The Rival is another adorable YA rom com by Emma Lord. The narration is perfect and readers will stick with this story through to the end. Hand this to teens who enjoy Lord's other works.

This was such a good rivals/enemies to lovers story, with a slightly more complex backstory! Hard to crush your enemy if your family loves him lol
I loved peeling the layer of who Sadie & Seb were to each other and seeing them come together to help their fellow students 🤩
The only downside was I hate how those closest to Sadie kept expecting too much from her, accusing her of things were really outside of her control and making her feel guilty and pressured.
Otherwise though, I really enjoyed this story and how a bunch of kids brought to light and did something about a corrupt system! It turned to be so much more than a fluffy romance! Though, I enjoyed the romance part too 🥰

First book by Emma Lord that I've listened to/read. I liked the story idea, and I have to say the voice was refreshing. The audio performance was enjoyable, and I found myself wanting to keep listening even though you could see how Seb and Sadie's story was going to pan out. While there is some language, the romance level is very appropriate for upper middle school readers to high school. A happily ever after! Enemies to friends to dating. Journalism setting on a college campus. All good fun for this lighthearted read/listen.

Sadie is ready for her first year at college, where she'll finally get to pursue her drama of comedy writing. Until she literally runs into Seb, her childhood best friend who became her rival, and finds out he will be attending the same college - and they'd both going to be going after the single staff writing position for the campus zine. Determined to get her dream position, and continue crushing Seb, the two seem poised to continue their rivalry. But threats to the zine's funding mean they may have to work together, and maybe should have been doing so all along.

In many ways, this book felt like a typical enemies-to-lovers, and it definitely had the author's tone. Sadie is likeable and feels authentic, even if some of her family tension feels a little underdeveloped at times. Her relationship with Seb also feels fairly authentic, if a little tropey. Overall, an enjoyable read that also touches on some of the issues being faced on college campuses.

Emma Lord writes the nicest YA romcoms. Yes, they’re a bit transparent, but that’s okay, because they just warm you throughout.

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Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio for the ALC!

I really wanted to love this one, but sadly it was just too tropey and cutesy for my taste. Right before this one, I read an almost identical book right before this one and maybe I'm just a little sick of the "rivals" that are secret authors/neighbors, etc. but so much of this is SO trendy and common right now that they all start to blend together.

I still have high hopes for Emma's adult novel FOR THE RECORD and think I may need to stick to her adult novels going forward!

I'm sure this will be a hit with the YA crowd though!

As far as the audiobook production, that is 5/5. Jesse Vilinsky is an absolute star and makes every book she reads so much better!

Mixed feelings on this one. At the end of the day, it wasn’t my favorite Emma Lord book. While I enjoy young adult stories, this one felt very high school to me (and yes, I recognize the characters are in their first year of college). It’s an enemies to lovers (which is one of my favorite tropes), but the constant bickering feels very juvenile and is way too much at times. The story felt a bit long, like it could’ve been easily cut down without any necessary parts being lost.

Some pros of this book, however, are the other relationships. I really appreciate how Emma Lord tackles different familial and friend relationships and how these are especially impacted when someone first moves away from home. There’s a lot of positive communication that occurs, which is a refreshing change of pace. It’s also told in a progressive manner and attempts to tackle larger issues as well, making it a bit deeper than a typical YA rom-com. Overall, it’s a fun, easy, low stakes read.

Thank you to Emma Lord, Macmillan Audio, & NetGalley for the ARC! All opinions are my own.

Emma Lord is back! I love her young adult novels every time. Despite having older protagonists, this one felt like the target audience was younger than her others. Sadie and Seb are best friends from childhood, but their dynamic felt incredibly similar to Lord’s other enemies-to-friends storylines. Some of the pranks they pull at Newsbag were unrealistic and kind of annoying to read. However, this was a fun book and I’m glad I got to listen to it and escape for a few hours.

Publication date: January 21st, 2025

Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sadie has lifelong rival in her whole academic career her Nextdoor neighbor Seb.
She thinks by going to college she could escape the rivalries but only see him on campus. Not only dealing with him but also her loving yet but chaotic family she hides everything from her family especially her writing talent

Seb is trying to complete with her all except this time it’s different for both of them and learn how important it is to stick together no matter what

But to find out what happens to them and the fun side characters and her family and the friends they both met along the way it’s fun and they really grow through out the book.

The narrator was fabulous and audio book was really good it felt like listening to a reality tv show

Thank You, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

This is the perfect book for high school students! It tells a sweet love story set in college between two childhood friends who support each other, even though they think they’re enemies at times. It’s a classic “enemies to lovers” tale that you’ll really enjoy!

I received this audiobook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This was a fun friends to enemies to lovers story. I was able to listen to the audiobook version and am glad I did. The narrator did a great job differentiating between characters and I felt like she did male voices especially well. I did feel that the FMC came off a little too breathy at times, but that could be a personal preference. I loved the familial relationships, especially if you consider the neighbors more like extended family. I think it portrayed the growing pains of leaving home and coming into yourself beautifully.

The rival
-the frantic FMC was me first year of uni this felt so real and relatable
-gotta LOVEEE academic rivalssss
-the descriptive writing is chefs kiss
-Sebastian kills me I love him this man makes laugh and giddy
-this book did feel pretty long
-this book made miss having a crush 🥹
-this book was so funny and cute
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sadie is ready to conquer college and get a spot on the campus humor magazine. What she doesn't expect is her high school rival, and family friend, Seb to show up on campus and rain on her parade.

Emma Lord is so good at telling a good romance story! I loved this one. Here's what I loved:

The campus feel: This was a great NA college romcom. I loved the cast of characters on the campus. This honestly felt like I was watching a college romcom. It had humor and the perfect college feel.

Sadie and Seb and the pancakes: this book has so much more than what you think. There are emotional topics like finding who you are and how to navigate life away from your family. All of this was so real. Sadie and Seb both have such a great journey to take and it feels familiar. I adored them both and the way they worked together.

The narration: Jesse Vilinsky does such a great job with this one! She sucked me right in!

All in all, this was a great college NA romance!

Thank you to the author and publisher for the gifted copy!

Enemies to lovers is a fantastic genre & Emma Lord hit the mark with this one.
I listened to this audiobook in a matter of days. I especially enjoyed that the story was clean enough that I could listen while my kid was home from school for the holidays. Closed door romances for the win.
I can NOT wait for Emma Lords next book - whenever it is expected.
Growing up with another family who is close to your family - sounds weird to me. It works for this & others will find it relatable.
5 stars!

Emma lord is the queen of YA and she’s done it once again. This is the perfect rivalry palate cleanser for those who love academic setting. Her writing style is perfection as always and I highly recommend

Emma Lord has done it again!!

This book was cozy and real and something that a lot readers need. Leaving home is never easy especially when you have such great support systems. BUT finding out who you really are and afraid your family won’t accept you (Sadie) makes for especially uneasy times. BUT a throw in not wanting to disappoint your family (Seb). So much happening and throw in trying to bring to light a system failing?!

Sadie and Seb are the perfect duo (even if they disagree) for this adventure. I cannot wait to get this on HS shelves for kids to read before their new adventures so maybe they will see it’s normal to be happy, free, confused and lonely and not just at 22 ;)

Love this book. Read it. At any age. 🤍

OMG and plan to ready to have like literally every snack craving possible. Especially pancakes.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

Emma Lord does it again!

If you aren't familiar with this author, Lord is known for her YA romance novels filled with witty banter. This one is no exception, as it focuses on Sadie and Seb, who grew up together as academic rivals. Sadie thinks she finally breaks free competing with Seb when she goes off to college. She is unfortunately shocked to discover that he was accepted off her school's waitlist and decides to matriculate at the same university. Their academic rivalry further escalates when they both decide to compete for the same writer spot on their university's magazine.

Despite this being a YA book, it is also a good choice for anyone who appreciates the enemies-to-lovers trope within a clean romance. While I do get a bit tired of this author's obsession with sugar, which she seems to infuse into all her books, I still found this to be a sweet, lighthearted, and fun read.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Macmillan Audio for e-book and audiobook ARCs in exchange for my honest feedback.

I’ve been wanting to get into more of Emma Lord’s work, i’ve only read Tweet Cute which i wasn’t completely “in love” with but it wasn’t bad either.

I was hooked from the beginning but the first 10% of The Rival i knew i would like this much better. There was some characters I really didn’t care that much for but I love Seb’s character and how he was written. I did really like the narration, it actually had me laughing out loud at times.

I do plan on rereaded this book as well when it actually comes out, so thank you Netgalley & Macmillan Audio for this opportunity to listen to it early.

I'll read anything by Emma Lord. She never lets me down and this book was no exception!
I loved the discovering who you are in college aspect of this book and I really loved the dynamic between Sadie and Seb! It was a great rivals to lovers execution and their relationship developed in a very realistic way.

This book is YA perfection!

I loved how one sided the rivalry was since Seb was a sucker for Sadie 🫢

The was a lot of teenage angst and cute moments between Seb and Sadie. Their history added a lot to the story.

This is the kind of book you read when you need something light with lots of laughs and cute moments.

The friendships were super well written as well.

I loved Jesse Vilinsky’s narration, she added so much feeling to the story.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc!