Katie the Book Reporter

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for this eARC! The Rival by Emma Lord is out Tuesday, Jan. 21. 

“I don’t think I could explain what Seb and I are to each other in any singular word, but friends certainly isn’t it. Whatever we are, it goes so deep that the word feels too flimsy for it. Like there should be a new word, something as crackling and maddening and inevitable as we are.”

I was utterly charmed by this YA romcom from Emma Lord! I thought it would be up my alley when I read the description on NetGalley, but I didn’t expect to fall as deeply in love as I did. The Rival ended up being one of my favorite reads of 2024. 

The Rival is a joyous, touching and chaotic-ly funny story – part coming-of-age and part romance. The book follows Sadie and Sebastian, rivals from thick-as-thieves families who end up attending the same university. Once there, they continue their competitive relationship, going head-to-head for a single spot on a prominent campus zine – think The Catullan in The Sex Lives of College Girls. But while vying for the spot, and fighting to preserve student org funding on campus, the duo’s complex rivalry morphs into something new. 

I was rooting so hard for Seb and Sadie throughout The Rival, and was so charmed seeing the development of their relationship. I was on the edge of my seat waiting for that first kiss! Sadie in some ways is a classic middle child – she tries to be predictable and low maintenance in her family, working to keep the peace even to her own detriment. She’s actually sassy and sarcastic, creative, smart and a problem solver. She knows how to bring people together, and she’s bolder than she’s let herself realize. Seb is charming but introspective, with an anxiety under the surface of his bright persona. He’s navigating pursuing his dreams and balancing family pressure about what his future should look like. He’s smart, considerate, has integrity and is a good friend. 

I really liked how Lord set up their backstory. Their history added significant depth to their relationship; we get to learn about the breakdown of their childhood friendship, experience their care for one another despite the rivalry and see how they offer each other perspective on their lives/family relationships, especially in the case of Seb giving Sadie an outside view on her family. 

Speaking of family, Sadie’s navigation of her changing relationship with her family is the other main throughline of the story outside the zine storyline. Sadie’s family is passionate, loud and unabashed, and Sadie alternately loves them and is embarrassed by their lack of inhibition. So much so, that she’s kept her own passion for comedy and comedy writing secret from them as she tries to make herself calm, cool and palatable. Getting distance while at school helps her begin to confront these feelings and chart a new path forward. We get to see changes in Sadie’s relationship with her parents and her younger and older sisters throughout the story. 

I felt that Lord captured the conflicting feelings of early college life well: homesickness mingled with joy that you’re away, and gratitude for the freedom to explore new parts of yourself mixed with guilt that you feel grateful to be gone. 

The Rival is a classic happily ever after story, with a clear focus on the characters. Everything is going to work out in the end and we see pretty minimal details of their lives at school beyond what’s tied up in the plot – no going to class or having to deal with RAs or handle studying for midterms, etc. but that’s OK! The story has a clear main focus and that’s the competition for the zine spot propelling Seb and Sadie’s relationship forward. 

The story is told from Sadie’s POV, which is my only real complaint – I would’ve loved to have Seb’s POV included too! 

Here are a couple snippets that I particularly liked: 

“He smells the way he always does – a salty, honey sweetness. Equal parts nostalgia, irritation, and something loud and warm in me that doesn’t quite deserve any kind of name.”

“The ache I felt earlier wasn’t just mine. It feels strangely like it led me here – not to this place, but to someone who felt the same kind of lost I do. The weird limbo of not quite knowing where you’re headed but knowing it’s too early to look back.”

“Whatever is happening right now doesn’t feel like our usual game of chicken. Now the challenge isn’t how close we can get before one of us pulls away. The challenge is seeing just how close we can get before one of us crosses the distance.”

“I don’t think I could explain what Seb and I are to each other in any singular word, but friends certainly isn’t it. Whatever we are, it goes so deep that the word feels too flimsy for it. Like there should be a new word, something as crackling and maddening and inevitable as we are.”

“I’ve spent my whole life alternately embarrassed about my family, or embarrassed to be embarrassed about them. Trying to reconcile the way I love them just the way they are with the way I’m scared that the rest of the world won’t. How people might misunderstand them – Hadley’s sensitivity, Marley’s impulsiveness, my parents’ passion – and how they might treat them for it. But then there’s Seb, who has always loved them just as they are. Seb, who is quietly taking care of them, too.”