Rival
by Cindy R. Wilson
Genre: YA Contemporary
Release Date: October 7th 2019
Entangled Teen
Summary
For years, our families have had one rule: We leave them alone. They leave us alone.
When Juno caught me scavenging for supplies in her family’s territory, I had no idea that the war between
our two families was about to be pushed to the edge.
But she takes a chance on me. Trusts me. Lets me go.
Now there’s a greater threat to both sides. Someone’s stealing from my family, too.
And it’s up to me to find the thief before anyone else. Because if I can’t, both sides will blame each other.
Rule broken. Game over. No one wins.
My only ally is Juno. The one girl I can’t be found with. The one girl who tempts me like no other. She’s the definition of off-limits. If our families knew how we look at each other, and kiss each other…
Star-crossed doesn’t even begin to describe our fate.
Review
With Rival comes a new spin on the classic Romeo and Juliet style of love story. In Rival, we're introduced to Juno and Maddox, two teens from warring communities, who are thrown together after an unexpected meeting.
The novel follows these two as they search for the theif who's been targeting both of their communities, and through their meetings, the two becoming closer until it's impossible for them to deny their feelings, despite the danger.
One of the things I really enjoyed about this novel was that it was written in dual narration. This is a narrative style that I love. I felt it was the perfect choice for this novel. Allowing us to get to know the two main characters a lot better.
On the whole, I enjoyed the plot of this book. It's what drew me to it in the first place, and I'm pleased to say that it was every bit as enjoyable as I thought it would be. It kept me interested and turning the pages, without being overly hectic with plot threads.
A few minor things that did bother me about this novel, were that I would have liked to of see it a little more fleshed out. By this, I mean that we're thrown into this dystopian world, without a clear explination as to how they got here, or what the rest of the world, outside of these two communities is like. I would have liked to have had this explored a little further, because it seemed like a really interesting area that was touched on a little too briefly for my liking.
Besides this, I did feel as if in a few parts the story moved a little too quick. For example, at one point in the novel, Juno and Maddox have a fight and the chapter ends with the two of them seeming as if they're not going to see each other again, and then in the very next chapter, the two are together again and it's all sort of skimmed over. Personally, I would have liked to have seen them dealing with the fallout of that fight a little more, just to build a little suspence.
Lastly, and this is possibly the biggest thing I found to bother me in this book, was that from the description of this book, it seemed as if the two of them teaming up to find the theif, was going to be one of the main focusses of the book, alongside the love story. However, to me, it felt as if they barely did anything to actually figure out who the theif was. It bothered me because it was, I thought, meant to be much more of a focus than it was.
Having said all of that, despite the few problems I had with it. I can't deny that I really enjoyed reading this book. There was just something about it that kept me interested and I liked the characters a lot.
I liked how they both had things going on outside of the main plot. Juno with her being an outsider in her community, and Maddox with his family and secrets in the past that come to light during this novel. It made them feel much more fleshed out and I liked that a lot.
The dynamic between these two main characters, as well, was well written and had me rooting for them, which is always something I look for in books like this. Because if you don't like one or both of the main characters, and aren't rooting for them. It makes it really hard to keep reading!
So, overall, I'd say that this is a good, enjoyable book with a lot of good points, and mostly, my only negatives boil down to me wishing the book had been longer, fleshing out a few areas.
Rating
3/5
Note: This book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and genuine.
Thank you to YA Bound Blog Tours for organising the tour and letting me be a part of it.