I thought that Rivals was an average book. Not particularly good, not particularly bad. However, I must admit that I was previously unfamiliar with the Ivy series. I was fairly lost at first because I had no prior knowledge of the events that occurred in the first two books of the series, and Lauren Kunze's writing style did not happen to include a nice summary of said events.

That being said, the book's plot was entertaining after I figured out what was happening. The writing was not profound, but it did not detract from the story either. The plot seemed almost like a television show , an overdramatization of real life. Maybe I'm wrong, though, and Harvard really is such a crazy place!  Personally, I did not particularly like the protagonist, Callie Andrews. I like strong female characters, which she did not come across as.

The book ended with a cliffhanger, obviously leading up to the next sequel, but I do not plan on continuing to read the next book in the series.

I would remind you, however, to take my opinion with a grain of salt. The fact that I am new to this series definitely changes my views , whether it makes them more or less objective is as yet undetermined.