Today’s review is about THE ENTANGLEMENT OF RIVAL WIZARDS by Sara Raasch. It’s the first in a series of standalone romances. Here, Sebastian and his academic rival are competing for the same grant. But when they unexpectedly both receive it, they must work together or forfeit their graduation requirement. It’s a Dungeons & Dragons-related fantasy romance with rivals-to-lovers and working through family trauma.
Author: Sara Raasch
Series: Magic and Romance, #1
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Bramble
Publish Date: August 26, 2025
Print Length: 336
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The Entanglement of Rival Wizards Synopsis
Synopsis
Ali Hazelwood meets Dungeons & Dragons in this enemies-to-lovers fantasy academia romcom where rival grad student wizards are forced to work together without killing—or falling for—each other.
Will they conjure love, or evoke chaos? Two rival wizards are about to find out.
Sebastian Walsh: Evocation Department. Human. The first of his family to pick college over the military.
Elethior Tourael: Conjuration Department. Half-elf. Pretentious asshole. The latest legacy Tourael at Lesiara U.
Both: Mageus Research Grant finalists.
Sebastian refuses to let anyone snatch this away, least of all a snob riding on old money. But what’s worse than a nemesis stealing your grant? You could both get it. Under the condition you work together.
Sebastian is in hell. Thio’s broody. Takes up their shared lab space with his projects . . . and biceps. Brings treats for Sebastian’s familiar . . .
. . . and is nothing like Sebastian thought.
When Sebastian’s past with the Touraels forces him to choose his research or Thio, the decision should be simple. But while working with his rival is volatile . . . falling for his rival might blow up Sebastian’s future.
The Entanglement of Rival Wizards Review
THE ENTANGLEMENT OF RIVAL WIZARDS is a rivals-to-lovers romance set in a graduate school academic environment. Sebastian studies evocation whereas Elethior studies conjuration. The two departments have always been in competition with each other and Sebastian has made that rivalry known. Both he and Elethior are competing for the same prestigious Mageus Research Grant. To their surprise, they both receive it, which is a problem because they hate each other. Nonetheless, they must learn to work together or fail their graduation requirements.
This Dungeons & DragonsÂ-related romance starts out lighthearted. Sebastian clearly has some vendetta against the Conjuration department. Not to mention he hates Elethior and everything he and his family stand for: old money, schmoozy donations to the university, and shady business practices. When forced to work with Elethior, it takes everything in Sebastian’s willpower to not go ballistic every time he has to interact with his fellow grant awardee. So it comes as a surprise when Sebastian realizes maybe this explosive reaction to Elethior is actually attraction. This causes Sebastian to have some reflection on whether to pursue some kind of relationship with Elethior despite hating his family.
As the story progresses it becomes evident that both characters have some heavy baggage in the form of toxic family. Elethior’s family expects him to carry on their legacy without any regard to what he actually wants to do. And Sebastian keeps trying to distance himself from his family for not believing him about something terrible that happened to him. THE ENTANGLEMENT OF RIVAL WIZARDS shows how managing these mentally heavy loads affects behavior (e.g., anxiety, self harm, isolation) and relationship building (e.g., mistrust, fear of commitment). In those regards, there is important representation there.
I also liked that the world is queer normative and how the story leaned into normalizing “cinnamon roll” or “soft” behavior in male characters. This goes for Sebastian’s best friend, too, who is always there for him when he goes through an anxiety attack.
However, I never quite felt totally invested in the story. There was something about the writing style that I didn’t quite jive with. It felt somewhat staccato, perhaps mimicking Sebastian’s mind. I also felt thrown into the story. I’m told there’s a rivalry, but the story starts right before they both win the grant, so there’s no prior interaction between the two to establish any rivalry. The same goes for the chemistry between Sebastian and Elethior. I think if there were on-page interaction prior to their joint research effort I might not have felt like this story went hard on the instalust. One second they’re yelling at each other and the next it gets very romantically physical. They clearly care about each other, but that chemistry just didn’t quite come through on page for me.
But, to each their own and I’m sure someone else may think otherwise! Overall, this was an entertaining read with some toxic family and anxiety representation.
Rating: 3.5
Content warnings: sexual content, self harm, physical abuse (past)
Reading format: Paperback
For additional thoughts about THE ENTANGLEMENT OF RIVAL WIZARDS, check out reviews by Realms of My Mind and Books, Bones & Buffy. If you liked this book, you may also enjoy IN DEEPER WATERS by F.T. Lukens.
I liked this too, but I like her series about the holidays better. This felt really heavy to me, and the story didn’t fit the cartoony cover.
That’s true…the cartoony cover didn’t quite fit the story. If I read another of her books, I might try the holiday ones.
I love anxiety rep 💕