Sadie and Seb have been competing since elementary school. While their families are friends, they remain fierce academic rivals. When Sadie begins her freshman year of college, she is shocked to see Seb there. Seb made it off the waitlist and is soon competing with Sadie for a spot on the school's beloved zine. As they experience freshman year together, they get closer than ever before. Can Sadie and Seb ever be more than rivals?

The Rival is a sweet and hilarious rom-com. I especially loved Sadie! She feels very responsible for her family and freshman year is her chance to see who she is without managing others emotions. Seb is charming, though sometimes he and Sadie really misinterpret each other. Emma Lord includes so many fun details in this book from Alphabet parties, rainbow-sprinkle pancakes, and lots of new friends. I really enjoyed how Sadie and Seb went from rivals to friends to more.

The Rival is perfect for readers who enjoy sweet rom-coms with hilarious dialogue. This book was as delicious as all the treats written about inside it! I can’t wait to see what Emma Lord writes next.

Thank you to Emma Lord, Wednesday Books, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc.

3.5 stars

The Rival was a fun and cute YA read and exactly what I have come to expect from Emma Lord. The story is about Sadie and Seb- high school rivals who take their rivalry to college while competing for a spot on the college newspaper. Sadie and Seb are both likeable and despite their constant competition and fighting, it's also obvious that they like each other. It was fun to see them figure that out throughout the course of this story.

Emma Lord has a similar novel about a college freshman called Begin Again, which is actually my favorite book by her and I think I was more connected to the characters in that story more than this one. Still The Rival is an easy and entertaining read, and a good fit if you enjoy the YA contemporary genre!

Sadie arrives at her dream college ready to step into a new chapter of her life only to find her rival Seb has suddenly made it off the waitlist. There is only one spot for a staff writer at Newsbag, the school's famous zine and they are both going out for it. But is there more at stake than just the job?

Read if you like:
-Childhood Friends to Rivals to Lovers
-Coming of Age

The Rival was so cute! I love a good YA coming of age romance and this hit all the right notes. Sadie and Seb's dynamic was so relatable.

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!

emma lord has done it again! filled with lord's typical humor, heart and tasty food mashups, the rival is a fantastic coming of age story that'll make you laugh and touch your heart

So far, I haven’t met an Emma Lord book that I haven’t liked. The Rival had all the ingredients for a friends to enemies to more than friends cute read. There was good character development in our main characters and I really liked the family development as well. I’m very happy that I had a chance to read this in exchange for my honest review to NetGalley and the publisher.

Hilarious and sizzling! I adore Emma Lord and I adore rivals to lovers. This was such a great novel with a fresh cast of characters and banter for days. The romance was sweet and the writing easy! Ready for the next one!

Emma Lord has a way of writing a beautiful will then won't they with an array of obstacles. The Rival was so cute and fun and made you think about how this is a chance that this generation will stand up for what they believe in.

Need to buy Emma Lord a sweet treat because she has done it again! "The Rival" follows childhood friends turned academic rivals, Sadie and Seb, as they start college. Sadie and Seb are endlessly engaging with their bountiful banter that’s so pristine and realistic. Honestly, they’re what rereads are designed for from their first interaction. Their dynamic is built upon competition and mutual motivation for success, but their truest cornerstones are vulnerability and communication. Emma crafts one of her best secondary characters in Betty, a blunt pancake chef who's charmed by the duo's ritualistic pancake Sundays and vibrant conversations. The rivals to friends to lovers arc is so satisfying, the buildup and tension to their first kiss is divine, but what also shines is the narrative’s focus on the transitional experience of high school to college. There’s so much depth about this complex and confusing time for teens where the sense of unpreparedness and numerous inadequacies feel quite universal, all while everything is laced with so much heart and optimism. Come for the crisp, crackling banter and stay for the thoughtful exploration of authenticity, realizing your dreams, and self discovery. Prepare yourself though, you’ll be wanting to make a batch of Sadie and Seb’s favorite pancakes as soon as you turn the last page.

Another charming, warm, funny, swoony enemies-to-lovers YA romance by Emma Lord. Did not disappoint. Sadie has been in a competition with Seb, her neighbor and family friend, for years and is massively disappointed when he shows up at her college just when she thinks she's finally free of him. Naturally, they find themselves in competition again for the single staff writer role in the college's zine.

Some of the tension between Seb and Sadie did seem a smidge unrealistic, but I really enjoyed both characters and their relationship. The star of this book for me was the exploration and evolution of Sadie's relationship with her family. And Betty.

Emma Lord has done it againnnnnnn!!

The Rival, coming out Jan 21, 2025, was a feel good, sweet, romance that captures everything a YA Romance book should be. I thought the characters and setting had the perfect amount of depth for the atmosphere of the genre and the story. I enjoyed it and will look forward to her next book.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher on Netgalley! Thank you!

Every time I read Emma Lord, I think "I wish this was around when I was a teen," and this one is no different!

Not only was this funny and cute and adorable, but it also felt so real. Sadie and Seb and Christina and everyone were real people who are truly in college (with lives generated from a rom-com robot, and I say that with love) and you cannot convince me otherwise.

It took a second to start, but once I got into the story, I was hooked. Something about Sadie's struggles to be and to find herself outside of the Perfect, Responsible One she felt she had to be at home truly hit hard. And as she slowly started to learn that she didn't need to be the Responsible One, that her family was okay and wouldn't crumble without that, I absolutely fell in love with the story. Not only was it so sweet how her parents showed how proud they were even with Chaos Sadie, but I loved that she had more of an issue with her siblings, too, and they weren't just forgotten side characters to build up her backstory.

That's the thing about these characters that get me the most, I think. Sure, there are side characters who don't have much to contribute and that's okay, because not every person you meet along the way in real life will have an enormous impact or dump their backstories on you. But the people who mattered to Sadie, even without her consciously knowing it, were shown with a ton of character. Her sisters both had some kind of issue that needed to be resolved, and it was great. It truly felt like I was peering into the head of someone who left home for the first time and is now experiencing college, because all of your relationships and motivations and general personality sort of have their moments when you hit this part of your life, because it's such a strange and new experience, and it felt so real because I was seeing all of that hit Sadie all at once.

thank you to Netgalley and Emma Lord for the arc!

4.25 stars

This was a super fun rivals to lovers, college romance. Sadie and Seb had a really fun dynamic and I loved their banter. You could definitely tell that they were more friends than enemies even if they were reluctant to admit it (especially Sadie)
I also liked how this book addressed some very relatable college issues, like how schools prioritize funding for sports over other things, homesickness, burnout, and figuring out what you want to do in life. All the characters felt very realistic and relatable which made the book a lot of fun.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the ARC!

Main Characters:
-- Sadie Brighton – college freshman at her dream school Maple Ride, majoring in communications and set on earning the one open writer spot on the school zine Newsbag, wants to write comedy for a living and sees Newsbag as a way to get her foot in the door, grew up next door to Seb, their parents are best friends, middle sister of three and feels like it’s her responsibility diffuse any family drama
-- Sebastian (Seb) Adams – college freshman originally waitlisted at Maple Ride, majoring in engineering to appease his father but loves writing and theater, competing against Sadie for the open writer spot on Newsbag, runs a popular Instagram account called Adams’ Apples
-- Christina – Sadie’s best friend and roommate at Maple Ride, on a scholarship for cross country, created a poster titled “Christina and Sadie Make Maple Ride Their Bitch” with a bucket list of things they want to do
-- Joey – sophomore at Maple Ride, writes for Newsbag, on the school baseball team, has a bit of a crush on Sadie
-- Amara and Rowan – co-editors of Newsbag, working to get additional funding for the zine from the administration, Sadie has been reading their articles since she was a freshman in high school

Sadie Brighton has spent her entire life competing with Seb Adams. They grew up next door to one another with parents who are best friends. In grade school, they pulled pranks on one another, until one of Seb’s pranks went a little too far. After that, their pranks became more like sabotage, and they constantly tried to best one another. By the time they graduated high school, their families joked that they hated each other because of their not-so-friendly rivalry. But their families do everything together—including pancake breakfast every Sunday morning. Even Sadie’s younger sister adores the “perfect” Sebastian.

When Sadie earns a coveted spot at Maple Ride, her dream school, and Seb gets waitlisted, she feels like she finally doesn’t have to compete with him anymore…until he gets off the waitlist. Seb’s major in engineering doesn’t keep him from wanting to write for Newsbag because his real passions are journalism and theater. He eventually confides in Sadie that his father wants him to attend Blue Ridge State University and expects him to apply to transfer mid-year. Earning the spot at Newsbag would help him convince his father to let him stay at Maple Ride.

The rivalry Sadie was so excited to escape is suddenly back on.

I always know that an Emma Lord release will put a smile on my face, and The Rival fits right in with the rest. Lord excels at creating stand-out characters. Sadie got on my nerves a bit because she seems unwilling to let bygones be bygones. I would think over the years of family gatherings she could see Seb as more friend than foe. But Seb makes for great balance. As much as they compete with one another, you can feel how much Seb wants to get back to a real friendship. And eventually Sadie comes around.

And one of Lord’s strongest qualities as a writer? Dialog. Written in the first person from Sadie’s point of view, the book demonstrates exactly why Sadie will make a great comedy writer.
-- The thing is I am largely a good person. I dutifully babysit Christina’s pet rat Blorbo every summer she goes on her annual family trip, despite clear evidence of him needing an exorcism. I eat all of my mom’s alarmingly crunchy mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving with a smile on my face, I even managed to remain cordial with our next-door neighbor Pat when she said she “wasn’t that big a fan of Harry Styles.” All of which is to say, I cannot think of one thing I have done in the eighteen years of my Seb-addled existence to deserve this fate.
-- She shrugs. “Just trying to decide if it’s worth it for me to keep paying for all these streaming services when I’m about to have the world’s most ridiculous ‘will they, won’t they, dear god, just kiss already’ show playing out right in front of my eyes.”
-- I lean in and grab him by his shirt sleeve. “If you say one more word, Seb, I swear on all that is holy, I will bury you. I will pretend to look for you. I’ll shed pretty tears at your funeral and die in bed eighty years from now peacefully and without regret.”

This story deals with expectations we put on ourselves and others, relying on family even when we think we can’t, friendship with a little bit of romance, and learning to be your true self. And all of it seems to be wrapped up in weekly Sunday pancake breakfasts with the perfect syrup to sprinkles ratio.

You have to read the book if you want to understand that last reference. And you definitely should read this book. 🤭 As usual, Emma Lord’s new release is a must-read.

Emma Lord delivers once again! I simply adore her books. Sadie and Seb are two great characters who feel so real- they have real world problems, similar crises of identity that I think every college freshman encounters. Parts were laugh-out-loud funny (Betty the pancake lady, who was HANDS DOWN my favorite character) and it was fun to root for the various characters throughout the book. I don't want to give too much of the plot and the shenanigans away, but I will say this is definitely worth reading.
I will definitely be recommending this to others.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC!

This would be such a great book for a high school library. Emma Lord writes such lovely YA and this is no exception.

The Rival
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Honestly, Emma Lord is one of the very few authors that I trust to do a YA romcom that doesn’t have too immature of characters. This falls right in with that!

Seb and Sadie have been rivals for forever when they end up at the same college, vying for the same newspaper writer position. While they compete, the school’s clubs are on the brink of shutting down due to lack of funding. They and their cowriters must work together to stop the administration.

I enjoyed this a lot! Surprisingly a lot more plot to it than I expected going in. I would have loved dual POV, but Sadie was a good voice throughout.

Wow I loved this book so much! Emma lord you just get better and better! Thank you for the opportunity to read this book! I’ll have a more detailed review closer to the release date!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. Emma Lord is my favorite YA author and this book did not disappoint. Sadie thinks she is finally free of her high school academic rival until he shows up at the same college as her. This was such a cute and fun read.