To Love or to Lose

Farewell Fairwood #1

by Hannah Ellie

Genevieve Alderidge has always known she will be the Valedictorian of Fairwood Preparatory Academy. As far as she’s concerned, the position is hers for the taking. However, the win may not come to her as readily as she expected, and after years of contesting for the position, what Genevieve expected to be a victory lap of a senior year will turn out to be her biggest challenge yet.

Jameson Beaumont, the new exchange student from London, is the first opponent to ever truly threaten Genevieve’s peak status. Between his quick-wit, charm, good looks and, of course, his academic status, he immediately becomes her number one rival, and Genevieve is fully prepared to take him down.

But, as the year goes on, her and Jameson’s relationship isn’t as black and white as it once seemed, and as they fight for the coveted position of Valedictorian, Jameson and Genevieve are forced to get to know each other (solely for the sake of competition, obviously). Between a tension-filled ski-trip, close-knit friendships, and the ultimate rivalry, Jameson and Genevieve are forced to decide what is more to love or to lose?

Genres: Romance, Enemies To Lovers, Young Adult, Found Family

399 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 21, 2024

About the author

Hannah Ellie is a college student studying human biology who decided to begin her journey as an author in order to fill what little free time she does have, and while she doesn’t believe she is necessarily qualified to publish a book, this is her dream come true.
When she’s not studying for chemistry exams or learning about DNA replication, you can find her reading, writing, or listening to Taylor Swift while dancing around her childhood home.

You can find more at:
-Instagram: @authorhannahellie
-Tik Tok: @authorhannahellie

Reviews

[Ale Contreras · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn’t like this at all 🥹
It sounded sooo good and it ended up being so cliche, and don’t get me wrong, I love a good cliche but this was something so bad i might have written something like this when I was 16 in wattpad
I hated so much the female lead, she was so focused on herself it was annoying, the only thing she thought was that she was the best, there is a line where after hearing the boy's score in the exam being similar to hers she says “how is it possible for someone to get that score that isn’t me?” Like girl stop it, I promise you, you are not the only smart person in the world, other than thinking she was the best of the best at everything and superior from everyone, she had no personality.
I think this is the author's first book cause you can tell by reading it that is from someone inexperienced, no hate to her and congrats on being published but this was bad.

[Hannah Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a completely unbiased 5⭐️...except for the fact i wrote it.

[⋆｡°✩ Lulu ꩜ ⋆｡°✩ · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5 ♟️

I HATED the fmc

THE MMC DESREVED SO MUCH MORE, HE DIDNT DESERVE THE FMC.

[Alice · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very much a found family book. The friendship really felt like a family, with some of them being neighbour and the whole teased relationship between Logan and Willow. Very much an enemy to lovers, rival to lover both fighting for valedictorian. Overall, it's very cute, good found family aspects, everyone but them can clearly see the chemistry between them. However the FMC just gave the biggest pick me girl energy ever. I found her quiet infuriating. She would make the smallest thing into the biggest thing by constantly bring it up when nobody else cared.

[Hafsaelgh · Rating 2 out of 5]

There’s a difference between confidence and arrogance. Liked Jameson way better than Genevieve. I also didn’t care a lot about them but it sounded good at first.

[ABC · Rating 3 out of 5]

we need more published wattpad fiction that isn't about people doing it raw

[✰ Hailey (Taylor’s Version) ✰ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very cliche but idk what I expected. It was fine, I was entertained.

[Eva · Rating 4 out of 5]

good rivals

This was a good academic rivals book, but there was too much surrounded modern day feminism. They also could have had more depth to their characters

[CoffeeLovinRi · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 🌟
This is a very cute light read. It’s not normally something I would pick up but I love supporting new Authors (this is her 1st book and she’s in college!) and I enjoyed the break from fantasy. It’s a YA Romance that has very little spice, Academic Rivals, Enemies/Friends/Lovers, a ton of funny banter, and your typical high school relationship miscommunication. It gives a Gossip Girl vibe almost. And the FMC is ruthless when someone is taking something she worked so hard for. I love that this is a book I could recommend to my younger sisters/relatives. I feel like that’s hard to do these days with all the spice in books.

[aanya · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️ ‘if you were a city, you would be my favourite.’
i stumbled across this book when i was looking for a good academic rivals to lovers, and this was totally it for me. the slow burn, the found family, and everything in between was so comforting, i found myself trying to get the next book, only to realise it’s not even out yet.

[E.A.M · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow! What a lacklustre book abour undeveloped characters, rich white girl problems and her white feminism, random side quests and characters that added nothing to the plot and unnecessary rivalry created by a lack of maturity!!

[Noelle]

Probably did not give this a fair chance but DNF @ 50 pages… I’m just not vibing with the characters

[Lay · Rating 4 out of 5]

[⭐️ 3.5] Despite all the top reviews on this book, I really did enjoy it. Yes, it is quite cheesy and cliché, but we don't get much of these books anymore, and it's a shame because the trope is a favourite for me.

Characters: All the characters, though, feel like they were named after random 17th-century names, which I found hilarious. I love their friends relationship they have between the group though it feels more like a family then friends. I really do not like Genova as much as I thought I would she's very stubborn, and the way she handled the feud and the lovers part is very questionable?? Like why are you trying to drown the dude who's also valedictorian when he told you he had nothing to do with it. I also did not like Jameson, sarcastic, funny sure but his jokes are also unfunny, and he literally has been crushing on her this entire time, and I felt the plot not even moving forward until Gen makes her mind.

Plot: The anger/hatred in between was just 😐, I get it but at the same time not really, and AGAIN it was one-sided and where is the point of the book where they are competing? Also, I felt as if the entire writing changed with the plot it was literally PG until the end it was almost mature at some point. Also, the way they started realising they had feelings felt forced.

Still decent book, especially supporting small authors. Although I'm not sure if I will continue the series (which I found out it was recently)

[emmareadds · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really enjoyed this book! I found the author's tiktok about it and was intrigued so added to my TBR - I'm so impressed she wrote this in college while also in school that's insane. it seemed like it would be a cute and fun summer read (and it was!)

the characters are in high school and definitely feel/act like it, so if you're not into YA/wanted spice this isn't the book for you. I felt the characters were super relatable and could see a lot of myself in Genevieve - this is literally everything I ever wanted growing up/in high school and I love reading about people who are rich it's so fun for me.

only thing I would have liked more of was to know more about the characters backstory/trauma and why they act the way they do, but I think it's the first book in the series so hoping there's more of that to come later on!

overall, a solid 4/5 stars, would def recommend as a cute and fun academic rivals to lovers vibe! was giggling and kicking my feet quite a bit, lol.

[♪ ˚ yasmin ⋆˙♡ ⑅˙ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love academic rivals to lovers and when I found this book, I immediately picked it up! I know some people didn't enjoy it, but I loved it. Genevieve reminds me a little bit of myself, like I want to get the best grade I can. I love books when the characters are rich and in a private school, it's a fresh setting for me. Now, let's talk about...✨JAMESON✨. Jameson is my favorite book boy BY FAR! He seems like such an amazing boy that I wish he existed in real life! He's blonde (I think), tall, and has a British accent-what else could a girl want?! He is now my standard for men in real life, and the expectations are ABOVE THE ROOF!! I love how much Jameson cares about Genny, and [❗SPOILER INCOMING❗], I loved how he let her have the valedictorian title all by herself. She deserves it. <3

10/10, I'll always have this book in my heart!🩷

[♡❀Jayden♱˙✧˖ · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I’ve given a lot of my recent books 5 stars but honestly I guess I’m just that good at picking out books because even though I read this in like half a day it was so good and it just had me hooked. I mean she didn’t even like him until 70% in and that’s my kind of book tbh. They were so cute together even when Genevieve hated him for like almost no reason it was rational that it was irrational she took her anger out on him and he did the same but when they got together Ugg just poetry. The storyline was so good and the writing was phenomenal. Love love I really need Logan and wins book now please.

[V. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really excited to start this book, considering the academic rivals to lovers trope is one of my favorites. But the book did not live up to my standards. The characters seemed two dimensional, and the plot was a bit much like wattapad stories for my taste. And not like the good kind of wattapad stories.
Some parts were good, I loved the descriptions and some of the quotes. But the chemistry between Gen and Jameson seemed a bit forced. Genevieve's character was confusing, it seemed like her personality kept shifting, and she seemed too pick me for my taste.
No hate to the author though, being published is a huge accomplishment, especially right after college.

[Nicole Delfino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. That was an amazing read that I quite literally couldn’t put it down. It had me giggling, screaming, and crying all at the same time.
The relationship between Genevieve and Jameson is so sweet and pure it made my heart swell. I also absolutely loved the fact that it was a slow burn with a lot of tension!! It had all the qualities I want in a perfect read! If you like a good book revolving academic rivals to lovers I would suggest you pick this book up asap!
Would highly recommend this book and am so excited to read about Winnie and Logan next!

[Anna Quarterman · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNFed around 30%. These characters make NO sense, their reactions are so blown up for things that I had to try to flip back through the pages and figure out what’s going on, and the main girl is legitimately one of the WORST characters I’ve ever read. Like she’s appalled that he got a 1550 on the SAT and she got a 1580? Honey, hundreds of kids pull a 1600 every year, YOU AREN’T SPECIAL!! Anyways, I hope the author gets a better editor and some writing classes because she has talent, but needs some more experience overall.

[melinda ౨ৎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tropes ‎♡‧₊˚
academic rivals, rivals to lovers, english mmc x american fmc, lots of banter, young adult romance

𝑰𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚, 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆.

𝑻𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆? 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒂 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑰’𝒎 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑨𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒈𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓.

I’m usually not a young adult girly but I enjoyed this book and cannot wait to read more books from the author 😍 this book was a super cute read, I could tell he’s been in love with her ever since he met her but she was super focused on becoming valedictorian so she didn’t even realize lol. Lots and lots of banter throughout the book before the confession! Love Genevieve and Jameson ♡

[Faith Hendricks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the author on tiktok and as an aspiring young author I immediately waited for the book to be released. now, if you’re looking for smut this isn’t for you but instead you want academic rivalry and close knit friend groups then this is definetly a great book. I really loved it, it was a very easy read for me personally. I am excited to see what other books she releases and ready further into background characters!! I highly recommend it!

[Katie Means · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

Speechless. That’s the only word I can think of. It’s such a heartfelt love story that you want in your life. Yes the mfc can be annoying but she definitely has some character development and she just needed love. I loved it so much, definitely recommend if you want a book with no spice and a slow-burn.

[allyson :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5 ⭐️

[Alana Vaunado · Rating 5 out of 5]

Refreshing

This was a breath of fresh air. It reminded me of when I was younger and high school was our biggest worry. This was cheesy is the best way possible!

[Raynie :) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Charlotte Gullion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can I have her life? Anyway, this had everything: banter, all the emotions, and lovable characters🤭🤭🤭🤭MY GIRL HANNAH ATE

[Tracy Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the book was good. Some parts predictable but other parts surprised me. I liked the realistic nature of the characters. Very much could have been a true story and not just fiction

[Annabelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

absolutely loved this series and this author despite reading the second book before the first one

[Charant౨ৎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

5⭐

[Yuki Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

ok so i def already like wrote a review for this book and stuff so idk where it went but ya i don't feel like typing it all out again