Hello hello,

Another day, another book review! Today, we’ll talk about the first book of “The Darling Devils” series by Alexandra Moody, “Rival Darling”.

After Violet’s mother left her at her uncle Luke’s, house in the cold and gloomy Sunshine Hill to finish her final school year, she thought nothing could go worse in her life than this. Luke and her cousin Mia were great, and she loved them but she preferred the warm California weather, plus in this town, everyone was obsessed with hockey, a sport that she hates.

You see, her father, a great college player had left her mother pregnant and after that, he disappeared from their lives as never anything happened. So Vi had only one rule about her love life. N-e-v-e-r date a jock! Unfortunately, life had other plans and she made her come along with a total gentleman, sweet and beautiful guy through the summer. Jeremy, apparently had forgotten to mention that he was the captain of their hockey school team and Vi, already liking him a lot chose to give him a chance. He was the sweetest after all… Until the school year began at least.

The moment that the school started, his whole personality changed. Violet, tried to give him some space because maybe he was just nervous with all the games and training sessions. Her friends weren’t so sure about this though. Violet, wanting to show him support decides to attend one of his matches but the moment that she and Mia arrive at the stadium they figure out that Vi had messed up the schedule and instead they had arrived in the middle of Jeremy’s biggest opponer game. Reed Darling, captain of Ransom Devils.

Beware of the spoilers!!

Best known as “Darling Devils”, Reed and his brothers have a reputation as bad boys, heartbreaks, and troublemakers. Mia tries to fill Violet in about them, the moment that Vi calls all the hockey players ( except her boyfriend -of course- ) pigs. And Reed turns to look at her. Long story short, the girls run for their lives and because they have to catch up on their school’s party. Violet wants to find Jeremy and apologizes for losing his game, but plans never goes as we want.

Leaving late from her home, Betty, her old car broke down in the middle of nowhere. While she doesn’t know what to do, some guy who does his afternoon run comes to see if she wants any help. Reed Darling himself, doesn’t look so scary without his hockey gear. And when he mentions that his dad owns a garage shop she really thinks that her day could turn nice after all.

Reed calls his dad, he walks her to the party and being polite, she invites him in. Something that he declines though. Sure that this was the last time that she would ever see that guy, Violet tries to locate her boyfriend. When Reed and his brothers crash the party though she tries to hide herself on the top floor where she finds Jeremy cheating on her.

Saving by the Darling brothers, more than once, Violet starts believing that maybe the rumors about them aren’t true after all. When she meets them again at the annual campfire party that both schools attend, she still tries to make Jeremy understand that they are over. Pissed off with him, somehow ends up kissing Reed in front of everyone, claiming that he is her new boyfriend and when he totally runs with this everyone is shocked.

Now, Reed insists on keeping up with this lie in order to help her with Jeremy and his own girl problems back at his school.

My thoughts:

I totally liked this book. It’s a young adult one, with zero spicy scenes ( only a couple of kisses ) but the story was really nice. The writer did a nice job with the characters and their backstory. I found Reed and Jeremy’s backstory and why they hate each other so much, really real and mundane and it was refreshing.

Giving Violet and Reed heartbreaking stories making them both want to protect their feeling and failing miserably when they meet was awesome. I’m not gonna lie, I giggled like a schoolgirl at some points and I wanted to crush my tablet on the wall every time Jeremy made an appearance ( Yep, I read it in an ebook form – my poor tablet almost didn’t survive 😅).

I totally appreciate the fact that the whole “broke up” era of Violet and Reed was only for a couple of chapters ( I think half on her pov and half on his if I’m not mistaken ). Because their friends stepped in and cleared things up! I love my happy endings lol.

Also, we saw some small glances from Grayson, Reed’s twin brother, and Paige. Gray and Paige have been best friends since they were kids, also… they’re the main couple of Moody’s second book from the series “Grumpy Darling”. The second book is planned to be published on June 3rd, 2025.

Rival Darling was great and it’s definitely a 4/5 stars from me!.

Let us know in the comments below what you think about the book, or if you’re planning to read it and don’t forget to subscribe to never miss a post from us.

Until next time…