more, making it a fun listen too!

Sadie is ready to start her college life, as she has been waiting for years to go to Maple Ride University and be a writer for Newsbag. It was why she had chosen Maple Rode and why she had worked so hard in high school to be the one person from her school to get admitted. Well, it was part of the reason she had worked so hard in high school. The other reason is that she had to beat Seb. Sebastian had been her next-door neighbor as a kid, ad Sadie had been competing with him for years, for everything.

But now she has Maple Ride all to herself. And Newsbag, the campus zine. It’s a legend, a place where comedy writers got started, before going on to television and films, publishing and popular internet sites. Their alum is a who’s who of humor writing, and Sadie is determined to be the one freshman they take on staff. It’s the only thing she wants. She is focused and determined. And when she shows up at the introductory meeting, she is deflated.

Seb is there.

He’d been waitlisted for Maple Ride, but he made it in, and he is not only on Sadie’s campus, he is also going all in for that one spot on Newsbag. And not only is he a great writer, he’s also an Instagram star, with a popular feed filled with curated posts. He’d started it in high school, and he already had thousands of followers. And some of those in the meeting had heard of his Instagram handle and were instant fans. Sadie felt defeated and, despite some delicious cookies, she left the meeting without even signing up for a tryout.

But she thought about that later and decided she didn’t want to have come this far just to give up. She emails the Newsbag editors and tells them that she wants a chance. And they give it to her. Once again, Sadie will be fighting for what she wants against Seb. They welcome her writing, but they have bad news also. There may not be a Newsbag much longer. They are struggling for funding, as the school’s administration is funneling lots of money to sports and underfunding student activities. They can only print one more edition of the magazine, and then they’ll probably have to shut down.

Sadie is heartbroken. She’s spent years wanting to write for Newsbag. She can’t let it close. She’s determined to do what she an to keep it going, even if that means teaming up with Seb to try to find a solution. But it’s never that simple. If Sadie does win the spot on Newsbag, it’s possible that Seb’s father will make him transfer to another school, one with a better engineering program. And worse, Sadie thinks she may even be falling for Seb. Over Sunday pancakes, just like they shared for years with their families, they make plans to create chaos on campus to draw attention to the finding problem. But they need good chaos. And sprinkles for the pancakes. And the way their years of competing with each other brings out the best in them. And with all that, and their new college friends, they just might be able to save the zine. And maybe even fall in love besides.

The Rival is the latest rom com from Emma Lord, which means there will be stunningly creative baked goods, friendships, love, hate, struggles, and plenty of snarky flirting. This one also includes dubious jelly beans, birdwatchers, book clubs, candy, noisy families, friend fights, an awkward first date, costumes, pranks, and a cranky pancake cook. The Rival is sweet and honest, vulnerable and challenging, inspiring and tasty, and most of all, an absolute delight to read.

I listened to the audio book for The Rival, narrated by Jesse Vilinsky, who brings Sadie to life as she reads this book. She understands Lord’s voice perfectly and adds emotion to the strength and intelligence of these characters. I did think that the narration was the tiniest bit slow at times, but a bump up in speed (for me, 1.1 is the sweet spot) made it perfection. I loved everything about this book (except the jelly bean, obviously), and I recommend it just as highly as I do any book by Emma Lord. I have yet to find a sour note in any of them (again, aside from that jelly bean). Loved every moment of The Rival!

Egalleys for The Rival were provided by Wednesday Books and a copy of the audio book was provided by Macmillan Audio through NetGalley, with many thanks.