I gave this a 4.25.

This book was so cute!! It is marketed to a YA I think the 13-17 age group and 1) as an adult I enjoyed this except in one tiny area, but I will get into it later and 2) I think this is definitely appropriate for the 15 and up but could be appropriate for 13&14 depending on the child.

I think the plot was super cute and the writing was well done, and I loved how the two MCs were both booktokers and that the MC actually genuinely loved the romance genre and he explains why and isn't a MC just trying to capitalize off women/girls who love romance like we sometimes see on social media. I think the two MCs Irene and Aiden had great chemistry and banter with Irene being a little clueless about what was really going on with Aiden but that just speaks to her inexperience in romance which leads to the fun idea of her dating based on tropes with some interesting results. Now for Irene, I really enjoyed her but as a mom I just wanted to sit her down and hug her and tell her it is not that serious. I just kept wishing her parents would see her and see what was going on with her who are loving and supporting but just don't see her and that is one of the issues with Irene as not just the middle child but the middle child between two successful siblings with her sister being a popular model and her younger brother being a golf champ. She was just putting so much pressure on herself and trying to make everyone happy that eventually it all started to fall apart in a lot of areas in her life especially as she is going through the transition of going to college and trying to balance everything. That is the one small area that as an older reader I didn't enjoy because I just felt all the pressure she was putting on herself which I know I did the same when at her age as well as you have the middle child syndrome and I am sure there is a cultural aspect as well with her being Korean American but her parents really seemed supporting of her and not actively trying to push her into a career or life she wouldn't enjoy.

I also loved the progression of Aiden and Irene's relationship from rivals to friends to lovers as it was such a sweet progression that had me giggling and their two friends were great support as well.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and had a lot of fun reading it and I will be checking out the author's catalogue to check out what else they have written.


This book is about Irene who loves reading and reviewing books with her favorite Genre being Romance. She has even made a career out of it by gaining a massive following because of her romance reviews. But there has been some feedback that has left her questioning her authenticity because she has never been love. How can she review romance without ever experiencing romance? Well, she decides now is the perfect time to try and have some romance in her life as she is starting her freshman year of college and now is the time to try new things. She also decides the best way to find love is by using the one thing she knows best which is romance book tropes. While that may seem like a good idea in theory or in books, in real life well it's not going so well. As if that wasn't bad enough, she runs into Aiden on campus of all places who is her online book review rival and biggest nemesis. When he finds out what she is doing to try and find love he decides to make it a competition into who can find love first by using tropes. But as they progress in the competition things take a turn where they are realized they have to partner up in the ultimate trope... fake dating. As Irene struggles with the feelings and thoughts she had about romance in real life while being partnered with Aiden she is also struggling with other things in real life like the struggles of college and what she wants for her life. She starts to realize that Happily Ever Afters are a lot easier on the pages of the book and real life is harder and for her to find her HEA she will have to take charge and become the main character of her own story if she wants to find true love and success.

I received and ARC Copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book has all the tropes! Irene is a romance book reviewer and wants to experience her own HEA so she decides to use the tropes she loves in her books to help her. Lucky for her, she’s starting college in a new place with a roommate who is ready to cheer her on. Unlucky for her, her romance book reviewer nemesis and his dimples are at her new college too. Get ready for all of the feet kicking and squealing that come from every good romcom. This story will keep you highly entertained and rooting for Irene from page one!

Irene is an Instagram romance book reviewer. When she gets into the college of her dad’s dream to pursue her mom’s dream career of becoming an editor, things don’t go as planned. Obviously she’s living her life for others and forgetting to focus on herself. When Irene starts her first literature class she runs into her online nemesis, Aiden. The two get involved in a competition to see who can fall in love first by dating a series of tropes, like second chance romance, friends to lovers, age gap etc. Will either of them find love along the way or will Irene’s life fall apart?
What’s better than a book lover reading a book about being a book lover. Seriously I love it! Irene is the kind of reviewer we all wish we had. I LOVE the relationship between Irene and Aiden. The banter is amazing and they just fit together. I wholeheartedly loved this book and think it’s the perfect book for fellow romance book lovers. I’m obviously not a great book reviewer like Irene, but I think you should give this one a chance.

This YA romance was a charming and refreshingly clean read that balanced humor, heart, and a love for books in all the right ways. The story follows Irene Park, a romance-obsessed book reviewer who heads off to college with a trope-fueled plan to find true love. The pacing was excellent—fast enough to keep things moving, but with enough breathing room to enjoy Irene’s growth and hilarious missteps along the way.

I especially loved the book-influencer and reviewer angle. It gave the story a unique edge, and it was great to see social media and the world of book content creators handled with care and nuance. Aiden, Irene’s rival and reluctant fake-dating partner, was a great MMC not just because he read romance, but because the book thoughtfully explored what that means for a guy in the online space and how others perceive it. He was also so good to her without her realizing it.

While the plot never veered into anything too heavy, it still offered depth in how Irene navigates her expectations of love versus the reality of growing up. As well as the pressure of going to college and figuring out what you want to do when you are an 'adult'. There were plenty of fun, laugh-out-loud moments as well, and the fake dating trope was handled with just the right amount of swoony tension.

Overall, this is a light, funny, and heartwarming story that YA romance lovers (especially those who appreciate or live in BookTok/bookstagram circles) will definitely enjoy.

This is another super fun, incredibly bingeworthy YA rom-com by Susan Lee. I read everything she writes because her stories are always so easy and uplifting to read!

This was the CUTEST.

Irene, middle child, people pleaser (same girl same), romance book lover/influencer, goes off to her first semester of college with one goal, to fall in love using her famous romance novel tropes.

But when her online rival (only in her mind really he doesn’t see the rivalry which makes it fun) attends the same college, they get partnered up in a class and hijinx ensue.

I loved the friend group in this, Irene, Aiden, Jeanette, and Charles were that freshman friend group you’d always hope you’d find when you go off to college.

Irene had me STRESSED. Not focusing on her classes, she kept being like “I’ll catch up” and the anxiety I had 😂.

I did feel like in some areas the dialogue was too tidy and not as realistic, it got too stiff at the end. And the ending wasn’t as strong as I felt it could have been with how great the first 80% was. I feel like it lost its way a bit and there were some interesting editing choices in terms of POV and adding a piece of a book within a book that was too long and I don’t know that we needed, if it had been incorporated throughout the novel it would have been fine, but thrown at the end there didn’t make sense.

BUT overall, I thought this was pretty solid, very cute, Irene is extremely relatable and I felt so connected to her. And the cover is adorable. I’d pick up other books by this author.

I cannot wait to see Susan Lee at The Romance Rivalry Tour in a few weeks!

Thank you @netgalley and @harpercollins for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

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!

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!