The Rivals

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1. THE RIVALS by Vi Keeland

SYNOPSIS

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.

BOOK REVIEW

Vi Keeland is usually a hit-or-miss for me, but this particular book was everything I wish to have in an enemies-to-lovers romance and so much more. The Rivals was an amazing modern take on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, a quick and easy read with lots of positively charged banter, an adequate amount of sexy times, and a light-hearted but emotionally heavy at the same time plot.

The premise of the book was very simple: a rather long family feud had the main characters caught in the nasty crossfire. After the big event mentioned in the synopsis, we had a fun case of forced proximity at the Countess Hotel with the participation of Weston and Sophia who shared an ‘interesting’ history together.

“Weston is like a bright star on a dark night. He can light up the sky, but eventually that fire burns out and all the pieces crumble. Then you’re left in the dark.”
“You do know the sun is a star, too, right?”

Weston Lockwood was a sweet and cunning gentleman with a heart of gold but a very tortured soul. He was sinfully sexy and arrogant. Sophia had no chance resisting his sharp jawline and eyes like two gemstones, but it was Weston’s crooked, dirty smile that always undid her in the best way possible. Aside from his godly physical features, the man had a great personality of someone open and determined and very grounded despite the insanely rich upbringing. Underneath the asshole exterior my favourite Lockwood wore so proudly was a truly beautiful man. I absolutely loved the way he learned to not be afraid to be honest, as well as his worth and value, which was exactly what Sophia managed to see in Wes before he himself did.

In the heat of the moment, I couldn’t get enough. It was as if my lungs couldn’t take in enough air when Weston came near me with that darkness in his eyes. But as soon as it was over, a flood of oxygen had my brain firing again.

Sophia Sterling was a highly determined and hard-working businesswoman who many female readers could easily relate to in our modern equality-lacking society. She had to constantly prove her worth to her family and the majority of her surrounding just because there was no piece of meat dangling between her rather long and sexy legs that Weston adored so much.

She knew it perfectly well that she needed to stay professional and keep her distance from a walking sin who enjoyed pushing her buttons. Absolutely no good could come from the intense push-and-pull between the two, but when the crazy attraction between Weston and Sophia became just overwhelming, the newly formed connection that sent sparks flying in all directions was too hard to resist.

Sophia wouldn’t get hurt since she was the tornado, and they tended to move on quickly. It was the volcano that sat around dormant for years on end.

I was instantly such a fan of the hate-slash-love relationship between Weston and Sophia. The two very similar in many ways human beings were destined to end up together and become the solid ground both of them were lacking their whole lives (I was honestly disgusted by both of their fucked-up families). Of course, neither could let their emotions get in the way of business, but the more they tried to fight the feelings, the steamier and angrier the sex was, and the stronger the bond became. Through trial and error, Weston and Sophia unguarded their beaten hearts and learned the very meaning of true love. They were real magic in the decade-long making!

I didn’t take long after you stormed into my life to realize the reason I’d been lost was because you hadn’t found me yet.

In conclusion, this was such a fantastic book, which I devoured in a span of mere hours. I absolutely loved the undeniable chemistry and sweet romance between the perfect rivals, and highly recommend the book for a quick entertaining read!