The Romance Rivalry
An Enemies-to-Lovers Fake Dating Bookish College Rom-Com
Published on 5. June 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
355 pages
978-1-335-01287-6 (ISBN)
Description
USA TODAY BEST SELLER!
She’s read every romance…except her own.
“Clever and delightful; a standout in the genre.” – ¿KIRKUS STARRED REVIEW
“A must-have flirtation-via-tropes tale with all the swooning and joy readers want in a love story.” – ¿SCHOOL & LIBRARY JOURNAL STARRED REVIEW
“Susan Lee has written an ode to all romance readers. It’s the kind of book I’ve been wanting to read for decades: a love letter to love stories and an instant favorite!”–Ali Hazelwood, New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis
Irene Park loves romance novels—so much so she’s made a career of them as an online book reviewer with a massive following. But Irene’s real life dating story? Non-existent.
So when she starts her freshman year of college, she sets her sights on finding true love using the one thing she really understands…romance book tropes.
If only it were that easy.
Enter Aiden Jeon, Irene’s online book review rival and biggest nemesis. When Aiden challenges her to see who can find love-by-trope first, he becomes the one person standing in her way to getting everything she wants both professionally and personally, too.
So when the competition takes an unexpected turn, forcing the two of them to have to partner in the ultimate trope, fake dating, Irene is not prepared for everything she believed about romance, and Aiden, to flip on its head.
As Irene tackles the challenges of college life, struggles to figure out what she really wants for herself, all while trying to win the race for love, Irene realizes the answers may not be found in a romance novel. Happily Ever Afters seem so easy on page.
But for Irene to find her ultimate HEA, she’ll have to get her nose out of the book and become the main character of her own story.
Perfect for fans of:
¿ Enemies to Lovers
¿ Fake Dating
¿ College Rom-Coms
¿ Banter for Days
¿ A+ Pop Culture References
¿ Books about loving books
She’s read every romance…except her own.
“Clever and delightful; a standout in the genre.” – ¿KIRKUS STARRED REVIEW
“A must-have flirtation-via-tropes tale with all the swooning and joy readers want in a love story.” – ¿SCHOOL & LIBRARY JOURNAL STARRED REVIEW
“Susan Lee has written an ode to all romance readers. It’s the kind of book I’ve been wanting to read for decades: a love letter to love stories and an instant favorite!”–Ali Hazelwood, New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis
Irene Park loves romance novels—so much so she’s made a career of them as an online book reviewer with a massive following. But Irene’s real life dating story? Non-existent.
So when she starts her freshman year of college, she sets her sights on finding true love using the one thing she really understands…romance book tropes.
If only it were that easy.
Enter Aiden Jeon, Irene’s online book review rival and biggest nemesis. When Aiden challenges her to see who can find love-by-trope first, he becomes the one person standing in her way to getting everything she wants both professionally and personally, too.
So when the competition takes an unexpected turn, forcing the two of them to have to partner in the ultimate trope, fake dating, Irene is not prepared for everything she believed about romance, and Aiden, to flip on its head.
As Irene tackles the challenges of college life, struggles to figure out what she really wants for herself, all while trying to win the race for love, Irene realizes the answers may not be found in a romance novel. Happily Ever Afters seem so easy on page.
But for Irene to find her ultimate HEA, she’ll have to get her nose out of the book and become the main character of her own story.
Perfect for fans of:
¿ Enemies to Lovers
¿ Fake Dating
¿ College Rom-Coms
¿ Banter for Days
¿ A+ Pop Culture References
¿ Books about loving books
More details
Edition
Original
Language
English
Place of publication
Canada
Target group
Young adult
Interest Age: From 13 to 18 years
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 197 mm
Width: 138 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
300 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-335-01287-6 (9781335012876)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
05/2025
Harlequin
€4.92
Available for download
Person
Susan Lee is the author of the young adult romantic comedies SEOULMATES and THE NAME DROP. Her work has been featured in national outlets such as Buzzfeed, NPR, and Pop Sugar. A graduate of UC San Diego, Susan built a career as an HR executive at some of today's hottest companies, until she realized that writing stories was a more impactful and powerful format to change the world. Now she channels her energy into writing happily ever afters for those historically underrepresented in romance. When she is not writing (or painfully procrastinating from writing), Susan can be found down the rabbit holes of her many obsessions including listening to Kpop, binge watching K-dramas, collecting sneakers, building mechanical keyboards, and obsessing over her two adorable, but ill-behaved chihuahuas.