Two rival book influencers end up attending the same college and start a competition to see who can use the most classic romance tropes and who can fall in love first!

This was such a sweet and wholesome read! Aiden and Irene are both precious! Irene is struggling to navigate her freshmen year of college and accepting she needs help and is so deserving of all the love she always reads about.

Aiden is so down bad for our girl Irene and navigating complex family dynamics and challenges of his own.

These two are perfectly matched and so sweet together. Aiden is so attentive, caring, and all around wonderful. 10/10 notes on him! I enjoyed the side characters and friends to Aiden and Irene to help the story feel full.

Overall this is such a love letter to romance, romance book, romance readers, and the book community at large, especially in the online bookish community. The author navigates so many tropes in such a fun and engaging way! Lovely on audio! The narrators giving Irene (&the small Aiden POV) an authentic feel.

As always, thank you so much to the publisher and author for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Irene is basically one of us, a book reviewer who reads and reviews mostly romance books. She ends up getting called out by the followers of another book reviewer (Aiden, the MMC), asking how she can review romance when she herself has never actually dated or been in love. This, along with both of them competing for a spot on an prime sponsorship lead Irene and Aiden on a dating challenge between them based on all of our favorite romance tropes. The rest of the story is equal parts hilarious and swoony. All of our favorite romance tropes are thrown in here in a way that works and doesn't feel like everything is being thrown against the wall to see what sticks. Yes, even the monster romance/shapeshifter trope. And yeah... even the miscommunication trope... Which actually wasn't that bad.

Irene is such a funny FMC, she's the grump in the grumpy/sunshine trope. She's an overthinker and very relatable in the amount of social anxiety she experiences. Aiden, the ever persistent knight in shining armor guys, and the dimples?! Ugh, I am a sucker for dimples. The amount of times I chuckled with the book was off the charts. The narrators did an amazing job bringing this story to life! Definitely a HEA romcom book that everyone should put on their radar!

Overall this was a cute, quick, YA romance. Loved the premise of the female MC using common romance tropes as her guide to falling in love, and it was executed well. The characters and relationships/friendships were all likeable, and I found myself rooting for the main ship. With the exception of one cringey chapter at the end, I found the rest of the book enjoyable.

The Audiobook itself was great, and the narrators did a wonderful job bringing the characters to life.

Romance Rivalry was exactly what I needed to read this week. It reminded me why I love reading so much and specifically why I love the genre. The characters were so funny and witty, and I loved hearing their inner thoughts and seeing how they great within the story. The way Susan was able to really capture what being a huge reader is like in her work really made me feel seen. This will definitely be a book I suggest over and over at the bookstore. I cant wait to see what Susan has up her sleeve next.

Once upon a time, two popular romance authors end up in the same school, in the same class... and fall in love—just not in the way you'd expect.

This book is a love letter to romance tropes and a perfect pick for any romance fan. It’s a coming of age story about Irene, a romance obsessed young adult who struggles to fit in at school but dreams of finding her one true love. Her brilliant solution? Live out every romance trope she’s ever read all one date at a time.

Next is Aiden, our main male character, who seems pulled straight from the pages of a romance novel himself. With swoon-worthy charm, perfect dimples, and a heart that’s all in from the start, Aiden checks every box: the boy who falls first, the fake boyfriend, the love at first sight moment, you name it, he is it! Also... he reads romance for his guilty pleasure! My favorite scene (which might be a tiny spoiler) was the third act break-up where Aiden uses tropes to try and convince her to stay with him! Saying how they could be any trope she wanted as long as she stayed with him! (HOW FREAKING SWEET!)

“Why go through all the trouble of dating those randoms when you can just date me?” -Aidan

Normally, now I would list the tropes in this book... but unfortunately (or fortunately for you) every single one is in this book! Including only one bed!!

This story is sweet, funny, and packed with references that romance lovers will eat up. It captures the magic of falling in love for the first time and the awkward, messy joy of growing up.