#52booksin52weeks Day 11: Prompt 9 - Set in Winter - #Wintersmith by #terrypratchett. #gamemastersbookclub #fantasy #yabooks #yabookstagram #yabookseries #yabooktok #yabookrecs #discworld #tiffanyaching #wefreemen https://www.k-squareproductions.com/gmbc

Thank you St. Martin’s Press | Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the e-ARC of The Rival.

It absolutely pains me to say that I didn’t like this book. The premise sounded so cute - academic rivals to lovers, in the same vein as Divine Rivals, but set it at a college? SIGN ME UP. Except...rivals where? Our main characters kept saying they hated each other...is the hate in the room with us? At MOST, they were competitive friends.

This book starts off on the right foot. We meet Sadie on her first day of college on her way to a club meeting for the school zine. Writing for the zine has been, quite literally, her dream her entire life, and no one - not even her high school academic “rival” (who by the way was waitlisted and is going to a completely different school) - was going to get in her way. Except of course Seb, her “rival” actually got in and wants the coveted zine editor position as well.

Maybe I would’ve believed more in the story if either of our main characters felt real to me. As our main pov character, Sadie never felt like she had any real depth to her, and no amount of the author telling us how cool and funny and engaging Seb was could actually make me believe it. When he wasn’t actively engaged in the story, I forgot about him. And when he was on page, I found him bothersome and wished he would just leave Sadie alone.

ALl in all, this rivals to lovers book just wasn’t for me. 2.5 rounded up to 3 stars.

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