A fun and uplifting YA romcom. As always Emma's books are great fun. Sadie and Seb are adorable when they are fighting and when they are not. Lots of shenanigans as expected in an Emma Lord book.

Two driven and ambitious rivals going for the same things always make a good plot in my opinion. Seb was the slightly more mature one I thought in this book.

I always find it fun to read about books where young people are trying to figure out what to do with their lives and Emma always nails these characters.

The tension was good for the most part and plenty of suggestions for strange food-combos.

I am a big fan of the adorable romances Emma Lord writes so was excited to dive into 'The Rival'. This YA novel centres on Sadie and Seb and is a classic tale of academic rivals to lovers. After unexpectedly ending up at the same college, Sadie and Seb face off against each other to compete for a writing job at the college magazine, Newsbag, The ending is inevitable but the journey was worth the ride!

The heart of the story is found family and transformation that teenagers go through when they go off to college. The way this group teams up to expose the corruption at the heart of their college's administration was actually pretty gripping. This is not quite hitting the heady heights of 'Tweet Cute' but I did really enjoy Sadie and Seb's story as they gradually realised their feelings for each other. Emma Lord has become a must-read author for me so I can't wait to see what she releases next. ****

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

If you're looking for a sweet YA academic rivals to lovers with lots of diversity, this one is for you.
I found it hard to connect with the characters. And it read on the younger/modern side of YA. But I think if you are aged 15-17 and like an academic setting you'll probably love this one.

3.5⭐️

The banter in this book is amazing. Between the love interests, the rivalry, and the clear chemistry. Sadie and Christina have the best friendship. Betty the pancake maker who is easily my favourite character. I need a Betty in my life to tell me to get a grip and eat my pancakes.

I loved that despite the whole book being in Sadies POV, you could feel the connection coming from seb just as well as from her. This is definitely a rivals to lovers rather than enemies. They don't hate each other even if they'd like to think so.

I really enjoyed the newspaper angle and the way the author used it to discuss budget issues between sports and other clubs. The way they went against the Dean kept the fun note of the rest of the book while also noting the seriousness of the issue. Especially when it came to the work/life balance shown through christina.

I felt like i spent a big chunk of the book waiting for the 3rd act conflict to hit, and when it did, it was a tad underwhelming. I liked that Sadie eventually grew into herself afterwards, though. I wish we had delved into the emotional side of things a little more.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. It was a fun read, but it was missing something for me. I received an advance review copy of this book, and this review represents my honest opinion. Thank you to netgalley, the author, and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

Firstly, thank you so much to NetGalley and MacMillan for this eArc!

The Rival is about two childhood best friends turned rivals who end up unexpectedly at the same college. Their rivalry only continues when they end up competing for the spot on the colleges writers zine.

Sadie and Seb are so real in their feelings and I really loved the focus on societies rather than actual college classes. I feel like we very often don’t see this side in books so that made it extra fun! I’m just a bit obsessed with how many crazy societies there were (especially the ‘random acts of chaos’ society) and love how they all came together and seemed to have so much fun. It was contagious.

This book is such a good representation of how it feels to leave home for college/uni for the first time. The battle in your head of not knowing where you belong because you’re simultaneously living two lives with two different groups of people and the back and forth can be so exhausting.

I loved these characters so much. This book felt so comforting to read and I had a really great time!

Emma Lord as always has written a heartwarming YA romance with some enjoyable and hilarious characters. The Rival is an amusing enemies to lovers romance which follows Sadie and Seb who have been childhood friends turn rivals.

The Rival has a very detailed plot which is not all romance but self discovery and the feeling of being away from home for the first time. Sadie and Seb are strong characters, with so much passion and enthusiasm for what they want to do. The banter between these two is incredibly funny and lovable throughout the book. It would have been great to hear from Sebs POV. However this didn't make me love the book any less.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read The Rival early in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is a friends/rivals/lovers ya book. It was a nice easy read and was well written but I didn’t find myself as invested in it as I have other books. Regardless of this it was quite a fun read and I did like the relationship and banter between the main characters and also the side characters. It was the perfect palette cleanser book

This was a cute YA romance!

I loved the university setting and always enjoy rivals-to-lovers. The start of this book was done really well and perfectly introduced our main characters.

I do think the rivals-to-lovers aspect of this was missing a little - they quite quickly became friends and it felt like they weren't really rivals at all. Saying that, I did enjoy their dynamic and back-story, it just wasn't what I expected.

Overall, it was definitely a bit cheesy but a good time and an easy fast-paced read!

I’ve been moving away from YA for some time, but Emma Lord will always pull me back in.

I loved everything about her newest book, The Rival. The oh so cute ‘enemies to lovers’ trope was written beautifully and Sadie and Seb were just everything.

We see them battling for the spot of writer for Newsbag after a full decade of competing with each other. You can see from the beginning that Seb is a total cinnamon role of a boy who worships Sadie. You can see he’s all in from the little reactions he shows to Joey ‘flirting’ with Sadie which made me want to kick my little feet in the air.

Sadie was a brilliant FMC who you see coming into her own after having to be the responsible one in her chaotic family and I resonated a lot with that. It was a lovely experience to read.

Again, Lord is an autobuy author for me and this will carry on.

3.5 stars

Seb and Sadie have been rivals their whole lives, turning everything into a competition. Sadie thinks she’s finally escaped Seb and her loud family when she goes to university, only to find Seb has followed her and is competing for the only spot on the newspaper she’s always dreamed of writing for.

I love Emma Lord’s writing and this is another really well written book. It included many great story elements, especially Sadie being ‘slower’ than her peers to do anything romantic with another person and Seb feeling he needs to live up to his parents’ expectations at the cost of being happy himself.

Ultimately I think rivals to lovers can be tricky to get on board with, and in this book I don’t think the rivals part was completely obvious. It’s not totally satisfying when the two get together because it takes forever and so we don’t explore a lot of them as a couple because a third act sort of break up takes most of the little time we have with them having had public feelings for each other.

A fun book I think many teens / YAs would enjoy especially if they like slightly out there plot points.

Thank you to NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Rival is a cute, fast-paced rom-com filled with friendly banter.

Sadie arrives at university, excited to be away from her arch nemesis, Seb, who has been a huge nuisance after competing against her in almost every aspect of their academic life.

Sadie’s aim is to be a successful writer for the school paper. And she feels she can finally achieve some of her goals - with less stress. That is until Seb shows up and decides to compete for the same spot on the paper.

I found the setting around journalism to be interesting, especially highlighting a decline in funding for the industry. Though it was shown through the lens of a university paper, it still upheld the importance of journalism and the impact news stories have.

The stories they write on the paper seemed fun and added an interesting angle to the plot of the book, especially the lighthearted moments with the university societies. It felt very realistic of life on a campus.

Sadie and Seb have great chemistry and some funny dialogue. Their friendship developed naturally and didn’t feel forced. The connection they both felt to their home and the love they have for their families was nice to read about too. It added a lot of depth to the characters and showed they also cared deeply about each other. The pancake Sundays sounded great as well.

Some of the side characters showed another side of university life, where there is less time for parties and more hectic scheduling and worries about student finances. This was good for the story because it added some tension with the characters rather than it always going smoothly for the main character.

Other characters seemed one layered and it would have been interesting to know more of their backstory. But since they weren’t the main focus of the story, I don’t think that matters as much.

This is the first book by Emma Lord I’ve read and it won’t be my last. If you’re a fan of Lynn Painter and Becky Albertalli you will love this book.

This was a sweet, easy read. Seb and Sadie were more rivals to lovers more than enemies to lovers but it worked. Cute.

I consumed this book so fast - any time there was a conflict or misunderstanding between the two MCs I had to keep reading so it could be resolved and I could be happy again! The chemistry between these two was great, and as always with Emma Lord books, I really appreciated the larger group of friends and family and was firmly invested in everyone's happiness!

I’ve loved Emma Lord books ever since a tweet Cute. Her writing style is fun addictive and like a cozy warm hug. The Rival gives all those vibes and it’s fun now we are dealing with college students. Definitely the chemistry was off the charts and it was so fun going back in time to all those feelings. Highly enjoyed!