Emma Lord's The Rival is a fun and charming YA rom-com about two high school rivals who discover their competitive spirit might be something more. The witty banter and genuine chemistry between the main characters make their story engaging and entertaining. While the plot is fairly predictable, Lord's fresh voice and relatable characters make The Rival a sweet and enjoyable read for fans of the genre.

I will admit I’m no longer the target demographic for YA, but reading YA was so fundamental to my formative years and how my taste in books grew that I’ll never completely give them up. And Emma Lord is so good at what she does.

I’m not sure I’ve read a book that so accurately captured the uncertainty of starting college. The way you get swept up in all the new things and feel invincible. And the shock when you realize no one actually is. It was wonderful for that reason alone.

But Sadie and Seb. They both need to break out of their shells in different ways and I was so proud of both them when they figured out how. Their romance feels inevitable and sweet and like a natural progression of their rivalry. Which was funny and not so over the top that I couldn’t imagine them falling for each other.

I want to be so critical of the characters in this book, but as I was listening I did a little reflecting and thought back to how I was at 18 and everything tracks. 😂

Your first year in college, the change feels so dramatic and everything is elevated.

A dramatic, angsty, cute little YA read.

This is Emma Lord’s best since Tweet Cute. Sadie’s story might seem like a typical coming-of-age story, but it is so much more than that. Whether you’ve gone to college or are living vicariously through a sibling or friend, the characters and story are so topical. Mental health, identity, academic and social pressure, along with trying to navigate life on your own terms. This book has it all!

*rounded up to 4.5/5 stars*

I’m so pleasantly surprised by how much I loved this! It truly had everything I love: academic setting, frienemies to lovers, childhood best friends, writing competitions, and random food. This felt so much more than a slow burn (emphasis on slow here) YA romance; it had so much depth with how to individuate from your family when you start college and figuring out who you really want to be. The dialogue was so punchy and comedic, and that alone showed how strong of a connection Seb and Sadie shared. I loved the energy that bounced off this book every time I picked it up to feel transported onto a college campus and back in time to my freshman year. I think this is a cute, wholesome story for any age that anyone could love!

Sadie and Sebastian have known each other since birth. They were friends and playmates, until they became rivals somewhere along the way. Finally, Sadie is at Maple Ride University, having secured her high school’s only spot to her dream school, and she doesn’t have to worry about Seb anymore. She’s ready to chase her dream of writing for Maple Ride’s highly respected zine, Newsbag, and work toward a career of being a comedy writer.

Unfortunately, Seb manages to secure a spot to Maple Ride last-minute from the waitlist, and they’re back to being rivals. Worst of all, he’s going to compete with her for the one (of course, just one) position open at Newsbag.

What’s possibly even worse is that as they are thrown together at this new place, Sadie starts getting flashes of attraction and even feelings for Seb. It’s confusing enough navigating college and learning new things about herself away from her chaotic, intense family without that too.

When they find out that Maple Ride’s club system is facing unfair funding and other issues from the college administration, they have to band together to fight it. As they do so, they find that spending time together is different now. It may be that they can figure out how to be friends instead of rivals intent on crushing each other. And perhaps more.

The Rival is probably my favorite Emma Lord young adult book since Tweet Cute. I suppose that’s in part due to the journalism angle (I’m a journalist). Tweet Cute also had rivalry going on, between families. Here, however, Sadie’s and Seb’s families are best friends. We get just enough demonstration about the families’ relationship and each family’s dynamics to set the stage for Sadie’s and Seb’s soul-searching but not enough to really get to know them and have fun with them. We do, however, get plenty of time to see Sadie and Seb grow individually and together. It’s at turns fun, sweet, and cute.

I feel like I am usually honest in my ratings of books and now I feel like I am going to be more honest in my actual writing of the review. I always try to be nice. And I am going to be nice. I am not going to be mean. But I have yet to really love a book by Emma Lord. I think the books are good. They are ok. They are not great. So this might be the last one I read. I know the kids in my school will enjoy it and devour it, but it might just not be for me. It is a cute YA book for teens, but for me, my YA books need more meat.

Thank you to Wednesday Books for a gifted copy!

I find Emma Lord's writing delightful and charming and her newest YA book is no exception. Sometimes I think that I have grown out of YA books but Lord's books never fail to put me right back in that time of my life when I was even more confused but had all the possibilities in the world at my feet. There aren't, in my opinion, enough books out there about how confusing college is. How you have all the freedom in the world but are also away from everything and everyone that brought you comfort. Lord really captures what it feels to be on your own for the first time and all the scary yet wonderful things that entails.

While sometimes veering a bit too cutsey, this is mostly a very charming and satisfactory love story that's also a coming of age story for the main character, Sadie. Sadie is determined to make the university zine and break the mold of "responsible Sadie" that she has to be at home. The only thing in her way is her main rival that follows her from home to college, Seb. This is such a cute book and the romance between Sadie and Seb is delightful and very sweet. I really enjoyed this YA book and wish I had it when I was starting college!

Thank you so much to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

I like the lifelong friends to rivals to lovers pipeline we have going here. Seb doesn’t feel like he’s competing at all, though, and is so clearly into her the entire time. It sort of broke my heart every time she would categorize him as her enemy, when he was pining away and just reacting to her. It was really satisfying how they came together though. I loved how she began to view her family at the end, and how she embraced her chaos. It was really beautifully written. Also— one of my FAVORITE things in books: found family. I love the pancake restaurant owners. 🥰

*The Rival* by Emma Lord is a solid, enjoyable read, but it didn’t quite blow me away. The story follows a high school rivalry between two girls, the popular and seemingly perfect Charlotte and the more relatable, underdog protagonist, Isla. What I liked most about the book was the exploration of friendship dynamics, personal growth, and the messy, competitive nature of high school relationships. Isla’s voice is fun, relatable, and snarky in the best way.

That said, the plot felt a little predictable at times, and some of the character development was a bit rushed. I also found the rivalry between Isla and Charlotte to be more one-dimensional than I was hoping for. It was clear that they both had more depth to them, but it didn’t feel like enough time was spent digging into their motivations or backstories.

Overall, it’s a good read if you're looking for something light and quick, but it didn’t leave as much of an impact as I hoped. The book has its moments, but it wasn’t as sharp or fresh as I was expecting. Still, Emma Lord’s writing is engaging, so I’m curious to see what she does next.

The book is said to be a rivals to lovers, slow burn college romance but really, I found this to a really wonderful coming of age book following Sadie as she learns her away around college away from her very outgoing family. She is learning she doesn't have to hid herself as she did in high school. The book had a very good story line of how different students had different reactions to being at college. Finding student community, spots, academic. The pressures and the freedoms and how people handle it. I really enjoyed Sadie has she started to trust her humor and goes after her goals. While all that is going on, she is also dealing with her budding feelings for Seb. I found the Rivals to Lovers labels a little forced. I feel like they were just super close friends but what she felt was competition was really pushing each other to be better people.
It was a very young voice, very you style so some of the lingo and ideas probably went over my head but I would say this would hit for a young teen looking for a cute romance.
It was cute, idealistic and easy read and would recommend for younger readers that like romance.

I am left completely enamoured by another Emma Lord book. I just can’t get enough of her YA romance.
The academic backdrop behind Sam and Sadie, two long time frenemies and rivals, lends itself well to the competitive nature behind the two main characters. Their desires to outdo each other actually does make them strive to be better.
Sadie constantly tempered her personality to mediate the insane chaos of her family. Being away for college is exactly what she needed. We watch her organically become the person she kept hidden away. Sam is under pressure of following in his father’s footsteps, being the only child. Sam and Sadie have know each other all their lives and went from childhood friends to rivals. The rivalry continues in this book and as can be expected from Emma, the banter delivers. I really enjoyed spending time with both characters, but they are not the only ones wow grow to care for. The reader becomes rather committed to both the family left behind and the college found family.
The pacing of the novel was excellent and the major plot line realistic and well executed - budgeting at any level leaves people behind and they won’t go quietly and we get to join in for the ride. Go student activists!
My only complaint with the book, is that I was left wanting way more of Sam. There was some of his character that we get through Sadie, but I feel like I could have gotten even more out of it, if only I could have been in his head. That being said, while being able to see inside Sam’s head would have been fun, the story is still fun.
I recommend this book to all Emma Lord fans out there, to everyone that enjoys a fun rivals-to-lovers romance, and other adventures in an academic setting.
Many thanks to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for a digital copy of the book. The opinions expressed are honestly and my own.

The Rival is about Sadie and Seb who literally grew up together. From birth to high school they were originally the best of friends then the fiercest of competitors as journalists on the school paper, playing pranks, competing for the same articles and positions, competing in life.
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Sadie thought she was free of that constant competition when she went to college only to discover that Seb was there too, both of them competing for the one spot on the acclaimed college zine publication.
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This rivals to lovers romcom is fun because these two knew each other so well, they knew exactly what buttons to push and how the other would react in almost any situation. These are college freshman so there is a bit of immaturity in them and their story, perfectly acceptable in YA romcom!
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There was so much to enjoy; the crazy campus student organizations, hidden pancake place, siblings, parents, and roommates that made it feel like a very well rounded story.
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Quick, fun and entertaining, thumbs up to this one.

A cute new release from Emma Lord to start off my 2025 reading year! I really liked the college setting, the history between the two characters and the way their relationship shifts as they both adjust to their new lives. The Rival was a cute and sweet addition to Emma Lords catalogue of young adult books and I'm excited for what she releases next!

This book was so cute! Emma Lord just keeps getting better with every book of hers I read. I'm a really big fan.

I am a huge fan of Emma Lord, and was excited to read this book.

It has many of the things I have come to enjoy about this authors work. Well written, engaging characters and good banter.

However the premise of this book, failed to hook me. I feel like I’ve read this story before. Two academic rivals who secretly lust for each other. I love enemies to lovers, but the plot of this book lacked any of the originality that I have come to expect from this author. I got about half way and then bailed due to lack of interest.

My summmary, love this author but not this book. Sweet, but lacking any substance.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for providing me with an eARC of this book to read and review.

A pretty cute but standard academic rivals to more. I liked the college setting, and the newspaper competition was fun, but nothing about this really grabbed my interest.

I absolutely loved Tweet Cute and have eagerly grabbed each new Emma Lord release since then, but the last few ones have fallen flat and been fairly unmemorable. Nothing's really been wrong with them, but I just have struggled to connect with the characters and the story like I did with her earlier books. I'm not sure if it's because all her stories and main characters have just felt similar or if I've grown out of her style of YA or a combination of both.

This is a similar vein to her recent books, so if you're a fan of those, you'll probably enjoy this 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.

Sometimes there’s nothing better than arrivals to lovers. It’s so fun to see how the characters go from competing with each other to helping each other to fall for one another. I actually like both characters from the start and was rooting for them and I could see the chemistry between them Through their banter. It’s a really fun book from start to finish.

This book was such a delight to read and left me craving pancakes. As a sprinkle lover, I couldn't get enough of all the sprinkle mentions- it added some whimsical charm to the story. Emma Lord always captures the lives of college students so well, from their ambitions and self-discovery to the chaos of balancing college life. Sadie and Seb's rivalry-turned-partnership was perfectly packed, and I loved how their connection grew against the background of campus life. It's a fun and heartfelt story with the perfect amount of humor, romance, and depth.