Sebastian and Thio are grad students and rivals at Lesiara University. They unexpectedly are required to start working together for the Mageus Research Grant. As the unlikely pair are forced to team up, they soon discover the sparks between them. I loved the magical academic setting for this book as well as the grad student aged characters. Both Sebastian and Thio were wonderful in their own ways. Sebastian was willing to get into shenanigans, but was secretly harboring an emotional past. Thio was more quiet and broody in all the best ways. I absolutely loved their banter, rivals to lovers arc, and the adorable friendship between Sebastian and Orok. Sebastian's character growth stole the show for me. It was powerful and emotional. I did find the magic system to be a little bit confusing.

Thank you to Bramble and NetGalley for the advance copy!

The Entanglement of Rival Wizards was exactly what I expected it to be. Heartfelt, sweet, and sexy, this was a delightful read for those looking to unplug and take solace in a low stakes and charming read. Raasch's books are brimming with hope and joy, and you can tell that she delights in her craft. I absolutely adored the characters in this one. Sebastian, our compelling disaster of a main character, and Thio, our misunderstood love interest, had incredible chemistry and banter. My only complaint, which is more of a personal feeling than a critique of the story, was that I wanted to see more world-building. The story was very much centered around the romance. Completely fair, seeing as this is a romance novel. However, the taste we got of this magical world was tantalizing and intriguing, and I would have loved to have learned more.

Magical and full of heart, The Entanglement of Rival Wizards is yet another triumph by Sarah Raasch. As a current graduate student, I can relate to Sebastian's tumultuous academic career and desire to do "the right thing" personally, academically, and societally. This novel has me invested from the beginning, and, with loveable characters and realistic plights, Raasch has created the penultimate romantic spell-caster academia. I am very much looking forward to what she has in store next!

Excellent 11 stars wonderful amazing. I couldn’t put this down!!! I’m charmed I’m enthralled I’m obsessed.

Ugh I love a good enemies to lovers, and love it even more in a fantasy setting -- add to that it being a queer romance, and I'm sold! This book was so lovely and sweet, with a good taste of sweet. A lot of humor, plenty of laughter, and the book knows when to be serious and feel an emotional moment. I highly recommend!

First and foremost I like Sara Raasch's writing, they are chill romantic comedies that tackle a whole lot of familial relationships while facing down personal traumas and, so far, guaranteeing a happily ever after. This book is more of the same, but the magic is way more nerdy. It's an enjoyable take on a modern dnd wizard's study and wizard grad students, a reality that all dnd players must face. And it's even funny sometimes, with, for example, the rules as written sports game: rawball. The story introduces a minor plot and stays fairly plot light while still managing to be very emotional and pull off a happy ending.

Unfortunately, while I did enjoy this book a lot, the highlight is definitely the huge emotional scenes in the last couple of chapters. The tone of those chapters made some of the earlier chapters seem like they needed another emotional pass on review.

A cute, fun romcom perfect for dnd lovers looking for something a little light, a little spicy, a lot nerdy and light fantasy lovers.

Ensnared once again by my cover lusting heart! But seriously, I saw this cover and immediately went to the blurb, then immediately hit that request button for a review copy.

Let me introduce you to Sebastian Walsh and Elethior Tourael, both 24 years old and attending graduate school at Lesiara University. That’s about where the similarities end. Sebastian is a human who studies evocation. He’s a little chaotic, bent on revenge, and is attached at the hip to his best friend Orok. Elethior is a half-elf who hails from the powerful Tourael family and studies conjuration. He’s leather-clad, pierced, tatted up. and emotionally unavailable. They do not like each other, for reasons other than being on opposite sides of their magical departments. But they are both finalists for the same research grant and are not happy when they both win and are forced to work together.

This book was super fun. Seriously, just one big rivals to lovers, opposites attract, fast-paced, sexy adventure. It started off with a bang, with Sebastian and Orok playing a prank on the conjuration department. I was instantly hooked by their banter and obvious dedication to each other. Once Thio walked on page in all his broodiness, I was all in.

The world-building is fabulous, and it speaks to how much fantasy/paranormal romance I read that I didn’t blink an eye at the different types of magic and magical beings. While the focus is on the romance between Seb and Thio, and their growing understanding and affection for each other, falling in love and helping each other heal, it must be said that the relationship between Seb and Orok is just as important to the story. Orok is one of those characters who you just fall deeply in love with and find yourself hoping and praying that he finds love in a future installment. (His book is up next!)

There is a dark backstory that Seb and Orok share, and Thio’s family is responsible for, and let me tell you- the last 20% had me and Seb and Thio an emotional mess. But the HEA is lovely, and perfect for this couple. This is a charming story, sweet and sexy and full of heart. Sara Raasch is a new to me author, and now I can’t wait to dive into her backlist.

I loved this book! The story was great and I really like Sebastian and Thio together. Their "rivalry" was legitimate which isn't something you often find in enemies-to-lovers tropes, and the character growth was amazing. I also loved how we had mature conflict resolution in the third act instead of the typical breakup-at-the-first-sign-of-trouble. My only complaint is that I wish we'd gotten dual POV since it would've added some context to Thio's issues and would've added more depth for the story. That being said, I truly loved this book and am very excited for Orok's story.

Thank you for the ARC! The Entanglement of Rival Wizards is another hilariously romantic dive into a fantastical world of magic by Raasch. Seb and Thio had off-the-charts chemistry and the Critical Role/Dungeons & Dragons inspired magic systems and characters were well executed and added a layer of fun to the story. I'm already looking forward to the next installment!

Magic meets academia in this fun little romp. This is "enemies-to-lovers" in the way that they'll frown and quip at each other while silently bemoaning the fact that the other is really hot, but that's fine. They're supposed to be working together for their research grant anyways. The beginning was a bit of a rough start for me because I found Sebastian to be really immature and I didn't necessarily enjoy being in his head. But once you started to learn more about how Sebastian came to be the way he is, I allowed him some grace, and carried on with the ride.

I'm not totally convinced by the abrupt swerve that Seb and Thio's relationship took to go from rivals to lovers, but I did find myself enjoying the book a lot more after they got past their initial antagonizing. The best part of the book though? Orok, for sure. God, I love me a caring himbo best friend, and I'm glad he's getting his own book. I'm glad the book didn't fall into the trap of having Thio be jealous of Seb's relationship with Orok. Please normalize best friends who love and care about each other without inciting jealous feelings.

I think this book severely suffers from its marketing. It implies this book is a DND romance, when it's really just a light contemporary fantasy romance. It is cute and fun, but I just didn't feel like what it said it was going to be. Unfortunately, this one was not for me.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch.

My first introduction to Sara Raasch was Nightmare Before Christmas and I loved it. I thought it was such an interesting concept for a book so when I saw The Entanglement of Rival wizards available I knew I had to read it. I am so glad I was able to get a copy because I loved this book.

I enjoyed that you knew there was more to the characters than what met the eye. The story was well paced and revealed things in a timely manner. It had just the right amount of spice. Definitely 5 chilli peppers spicy. I love a good enemies to lovers trope. The only downside for me is that the chapters are longer than I enjoy.

If you enjoyed Sara’s other books you will definitely enjoy this one .

I’m not crying, YOU’RE crying! I knew I was going to love anything by Sara Raasch but this blew my mind. I’m always excited to get lost in a new world she’s created and this one doesn’t disappoint. I’m always grateful that the world building is quick and easy to understand so within a few chapters, I’m well immersed in it in addition to already being in love with the characters. I definitely enjoyed the brainy nature of the plot and Raasch always has a way of creating page turning drama even in subjects that I don’t exist in our world. Who knew I’d be so invested in component consumption (sounds expensive…we definitely need to figure out how to conserve) and the gray area dangers of disconnecting conjurors from items. Not to mention the absolutely atomic chemistry between Thio and Sebastian. You love to hate Thio in the beginning just as much as Sebastian does and then love to love him even more when you learn what an absolute gem he is. The way she writes a love story is so real and romantic and delicious that I will forever read any story she wants to tell. You also can’t help but fall for the other characters. Orok is a best friend I think anyone might want to have and the arc involving Sebastian’s parents…ugh it made me feel feelings.

Definite must read.

Thank you to Netgally for the advanced copy of this book!

this is a fun rivals-to-lovers romance. kind of an “I’m morally opposed to your family even existing” vibe, which I think is sara raasch’s magical romance bread and butter. plus a sprinkle forced proximity, where “forced proximity” = “assigned to a group project with your enemy.”

you know how you’re reading something and it sure seems like a cute and sweet magical romance, and then you remember it was written by sara raasch and someone is going to have HUGE familial trauma? yeah, that. that’s this. plot is that a human twink is fully acting like a middle school child despite being probably the smartest person in his entire graduate program. luckily hot half-elf is into that whole thing. kissing ensues. and also deconstruction of toxic military industrial power structures. 11 out of 10 stars.

I'm glad I gave Sara Raasch a second chance. I wasn't expecting too much from this - just a fun enemies to lovers story with a D&D twist - but I was absolutely floored by the depth of the characters stories. The romance was great but I adored Sebastian's and Orok's friendship. Their history together was heartbreaking.

The one thing I didn't like was this being set in the US (or at least an alternate version) it just seemed a little too silly and I was put out of the story every time they mentioned Philadelphia.

I will absolutely be reading the next book in this series and going back to try the Royals and Romance series again.

Rated 5 stars. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC ebook.

The amount of times I shifted from kicking my feet, giggling to being hot and bothered was criminal! The tension between these two deserves an A+++++.

This book includes:
🧪 male/male romance 🏳️‍🌈
🧪 rivals to lovers
🧪 so much tension
🧪 modern/urban fantasy
🧪 based on dungeons and dragons
🧪 many open-door scenes 🌶️
🧪 complex family dynamics
🧪 opposites attract
🧪 witty banter

I will warn anyone who reads a Sara Raasch book that she writes in a very casual style that caters to first-person narrative. It’s what makes the audiobooks fun. But it’s definitely a different type of reading experience because instead of giving all the insight of the scene, the character is letting you into their mind to listen to all their unhinged internal dialogue. So always be prepared for that.

This was so fun, and I was shocked by how spicy it came out to be. These characters had such incredible tension written between them, that it made it so much more gratifying when the breaking points hit. I also didn’t think I would get emo over magical trauma but here we are. I’m attached to these two crazy kids. The plot felt like a fresh perspective on a tried and true academic rivals trope.

First thought was that this was going to be a fun enemies to lovers with magic and mischief. It is all those things, but also so heartbreaking. This book sucked me in and all I want is more from Lesiara University and Raasch. Between this series and the Royals, I will devour her books as soon as I can get my hands on them.

I absolutely loved this one! Sara Raasch continues to have me in a chokehold with her characters, and I am not mad. I'm excited to be interviewing her in a couple of weeks for Novel Finds, in anticipation for this book's release. Thanks for sending me a copy!

It was cute. I will still recommend it to patrons, but not my favorite book by this author. The characters were good, and the story wasn’t as cheesy as the holiday series, but I prefer the holiday series to this one. I’ll still read the next installment!

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc!

i won’t lie — the ruhn danaan-esqu mmc on the cover is what drew me in…

this is perhaps cornier and campier than the holiday series! still a fun read though if you don’t mind the corniness/campiness