This book was a lot of fun. It was laugh out loud funny, and filled with shenanigans, hijinks, and excellent banter. I was expecting a romcom, and this is not that. It does have a romantic subplot though, which was very cute and sweet. Sadie and Seb have known each other for their entire lives, and she’s spent most of that time loathing him. The only way she knows how to interact with him is to compete against him in a cutthroat rivalry that consumes every aspect of their lives. And the only way he knows how to get her attention is to beat her at things and to tease her. They were super adorable together. I’d say this book is less a love story and more of a coming of age story about finding yourself in college and learning where you fit within your family dynamics. It was enjoyable, heartwarming, and cute.
🥞
My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice level: 🌶️
🥞
Read if you like:
▫️rivals to lovers
▫️she hates him
▫️he falls first and harder
▫️black cat x golden retriever
▫️coming of age story
🥞
Thank you to Wednesday Books, MacMillan Audio, Emma Lord, and NetGalley for the ARC and ALC. I received advanced copies for free, and am leaving this review voluntarily.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books, and Macmillan Audio for gifting me an audio ARC of the latest by Emma Lord, narrated by Jesse Vilinsky. All opinions expressed in this review are my own – 4 stars!

Sadie feels like it’s now her time. She’s a freshman at the college she’s always dreamed of attending and is hopeful to get a coveted spot on the school’s famous zine. Plus, she needs a break from being the peacemaker in her loud family, and from the intense rivalry she’s always had with her neighbor, Seb. But now, Seb got pulled from the waiting list and is once again in competition with her.

This is a cute, rival to lover, young adult story. That is not my normal go-to genre, but I’m a fan of Emma Lord’s past books, so had to read this one too. And her writing does not disappoint. Besides the interaction between Sadie and Seb, there are more important subjects in the book such as unfair expectations on college scholarship students and the disproportionate funding of athletic teams. It’s fun to watch these characters come into their own and learn to stand up for themselves and their friends.

SYNOPSIS:
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.

MY THOUGHTS:
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!

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW:
Jesse Vilinsky delivers an outstanding performance as the narrator of The Rival, capturing Sadie’s voice with authenticity and depth. She masterfully brings out all the layers of teenage angst, humor, and heart that make Sadie’s journey so relatable. Having enjoyed Vilinsky’s narration in the past, I was thrilled to hear her bring the same energy and nuance to this audiobook, making it an even more engaging listening experience.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for advanced copies in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an audio copy to listen to in exchange for an honest review.

I tolerated this one...mostly. I liked the strong female characters but eventually Sadie became pretty insufferable. She's a teenager who has such severe anxiety she definitely should have been in therapy. I also really really got an ick feeling from her relationship with Seb. They were raised like siblings or close cousins and somehow, after a couple weeks, are now in love. This after years of apparently hating each other.

I have rated three of Emma Lord's YA rom-coms 3.66 stars. I usually find them to be very sweet and especially fun. I didn't like The Rival nearly as much. It's not bad; it just didn't wow me like the others did.

All too quickly, I was bored by Sadie's repetitive whining. That might have been improved by writing from dual point of view with Seb.

The good: campus activism; Sadie and Seb pushing each other to perform well; Sadie finally asserting herself with her sisters (though this relates to Sadie's likely misperception of their parents' expectations).

The bad: excessive whining; Sadie being terribly dense about her mutual attraction with Seb.

The neutral: college kids finding their independence, even as they're a bit homesick [I'm not sure I ever knew anyone who was].

By far, my favorite characters were Daisy—writer/sunshine wife—and Betty—a pancake restaurateur/grumpy wife. I wish they played much bigger roles in the story, and that I could share a quote from Daisy. If you read it, please let me know when you get to Daisy and whether you are similarly amused by her.

The audiobook is narrated by Jesse Vilinsky, whom I like.

The Rival is a cute, feel-good read that is all about Sadie, who’s been competing with her next-door neighbor and practically family Seb for basically forever. She thinks she’s finally won when she gets into her dream college and Seb doesn’t—only for him to get in off the waitlist and end up having him near again, competing for a spot on the college’s big-deal zine.

Emma Lord does an amazing job capturing all the feels of starting college: there’s humor, awkward moments, and plenty of heart. Sadie’s journey is super relatable, especially with all the overconfidence and insecurities that come with trying to figure out who you are in different groups of people, in relationships and away from your family. The tropes here are: frenemies/rival to lovers, slow burn, academic rivals and sort of forced proximity I guess?

It’s a good blend of competition, personal growth, and that sweet, sweet romance we all crave! Big thanks to Netgalley, for giving me the audiobook in exchange for this review. All thoughts are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc and the alc.

This was another delicious and delightful novel by Emma Lord. I really enjoyed it. I loved the relationship and banter between Sadie and Seb. The only thing I didn't necessarily love about this book is that the chapters were quite long, and this caused me to lose interest in the story at times.
For the audiobook, Jesse Vilinsky did a fantastic job as always with the audiobook narration.

Emma Lord is back to form with this charming, young adult/new adult college novel. I enjoyed the Break-Up Pact, but also agreed with the critiques that came with it. I think Lord really shines in her YA books. As usual with her books, there is a sweet romance. In this case it is rivals/friends-to lovers, he fell first and hard. But, what I love most about Lord's books is the way the MCs navigate finding themselves and who they want to be as they grow into adulthood. It never feels like the most important thing is getting to the romantic HEA, just a happy ending in general. I loved seeing Sadie, the FMC, come into her own and get comfortable enough to share who she was becoming with her family and let them start to figure some things out without her intervention. It was also cool to see Seb, the MMC, figure out what he really wanted for himself as he spent a good amount the book doing what was best for others.
Narration by Jesse Vilinsky was charming and heartfelt! It set the tone beautifully for the book.
Lord is one of the few YA authors I consistently pick up these days. That hasn't changed after reading her latest either. That being said I will absolutely be getting my hands on her next adult foray too!

Why the 1.5 stars?

I liked the beginning. It was a fast paced introduction that set up the story pretty well. I was very invested and very interested in Sadie’s and Seb’s dynamics.

Let the record show that they were no where near Academic Rivals or even had real hate towards each other. As another reviewer put it, they were “competitive” (in the lightest sense possible) friends. But initially, I liked the whole frenemy vibe. I think it set up for a different approach to the whole hating each other to loving each other especially because of their family ties. And though, I noticed early on that wasn’t the direction the author was going in (his liking to her was obvious from chapter one and it started annoying me) I was still hooked because of the first time they had the pancake conversation (excuse the vagueness, trying to keep it spoiler free). It deepened the stakes and set up for an interesting conflict.

But…it fell very short obviously.

After the pancake conversation, I was BORED! And most importantly, annoyed at both their internal conflicts. The external one too actually. I could not care less for anything because the author took all that set up and chose to go in a melodramatic and overachieving route.

First, the internal conflicts. She’s scared of telling her family she’s into writing comedy, because historically she’s been the one to be the peacekeeper of the family who is always serious? What? She’s scared to admit she’s funny? I’m sorry what? Anyways, that would’ve been more digestible if her family was against her writing to begin with or just unsupportive but that’s not the case whatsoever. So this brought her anxiety because…? The unsupportive family cliche was given to Seb which meh. Whatever, it was so shallow and unexplored that also couldn’t care less. But, it still added a level of depth to their competition that wasn’t explored properly in my opinion. It was only brought up conveniently when the character remembered there was still a competition, but there were absolute no consequences for it happening really.

Secondly, piggy backing off of Seb’s half hearted attempt of a backstory, after the pancake talk, he just stopped being his own character and kind of blended into the background only popping up for the main character to repeat for the millionth time how there might’ve been something between them.

And that was it. Their entire slow burn was her stating time and time again that there is something between them beyond friendship which was also noted pretty early on, further eliminating the whole rival part of the academic rivals to lovers trope.

I liked Sadie in the beginning but then she just got so dramatic and emotional and annoying and repetitive. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with being emotional, but this was so overly dramatized that I cringed every time. Plus, I read this through audiobook, so it didn’t help. Then there is the main character energy she had, but in a bad way. It’s hard to explain because she is the main character, but she had such chosen one vibe in a y/a romance too. Like girl had to be the savior and to me this didn’t compliment the internal arc at all, so I naturally didn’t care.

Don’t even get me started on the conflict in the 50% marc.

Also, her little sister’s reaction PISSED me off during that. I don’t get her need in the story at all. Like her whole subplot could be taken out and nothing would change really. She was insufferable .

Yeah, this wasn’t for me. Way too many characters, unnecessary drama. Forgettable love interest and protagonist. UNBELIEVABLY CHEESY AND FORMULAIC. This had potential that wasn’t tapped. What kept me going was the writing style, despite the sometimes dramatized scenes, it was readable.

Thank you Wednesday Books and St. Martin’s Press for my gifted copies. All opinions are my own. Jesse Vilinsky’s narration was fantastic.

I’m a big fan of Emma Lord’s YA romance. This was not my favorite of her books, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

Sadie thinks she’s made it by getting into the college of her choice and by beating out her high school rival, Sebastian, until he shows up on campus. He’s also going out for the same student organization/publication. Their competition continues as they compete for the one open spot.

I loved their rivalry. They’ve known each other their whole lives so their banter and barbs back and forth were hilarious. I also them working on their articles and seeing this part of journalism. I also really loved how they leaned on each other their first semester away from home. Their rivalry/friendship slowly becomes more. I loved seeing this and how they leaned into each other.

I’m also happy for more books from Emma Lord.

I really wanted to like this. Academic friends to rivals to lovers sounds great! However I was so bored while listening to this and I could not get into the story. Thank you so much for providing the ALC but unfortunately I did DNF.

This book was Emma Lord loveliness to a tee! It was a cleverly done book that was sweet as sugar (or maple syrup if you will).

I thought that Sadie and Seb’s rivalry/friendship/etc. was fun to watch grow as the story went on. This book was very young adult coded however the language was a little more coarse than I would have expected!

Overall, if you want to see the grumpiest pancake shop owner, ridiculously fun sounding student clubs and a writing contest — this could be the book for you!

Thank you so much to Wednesday Books for this advanced copy on NetGalley! 🤍

Emma Lord has done it again! She has written a college story that I adored. There are these two college freshman, they have known eachother their whole life. They have competed against eachother their whole lives. But, with their families being friends, they have had to play nice. Now they wind up at the same college, fighting for the single writer spot for their college's zine organization, with their family and friends not around will they still play nice?

This story was so cute. I loved the journey the characters went on in finding themselves. I am a sucker for this kind of love story and it played out very well. The college atmosphere was also very well written, as were the supporting cast of characters.

With the flirty/witty banter the story kept my attention.
This narrator was also very good!

I have had the absolute honor of advance reviewing so many of Emma Lord's books. I love her writing and I am always excited to see one of her books pop up in my inbox!

I am not usually a big fan of YA books, but yet I always enjoy Emma's. The Rival is a bit different as it is set in college so it is a bit YA, and a bit New adult. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Synopsis:
At long last, Sadie has vanquished her lifelong academic rival — her irritatingly charming, whip smart next door neighbor, Seb — by getting the coveted, only spot to her dream college. Or at least, so she thinks. When Seb is unexpectedly pulled off the waitlist and admitted, Sadie has to compete with him all over again, this time to get a spot on the school’s famous zine. Now not only is she dealing with the mayhem of the lovable, chaotic family she hid her writing talents from, as well as her own self doubt, but she has to come to terms with some less-than-resentful feelings for Seb that are popping up along the way. But the longer they compete, the more Sadie and Seb notice flaws in the school’s system that are much bigger than any competition between them. Somehow the two of them have to band together even as they’re trying to crush each other, only to discover they may have met their match in more ways than one.

Likes:
-This story was cute and funny. There was a lot of banter and funny comments throughout that actually made me laugh quite a bit!
-This book seems to be aimed mostly at college freshmen as it tackles leaving home/family for the first time, which I thought was done really well. I thought that scene where Sadie goes out in search of pancakes on her first 'pancake day' away from home was such a sweet moment.

Dislikes:
-The rivalry was really one sided and at times it jus seemed a little odd.
-This book also made me either feel really old, or questioning if the characters were old enough for college. There was just some dialogue and wording that made me cringe a bit.

Overall, this book was sweet and funny. It was a great and quick read that I think is coming out just in time to be on your Valentine's Day TBR!

Pre-order your copy of The Rival now! Releases Jan 21, 2025!

3.5 stars rounded up
A Ya Romance set in their first year of college with two rivals/enemies. They've had a rivalry all through school. Sadie was hoping to be alone at college and away from Seb. She finds out Seb was taken off the wait list. They will be going to the same college as her. He's also going for the same spot on the college newspaper, Newsbag.

This was a cute ya romance. I wish there was a pov of Seb. But it's just Sadie's unhinged whiny inner dialogue. I can't be too annoyed because they are only eighteen years old. Babies trying to figure out who they are. The narration on this book made it easier to listen to the characters annoying ways and naivety. The MC does redeem herself in the end. I didn't hate this book or love it. I did crave Betty's pancakes throughout the book. I also liked the look into scholarship students and what they go through at college to keep their GPA up. Overall a good romance.

Emma Lord is an auto-read for me. Her books feel like a warm hug. This one was no difference. A cute rom-com with friends to enemies to lovers. If you are looking for a fun YA Rom-Com...this is a fantastic option for you!

Emma Lord is the undeniable queen of sweet romcoms and coming-of-age stories.

Sadie and Seb have known each other their entire lives, the by product of being born to parents who are best friends and growing up next door to each other. The last decade has been a series of never ending one-upping each other, but Sadie has finally rid herself of her longtime rival by being accepted into her dream college. That is, until she gets there only to realize Seb has made it off the waitlist and isn't only also on campus, but he will be competing against her for the open writing spot for the school's magazine. Launched into another one of their ruthless competitions, their precarious balance of mortal enemies and polite adversaries just might reach its breaking point.

I don't know how Emma Lord consistently, perfectly captures the feelings that come along with being on the edge of adulthood, but she does. This just might be my favorite book by her yet!

The banter between Sadie and Seb was top tier, I was literally laughing out loud at all of their quips and one-liners. I was also smiling and, metaphorically, giggling, kicking my feet at all of the adorable, sweet, first love feelings flying around. A lot of the time when an author writes two characters that have known each other their whole lives, I feel a little cheated in not being able to see what their dynamic was like before the beginning of the book. However, I thought Lord did an excellent job of giving us well-developed characters, with enough backstory and anecdotes that I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything. My favorite part of Lord's books is always the personal growth that her characters go through, and oh did she deliver in this one. Even though I don't come from a loud, chaotic family, nor am I the overlooked middle child, the eldest daughter in me could really relate to Sadie's feelings of having to be the peace-keeper and fixer of the family. I also related to her and Seb's feelings of not wanting to disappoint their parents by being something different than their parents' idea of them, as I am sure a lot of us can.

Clearly, I cannot say enough good things about this book. I highly recommend you give it a read, and maybe do so with a stack of pancakes covered in sprinkles.

The audiobook was well produced and the narrator did a fantastic job. Her voice acting made me feel like I was actually inside Sadie's head and added another layer of depth to the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an advanced listening copy in exchange for an honest review.

One of my favorite tropes is academic rivals and The Rival by Emma Lord perfectly fit the bill! This was such a fun read. Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the advance copy!

I tend to listen to my audios when I am doing work around the house. I have little children in the house. When I grabbed this “sweet, young adult, romcom,” I was not expecting there to be multiple swears within the first few minutes. And it continues. This author has an obsession with the S word (and uses other swears too, including the F word). And it’s not just an occasional usage, as it can be said multiple times in a row as a complete response to things.

There is an inclusivity theme as characters in this book introduce themselves with their pronouns.

I wanted to continue this book to see if things would even out, but I just couldn’t justify wasting my time. I made it through a few chapters, but the cons vastly outweighed the pros. After a few chapters, I did DNF. I did not make it far enough to determine if this was truly the no spice, sweet romance it was marketed as.

It’s sad because I was really enjoying our main characters and their enemies to sweethearts, grown up together, rivals. I just didn’t want to listen to swear words every couple of minutes. That, coupled with drinking references and pronouns, made me worry about what other content it would contain.

The narrator was amazing! 5 stars for her.

Sadie went off to college with one goal in mind: write for the schools famous zine. Another perk to going away meant escaping her frenemy and neighbor, Seb. For years Seb and Sadie have been competing in everything imaginable and Sadie is glad to be rid of him. That is until he shows up on campus too and is going out for the same writers position as Sadie. Will they continue their power struggle to end up on top or will the lines between enemies and friends blur into something more?

I have been a fan of everything else I’ve read by Emma Lord so I figured I would like this one too and I wasn’t disappointed. I was pulled in from the first chapter and fell in love with Sadie and Seb instantly. I enjoyed seeing their stories play out on the page and see how they found themselves and each other. The enemies to lovers trope was well done in this book and I could feel the chemistry between Sadie and Seb instantly. This college romance was cute and sweet and I didn’t want to put it down. This book is perfect for anyone looking for a cute enemies to lovers romance!