Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the ARC of Rivals to Lovers.

The premise immediately drew me in, but once I started reading, I found myself struggling with the writing style which I found to be a bit jarring. I've ultimately decided to DNF for now, but I hope to give it another try in the future. I believe this book will be a great fit for other readers, and I appreciate the opportunity to have read it.

Mo Denton has always adored the feminist classic The Proud and the Lost, so when she finally writes her dream modern adaptation, she’s ready to share it with the world. There’s just one problem and that is that the author’s estate has never approved an adaptation, and the man representing them, Wes Spencer, is working on his own version. What starts as a clear-cut case of professional rivalry turns more complicated when the estate’s heir invites them both for a weekend at her home, giving them the chance to pitch their competing visions. Over the course of the weekend, Mo and Wes discover a shared passion for the original novel, moments of unexpected connection, and a growing attraction that’s hard to ignore. But with only one project allowed to move forward and secrets still lurking, they’ll have to decide if they’re willing to risk their careers and their hearts for the possibility of a happy ending.
The author does a great job balancing the rivalry with slow-burn chemistry. I also enjoyed the behind-the-scenes look at publishing and literary estates and found that it gave the romance an extra layer of intrigue. While I guessed some of the “secrets” early on, it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of watching Mo and Wes navigate trust and love. An enjoyable read.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Yes yes yes yes yes! I loved this book’! Any book lover this one is for you! It’s so cute and enjoyable! Highly recommend!

3.5 ⭐️

This book follows two authors who are seeking the rights to do a re-make of their favorite novel in their own words from the daughter of the original author. She invites them to spend a weekend with her as she gets to know them and they have to sell their story. Wes is family friends with daughter so he has a leg up compared to Maureen who is from the Midwest and has no contacts in the industry.

What I liked about this book:

(1) The actual relationship between Mo and Wes, if you remove the rivals part of the title. They had an easy going relationship from start to finish besides when Wes would stumble and as his family points out, he is terrified for someone to see him other than perfect so this makes sense. These two very much have trust issues, but they do well at working through them and giving second chances.
(2) The side characters do a wonderful job at moving the story forward, adding in the original novel authors family, the literary team, both Wes and Mo’s families, they all do a wonderful job at stepping in, sending the right information, adding conflict and everything that the pacing feels well done and easy to read.

What I didn’t like:
(1) the fact that Wes and Mo were rivals in name only, otherwise, they never actually did any competing or had animosity between them due to the competition. Mo would sometimes make assumptions about Wes’s motives, but that would be quickly worked out, so they never really had any negative feelings. I just didn’t how them being rivals was relevant enough to the story to title it that at all.
(2) the politics, there was a lot of class prejudice with Mo, and it felt a little preachy when she went on her tirades about Wes’s privilege, or his connections, and it started to just get annoying to me.

This is a cute love story, but I cannot say this was the best book for me.

I enjoyed this book! I liked the rivals to lovers banter, the dual pov, and the fact that it was a story about books. I wish I had felt more connected to the main characters and their love story, but their love story was a bit too fast paced for my liking.

Overall, I would recommend this book to book lovers looking for a cute romcom!

Thank you netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much to Elise Wayland, Alcove Press, and NetGalley for this Advanced Reader's Copy in exchange for my honest review!

If you recently read Emily Henry's, "Great Big Beautiful Life" and wanted more of the two-authors-working-towards-a-book-deal vibe, then I would definitely recommend this! It's a little different, as this book isn't about a memoir; it's two authors who have created original work that is an adaptation of a very famous novel.

I honestly thought the concept of this was fun, as it was interesting to learn how both Wes and Mo were impacted by the original story to then be influenced enough to add their own inspirations & interpretations for the original characters, and even changing things like their names, their sexualities, and the infamous ending of the original book in order to give it a more modern spin. At one point, Mo identifies that Wes's adaptation still has a spin of classism in it, which is what really made her want to update it to a contemporary context, and I loved that spin.

"I’m always amazed at the hunger that we have to reimagine familiar stories. Look at how many books and movies we have every year that are remakes, or even retellings of folktales. We have an endless need to know again and again that happy endings are possible or that we really shouldn’t trust wolves we meet in the woods. [...] I think having a happy ending doesn’t mean that a book doesn’t have literary merit. If fiction is meant to explore the human condition, which I think is its purpose, it’s okay to tell a story that ends with joy. We experience joy too. We experience freedom from bad relationships and the hope for better ones.”

I do think I was hoping for a little more tension between these two in the sense of being rivals -- I think the beginning of the book was just a little slow for me because they were so quickly friendly and it escalated pretty quickly between them as lovers before I really even felt like we got a glimmer of rivals, hahaha. It felt more like Friends to Lovers to Rivals to Lovers, and even when they were "rivals" I really didn't feel any malice or ill intention or hate towards one another, so the stakes were pretty low. Not to say that I didn't enjoy watching their relationship bloom, but I just felt like the title was a *little* misleading, even if they were technically pitted against each other for the book deal so were indeed *rivals.* But truthfully, I'm a bit more of a slow-burn girl who craves tension, so if you don't care for that, then you'll eat this one up more!

"Be gentle to one another. Gary told me you are friends now, and I’m glad. God only gives us few equals in this life, and rivals which we respect—even fewer."

That note aside, I did enjoy the banter between Wes and Mo, even if I felt like their relationship felt a little undercooked before they were suddenly in love with each other. And honestly, I found myself truly laughing at some of Wes's thoughts when we were in his POV. Hahaha. I thought Mo was a cute character, but Wes had some of the best actions and thoughts. “I am, in fact, a disaster some of the time. Or maybe, more accurately, I am a construction zone and I’m not used to letting someone see the unfinished building.”

Overall, cute story with likeable characters, and I enjoyed the ending. A book within a book for book lovers, with a little look into the publishing world!

Rivals to Lovers follows two writers, Maureen (Mo) and Wes, who have both written their own reimagining of a famous book from decades ago. The only issue is, the estate of the original writer only wants to pick one adaptation to move forward. They both get invited to the estate to duke it out and end up falling in love in the process.

The premise of this one was a lot of fun but the execution fell short for me. The description is also deceiving by mentioning Emily Henry (who I love) and Ali Hazelwood (who is pretty hit or miss for me, especially lately) because this book doesn't match the vibe of any of theirs. It didn't have an organic flow, but rather felt like there were points in a plot that had to be hit.

I also thought both Mo and Wes lacked depth as individual characters, and they didn't have any chemistry. She also kept making little jabs throughout the book about how he came from money. He mentioned it a lot too and it was so often it was like the author kept trying to remind you in case you forgot- "Hey, Wes is very privileged and Mo comes from humble means!" It was too much. All the side characters felt one dimensional as well, and as someone who loves LOTR.... There were way too many LOTR references.

My favorite scene was easily when Mo took the gummies- the vibe was cute and funny and I wish the rest of the book matched that same tone.

Overall, this one was fine but forgettable. It's a dual POV and a closed door romance.

The premise and cover of the book drew me in right away and whilst it started off well the story seemed to lag for me at the halfway point which took me out of the story. I do appreciate the variation of the characters although I find it difficult to understand why the author made the male main character bisexual which to me wasn't a driving factor to the actual storyline.
Thankyou to Net galley and Alcove Press for an early arc of this book.

Thank you Netgalley and Alcove Press for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Things I liked: It's my first time having a bisexual MMC! The queer rep is strong, and the fact that gender roles are so blurred here, it's refreshing! Wes is described very well, handsome, and often referred to as "thick" which our main girl loves very much eventhough he's not typically her type. He's not the usual six-pack MMC that we see in romance novels, and I'm kinda here for it, hooray for diversity! I actually prefer his adaptation better, I'm not gonna lie. His take on modernizing a classic book with a queer romantic twist is so intriguing.

Things I didn't really care for: the writing was too simplistic for my taste. The characters' personalities were not really likable, and I didn't feel the chemistry. Maybe if it had a slower burn I would've appreciated it more. I didn't really gel with Mo in particular, she has her insensitive moments here (well they both do actually). I was icky on the ratports! (Mo and her friends talk about NYC's rats too damn much imo) I expected some amount of bickering because of the title (you know me, I love enemies to lovers) but despite the title, the characters were very amicable. The pacing was a little slow for me as well and the book could've been shorter. Overall, just a decent read for me.

I really enjoyed this debut romance about rival authors competing to get their version of a classic adaptation chosen over the other in this contemporary enemies to lovers, opposites attract, forced proximity romance with great bisexual rep, all sorts of insider publishing industry rep and a sizzling attraction. I loved it on audio and highly recommend it for Emily Henry fans, especially anyone, who like me, wanted there to be a more romance-centric plot to Great big beautiful life. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

A cute enemies to lovers book. Two aspiring writers have adapted a classic novel to modern audiences. But what they don’t expect is to be pitted against each other and finding love. There’s some very cute banter in here, a lot of emotional awareness, and a very slow moving story in the middle. While not wholly unpredictable, it’s still an enjoyable read.

This was an okay read i like the aspect of the two main characters being rivals when trying to compete to get a novel adaptation. I love books with bookish plots so i liked that aspect of the book. I think the author did a great job immersing the readers into the publishing and book aspect of the story. The dual pov was good and i love the good rivals to lovers banter and back and forth. The romance was cute but there was so much back and forth and the pacing of the plot at times felt off. The romance between the non main characters was also cute and overall this was a fast paced romcom. Thanks to the publisher for this arc.

Thank you to Alcove Press for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Mo Denton and Wes Spencer are two very different people. Mo grew up in Iowa and works at a catering company during the day, while also writing in her spare time. Wes grew up among the rich and famous in New York City and works in publishing, as he always wanted. They do have one thing in common: each has written an adaptation of a classic novel and wants the approval of the original author's family for publication. Both are invited to spend the weekend with the author's daughter, sharing their books. After the weekend, they have another thing in common: their mutual attraction. But how can they start a relationship when they are literary rivals?

This was a fun premise, and I enjoyed the many bookish references. I can certainly relate to both Mo and Wes' love of books. The prose was excellent, and I was able to follow the story easily. I struggled to connect with Wes. Many of his decisions seemed immature, and he relied a lot on his mother. I appreciated his close relationship with her, but to me, he acted more like a teenager in that dynamic than a grown adult. I had some trouble getting into the story, but I did get more invested about halfway through when I knew the characters a bit better. I agree with other reviewers who were confused that the book is marketed as "steamy" - for quite a while, I thought the book was closed-door. I expected more explicit scenes based on that wording.

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Iowa is home to some incredible romance authors, and Elise Wayland’s romance debut is further proof of that.

Her characters are refreshingly imperfect, but also emotionally mature. The romance is fun, but also cozy and believable.

I was grateful to receive an ARC of this wonderful novel, and look forward to getting my hands on a published copy!

Mo and Wes are two writers competing for the chance to adapt a beloved novel, but what starts as a rivalry quickly turns into something far more complicated. Set in the world of publishing, Rivals to Lovers brings literary ambition, emotional vulnerability, and a refreshing dose of bisexual rep to the forefront.

What I loved:
* The publishing backdrop was immersive and realistic—a dream for book nerds.
* The dialogue was so good. Clever, fast-paced, and emotionally charged.
* Dual POV gave both characters real depth.

A perfect pick if you love books about books, writers falling for each other, or a cozy romance with substance.

Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher, for this E-ARC in exchange for an honest review. The premise of this book was interesting to me. Enemies to Lovers competing for an adaptation of their favorite classic novel. A book about books, two writers, enemies to lovers, set in Manhattan-I would normally eat this up. However, I found it hard to connect to the storyline and the characters. I unfortunatley dnfd at the 13% mark. There was a lot of backstory and I found it a bit info-dumpy for a romcom, making it a bit cofusing for me during certain parts. I also found the writing style to be really hard to digest. The pacing of this book was a bit off for me, making it hard for me to want to pick it back up. I would recommend this book for people who love all the trophes it has that don't mind a little bit of a backstory at the begining of the book written in 3rd person.

Rivals to Lovers is a fun romance for lovers of classic literature. The two protagonists, Mo and Wes, are in competition to be the first authors to be allowed to publish an adaptation of their favorite classic novel. As a part of that competition, they have to spend a weekend presenting parts of their novels to the daughter of the original author.

I loved the literary backdrop to the story and Estelle, the woman in charge of picking the winning adaptation, was delightfully charming. There's bi representation, great character growth, and a secondary secret romance between supporting characters.

Thank you, NetGalley for the opportunity to advance read this story!

Thank you kindly Net Galley for this ARC.

This book was cute, easy to read and a good pallet cleanser. It follows the two MC’s as they both strive to get their adaptation of a book published whilst managing their own developing relationship.

I love reading about characters who love books and I thought the concept was great so I was initially super intrigued, but I struggled with a few components. I felt like the romance was too fast paced, and considering it’s called rivals to lovers I feel a slow burn what have suited it better - I wanted so badly to love the romance but it ended up a little flat for me. I initially liked the FMC however I ended up a little bored of her, and my feelings towards the MMC were so up and down I still don’t know my opinions of him at the end. The pacing was odd at times, the book a little long and I definitely had some cringey moments.

In saying that, the book was a fine read. It’s super easy, quite bingeable and a great read between books that are heavier/fantasy. I liked the LGBQT+ representation and felt this was done quite well.

Rivals to Lovers is a light, fun romcom with an irresistible premise: two aspiring authors, Maureen “Mo” and Wes, go head-to-head in New York as they compete to adapt a beloved novel. Wes’s industry connections daunt Mo, while Wes can’t help but be in awe of Mo’s great writing talent. Their rivalry is full of tension, banter, and undeniable chemistry.

I enjoyed the “book within a book” angle, as the story they’re adapting becomes its own kind of character. While Rivals to Lovers didn’t completely blow me away, it made for an enjoyable weekend read with just the right amount of spark.

Thank you to Alcove Press for an e-arc, all opinions are my own.

DNF at 10%

I thought the premise would be cool, but the story didn't catch my attention the way I thought it would. I also didn't really get rivals vibes from the MMC. Yeah, they were both competing for their novel's adaptation, but he was already a fan of her work.

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