Read This Book If…you wanna see Ruhn Danan get with Milo from Atlantis in a magical laboratory!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch

Genre: Queer romance with magic
Series: Magic and Romance # 1
Setting: magical college in Philadelphia
POV: single, 1st person, past tense
Spice Level: 4/5🌶, 3-4 explicit scenes
Tropes: rivals to lovers, forced proximity, possessive, edging

My Thoughts:
If you, like me, thought this was part of Sara’s other magical series because the art is the same - it is not! This is the start of a totally separate series and I found this one to have a lot more depth and spice than her holiday books.

We see our lead dealing with tough family situations, past trauma, and one of the sweetest platonic friendships I’ve ever seen.

But don’t worry - there’s plenty of steamy and silly and swoon-worthy moments woven into this story as well! I had a great time reading this book and will definitely check out Orok’s story when it arrives.

Memorable Quote: “Oh, I’ll ruin you. But you’re mine, so I’ll always put you back together again, too.”

Thank you to the publisher for my advance copy!

This was everything it promised it'd be and so much more! I definitely got the Ali Hazelwood meets DnD vibes from it as well as the humour and found family aspects.

This was such a fun and lovely read and I can't wait for the series to continue!

The Entanglement of Rival Wizards is a must-read if you love the academic rivals-to-lovers trope. The book is an absolute win, and the way Sebastian and Thio go from snarky rivals to something more is just so well done. Their banter is amazing, and I genuinely laughed out loud at their witty back-and-forth. It’s one of those books where the characters and their chemistry just pull you in completely.

Beyond the perfect romance, the way the story handles their past traumas is really good and adds a lot of depth. It's not just a fluffy romance; it's got a lot of heart. It’s a genuinely great read that I’d recommend to any romance fan!

I love all of Sara Raasch’s books and this is one is no exception. Sebastian and Thio’s story was wonderfully written and so fun to read. I love how Sara writes her enemies to lovers stories because the tension and angst is always what draws you in and then before you know it you and the MCs are falling in love. I loved the academic atmosphere and how Seb and Thio came together to help each other during their final project, but how they also came together as a couple by supporting each other through some very emotional situations. The magical elements of the story made me want to keep reading as well. If you love academic rivals to lovers stories with magical elements then you’ll love getting entangled in this book!

"The Entanglement of Rival Wizards" was overall lovely, very readable, lots of fun, and packed with plenty of emotion. I loved the magical graduate school setting and many parts of the world that Raasch created. The romance was steamy and filled with tension and I loved the exploration of both of these characters.

The biggest thing I'll note about the world of this book is that it is heavily, heavily inspired by the mechanics of D&D. Per the author's note, I guess it's published Critical Role fan fiction, though I'm not familiar with Critical Role so I didn't know this until after reading. While I love that D&D and TTRPGs have this stunning ability to immerse people into dynamic worlds and stories, I'm not sure the constraints of those worlds translated super well into the worldbuilding of a novel.

Certain mechanics of D&D, classes and spell slots for example, exist in the game so that it can be played by people sitting around a table in a structured manner. Having these same things in a novel seemed unnecessarily rigid. For example, a character lamented that he "wasted a high level spell slot" on a frivolous spell, but there was no in world explanation for how spell slots worked and why they'd be so limited/rigid. Likewise, a character attending university to study being a rogue seemed a little antithesis to the conceit of that class of character.

All that to say, I think that fans of Critical Role, Dungeons & Dragons, and other TTRPGs may really enjoy these elements. But they took me out of the story a little bit. All of that aside, I thought that the romance in this book was very well developed and fun to read. I say this often, but I wouldn't have hated if the book were dual-POV. Theo fell a little flat at times. Several backstories in this book were surprisingly dark, told in an otherwise lighthearted and jovial narrative. I thought that Raasch balanced these well and it added depth to the story. And I absolutely adored the grad school/grant funding parts of the book.

3.5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Bramble for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Despite having a fair number of Raasch's YA books I don't think I had ever read anything by her before, but holy crap did this book blow me away. It was funny, romantic, steamy, and emotional, all wrapped up in one magic STEM book, and I loved it. It was SO MUCH FUN, and it gave me all of the butterflies. Think MM fantasy Ali Hazelwood, and that's what Raasch has written here. Just, *chef's kiss*. Honestly the only thing that could have made this book better (in my opinion) was if it was a dual POV (but then again that's really what I want in every romance). The only things I didn't love about this were Sebastian's anger issues (although I can see the reason that they were there) and I just wanted more. The ending felt a little rushed, but it wasn't so egregious as to lessen my enjoyment of the story any more, and honestly I think the entire book could have been 100 pages longer and I STILL would have wanted more. I think I would just read about these characters going to the grocery store or the like and end up entertained. Definitely a contender for favorite book of the year, and I've already ordered an extra 5+ copies into the store to hand-sell and to go with a shelf-talker I want to write. I can't wait for the companion book that comes out next year, and in the meantime I'm excited that I get to go back and read her first adult fantasy romance series, because if it's anything like this one I'm sure to love it. I'm also thinking about pushing her old YA titles higher up on my TBR list as well, because there's something about her writing that is quite readable, and they've certainly be on there for quite some time.

Thank you for giving me access to this. Also, shout out to being able to finish it via Libro.fm! I honestly think that Raasch’s writing style reads even better when you hear it with really top-tier narration.

I was really disappointed with the last book in the holiday series, but I still wanted to continue to give Raasch another chance. Admittedly, in the beginning, I was really annoyed with Sebastian as a character, but as Raasch fleshed him out, he grew on me. This was also unexpectedly a little bit darker than I had anticipated, but that is definitely not a deterrent. I think this is more definitely for those of us who purposefully chose the hurt/comfort tag on AO3.

This story had to grow on me, but I eventually had such a good time. I highly recommend this!

p.s. - I think the bond between Sebastian and his best friend was fantastic, but for the love of god, can we stop using “trauma bonding” in the wrong way? What Sebastian and his friend went through was extremely traumatic, and they definitely built a bond because of their horrific experiences together. However, that is not what trauma bonding means.

Okay, y'all can still read this. lol.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for early access to this book. I am definitely late on reviews because of giving birth, oops!

4.5/5 stars.

The good:
1. I love that not only a romantic relationship was explored in this book, but how deep a friendship can go and I’m hoping to see more of that friendship explored in book 2 of this series as well. It adds a layer of depth I really like to see added in romances since relationships can be between many different people. Family dynamics are also explored, but mostly in a negative light.
2. Sebastian is a very blunt character who’s voice I liked reading throughout the book.
3. The magic system was unique and extremely interesting, I was really pulled into the magical world and research that was being done!
4. I liked the calls to D&D without it being a straight up campaign in D&D. It was still fast paced like a D&D campaign while really focusing on our two main character’s stories.

The loss of a half star:
1. Personally, there were 2 too many spicy scenes that took away from the novel, but I’m extremely excited for the next book in this series.

Overall, if you’re looking for a magical gay romance book, this needs to be your next read!

Sara Raasch quickly became an auto-buy author for me after reading The Nightmare Before Kissmas. The Entanglement of Rival Wizards gave me the same feeling I got while reading her Royals and Romance novels.

The banter was *chef's kiss*. The backstories were written well, and even Orok's story was weaved in so nicely that he was set up so well for his own book.

I adored Raasch's Royals and Romance duology and was super excited to get my hands on an e-arc of The Entanglement of Rival Wizards, it did not disappoint. I had such a fun time reading this novel, I loved all the mythological creatures and the modern-day magical college they all attended. I loved our MC's as well, Sebastian and Elethior have my whole heart and it was hard seeing them struggle so much throughout the story. I enjoyed how Sebastian explored his feelings of inadequacy, his anxiety and PTSD disorder, and his strained relationship with his parents. Elethior had his own familial struggles and feelings of not being good enough as well. The two ended up having more in common then they are first willing to admit, but watching them form a begrudging working relationship, that develops into a tentative friendship, and even further into a budding relationship was really satisfyingly to see.

As always Raasch is the master of writing cute, cozy, queer romances. I cannot wait for the next book in the series and for Raasch's other future projects!

Ok, it’s cute. More toward the romance side of things than the fantasy side even though there’s magic, nonhumans and an invisible familiar. Likable characters though and a fun little story. I found it more of a 3.5 for me but if you’re a romance fan and want the fantasy trimmings it should be a four star.

Sit down, please. I need to talk to you. This book is not two academic rivals who once said something rude to each other at orientation and now loathe one another. This is not a simple miscommunication, or a battle for glory, or even a competition to prove themselves. This is a love story between several people, some romantic and some platonic, and it was so good that I had to put it down and walk around a few times. Does the guy on the cover 100% look like Ruhn Danaan, Crown Prince of the Valbaran Fae romancing Milo from Atlantis: The Lost Empire? Yes of course but that’s not the point. The point is that this is a book about two people working together to better the world, the difficulty of navigating family dynamics as an adult, the enduring protectiveness a lifelong friendship, and an invisible fox named Nick. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be taken aback by how hot this is? Who needs open door when this one just blows the whole thing off its hinges? Wizards: the better bang.

I went into this book expecting a romance with a fantasy backdrop and it did, but it had a lot more than just that. Having now finished it I can say that it had a lot of heart and emotion in it that makes the characters, and their lives, seem real. This was a fun, enjoyable read that I'm happy to have stumbled across!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

In The Entanglement of Rival Wizards, I liked the different forms of magic. The world of this one had a flair that I latched onto in the book. Like the name suggests, this one delivers rival wizards and a world in which magic has an edge. With awful parents, The Entanglement of Rival Wizards focuses on friendships. This has to be one of my favorite elements and the reason I'm also so excited for the second book in this series. This book gave me "the enemy of my enemy is still my enemy" vibes. While their initial 'romantic moment' confused me, I enjoyed this one. Some of the tropes had some weak connections to each other, but The Entanglement of Rival Wizards was an enjoyable read.

I wasn’t expecting to love this as much as I did. It took me longer than I expected to finish because I didn’t want it to end.

I adored The Nightmare Before Kismass, so I was thrilled to receive this ARC! Sara Raasch proves once again that she knows how to write bisexual chaos—and I am absolutely here for it.

The premise hooked me right away: two rival wizards forced to collaborate after landing the same research grant. Think wizard school meets STEM romance, packed with all the delicious enemies-to-lovers tension you could want.

The setting is equally fun: a D&D-flavored world woven into modern-day Philadelphia. As a former Philadelphian, I loved seeing the city come to life on the page (go Birds!), and I hope future books dive even deeper into it.

Tonally, the novel balances lighthearted banter with weightier themes, including generational trauma, PTSD, and chronic anxiety. The romance is spicy—and once it kicks in around the halfway point, it does not let up. The chemistry sizzles, the character growth feels genuine, and even the third-act breakup is refreshingly low on angst.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book—it’s funny, tender, heartbreaking, and hot in all the right ways.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

This was fantastic! I had high hopes for the story, given the premise and the fact that I'd loved previous work from this author, but my expectations were seriously blown out of the water. The characters were fantastically realized, and the story had a depth that I was not expecting because of it. The plot was fun but there were a lot of truly heartfelt moments that were so human and made me feel so endeared to the world and characters. Gah, this was just fantastic. I'm working hard to get physical copies in at our branch because I really believe this will be a hit this fall!

This was a fun enemies to lovers romance. If you like an academic setting but want it to have magic well this is the book for you. The world building was nice and made it feel like it could be real (well if magic exists). The characters had just the right amount of trope but unique charaterization to make it not feel like just the same old thing. I am looking forward to reading more books by Sara Raasch, this was such a fun read and it had some heart.

I really really liked this and I'm unsurprised due to how much I've enjoyed this authors previous holiday royalty books. now this is a new series, new magic system, etc but it has the same humor. I vibe with it a lot even if others have called it cringe.

I also really loved our two main characters and the secondary characters as well. my singular reason keeping this away from a glowing 5 star review is that I wish the magic system had been explained in more detail. it's a bit confusing because it just throws you into it. 4.5 stars