Single Sundays: While this blog may be focused on reviewing book series as a whole, we can’t forget about the good ole’ standalone novel! On Sundays, I will review a novel that is considered to be a standalone novel. Here is this week’s offering:
Synopsis for The Rivals (from Goodreads):
The feud between Weston Lockwood and me started at the altar.
Only neither of us attended the wedding, and the nuptials happened decades before either of us was born.
Our grandfathers had been best friends and business partners, at least up until my grandfather’s wedding day—when his bride-to-be blurted out she couldn’t marry him because she was also in love with Weston‘s grandfather.
The two men spent years fighting over Grace Copeland, who also happened to be their third business partner. But in the end, neither man could steal half of her heart away from the other.
Eventually, they all went their separate ways. Our grandfathers married other women, and the two men became one of the biggest business rivals in history.
Our fathers continued the family tradition of feuding. And then Weston and I did, too.
For the most part, we kept as much distance as possible.
Until the day the woman who started the feud died—and unexpectedly left one of the most valuable hotels in the world to our grandfathers to share.
Now I’m stuck in a hotel with the man I was born to hate, trying to unravel the mess our families inherited.
As usual, it didn’t take long for us to be at each other’s throats.
Weston Lockwood was everything I hated: tall, smart, cocky, and too gorgeous for his own good. We were fire and ice.
But that shouldn’t be an issue. Our families were used to being at war. There was just one minor problem, though. Every time Weston and I fought, we somehow wound up in bed.
SERIESous’ Top Picks: 2024 Favourite
Author: Vi Keeland
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Heat Rating: Hot
Point of View: First Person, Alternating
Publication Date: July 13, 2020
Source & Format: KoboPlus–eBook
Why I Picked it Up / My Expectations:
I simply adore hate-to-love you or in love with the enemy romances. There’s just so much great tension between the two leads that I devour the books quickly. I had been eying this book for a while and when I resubscribed to KoboPlus, I knew I had to make this a priority to read during my subscription.
The Plot:
Not only are Weston and Sophia’s families rivals, but now the two of them are competing for the controlling stake at the hotel their grandfathers helped build. It was fun watching them squabble back and forth as they tried to outdo–or resist–the other. I also enjoyed watching their past history as well as their families’ come to light and how it moved the plot forward.
The Characters:
One thing that really surprised me about this story was how layered these characters were. Weston had a lot of depth to his character, more than I thought he would as a playboy. I truly enjoyed his character growth throughout.
Sophia’s story is all about her finding her true self and being her own person. It was great to watch her try to break out of that mold her family has pigeonholed her in.
The Romance:
I swooned the second these two clashed for the first time. They have so much delicious tension between them right from the start. Every look is just overloaded with chemistry. But I also could see why they were the perfect match for each other. I loved how they pushed each other to be better people. This is textbook how I want my hate-to-love you romances to be.
My Rating: 5/5
I couldn’t get enough of this book! I loved the depth to the characters, the drama of the past clashing with the present and the irresistible romance!
Read if You Like: hate to love you romances
Avoid if You: dislike contemporary romance
- The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
- Broken by Lauren Layne (Redemption Series #1)
- Savage Love by Ella Miles
