Thank you Net Galley for the ARC!

First off, as a fellow romance, K-pop, and keeb lover, I was so excited to receive an ARC for Susan Lee’s upcoming book! I know all of her books read K-Drama so I couldn’t wait!

I think overall there were both things I loved about the book as well as things I didn’t quite as enjoy. Obviously, this book has a lot of romance and it’s quite fun seeing all the different tropes explored, especially with the little mini trope/book reviews (I thought that was the cutest addition). There are so many fun little mentions for all the romance fans (the Tamlin username was hilarious).

Additionally, the main character had some very relatable moments (fear of love/disbelief someone would love them in return, fear of disappointing others), but at some points I wanted to throttle her for her insecurities/ girlie really needed to get her priorities straight and study lol.

Aiden was also the perfect MMC, but a little too perfect? It felt unfair that he was so perfect and had everything together/had all the answers while the FMC was such a struggle bus.

What an interesting concept! Two romance reviewers compete to be the first to fall in love? Sign me up! In fact, I'll even participate if y'all want, because this was so cute!
Rivals to lovers?
He falls first and harder? Absolutely perfect.
I also really liked the epigraphs in between each chapter. It really solidified their characters in my head, as I felt like it was giving us a sneak peak of what Aiden and Irene are like outside of their dialogue with each other. It was also something I could relate to, as I am obviously reviewing a book right now. What is the irony in that? Am I breaking the fourth wall? This concept is giving me a headache haha. But the tension in this book was high, and the tropes were perfect.
Brilliant, Susan Lee.

enemies to lovers & he falls first & fake dating! all i need in a romance book! irene and aiden, are “rival” book reviews. and when they meet at college they are thrown into a world of book tropes.

seeing all the popular book tropes play out was so much fun. getting to see bts of book reviewers and how hard it is at times. seeing some growth of our fmc is always something i look forward to. our mmc was DOWN BAD! and down bad hard!

I absolutely adored "The Romance Rivalry"! It’s a self-aware, trope-filled delight that perfectly blends college coming-of-age vibes with a fresh take on romance. Irene Park—romance book lover, online reviewer, and queen of literary analysis—decides to apply her favorite tropes to her own love life. Naturally, chaos (and hilarity) ensues.

I love how Susan lee use the meta-commentary on romance tropes —it fully embraces the clichés while also flipping them in the best ways. Irene’s rivalry with Aiden Jeon, her book-reviewing nemesis, brings just the right amount of tension, setting up a classic enemies-to-lovers arc that had me hooked. And let’s talk about the fake dating trope—it’s used so well here, forcing Irene and Aiden to challenge their own assumptions and actually see each other beyond their online personas.

Irene’s character growth is one of my favorite parts. At first, she’s almost too caught up in how romance “should” happen, but as the story unfolds, she realizes love (and life) don’t fit into neat little story beats. It’s messy, unexpected, and so much better when it’s real.

Beyond the romance, the novel also nails the college experience—the pressure to succeed, finding your identity, and figuring out what you want beyond what’s expected. The humor, the pop culture references, and the witty banter make this such an enjoyable read, but it also has real emotional depth.

At its heart, this book is a love letter to romance lovers and a reminder that our stories don’t have to follow a script. Sometimes, the best “happily ever after” is the one we write for ourselves.

I can't say this enough, I LOVED this book! I was here for the vibes and they were there. Susan Lee is incredible, where has she been? Irene is so cute and her growth was amazing. She is so funny, I was laughing and giggling the whole book. Her blaming her obsession with veins on Twilight immediately made her one of my favorite people ever. OMG Aiden, I'm not even going to talk about how he is literally Irene's perfect match and ideal type because I will cry. I mean he was so perfect that she began suspecting that something had to be wrong with him or that he was plotting something. I am trying so hard not to spoil anything because there are so many moments that I want to rave about! This is was exactly what I needed to read! Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for the arc.

This book was a truly enjoyable read. The writing flows effortlessly, drawing you into the story from the very beginning. The characters are well-developed and relatable, and their experiences feel authentic and heartfelt. The plot unfolds at a steady pace, with moments of reflection that keep you engaged without feeling rushed.

This book was super cute! Irene is a romance book lover who has gained a significant following on social media for reading and reviewing romance books. She is the middle-child of her family and feels like she doesn't measure up to her model older sister and golf pro younger brother. But she's on the verge of landing a huge sponsored deal with SKCupid, a Korean dating app and about to start her freshman year at college to follow her mother's dream of becoming an editor. Her problem? A rival romance reviewer/influencer, Aiden, who always disagrees with Irene's bookish opinions and whose followers start trolling Irene's personal lack of romance experience to undermine her book reviews.

Her idea: to use romance tropes to land a boyfriend at college and to secure the sponsorship with the dating app. But lo and behold - Aiden is ALSO attending her college, in her intro to lit class, AND is competing for the same sponsorship! Irene's plan to land a boyfriend becomes a competition between the two: who can successfully use romance tropes to fall in love? The loser drops out of the running for the sponsorship. Of course Aiden and Irene grow closer over the competition, while both of our characters have more at stake than the other realizes. Irene finds herself struggling to stay afloat in school and Aiden relies on his sponsorships to fund his college education.

I enjoyed that this was set at college. I still frankly think there aren't enough romance books out there set at college. This was super fun, and I'm obsessed with Aiden's obsession with Irene, even when she can be a LOT. Romance lovers will love Irene and Aiden's love of the genre. And the tropes abound, but in a fun way and somewhat tongue-in-cheek. So cute.

This was so cute and tender. It's definitely an upper YA/NA romance, so if you normally stay away from YA romance, don't write this one off! There's a coming-of-age component, but the characters and the romance are fairly mature. I think if you liked Check & Mate by Ali Hazlewood, you'll love this one too.

Two rival romance booktokers in a competition to see who can experience the most romance tropes while dating? Sign me up! The ultimate goal of this competition is to see who can find love first, and our FMC & MMC are in for quite the unexpected outcome.

This was a fun, cute story that romance enthusiasts will get a kick out of.

I’d like to thank Harper Collins and NetGalley for this ARC, which I received for free in exchange for my honest review.

I love this book. I enjoyed the characters, the way college life and the difficulty of balancing everything were portrayed, and the need to prioritize. I love that in Irene, I could see similarities despite the difference in our ages. Her quite mature views, yet with a touch of childlike innocence. The idea with the tropes is brilliant 🤌 Sweet Aiden... thank you, Susan Lee, for such a wonderful character.

This book beautifully weaves together the best parts of "Better than the Movies" and "XO, Kitty." If you're a fan of either of these stories, I can't recommend this one enough!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

"The Romance Rivalry" was a fun read and a unique take on finding love through romance tropes.

I found myself genuinely impressed by the character growth we see from the female main character in "The Romance Rivalry" by the end. Her redemption arc actually felt earned, and the ending wrapped things up in a satisfying way that left me smiling. That said, I found myself constantly frustrated being stuck in her head throughout the story—her inner monologue and decision-making had me wanting to reach through the pages and shake some sense into her.

The book's biggest downfall is how it tries to cram in every romance trope imaginable. It's like the author was checking boxes off a list rather than focusing on developing a unique story. I would have loved to get more scenes from Aiden's perspective—he was easily the most interesting character, but we barely scratched the surface of who he really is beyond his role as a love interest. His moments definitely stood out, but there simply weren't enough of them.

Overall, it's a decent read if you're in the mood for something light and don't mind predictable romance beats. It will take you back to your college days if they are behind you. :)

Meeting your online rival in your first college class could end extremely bad or take a turn for the most exciting college experience. This is the situation Irene finds herself in.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy!! This was a wonderful little read. You've got all the tropes from romance as well as coming-of-age. I'll give it a 2 chili pepper spice rating. A really good book showing how difficult the start of college can be as well as asking for help. Just a short sweet little novel about finding love for the first time and getting past the thoughts in your own head weighing you down.

I’m so glad this is over with. I hated the main character. She was such an annoying brat. I hated the love interest. He was so cringey. I hated the writing. Irene was not likeable enough for me to enjoy reading from her perspective and honestly, the writing style altogether was so odd. Even the character development was so badly done. I haven’t read the author's other works before and honestly, I don’t think I will be now.

I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this book still. I didn’t love it, but I also didn’t hate it either. I enjoyed the concept of throwing multiple romance book tropes in to make the story, but there was something about it that just wasn’t hitting in the way that I was hoping.

I feel like a lot of it had to do with the main character, Irene. I understand that she’s 18, so she’s a mess and doesn’t know how to handle life, but she felt a little too “not like other girls” to me to a point where it was grating. Her back and forth feelings with Aiden and the shift from rivals to lovers felt insanely quick. I know that there was forced proximity as the two wound up at the same school and in the same literature class, but it just felt very…meh.

There were a lot of loose ends and the ending felt rushed. I wish that it was fleshed out more because there was so much potential here. I think cutting out some of the tropes and focusing more on the relationships without rushing through things would have been a better choice.

That being said - this is a very quick read and I would recommend it for that alone. It’s also good for someone who really loves romance tropes. I just wish that there was more to it so I didn’t feel as though aspects were lacking.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I really liked the romance and the butterflies. But this one was a bit not my vibe. At some points, it felt like the FMC was giving STRONG not-like-other-girls vibes. But I enjoyed the vibes of the book and the ending was very sweet.

Thanks to HarperCollins Children's Books and NetGalley for the ARC! Perfect for fans of This Time It’s Real and Dungeons and Drama comes Susan Lee’s fake dating romance novel coming out on May 13, 2025.

I can honestly tell when a millennial tries to write about Gen Z, so I stayed purely for the vibes and because Aiden is actually cute and was looking forward to Irene’s character development. It’s a light and fluffy read, with just the right amount of drama and heartfelt Korean-American representation that I adored.

To be honest, there’s not much to work with in this novel. It felt like scrolling through ao3 in the middle of the night because the author decided to lump together 10+ romance tropes. It turned out to be cringe, and I don’t think anyone else my age would actually find this enjoyable. However, I think if I were still at the cusp of my teen years, I would’ve 100% ate this up. The characters clearly had tension along the lines of ‘he fell first and harder’, but this book could’ve done without too many generic romance tropes in the narrative. As a book reviewer, I could relate to Irene, but her obsession with romance novels just isn’t my cup of tea. Why on earth would anyone even add omegaverse references and force an enemies to lovers type of tension in contemporary teen fiction romance? They’re college students LOL. Overall, I recommend this if you’re looking for a fast read and are very much yearning in the middle of a life crisis where you think you’re going to die alone. But otherwise, it is truly up to you!

5 stars

It's so cute. My heart is about to burst. Irene and Aiden are relatable as best friends and a couple.

3.8/5 Runded up
This is definitely a story for romance lovers and those in the bookish community as the main characters are book reviewers. As the summary says the FMC decides to find love using what she knows best, book tropes. Then her rival in the book reviewing world is also attending the same school and they decide to do it as a challenge and as you can imagine they partake in fake dating and fall for each other. I had to remind myself that they were teenagers, specially in the case of Irene. She came across a bit standoffish at times and very insecure, which she had her reasons for. When the part of the third act conflict came her reaction was not the best, I felt like Aidan was the one more invested in their relationship. I will say I did enjoy the writing and the way the tropes were incorporated. There is a bike incident scene that felt like a k-drama, and as someone who enjoys them it had me smiling and kicking my feet. Overall it was a cute story.

*3.5 stars rounded up
This book was somewhat unexpected. I didn't see some of the more explicit parts coming or the love interest writing an A/B/O self-insert novel, but I was really enjoying the book itself most of the time. These two reminded me so much of Rowan Roth and Neil McNair, protagonists of one of my absolute faves, so I got a lot of nostalgia from T3. I felt like the main characters were purposefully obtuse sometimes, but they had consistent characterization, and the plot flowed quickly, both romantically and otherwise. The connection seemed to be so physical the second the two main characters got together and actually a little less romantic, but I do understand there were a lot of blurred lines from the fake relationship trope. Overall, I'd recommend to fans of the rivals/aren't-they-more-like-begrudging-friends to lovers trope and those who just want some cute romance to brighten their day. WARNING: BURNT OUT COLLEGE STUDENTS DO NOT READ.