Blog Tour: Rival Love by Natalie Decker

Rival Love
by Natalie Decker
Publisher: Swoon Romance
Release Date: August 26th 2014
Rate: Enjoyed it (3,5 stars)

Synopsis:

Skylar Fletcher is a proud Harris Academy Bulldog! She has everything she’s ever wanted: a perfect boyfriend, great friends, and her dream college waiting for her in the fall. But nothing lasts forever. Skylar's world shatters when her mom decides it is time to move and drags Skylar, kicking and screaming, into Bobcat territory.

At Delmont High School, home of the Bobcats, Skylar has no friends and is often bullied. To make matters worse, her home life sucks thanks to all-star quarterback Caleb Morgan, nephew of her mom's live-in boyfriend.

At first Skylar and Caleb want nothing to do with one another. But they soon discover they're not that different after all--and each is harboring a secret attraction to the other. But can a Bulldog and a Bobcat ever really be more than friends? And are Skylar and Caleb willing to risk everything to find out? Rival Love is a debut young adult contemporary romance from Natalie Decker.

Rival Love truly captivated me after reading the synopsis. It promised a lot of love-hate moments and that in a YA story can come out as a really sweet and lovely story.

I had a great time reading the story through Skylar's point of view. She's a teenager who has been transferred to another school thanks to her mother falling in love with a man and deciding to go live with him. This wouldn't be a problem, if Skylar's new school wouldn't be the rival of her old school. 

The story started great. I found myself reading all about Skylar's fears and why she was complaining so much. The tension in the air was almost palpable and it goes to another level, when Caleb appear's in the story giving another meaning to living with your enemy.

Their relationship started out of hate, but you can see how it changes with time and how their pranks that started out as a mean to get the best of the other, turns out into something that they share. They relationship was an important factor to make this story captivating. It was clear that there was a tension: first hate, then something else. And the reader is just on the edge of the chair, wanting to know if these two would see past their school's team.

I only had a few troubles with the story nearly when it came to the end. There were scenes that made no sense to me as a reader. At least, my reader feelings were a little bit hurt. Some of the actions came manly from Caleb and that I found myself with urges like wanting to punch Caleb in the face, wanting to scream at him to do something and again wanting to punch him for not trusting the right person. If you read the book, you'd know what I'm talking about.

These lead me to find myself with the very end of the story and not wanting to believe it was the end (I tried a couple of times to see if the iPad had gone mad and maybe delete pages or something like that). Leading me in a glass case full of emotions, because my iPad did not hate me and didn't delete any pages. It was the simply end. My little reader heart couldn't take this ending knowing this would be just a standalone. So for me, it was kind of a disappointing ending.

Despite this, Rival Love has a lot of rivalry that makes the reader have a great time while reading Skylar's story. She completely changes and matures and I think it's a good YA story that I recommend to those readers who like a romance story with a lot of team rivalry and pranks. 

Natalie Decker is the Author of Rival Love. She loves oceans, sunsets, sand between her toes, and carefree days. Her imagination is always going, which some find odd. But she believes in seeing the world in a different light at all times. Her first passion for writing started at age twelve when she had to write a poem for English class. However, seventh grade wasn’t her favorite time and books were her source of comfort. She took all college prep classes in High school, and attended the University of Akron. Although she studied Mathematics she never lost her passion for writing or her comfort in books. She’s a mean cook in the kitchen, loves her family and friends and her awesome dog infinity times infinity. If she’s not writing, reading, traveling, hanging out with her family and friends, then she’s off having an adventure. Because Natalie believes in a saying: Your life is your own journey, so make it amazing!

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