A review by cozysabie
A Rivalry of Hearts by Tessonja Odette

5.0

"Those closest to me have always said my imagination would be my downfall. They might be right if it wasn't also the very reason I'm here. I was invited to the isle of Faerwyvae because of my imagination. Or, more accurately, the books it helps me produce."

"I hate being misunderstood and struggle not to defend myself. Yet I've learned time and time again that I'm better off being patient and expressing myself clearly, slowly and concisely."

"The smell of books is universally loved and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise."

GENRE: Cozy Fantasy with Romance
RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
FORMAT: eArc from the Nerd Fam
Would I recommend to others?: YES! This is another automatic 5 star for me as a mixture of cozy fantasy & romance!

Review:
AHH, A Rivalry of Hearts truly had me giggling and checking in excitement throughout the book! I was initially super excited about this book as I love Gaslamp Fantasy and it looked like the perfect book for me. I'm so glad I wasn't wrong about that.

In this book, we follow Edwina & Will throughout their book tour in Faerwyvae and get to learn more about them and more about the romance that sparks between them. I loved Edwina as the FMC as she was bold and strong, while still stubborn and held on to her pride. She is different than the others in her community as she prefers her work over people who do not understand her.

And Will, our MMC is just a perfect Fae who is a gentlemen. Even though we started off with him acting as an arrogant Fae, I quickly came to love him even before we fully get to know him and know his background and what makes him, him.

And the combination of the FMC x MMC here reminds me so much of another roman empire book of mine: Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries and there is no wondering that A Rivalry of Hearts has became a roman empire novel of mine. I think Odette includes a good amount of background stories of both the FMC & MMC, while introducing us to the Fae world of Faerwyvae and making me want to pack my backs and move there. I loved getting to know about the Seelie vs Unseelie forms and seeing how Daphne is much more comfortable in her unseelie form.

This story also delves into how we continue to act and pretend to be people we arent because society does not accept us for who we are very easily. You can see both the FMC and the MMC go through this in the book. There is an interesting twist on Fae deception in the book with Will, which I thoroughly enjoyed seeing how he unwinds from acting and becoming the real him.

Also, Edwina is horrible at being on time, which is so like me and the author quoted this and this is legit how I feel for the days I am on time LOL:

"Being on time is -unsurprisingly- a rather serene experience. There's no rushing. No running. No pleading with fate to turn back the hands of time."

All in all, I loved this book and I'd recommend it to anyone who loves romantasy & cozy fantasy. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!

Thank you to Nerd Family, NetGalley & the author for a copy of the eArc in exchange for my honest opinion.