First person, dual POV: Kate & Oz
Rating: 4.5⭐️
Spice: 1.5🌶️
Tropes: secret relationship, sports romance, rival schools, he falls first (& HARD)

Did I know anything about rowing prior to reading this? Nope. But I did know I love Lulu Moore and if anyone could do it right, it’s her. Which was accurate information.

Kate is an American girl trying to make her dream a reality, which includes a spot on the rowing team and a scholarship to continue studying medicine. Oz is rowing royalty trying to make it through life his way while his father is trying to dictate his future.

You get a little meet cute of Kate and Oz literally falling for each other and having instant chemistry, to start out. That chemistry stays the whole way through and it was giving all the butterflies.
But the problem lies in the fact that she rows for Cambridge and he rows for Oxford. The two schools with the biggest rival in rowing history.

This book is full of so much wonderful banter between both Kate & Oz, but also the rest of the cast of characters.
And the way he would do anything for her? Literally dropping everything to drive to her when she’s crying. Swoon! He falls first, fast, and hard. I love a good boy obsessed and he was top tier.
The story was well balanced with story and spice. You get the spice because of the story, which seems to be hard to find these days. It all seemed very natural and made the characters seem real.

There were a few scenes where I wanted a little more meat to them, but overall this was a great book and I highly recommend to anyone who loves sports romance and/or a good campus romance.
I cannot wait until book 2!

✨ARC review✨

𝐎𝐚𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 by Lulu Moore is a new enemies to lovers sports rom-com with a love-at-first sight twist. Kate’s an American on a rowing scholarship to study medicine at Cambridge, and he’s the President of the rowing crew at Oxford trying to outrun his father’s plans for his life. They connect in an inexplicable way, but between their grueling schedules, the monstrous rivalry between their schools, and the all-important Boat Race that’s on the line, are they rowing right toward a broken heart?

When you’ve read as many romance novels as I have, diving into one with a brand new to me sport is an unexpected gift!! Learning so much much about the dynamics of the college rowing scene in England was a blast! These characters were well-developed and grabbed me immediately, and their meet-cute was perfect and totally unique!!😍😂 Both Kate and Oz were more than meets the eye, with emotional backstories, and struggles between pleasing others and living life for themselves. The world building was fantastic with several compelling characters that brought the banter, fun, and camaraderie. I loved the rivalry, the romance, the drama, and the emotional moments. It was quite a long book, and there were a few times where it started to lag a bit for me, but I stayed interested. However, the way it came together in the end was amazing, with a sweet little epilogue to top it off!🥰 I can’t wait to see more from this intriguing Ox-bridge world!

I received an ARC for free, and am leaving this review voluntarily.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
🌶️.5

Lulu Moore is a sports romance queen!
Her characters always capture a little piece of my heart, and Kate and Arthur (Oz) certainly did that. This time we have a British hero and an American heroine, a lot of laughs and an unexplored sport. (I must admit I channeled Hugh Grant from Notting Hill 😆)
I’ve never read a rowing romance before, so this was a first. There is a fierce, hundreds of years long rivalry between the two Universities, but that didn’t stop Oz from is pursuit of Kate.
It’s a little bit instalove and a whole lot awesome. Sweet, steamy, funny, a great depth to the story and totally loveable characters.
I can’t wait for more in this new series.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Valentine PR.

🌟 4.25/5

‼️ While this could be read as a standalone, this is book 1 in the Oxbridge series.

ℙ𝕆𝕍: first person, dual perspectives

𝕊𝕦𝕞𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕪:
She's rowing for Cambridge. He's rowing for Oxford. But they just can't keep one another at oar's length.
Arthur Osbourne-Cloud has his future mapped out for him – graduate Oxford and follow his dreadful father into politics. Except Arthur wants anything but that. He’d rather spend his days rowing for gold at the Olympics. And this year, he has the Boat Race to win.
Kate Astley also has her future mapped out. Fly half-way across the world, and win a scholarship at Cambridge University to study medicine. Oh, and crew for the legendary Boat Race. Seems simple enough. But then she meets Arthur.
For Arthur, this feisty American challenges everything he's been taught to believe, while Kate battles between what she's expected to do and what she wants to do. The bitter rivalry between their universities ought to destroy them. Or will it just be a matter of time before they surrender to the sizzling chemistry between them?
But In The Boat Race, there can only be one winner. Who will sink, and who will swim?

𝕄𝕪 𝕋𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤:
Lulu's books always leave me gasping and wanting more. Jumping into this book, I knew I'd have the time of my life finally reading about characters in the UK. Yes, she's written about our beloved Wolfie, Freddie, and Murray, but it was so wonderful being able to read about the UK culture and new characters in this book!❤️

Katey and Ozzy were a dream team. I can't get over how cute they were together. Also, can we talk about that meet-cute?!?!? I laughed for a solid 20 minutes, at least!🤣

As always, Lulu has created another great bromance in the books. Even between opposing sides, we see the camaraderie. I can't begin to tell y'all how much I loved it!🥺😍

Thank you, Lulu, for another great book and for gifting me with an ARC! I'm officially ready for Charlie and his tornado!🤭🫶

Kate and Arthur are a fun couple.
I enjoyed them both and the side characters as well.
I enjoyed the fact that the book was about a sport that’s not written about. I appreciated the information about rowing at the beginning of the book.
I also like one of the lessons in the story, something so simple, do what makes you happy. Each character figures this out in their own way.
It was also fun reading about the pranks and antics between the teams.
In my opinion, it took really long for something to happen with Kate and Arthur. We received a lot of information about them individually, their teammates, and rowing. I wanted more about them sooner.

"Why are you telling me this? I’m your enemy. I could be asking these questions to pump you for information.”
"No, Yankee Doodle, you’re not. You could never be my enemy.”

This was my first book from Lulu Moore and definitely won’t be my last! I was very intrigued to read this romance book as it looked like an enemies to lovers romance mixed with boat racing. It was very interesting how Kate goes to Oxford and settles there coming from the States. I loved Oz and Kate’s meet cute! It was so hilarious! Right away Oz is infatuated with Kate and wants to know more about her. I liked that he gets her to go out with him and to give him a chance. Then days later, Kate finds out that Oz is on the rival team’s rowing crew and decides that he’s the enemy. I loved how Oz didn’t care that Kate was on the rival schools team, and still wanted to date her. After a few events, Oz gets Kate to give him a second chance! I loved how swoony Oz was with Kate! He literally would drive over to her school when she would call him crying to hold her! Ahhh be still my heart! This is also my first boat racing romance and I found it very interesting.

Read if you like:
Dual POVs
Rival schools
Somewhat enemies to lovers
Hero falls first
Swoony hero
Open door romance
English schools setting
Boat racing romance

Ummm…. This might be a new favorite book of mine. Who knew rowing was such a fun and intense sport to read about! Both Kate and Oz are rowers at their respective rival schools and let’s just say their practice schedule is grueling! They both have so much on their plate between rowing, school and their personal lives, but the way they made time for each other was so sweet. This does have a “3rd act breakup” but I think it was warranted and made sense with the story and made the ending that much sweeter to read! I couldn’t put this down and cannot wait to read more in this series!!

This book had me smiling & swooning and just made me so happy 🥰
Never thought I’d care about rowing but here we are 🙃
It actually had me looking up the Cambridge/Oxford boat race (which is on March 30 btw)

📖 Oar than Friends
📝 Lulu Moore
🗓️ 03/14/2024
🚣🏼 sports romance
📱 read on kindle (arc)
📚 book 1 • Oxbridge series

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️

💭 overall thoughts:
It was refreshing to read about a sport that we don't really see in romance, and the fact that they were both athletes was also something I really loved.

Their instant-connection & all the little things they had in common had me totally enamoured with their love story!

🚣🏻🚣🏻MCs:
Kate & Oz were completely meant to be, I loved how they were drawn to each other & how smitten Oz was - he never gave up on her, supporting her, and finding ways for them to be together, regardless of outside forces.

📖 story:
I enjoy a book that has a story going on that’s not part of the romance itself - all the training & lead up to the boat race, the rivalry between the school… it kept my attention throughout the book, even knowing absolutely nothing about rowing!

🤍side characters:
I love when I KNOW a book is going to be part of a series, and the side characters are fun and intriguing! Definitely would love to see more of both of their rowing team members, and a book for Olly.

tropes + topics:
😍 insta-conenction
🚣🏼 competing rowing teams
🌎 British mmc + American fmc
🏫 college (Cambridge + Oxford)
🤫 secret dating/forbidden
🩵 boy obsessed
💬 texting/FaceTime
💞 dual 1sr person pov

🫶🏼 books with similar vibes:
•The Graham Effect by Elle Kennedy (college, both athletes)
•Check & Mate (working together, supporting each other, rivals)

Thank you to NetGalley, Valentine PR, & Michael Joseph (Penguin Random House) for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

**4.5 stars**

Oar Than Friends is a new adult, sports romance. It was super unique in the sport that was played was rowing. I can't say I've ever read a sports romance with rowing but this sport really needs to be done more in books. For those rowing newbies (like me), the author has graciously offered an explanation of terms at the beginning of the book, which was ever so helpful. I have to say after this book I might have an interest in rowing. So, how can I watch the Boat Race from the US?! All of the characters in here were likable. I'm very excited this is a series. The author set it up perfectly in that regard. The only minor problem I had with the book was the pace. It felt like things were dragging in certain parts. Overall, though, it was really well done. This was my first book by the author but I will be going through her backlist and anxiously awaiting Charlie's book!

This book was massively lovely. A rivalry that underpins British culture (and my childhood) and a love story that made me laugh, frown and smile softly.

What happens when you meet the most amazing guy on your first day, but he’s “the enemy”…

I connected to this on so many levels. The boat race was a throwback to my childhood, where we spent every race glued to the television, and relatives connected to both sides of the Oxbridge coin. With equal parts humour, romance, spice, and sensitivity this had me gripped throughout, and it was a welcome change to have a new adult romance where the MMC falls first. Oz's surety in his feelings, and his dtermintion to put a budding relationship above a centuries-deep divide was fabulous.

I absolutely cannot wait until the next book in the series!

Fate, love at first sight, soulmates.. call it whatever you want but these two were simply made for one another. Their chemistry was incredible from the very first moment! The only problem.. they are on rival teams at rival universities. And it is forbidden to fraternise with the enemy.

Oz is the biggest green flag out there. And I loved him for it. Lulu has literally given us the cutest guy on the planet and there is not one single thing wrong that. Kind, caring, supportive. Swoon! He fell first and HARD! The way their relationship developed was completely natural. It gives you all the warm fuzzy feelings inside. They complimented each other so well. Kate was a fantastic FMC, considering she was in a new country, on a gruelling schedule and chasing her late brothers dreams she held her own in her rowing position and you cant help but fall for her alongside Oz.


Do not worry about knowing nothing about Rowing. Lulu give us all of the terms & explanations but it also super easy to follow. This was full of playful banter, cute nicknames, delicious tension, nail biting competition and a hoard of friends I adored (setting up for the next book perfectly, Im excited to read more.) and this had a sprinkling of spice too.

Oar then Friends is a cute story about Kate and Oz who are members of rival college rowing teams, Kate with Cambridge and Oz with Oxford. I knew absolutely nothing about rowing going into this book, but I definitely learned something about it after reading this. It was a little slow for me at times, but overall a good story. I absolutely loved that the chapters had names! Chapter names should definitely make a come back. I will say, the British slang was a little hard for me to follow at times, but that’s on my lack of knowledge on British slang. If you’re looking for a cute story, sweet romance, low spice, easy read, then definitely check out Oar then Friends.

I’ve read a lot of sports romances but this was my first rowing romance and I’m now positive I want to find more. The obscure sports are just so much more fun to me because it adds in new plots, new language, and overall a new feel.

Oz and Kate had a great friends to lovers romance, as it felt like a natural college romance progression, adding in the rivals and I was hooked. These two have a great connection and I loved how easily Oz fell for Kate. He just wanted her nothing else, and I love that for Kate who was trying to achieve two people’s dreams after her brother died, she needed someone who only cared about her dreams.

The rowing drama was my favorite, I loved the big races at the end, and the training! I can’t wait to read the rest of this series!

So this was my first book Lulu Moore .. an author’s name that I see passing by on Bookstagram on the regular. And I’ve got to be honest, the first few chapters had me doubting a little bit. My mind went “What the Hell, I don’t know a thing about that boat race😵” and “Where on earth are all these rowing terms coming from?!”

Luckily the meet-cute moment between Arthur ‘Oz’ & Kate arrived with a tangible spark and intriguing chemistry which suddenly captured my full attention.
Our lovebirds’ playful conversations, fun nicknames, all the smirks and longing glances made this the sweet romance story I was looking for.

Oh and that banter was to die for !!
Mostly because of the way Oz fell head over heels for his Yankee-Doodle girl. But also because this cinnamon roll hero switched from his playful side to the comforting one so quickly whenever she cried … yeah, that is me swooning over here 🥰

I love the Britishness of the college setting and side characters, who made for a rich setting and background at the start of this new series. The bromance & girl gang vibes were off the charts, and I would honestly have loved being a part of these friend-groups when I was in college.

Really look forward to discover more about all the other Oxbridge rowers in the next books of this series. 🤞🤞🤞 for a book on Charlie, Brooks and Imogen since they were my favourite side characters.

Guess I will be learning more about rowing and the boat race … but will I be team light blue or dark blue still needs to be determined.


Thank you to Michael Joseph | Penguin Random House and NetGalley for the chance to read a free advanced copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Oar Than Friends by Lulu Moore out 3/14/24
3 stars ⭐️
Thank you, valentinepr, Penguin, and Lulu Moore, for providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Kate moves into the Cambridge campus to pursue a degree in medicine and row for the Cambridge team. On one of her first nights there, she runs into an amazingly attractive man, Oz, who she immediately feels a connection with. Little does she know that he rows for Oxford, Cambride's biggest rival team. Them being rivals makes their relationship a bit rocky. Can they pull through the difficulty and stay together?
Ok, I want to preface this review by saying I don't typically read college romances anymore. If you're looking for a sports romance that really focuses on the sport, then this book is for you. I usually prefer for the sport to be a background type of thing, so I kind of skimmed some of the rowing aspects. I loved Oz. He was so sweet and caring throughout the entire book. Because of their ages, I would say they do act a bit immature, but it wasn't too bad. Both characters grew in the book, which is something that I really liked. I felt like it could have been a bit shorter, but it was a cute book overall.

"It was the type of kiss that makes you lose all sense of time and space. The type of kiss you emerge from and four hours have passed. The type of kiss you know you'll remember for the rest of your life."

Lulu Moore can write anything and I will read it.

This was the cutest college/sports romance between rivals with really likable characters. The FMC, Kate, attends Cambridge University. And the MMC, Oz (she calls him Ozzy, hehe!), goes to Oxford University. They meet and instantly fall for each other. I don't usually like the instalove trope but I totally rooted for them from the start. They continue their friendship via text messages (Q4aQ!) and their relationship grows with every secret hangout/date. I thought was refreshing to have such hardworking characters who still acted like college kids but still made time for their school work, sport, and their crush.

I really love how thoughtful and sweet Oz is for his Yankee Doodle. He baked her a pie and quickly surprised her when she was crying! (SO CUTE.) I highly recommend reading Oar than Friends if you want a cute he falls first, secret romance between rivals.

Not only were the main characters likable but the side characters too! I look forward to reading their story too.

What to expect when you read Oar Than Friends:
-Sports romance
-Instalove
-Rival schools
-Secret relationship
-He falls first
-Cute nicknames
-Dual POV
-Supportive friends

Thank you SO much Lulu More, Valentine PR, Penguin Random House, and NetGalley for an early edition of this title!

I really enjoyed reading about Oz & Kate. It was like a breath of fresh air, as I have no idea about rowing in general. So this brought me new knowledge!

Kate & Oz meet at her college and they are immediately smitten with each other. They exchange text messages, until the day Kate finds out Oz is the president of the rival rowing team. Can they get past their obstacles and pursue their feelings?

Loved Kate & Oz. Also their friends. They are both very driven sports people, and it was great to see how they navigated their friendship without talking about rowing.

I cannot wait to read more about their friends and be back in the rowing world!



Thank you Netgalley and Penguin for an advanced copy of this book. I voluntarily read and reviewed.

Oar than Friends by Lulu Moore 🩵
Oxbridge, Book 1
Interconnected Standalone

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
NA • Romance
ARC Review
423 pages
🗓️ March 14th

🚣🏻‍♂️ sports romance
🚣🏻‍♀️ rival schools
🚣🏻‍♂️ unknown identities
🚣🏻‍♀️ secret relationship
🚣🏻‍♂️ he falls first (also literally)
🚣🏻‍♀️ dual POV

📍“I wanted to claim her heart and her mind, like she had claimed mine.”

I grew up in Portugal. And that means I’ve heard a lot about Cambridge, Oxford, and their rivalry. Probably more than Harvard and Yale. And yet I couldn’t have told anything about rowing except for it’s a water sport of sorts. The same way I couldn’t tell you much of anything about Lulu Moore’s writing before Oar than Friends introduced me to her.

Now, here I stand before you — not literally but you get what I’m saying — having almost lost my mind during that last race, fiercely rooting for them, and knowing that this was my first of many Lulu Moore books because her storytelling is absolutely fantastic 😱🥹

📍“I don’t care. Let them watch. It’s worth it if it means I get to have you.”

I don’t even know where to start with my praise. The writing? The characters? The story line? The subplots that made everything so much richer? All of the above? Because everything was 5+ stars and I consumed this book like Oz’s brother consumed those lobster rolls 🤌🏼

Do yourself a favor and set an alarm for March 14th. You don’t want to miss out on this one 🥹

Thank you so much @lulumoorebooks @valentine_pr_ @penguinrandomhouse and @netgalley for this eARC. It was absolutely sublime and a favorite of the month for sure 🩵

Head over heals in love with this book! Oz and Kate are an outstanding couple that have amazing chemistry, the sweetest gestures, the way they think about each other is perfectly swoony, and my favorite, they are so willing to give up anything to be together and fight for each other. It’s a one of a kind must read from Lulu Moore!
Oz is the literal definition of boy obsessed and probably right up there on the list as the standard for best guy ever! The way he sees Kate, the things he does for her, so cute, so good, and so, so, perfect. And Kate gives it right back, seeing past all the crap that everyone else sees, to how good he really is and how much he cares. It’s an overall fantastically written, unique, and bingeworthy read!

Kate and Oz are Oxbridge rivals who meet and fall for each other fast and hard. They try to balance their new romance with the demands of rowing, school, and family dramas.
I liked most of the characters; they were engaging and fun to read about. I didn't know anything about rowing before this book; and I'll probably watch the Boat Race this year now.
Overall it was a quick easy read, sexy and fun.


Thanks to NetGalley at the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.