Susan Lee's best work yet!!!

I absolutely adore everything Susan writes, but this one was so different from the rest. It's charming, quirky, fun, and had all the qualities from her other books in one. I couldn't stop listening to this audiobook and found myself laughing and smiling from start to finish. Susan is a YA romance powerhouse, and this is her best work yet. The narrators did a phenomenal job, and I loved listening to all the Aiden and Irene banter. This book is fantastic, and I highly recommend it.

The Romance Rivalry by Susan Lee is a fun, lighthearted ode to Romance readers. I had been hearing about this on social media, so I was thrilled when I got this book. I absolutely love all of the little nods to other Romance books that are scattered throughout the book. The storyline is super cute and made for an easy, quick, and fun read. I really enjoyed Aiden as a character and the found family that Irene gathers as she adjusts to life in college. It wasn't a deep, introspective book, but thats what made this perfect. It's fun. You should absolutely pick it up and give it a chance.

I received a copy of this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest and fair review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

The Romance Rivalry is a sweet, addictive YA contemporary romance with a delightful plot and fantastic cast of characters.

I had a blast with this one. The plot was entertaining, and I adored the incorporation of online book reviewing and romance books. This book about loving books is truly a love letter to the romance genre, and I appreciated it so much. The college setting was fun, and I loved Irene’s relationship with her roommate. The characters were well-developed and compelling, and the found family aspect was lovely. The romance between Aiden and Irene felt rushed and sudden at times, but overall, I enjoyed their sweet love story. Susan Lee’s prose was funny and immersive, presenting a fast-paced romcom that I did not want to put down. I highly recommend this YA romcom!

Slight spoiler:
I felt Irene’s decision at the end of the book to share Aiden’s manuscript with their literature professor should have been done with Aiden’s consent, even though the gesture was sweet. The snippet of Aiden’s manuscript also felt a bit unnecessary to me and less developed than the rest of the story, but I am unfamiliar with the omegaverse (which is what I believe his manuscript portrayed), so I may have enjoyed it more had I been more familiar.

Shannon Tyo and Eric Yang were wonderful narrators for this one. They captured the energy and emotion of the story beautifully, and they fit the main characters well. I highly recommend the audiobook!

Thank you to the publisher for the free ALC/ARC!

OMGGGGG THIS WAS SO CUTE UGHHHH. I finished this in one sitting. 10/10

Wow, rivals to lovers done so well😭

The insane chemistry that was captured between Irene and Aiden had me gagged the entire time. I could cut the romantic tension with a knife. Aiden's actions constantly had me kicking my feet and giggling like a schoolgirl.

Like did he think he was slick when he asked to "fake date" because, let's be honest, WE ALL SAW RIGHT THROUGH THAT.

Also a moment of appreciation for her roommate and her little side story romance💖 LOVE that for her. She was such an amazing support character and I feel like she helped Irene to see that she did deserve love, both romantic and platonic. It was such a sweet friendship.

The narrators for this managed to capture the emotions between Irene and Aiden so incredibly well. It was such a pleasant listen.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Audio & Susan Lee for the chance to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is such a creative YA romance. I love how the chapter titles/themes are all our beloved tropes and the competition is just as fun as it can be. The little bookstagram reviews from the FMC and MMC added extra flavor to the story! Irene's transition to college is a sticky one. I graduated high school in 2002 but still HEAVILY related to the guilt of dropping the wrong balls and prioritizing the wrong things when I was a new college student.

Narration was incredibly well done. The male narrator was used sparingly but it made a big impact!

I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH! Susan Lee's latest release! The story follows Irene Park, a romance book reviewer who starts college only to discover her online nemesis and rival book reviewer, Aiden, is now her classmate. When they challenge each other to a love-off, with the loser quitting their blog, things get complicated fast, especially when fake dating enters the mix. Absolutely adored all the love tropes thrown into this book and the chapter names. I truly have never felt so seen as reading Irene’s character. Also, this book had many more layers to Irene’s character besides just the romance aspect. Her feeling awkward at school, having a hard time making friends, being able to escape and find home in books was just all so relatable to me. Also Aiden.. their chemistry from the first class where she ran into him and they got stuck as partners.. we all knew it would be downhill from there! I did not want this book to end. I was slightly devastated when on the epilogue knowing it was over. It was just so good. Thank you Susan! Can’t wait for what you have in store for us next.

Also ten million stars for the narrators, they really brought this book to life!

I absolutely adored this audiobook! Susan Lee penned a perfect novel for romance lovers. A beautiful YA story, that follows two book influencers as they try to check off tropes but just end up falling in love. I loved the intros with each trope and the audiobook did an AMAZING job at transitioning between trope definitions and stories. This audiobook also really captured the characters and had me kicking my feet squealing.

This book was so delightful and PRECIOUS.

First of all, Aiden is obviously obsessed with Irene. I adored their banter and back-and-forth reviewing. I found both their romance takes to be fun and refreshing. The formatting of this book, switching between reviews, content creation, and narration - kept it so fresh and it was very immersive.

Both narrators did such a fabulous job bringing to life Irene and Aiden’s irresistible chemistry. The production was a perfect composition for this story which was already so good.

I felt like the trope contest got a bit tired quickly but that was compensated for with the way the characters forged such a strong connection outside of that. The additional network of strong side characters and the commentary on friendship building in college also was a huge green flag in my book.

This was my first Susan Lee read/listen and I will absolutely be reading more of her work. <3

Well, well, well. This book is an incredibly charming romance about romance LOVERS. A book where the tropes quite literally smack you in the face. I think the book's pacing was a bit wonky at various times especially between Aiden and Irene but I also feel like I really understood who they were and how their family dynamics impacted them.

Is this book revolutionary? No. AND that's okay. There was a lot of sweetness. There was also a lot of frustration, but if you're hoping for a book where 18/19 year olds perfectly understand themselves and aren't going through growing pains... well then this is not the book for you!

I think the narrator did a fine job with the book. I feel like she really captured Irene's whininess (I know, a terrible adjective but it is what it is) while still making me empathize with her.

Thank you to Harlequin Audio and NetGalley for a audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Romance Rivalry by Susan Lee is an absolute delight! Irene and Aiden are rival book reviewers who clash online, but when they end up as college project partners (because fate is so funny), their dynamic starts to shift. Add in a fake-dating scheme, some classic romance tropes, and the chaos of freshman year, and you’ve got a story that’s both fun and heartfelt. Irene can be a little dramatic at times, but the found family vibes, sharp banter, and slow-burn romance more than make up for it. If you love rivals-to-lovers with a bookish twist, this one’s a must-read!

Full review on blog: https://brewsbooksandbffs.blog/

📚The Romance Rivalry by Susan Lee
💛mf young adult romance
💛rival book reviewers
💛hate to love
💛fake dating
💛grumpy (fmc) sunshine (mmc)
💛he falls first
💛college setting
💛books about books
💛singular pov
💛standalone

Story: 3/5
Audiobook: 5/5 (narrated by Shannon Ty & Eric Yang)
Length: 8h3min

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

This was so cute!!! Very much a kdrama brought to life. I think this is an underrated sweet spot of YA (ie, set in college while dealing with coming of age themes). I understandably found the fmc frustrating at times due to her people pleasing behavior and her inability to communicate with others, but it made sense given her family dynamic and upbringing.

I received an ALC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for this ALC!

⭐️⭐️⭐️.75

This is a cute romcom of a college romance between rivals that is full of banter, tension, and swoony moments. I love that both of the characters were book reviewers, and we got to see both of their perspectives. It was definitely relatable with bookstagram.

What didn’t work for me was how instalove Irene and Aiden were. With them being rivals and having different perspectives with their book reviews, I needed them to bicker and clash a bit more before they switched to love.

Overall, this book was an easy read that was cheesy and cute. If you’re not looking for something too deep, I recommend this one!

I thought this was such a cute book! I loved how Irene and Aiden are both online book reviewers who then meet at college and are paired together for a class project. what started out as a one sided rivals situation moves into a real life trope competition with fake dating. This book feels like a special tribute to booktokers who have greatly impacted publishing and a love letter to romance tropes. The concept of dating by trope was so clever and unique.

I really loved this one! It was such a fun twist on rivals to lovers with them having competing romance reviewing platforms. It was really fun to be immersed in the romance world. I loved the MMC in this one. He was so sweet and patient. Overall, this was a super fun read!

*4.25 stars rounded down to 4 stars*

This book is a love letter to romance readers <3

~The story~
This book follows Irene who is a book influencer with nearly a million followers. While Irene seems to have her life together when it comes to books, she cannot seem to get her life together anywhere else. So when it's time to finally head off to college, she decides to reinvent herself and find love. A dent is thrown in her plans when none other than her online nemesis (the guy who sends his followers to troll her account) is not only at the same college as her, but also in her class! Things are about to get a little tricky and trope-y.

Things I enjoyed:
- There are so many little references to romance authors and readers in here. Tropes, authors, one-liners. I won't spoil any of them for you, but I ate them up! However, I could see that being cringey for some people.
- Aiden is the perfect love interest. He was so *SWOONY* It was kind of annoying, actually. But this is fiction, so I guess I'll let it slide.
- Sometimes I just wanted to wrap Irene up in my arms and tell her that everything would be okay! I felt for her struggles and self-doubts.
- I loved the female friendship and found family in this book.
- The kickball scene (or really any scene with Taejin) made me LOL

Things that weren't for me:
- There were some moments that were a liiiiiiiiitle too cute or cringey for me. They usually moved on quickly, but I was a little uncomfy lol
- As a 30 year old woman, I know I am not the target audience for this book and some of the scenes proved me correct. However, I KNOW I would have eaten this up if I were reading this in high school, college, or even freshly graduated from college

~About the audio~
The narrator absolutely NAILED this book!! I absolutely loved her <3

The Romance Rivalry encompasses all that one hopes for in a YA romance. A cute exploration of oneself during the journey towards your future self. The main characters are relatable and both work towards finding their true selfs. This story was delightful at every turn and keeps you rooting for the characters to find their HEA’s.

Ended up DNF'ing about 20% into the book because the main character's roommate annoyed me so much. I'm not sure if it was so much her characterization or just the way the narrator voiced her, but it really grated on my nerves. Which is sad because I really wanted this book to be a win for me.

SUSAN LEE HAS DONE IT AGAIN AND AGAIN I WILL BE SUSAN LEE FAN UNTIL I DIE

this book was everything I needed and more, it was amazing and I feel like Susan was in my brain while se was writing this because Irene was more like me than I care to admit. I feel for her so much and I am an only child but I do feel in the sense of comparing myself to other bookstagramers and my content and everything to me because I questioned my worth all the time

A bookish romance? Sign me up! This was a cute story about two college freshmen, who start out as enemies but end up as boyfriend-girlfriend (sorry for the spoiler, but it happens early on so…) They both review romance books online and have had a history of verbal sparring, so when Irene sees Aidan in one of her first classes, she is less than thrilled. However, throughout the first few chapters, they discover that they actually enjoy each other and start dating. Given that the book has quite a few more chapters in it, the relationship isn’t always sweet roses and they have quite a few things to work out between each other (like trust and communication) before the end of the book. This is just the sweet rom-com to read as summer kicks off! Highly recommended for high school and up.

The Romance Rivalry by Susan Lee is an absolutely adorable upper YA romance that left me giggling, kicking my feet, and yelling at the FMC to just kiss the MMC already!!

Irene, the FMC, is a romance book reviewer with a huge online following but she's never had her own relationship or any experience with love. So, as she goes off to college, she decides that this is the perfect opportunity to use her knowledge of tropes to do just that. Little does she know, it's about to become a competition with her longtime book-fluencer rival Aiden who just so happens to be in the same writing program and vying for the same sponsorship from a Korean dating app.

Let me tell you, as a girl who read all through my youth and didn't date until college, I felt Irene on a truly cosmic level. But Aiden is such a cutie with an amazing attitude I just wanted to grab him through the pages every time he made me smile, which was constant.

Some other favorite things:
The side characters and everyone's family dynamics. Susan Lee really captured a lot of student experiences in just a few hundred pages. As an eldest daughter, I was relating to Jeanette a lot, with the pressure to set an example and do well academically.
The slowburn. Yes!!! Let the competition run and then let them get together.
The book references. JR Ward, Twilight, Nora Roberts, OTP, Knotting... Just references galore.
The social media posts before each chapter. They really brought the idea of Irene/Aiden as bookfluencers into reality.
A lot of the college details like paying for meals for each other with swipes on a date (been there, done that).
Even the pacing of the book felt really perfect to me!

The tropes:
Grumpy x Sunshine
Rivals to lovers
Forced proximity
Academia

The spice: 1-2/5 🌶️ (heavy make out session)

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for an ALC. All opinions are my own.