Badass Bloggettes: *** REVIEW *** 5 STARS for THE RIVALS by Vi Keeland

Title: The Rivals

Author: Vi Keeland
Genre: Standalone Contemporary Romance
Release Date: July 13, 2020

BLURB

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.

GOODREADS LINK: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53421505-the-rivals

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The Rivals is Vi Keeland’s take on the Hatfields and McCoys. Sophia Sterling (the Hatfield in this story) is sent to manage a hotel owned by a former business partner of her grandparents. The job comes at the right time for Sophia to escape England and her former boyfriend who cheated on her with her cousin. Sophia’s father doesn’t trust Sophia to do a good job of getting the hotel away from the Lockwood’s. He does everything he can to interfere with Sophia’s decisions and wear down her confidence.

Gloria Copeland is the former partner behind the feud by having an affair with both of her partners. Her final act of stirring the pot comes when Gloria wills equal parts of her hotel to her former partners, the Sterlings and the Lockwoods. They each want to take over the interest of the other partner. It is a major feather in the cap of the winner.

Unfortunately, Sophia runs into Weston Lockwood (the McCoy) who is working to get the hotel for his family. It doesn’t help that they have history, that Sophia wants to forget. Now they start on the wrong foot, with Weston sending Sophia on a wild goose chase. Before long though, Sophia strikes back and the games begin. Sophia and Weston each show their ability to run a hotel and work hard to bring it back to its glory days. As they work together toward a common goal, these two enemies become friends and more.

I like this story. There is a little angst, but not too much. It is exactly what I need at this point in my life. The history of the main characters is fun. Not only do they have to deal with their current rivalry, they need to deal with their past. I enjoyed the banter between the main characters. Their dialogue moves the story along at the perfect pace for me. Sophia is a strong female who knows her strengths. She fights her family and competition to prove herself. Weston has some secrets that he needs to share. He takes a little long to open up, but that seems to be the way it goes with romance novels.

I love the ending. It all works for me. Vi Keeland remains a go to author for me in the romance genre. Her characters are memorable, and make me happy. The Rivals is a good story that I recommend. It has a good combination of relationship building, engaging banter, sexy times, and a memorable ending.