Synopsis:

Irene and Aiden are rival Bookstagram reviewers who constantly clash over their opposing takes on romance novels. Fast forward to their freshman year of college, they find themselves in the same class—and unexpectedly paired for a group project. Cue forced proximity, enemies-to-lovers tension, and all the romantic chaos that follows.

My thoughts 💭

I’m biased and I requested The Romance Rivalry based on the fact that Susan Lee loves K-pop! I live in a delusional K-pop world half the time and the cover art instantly made me think of Jeno from NCT- Dream. Aiden Jeon is 100% Soobin coded makes this novel even better 💕Soobin seems like he’s the sweetest, most humble, and confident person in every video on the internet! and Aiden has all of these traits. (Also Susan Lee confirmed on her stories that Aiden is Soobin coded).


Thank you to NetGalley & HarperCollins Children’s Books for this digital advanced reader copy! 💖

The Romance Rivalry
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to HarperCollins Children's Books and NetGalley for the ARC of The Romance Rivalry by Susan Lee.

This was such a delightful young adult read! I loved how each chapter began with a quote from the main character's reels and was named after a romance trope. It was such a fun and creative structure. I did wish at one point that the Slow Burn trope had been explicitly mentioned, because wow... it delivered on that front.

The story follows Irene, a college freshman and romance influencer, who is determined to find her first love through classic romance tropes after commenters call her out for never having been in love. Right away, we see Age Gap and Fake Dating come into play. Aiden, our male lead and a fellow influencer with opposing romance opinions, ends up at the same college. Once he discovers Irene’s trope-dating plan, he wants in. Their dynamic is opposites-attract perfection, and watching their journey unfold was pure joy.

I rated it 4 stars. I really loved this story, but I think I was just missing that one moment when I completely fell in love with the characters or the plot. Still, it’s a clever, charming romance full of heart and tropey goodness.

The Romance Rivalry
by Susan Lee
A book about romance tropes? Sign me up. I devoured The Romance Rivalry in less than a day, I simply couldn’t put it down.

The story follows Irene and Aiden, two rival romance book reviewers. Irene boasts a massive following of one million fans, but one follower always seems to get under her skin: Aiden. He replies to nearly every one of her reviews, and his loyal (and sometimes snarky) followers love to pile on.

Their jabs start to sting when people question how Irene can review romance so passionately when she’s never experienced it herself. With a major partnership with SKCupid on the line, Irene decides she’s going to trope her way through dating during her first semester of college, determined to find her happily ever after. What she doesn’t expect? Aiden being in her lit class and their dating adventures turning into an all-out competition.

I died laughing at their over-the-top dating antics. Irene’s first semester of college felt authentic, from the chaos of new experiences to the discovery of forever friends. The chemistry, banter, and tropey goodness had me giggling, kicking my feet, and flying through the pages.

I rated The Romance Rivalry a full 5 out of 5 stars. I haven’t devoured a book this quickly in a long time. Susan Lee masterfully balanced the meta-trope aspect without ever pulling me out of the story. From the very first lit class, I was 100% rooting for Aiden (and loving every second of it).

Highly recommend to romance readers and anyone looking for a fun, heartfelt, laugh-out-loud story.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the opportunity to read an early copy of The Romance Rivalry!

A wonderful read!
This novel drew me in from the very first page and kept me hooked until the end. The characters were vibrant and relatable, the writing was engaging, and the story had just the right balance of heart and humor. Highly recommend!
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Smart, swoony, and endlessly fun, The Romance Rivalry is a love letter to romance readers everywhere, and a heartfelt coming-of-age story about finding your voice, your passion, and your own version of a happily ever after.

OH MY GOODNESS!!!! This book was so charming. There were moments that made me cackle, tear up, and smile, giggle, kick my feet.

I am absolutely obsessed with Aiden and all of the one liners he had. Through the dialog he and Irene have, it's easy to see what his feelings are early on so it was fun to see all the confusion they gave Irene. The book is told about ~90% in Irene's 1st person POV but through the little bits we do get in Aiden's POV you really get the full picture of his character and I absolutely loved it.

I really related to Irene's character and loved the arc she went through in the story with Aiden, her family, and herself. The feelings of having to project this "perfect image" in order to meet others expectations and try to lesson the burden of those around you aren't feelings exclusive to being a teenager. Her journey was really heartfelt and I think a lot of the things she struggles with will resonate with a reader of any age.

Thank you HarperCollins for an eARC of The Romance Rivalry and Susan Lee for a physical ARC when I met her at Love Y'all Bookfest!

3.5 star. This was a cute book but it was a little slow for me. I didn’t love the FMC, but it could be the immaturity from her age that I didn’t like. I did like the premise of the book and how each chapter was a different romance trope.

Irene Park knows everything there is to know about romance novels, she reviews them and has built an online community of over a million followers. Now that she’s starting college, she’s ready to turn the page on her high school days and finally find love, using all her romance book knowledge and favorite tropes as her guide. But what happens when her online reviewing rival, Aiden Jeon (insert a picture of Soobin from TXT here, thanks Susan), finds out about her plan... and decides to turn it into a full-on competition?
I loved how much depth the characters have, it’s not just about the romance. Both Irene and Aiden are dealing with family expectations, money struggles, past insecurities, school stress, and just the overall future uncertainty that comes with college life. I also loved how the chapters are structured, each chapter starts with a trope title and a little epigraph with the main character’s take on it, and it just made the whole reading experience even better. This is a YA swoon worthy book about book lovers that you definitely need to add to your TBR!

GIVE ME 50 MORE! Shout-out to the one pre med student side character for all his effort. Our leading male and gal are my new favorite. It felt like I was back in college with my friends trying to find the meaning of our lives. Full of laughs, the yearning I beg for in romance novels, a wonderful nearly closed door moment, and touch of time travel had me shrieking! The little reviews to corelate before each chapter showing how how Irene and Aiden are just different sides of the same coin. Will be telling EVERYONE to read!

3.5 stars

He falls first, he falls harder is such a cute way to describe this book.

Irene, middle child, desperate to please her parents, is off to college but would rather be continuing her content reviewing romance books online than struggle with her classes. Who does she get partnered with but her online reviewing rival Aiden. But Irene has a plan: using tropes from the books she loves, she will find someone to get her own HEA. When Aiden catches wind, he proposes making it a contest, and Irene will NOT lose to him.

I really enjoyed the way various tropes were used to introduce the chapters and then be the theme for that chapter. I loved the way Aiden was crafted in this book, where it was so obvious he was into Irene, but she was supremely oblivious. While I relate heavily with not feeling good enough and struggling to ask for help, Irene really left things to the last minute, and that bothered me, especially when she knew from the start that Aiden's grade depended on hers. To her credit, she feels badly, but she still doesn't do anything to help him. Also, there was no real resolution on what Irene wants to do? (I think she'd make a pretty good literary agent, though.)

Anyway, I had fun reading this and would recommend this for older high schoolers/early college students.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

Short and Sweet Review

Irene loves romance books, so much in fact that she’s a book reviewer and has a big following. Sadly, her own romance life isn’t as exciting, which is why for her first year of college she wants to find romance. During one of her classes she ends up meeting Aiden Jeon, a fellow book reviewer and also one of her rivals. Irene and Aiden learn that they’ll be partners for the rest of the semester, but they also decide to do a little competition involving book tropes and dating. We follow Irene as she navigates her first year of college and try to find love.

This book started off so good and it slowly started to go downhill and I think I attribute that to Irene. This is Irene’s freshman year of college and she wants to find love but that’s easier said than done. Irene was a character I couldn’t connect to and that became more clear to me as the book went on. It felt like Irene has walls built up and she likes to push people away because she doesn’t want to be a burden but it kind of does the opposite and makes her seem cold and unreasonable. When we first start the book we learn that Irene is a book reviewer and she has a lot of back and forth with Aiden who is also a book reviewer and they usually have the opposite take on the romance books they read. When Irene and Aiden meet in class, she feels like she’s in competition with him and they eventually do start a competition to find love but also use tropes that are found in romance books. I enjoyed seeing them try to find someone who matched each trope but we could tell that Irene and Aiden liked each other and it was only a matter of time before they ended up together. Irene spends a lot of time focused on reviewing books and this competition that she stops focusing on her school work. When we find out Irene is failing, I didn’t feel bad for her mainly because she didn’t really put in any effort to change her predicament. This happens towards the end of the book and this is when I really found Irene to be over the top. I felt bad for Aiden because we can tell he cares about Irene and wants to help but at this point she has other ideas in her head and can’t be reasoned with. I didn’t care about the romance it was predictable and some of the things they said to each other were cringey. I did like Irene’s roommate Jeannette who seemed to genuinely care about Irene and do her best to give good advice. Honestly I feel like Irene’s growth went downhill and we saw her true colors towards the end of the book and although the author tried to redeem Irene it was too late for me I already wanted to forget about her. Also even though Irene and Aiden are book reviewers this book read as what someone thinks a book reviewer would say and do and I just wasn’t coming across well.

Overall, this book had things that I liked and things I didn’t (Irene). It’s hard for me to figure out how I feel, I liked the first half of the book but didn’t like the second half. I would say this book wasn’t for me but it could be for other people especially if they’re into romance and want to see one play out in this book.

This was cute. Irene and Aiden are adorable and I love that she did not notice his interest at all. It was fun reading about their trope journeys.

I received an arc through netgalley.

This book was pure joy! Irene starts college determined to find a boyfriend using romance tropes—such a fun and unique premise. As a former book-obsessed teen myself, I totally related to her.

When she meets her cute online nemesis Aiden, things get even better. They start a competition to see who can fall in love first… not realizing they’re already falling for each other. It’s clever, sweet, and full of perfect rom-com moments. I adored every page!

I went into this book blind & really wished the characters were older. I really didn't vibe with the way Aiden would bully Ilene in high school, not my thing. The writing style was smooth and kept me going. I'd be more interested for this author to write something more mature.
Thank you to NetGalley & HarperCollins for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved The Romance Rivalry! As someone who adores books about books, this one hit all the right notes. What made it even more special is that it’s centered around reviewers, which added such a fun and unique layer to the story. The rivalry, the dynamics between the characters, and the witty banter kept me hooked from start to finish. It’s the perfect read for anyone who enjoys a good romance with a twist!

This was a cute coming of age story between online rival romance book reviewers. Irene and Aiden meet in college, they decide to challenge each other by using their favorite tropes to guide their dating lives.
Irene and Aiden have fantastic banter and chemistry. It's a truly well-done rivals-to-lovers book.
Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins Children’s Books for the arc.

Thanks to HarperCollins Children’s for letting me read this book early. All thoughts are my own!!

I was genuinely so excited for this book, but I really did not like it. From the cringey dialogue to the complete lack of relationship development, this book reads like a first draft. I understand it’s a YA book, and I did keep that in mind while reading. I love YA books, and I read them often!! I was expecting some cringe and a small amount of outdated quips and references. However, the actual amount of both of these things in this book was so overwhelming, I’m surprised I didn’t DNF at multiple points. I genuinely thought it was satirical at some parts because of how these character spoke to each other. These are COLLEGE KIDS, COME ON NOW.

Starting with my biggest issue, I have to mention that every time Irene and Aiden would go to have an interaction that would help build their relationship dynamic the story would cut to the next scene. We barely saw them interact, but we were told that they did. It made the jump to them being in love so unbelievable. This book was full of telling and not showing, which was so detrimental to these characters and their dynamics.

I’ve never read a book so obviously written by someone who is trying to appeal to the younger half of Gen-Z. This book constantly references things that date the story. It also had a random text thread between two characters who are not the main character. The entirety of the book is from Irene’s POV, but we all of a sudden get texts of her friends’ private text thread?? Don’t even get me started on THE OMEGAVERSE FANFIC!! And she’s in COLLEGE, but she is so beyond clueless to social cues and how to interact with people because she wears these romance novel glasses that blind her. A guy in book club gestured to her to she could introduce herself, and she went on a tangent in her head wondering if he meant for her to sit in his lap?? COME ON!!

I also found it so strange that Irene, a bookish influencer, was surprised to find out that a brand was considering multiple influencers for the same brand deal. Many brands offer multiple influencers the same deals because it helps spread the word even more. The whole plot, or I guess lack of plot, was so confusing to me that I gave up trying to follow it after about a third of the book.

It you’re looking for a YA romance that is so campy it’s LITERALLY IN THE WOODS, then this is for you!! Unfortunately, it was not for me.

Irene Park is the middle child of a family where her two other siblings stand out in what they do. Her older sister is a model and a makeup influencer, while her younger brother is a famous golf player. She is a book influencer on Instagram. She uploads videos giving her opinion about the romance books that she reads. Nonetheless, her parents see that more as a hobby than an affordable job. That's why she found herself going to the university and fulfilling three dreams of her parents. Those dreams were being the first child to go to university, going to her father's alma mater, and becoming a book editor, like her mother dreamed of. Irene thought everything was going exactly as planned, but when she went to the university, she realized that nothing was as easy as it seemed.

On the other hand, we have Aiden Jeon, a young man who, like Irene, does romance book reviews on Instagram. His dream is to be a professional writer, but his parents don't support him. That's why he needs scholarships and awards to afford his studies. Now, you want to know a little secret? Irene and Aiden are Instagram enemies, and thanks to their luck they end up studying at the same university and competing to represent the same brand.

For me, this book was very personal. Through the reading, I felt like Susan Lee wrote this book for me to read it. I identified a lot with Irene because we're trying to make our passions our jobs. Everyone in the communication field, influencers, reviewers, or journalists, knows how difficult and competitive this world is. That's why I could understand Irene's anxiety when she thought her brand could disappear or that she needed to do something to keep her followers engaged. Nonetheless, the key is always being genuine because users can smell fakeness. On the other hand, as a reader, I also identify with wanting a romance like the ones in the books. Nonetheless, I don't think it is healthy to try to bring the book tropes to life; some things are better left to fiction.

One topic that this book represents is Irene's prejudices towards Aiden. These prejudices let us see that women are biased toward men. Yes, women indeed had been oppressed, sexualized, and treated as inferior, but that doesn't erase the possibility that men can suffer too. Throughout the book, Irene keeps telling Aiden that he has it easy because he only has to smile and automatically gain new followers. Nonetheless, she doesn't see that it isn't easy to stand out for what he does instead of how he looks. The majority of his followers want to be romantically involved with him. They sexualized him and harassed him through DMS. Also, Irene never thought that being a man who reads romance books would also be difficult for Aiden because men don't read romance books, and those who does it are called gay.

On the other hand, Irene represents how hard we are with ourselves. It is true that her family didn't understand what she did on social media and that they had expectations, but they never pressured her to follow a path. On the contrary, Irene is the one who continuously pressures herself to live on the expectations she believes people have about her. An example of this is her relationship with her Intro to Lit class. Irene is a good reviewer. She has millions of followers on Instagram who follow her because of what she says about books. Nonetheless, in her university papers, she tries to mold herself to what she believes is what the professor wants to read. That action resulted in her professor not seeing her honest thoughts. So, he is the one who reminds her that he doesn't see the charisma of her videos in her writing. He even reminds her that she doesn't have to do things thinking about what the people want but what she wants. Also, thanks to that personality, Irene almost failed her first semester because she lost herself trying to please others. That's why if you are in a similar situation, remember that you and your feelings come first.

When we talk about romance, this book has a lot. One of the things that I like about it is that every chapter's title is a book trope, and the plot of the chapter has something to do with the trope. Likewise, I liked Aiden and Irene's competition, although I knew he was crazy about her since the beginning. One of the chapters that made me giggle a lot was when he proposed the fake dating thing. The reason for my reaction is that before that, Susan Lee had left a comment where Aiden said that, usually, when people agree to a fake date, one of them has feelings already. Moreover, I like their relationship because they allowed themselves to be vulnerable in front of each other. Also, in the relationship dynamic, we can appreciate how Irene tries to fulfill the expectations she thinks Aiden has about her. Nonetheless, he didn't expect anything of her that he already hadn't seen. He saw her as the most beautiful, talented, and incredible woman. He supports her every step of the way. Aiden Jeon is a green flag.

The Romance Rivalry is a funny, fresh, and romantic book. It never stops teaching us about life and reminding us to live. The message of this book is that we need to live up to our expectations. Only when we start to love ourselves and work for our happiness is that we truly live. For me, this book is a good choice. Thanks NetGalley and Harper Collins for giving me the opportunity to read it.

DNF at 18%. I love the concept of following book reviewers, but the aspect that has me confused is who this is meant to be for. The MCs are both 18, but almost everything else suggests it should be an adult book. The jargon is common in the romance community, which is composed primarily of adults. If the book references were a bit younger and more relevant to BookTok, I’d find it more believable. Sure, Black Dagger Brotherhood is still relevant, with books still coming out and a forthcoming adaptation via Passionflix (ew). But I’ve seen mostly older readers who read it since its inception excited about that. And the other reference was to Lisa Kleypas…given that she not only hasn’t published a book in several years, and historical romance has fallen out of favor in the BookTok-centric market, I really wonder who this book is meant to be for,

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy

The Romance Rivalry by Susan Lee is a first person-POV YA contemporary romance. Irene is a successful romance book reviewer in high school with a million followers and a major sponsor with a Korean dating company lined up. The major shadow in her life is Aiden, a fellow romance reviewer who often disagrees with her and whose followers troll Irene’s accounts. When they meet in person at Brighton, Irene and Aiden enter a competition to date other people and fulfill as many tropes as possible.

One of the things I really liked was the use of short snippets of reviews from Aiden and Irene showing where they agree and disagree on a trope or book to start almost every chapter. There’s a lot of online lingo (such as ‘inject it into my veins’) and it showed bits of their personalities and why they didn’t like certain plot points. I thought it was a really clever detail that adds so much. I also liked the excerpt of Aiden’s writing and how much it flips the script on Omegaverse, particularly MF Omegaverse.

My favorite part, besides the romance, was how honest Susan Lee was about the double-standards in online spaces and the way men, especially attractive young men, can be treated in bookish spaces. Irene is right to be annoyed that it is easier for attractive young men to smile at a camera and get a bunch of followers, but she’s off-base to be mad at Aiden for that since it’s not his fault by any means. Irene has people bringing her personal life into her reviews in ways that are not acceptable while Aiden is dealing with people sexually harassing him online because he’s a young man in romance spaces, something that Irene never really considered. Drawing attention to this is such a great way to get young people to start thinking about how they interact in online spaces. While this isn’t explicitly touched on in the book, I wouldn’t be surprised if Aiden was also getting Asian fetishization comments and we do not need that in romance spaces.

Irene and Aiden’s approach to the romance is very different. I tend to be a big fan of when the female lead is the one who gets to decide the pace of the relationship, but Aiden is the one setting the pace here and I was really into it. Aiden is never forceful nor does he push Irene to do anything she doesn’t want to, but he also knows her well enough to know she’s going to overthink everything and that they may become stagnant if he doesn’t help nudge her along. It’s a balancing act and I thought it was handled very well. I smiled several times while reading this and will most likely be reading it again at some point.

I would recommend this to fans of YA romance that discuss online/fandom spaces and readers of romance looking for a book about romance lovers finding each other