If your teen loves hockey romance, fake dating, and the whole “he’s not who everyone says he is”, Rival Darling by Alexandra Moody is probably going to catch their attention.
It’s the first book in the Darling Devils series and follows two high school students in a sweet sports romance.
But just how clean is Rival Darling?
Rating
What is Rival Darling About?
Violet Sinclair has officially sworn off hockey players after discovering that her boyfriend, Jeremy- the captain of her school’s hockey team- isn’t quite the guy she thought he was.
Unfortunately, Jeremy isn’t ready to accept that their relationship is over.
Enter Reed Darling.
Reed is the captain of Jeremy’s rival hockey team, one of the infamous Darling brothers, and exactly the kind of guy Violet has promised herself she’ll avoid.
So naturally, he becomes the perfect fake boyfriend.
Violet hopes pretending to date Reed will finally convince Jeremy to leave her alone. But as she spends more time with Reed, she starts realizing his bad-boy reputation might not tell the whole story.
And fake dating starts becoming a lot less fake.
Romance & Spice Breakdown
Romance is definitely the main event in Rival Darling, but it stays quite tame.
Readers can expect:
- Fake dating
- Flirting
- Romantic tension
- Kissing
- Some sexual jokes and innuendo
There are no explicit sex scenes. There’s more romantic chemistry and suggestive joking than you’ll find in a very innocent middle-grade romance, but the actual physical content stays mild.
For parents specifically trying to avoid “spicy” YA books, this is a pretty solid option.
Violence & Dark Themes
Violence is low.
Most of it comes from hockey rivalry and interpersonal conflict rather than genuinely violent scenes.
There are:
- Aggressive moments during hockey games
- Shoving
- References to a previous fight that ended with a broken nose
- Some minor physical confrontations
Language
There is occasional profanity, including words such as “damn”, “hell”, “ass” and a few stronger words.
It’s not constant, but it’s enough that I wouldn’t rate the language as completely mild or clean.
Emotional Intensity
Violet’s ex can me manipulative. The story deals with cheating, rumors, gaslighting, and learning when a relationship isn’t healthy.
Reed’s reputation doesn’t necessarily match the person Violet gets to know. It shows that rumors aren’t always reliable.
There are themes of:
- Setting boundaries
- Self-control
- Friendship
- Trust
- Rumors and stereotypes
- Healthy versus unhealthy relationshipn behavior
I actually think this gives parents and teens something worthwhile to talk about: the difference between someone’s reputation and their actual behavior, as well as recognizing when someone isn’t respecting your boundaries.
My Mom Verdict
I loved this book and would definitely let my daughter read it. The book is really well written and the story is adorable.
As far as spice goes this book is very tame. The farthest it goes is making out and hugging. There are some sexual jokes though. Such as:
- Violet and her cousin Mia are watching a hockey game when the players get into a fight and Mia says “That’s hot.” Violet says “You’ve clearly lived in the cold for too long.” and Mia says “What? I like it a little rough.” Violet says “Are we still talking about hockey?”
- Reed says “So, if it wasn’t my big heart you were talking about, was it another part of me?”
- A girl that works at the bowling alley hands Reed his shoes and says “You know what they say about guys with big feet…”
The language is there but it’s mostly them saying Hell or Shit.
There is hardly any violence other than the hockey teammates shoving each other and Reed talking about how he broke Jeremy’s nose.
And then as far as the emotional intensity there is cheating and he tries to tell her it wasn’t what it looked like. Then he makes it his mission to try to get her to take him back. It talks about how her mom dropped her off to live with her uncle and how she hardly talks to her.
There also is drinking in this book. They go to a few parties where they are clearly drinking.
I think this book would be good for a 13-14 year old. Its pretty tame other than some of the sexual jokes.
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