good chaos and pancakes
Sadie is ready to start her college life, as she has been waiting for years to go to Maple Ride University and be a writer for Newsbag. It was why she had chosen Maple Rode and why she had worked so hard in high school to be the one person from her school to get admitted. Well, it was part of the reason she had worked so hard in high school. The other reason is that she had to beat Seb. Sebastian had been her next-door neighbor as a kid, ad Sadie had been competing with him for years, for everything.
But now she has Maple Ride all to herself. And Newsbag, the campus zine. It’s a legend, a place where comedy writers got started, before going on to television and films, publishing and popular internet sites. Their alum is a who’s who of humor writing, and Sadie is determined to be the one freshman they take on staff. It’s the only thing she wants. She is focused and determined. And when she shows up at the introductory meeting, she is deflated.
Seb is there.
He’d been waitlisted for Maple Ride, but he made it in, and he is not only on Sadie’s campus, he is also going all in for that one spot on Newsbag. And not only is he a great writer, he’s also an Instagram star, with a popular feed filled with curated posts. He’d started it in high school, and he already had thousands of followers. And some of those in the meeting had heard of his Instagram handle and were instant fans. Sadie felt defeated and, despite some delicious cookies, she left the meeting without even signing up for a tryout.
But she thought about that later and decided she didn’t want to have come this far just to give up. She emails the Newsbag editors and tells them that she wants a chance. And they give it to her. Once again, Sadie will be fighting for what she wants against Seb. They welcome her writing, but they have bad news also. There may not be a Newsbag much longer. They are struggling for funding, as the school’s administration is funneling lots of money to sports and underfunding student activities. They can only print one more edition of the magazine, and then they’ll probably have to shut down.
Sadie is heartbroken. She’s spent years wanting to write for Newsbag. She can’t let it close. She’s determined to do what she an to keep it going, even if that means teaming up with Seb to try to find a solution. But it’s never that simple. If Sadie does win the spot on Newsbag, it’s possible that Seb’s father will make him transfer to another school, one with a better engineering program. And worse, Sadie thinks she may even be falling for Seb. Over Sunday pancakes, just like they shared for years with their families, they make plans to create chaos on campus to draw attention to the finding problem. But they need good chaos. And sprinkles for the pancakes. And the way their years of competing with each other brings out the best in them. And with all that, and their new college friends, they just might be able to save the zine. And maybe even fall in love besides.
The Rival is the latest rom com from Emma Lord, which means there will be stunningly creative baked goods, friendships, love, hate, struggles, and plenty of snarky flirting. This one also includes dubious jelly beans, birdwatchers, book clubs, candy, noisy families, friend fights, an awkward first date, costumes, pranks, and a cranky pancake cook. The Rival is sweet and honest, vulnerable and challenging, inspiring and tasty, and most of all, an absolute delight to read.
I listened to the audio book for The Rival, narrated by Jesse Vilinsky, who brings Sadie to life as she reads this book. She understands Lord’s voice perfectly and adds emotion to the strength and intelligence of these characters. I did think that the narration was the tiniest bit slow at times, but a bump up in speed (for me, 1.1 is the sweet spot) made it perfection. I loved everything about this book (except the jelly bean, obviously), and I recommend it just as highly as I do any book by Emma Lord. I have yet to find a sour note in any of them (again, aside from that jelly bean). Loved every moment of The Rival!
Egalleys for The Rival were provided by Wednesday Books and a copy of the audio book was provided by Macmillan Audio through NetGalley, with many thanks.