Book Review: The Rival
Long have I underappreciated a short story. While growing up, I devoured any book I could get my hands on, never caring about its length. I had all the time in the world it seemed between being the passenger in a vehicle or staying up late at night secretly reading beneath a bookshelf light after bedtime. In adulthood, I lost a lot of the free time I took for granted. Between working a full time job and managing other responsibilities, my free time is something precious and hard fought. Sometimes that free time isn’t more than an hour or two before bed—the perfect time frame for reading a oneshot story.
As luck would have it, a short story crossed my timeline and provided a chance to show me how strong a short story could be.
Official Summary
Competition runs through my veins. I work hard, I play hard. Maybe I’m not headed for the NBA anytime soon, but I take my local basketball league seriously.
So when the final game of the season is a rematch between my team and our cross-town rivals, I’m not going to let us experience another heartbreaking loss. Tonight’s game is about revenge.
It doesn’t matter if Jason Alvarez, the other team’s captain, is sexy beyond belief and a little bit my type. He’s been my rival in every sense of the word since I started playing in this league.
And it’s going to stay that way.
The Rival is a MM rivals to lovers short story featuring a second chance romance.
Quick Information
Author: Wendy Hawthorne
Published: June 10, 2025
Genre: Romance, M/M Romance, Sports Romance, Contemporary Romance
Review
I haven’t read many rivalry stories, but I knew from the start I was going to enjoy this one. Wendy Hawthorne lays a solid foundation to the cross town rivalry over basketball, providing us just enough information without becoming overwhelmed by exposition. The reader is dropped into the shoes of Matthew Swanson, a competitive type-A personality starting point guard and team captain of the Westvale Wildcats. Matthew and his team are trying to reclaim the Alameda County men’s basketball league trophy after a heartbreaking loss the previous year to the Eastvale Eagles. Further, he's certainly not going to be second best to their captain Jason Alvarez. But victory on the court might not be the only thing on the line this year.
I immediately liked Matthew as a character. He feels fleshed out in a way I wasn’t expecting for a shorter story. We quickly learn how important basketball is to him despite never making it to the NBA. He’s worked hard to get to where he is on and off the court. Several of his lines made me laugh.
Jason’s character in contrast is initially built up entirely from Matthew’s point of view. You can tell there is some embellishment and exaggeration in Matthew’s tale, just as anyone describing someone they don’t like would do. Still, even Matthew can’t deny Jason has some begrudgingly good attributes. As the story unfolds, we start to see that maybe Matthew didn’t know Jason as well as he thought he did.
The basketball part of this story is light but still impactful and not a forgotten element of the story overall. You don’t need to be a basketball fan to enjoy the story but anyone who’s ever played or watched sports can enjoy the intensity of the rivalry.
The author's tagline ‘spice and everything nice’ is an appropriate byline as she certainly turns up the temperature in this story with very steamy scenes. While spice can be enjoyable in its own right, it's the underlying story and the connection between the characters which elevates these scenes for me. We’re teased that maybe more is going on than our main character believes. This opens up all sorts of possibilities and depth into the characters feelings. I always love a good pining story, and it certainly feels that this relationship has that despite the seemingly accidental context the story brings. It's these layers woven within the story that really elevates The Rival beyond simply being an erotica story.
The Rival is the first book in the At Last series. The second book in this series is teased at the end of The Rival, and I will be adding it to my TBR list. From the author’s page, the series will be about ‘stories featuring second chances at love, long-lost loves, pining, angst, and longing. Whether the forces keeping characters apart are internal or external, rest assured, these characters are full of gay longing and desire.’ These themes were certainly captured in The Rival and are all tropes I enjoy reading about.
For a debut work, this has been a fantastic snapshot of this writer's strengths. The characters are likeable, and I found the dialogue between them to be outstanding. I found myself both laughing at times and also getting unexpectedly emotional.
No matter how busy you are this Pride month, The Rival is certainly worth taking time out of your schedule to read. I look forward to reading more of Hawthorne’s work in the future.