Theory of Rivalry: An Academic Rivals to Lovers Romance (The Gilded Ruin #2)
NANDA KENZ
To win the ultimate prize, they have to survive each other. To survive each other, they can’t fall in love.
Avery Lin is a 4.0 GPA machine. With her family facing bankruptcy, the Valedictorian title—and the Stanford scholarship that comes with it—is her only escape. She’s prepared to bleed for it. Her only obstacle? The infuriatingly charming, effortlessly brilliant Julian Vance.
Julian is Westfield High’s Golden Boy, treating their brutal rivalry like a casual hobby. But behind his old-money facade and his father’s suffocating expectations, Julian is hiding a desperate secret escape plan—and a dangerous obsession with his biggest rival.
When a GPA tie forces them to co-chair the Senior Charity Gala, the stakes turn lethal: the winner gets the Stanford recommendation; the loser gets nothing.
What begins as color-coded warfare soon dissolves into stolen glances and late-night confessions. Forced proximity is tearing down their walls, but in a game where only one can win, falling in love is more than a distraction—it’s mutually assured destruction.
Tropes:
Academic Rivals to Lovers
He Falls First (And Hard)
Forced Proximity
High-Angst & Slow Burn
