Review: Beg, Borrow, or Steal by Sarah Adams

Emily Walker’s delicately balanced life is almost where she’d like it – she has a teaching job she loves, her historical romance manuscript is ready to query, and she feels perfectly content in her hometown of Rome, Kentucky. The only thing grating on this peace is Jack Bennett, her workplace nemesis and rival since college. The thing is, Jack only rears his ugly side in her presence while everyone else somehow falls prey to his invincible charm. She hasn’t been on the receiving end of that charm since he accidentally spilled coffee all over her on their first day of class. But Jack has gone off into the sunset with his less-than-perfect fiance leaving his classroom and their rivalry abandoned in the rearview, which shouldn’t disappoint her as much as it does. With spring term at its end, the last thing Emily expects to see is Jack Bennett hogging her unassigned assigned seat in their local coffee shop, or that he has just purchased the rundown house directly next to hers. Never one to back down from a fight especially where her nemesis is concerned, Emily wages a small-town standdown but with their professional rivalry in the offseason and their animosity at a tipping point, Emily and Jack might just have to reconcile their undeniable chemistry into something more permanent.

I knew Beg, Borrow, or Steal was going to be romance excellence from the second I read its title and incredible premise. Anything referencing Carly Rae Jepsen and Audrey Hepburn’s How to Steal a Million is high taste and I will drop everything to read it. Happy to report my initial impression did not lead me astray. Sarah Adams continues her immensely heartwarming When in Rome series with a rivals-to-lovers story between two second-grade teachers – Emily, the eldest sister in the Walker family, and Jack Bennet her selectively charming nemesis. Jumping past the bulk of their professional rivalry in action to the summertime, Adams brings us to these rivals with their guards down forced to interact as they navigate their now-shared small town. Beg, Borrow, or Steal has all the accompaniments of a romance that would ruin me for all others and it’s re-enlivened everything I love about this genre.

Beg, Borrow, or Steal burrowed its way into my heart with its small-town antics, rivals to lover’s romance, and use of bickering as a love language. Adams balances the razor-sharp edge of animosity and romantic tension with a finesse that left me gleefully turning the page and hanging on to every interaction between warring teachers, Jack and Emily. It’s rare to see a rivals-to-lovers romance structured quite like this one – skipping past the professional antagonism to a moment of quiet in the summer where Adams completely wrecks the roles these two individuals have comfortably settled into. Beg, Borrow, or Steal focuses on two rivals who just got off on the wrong foot and never quite lived down those first impressions navigating a new side of their relationship as they become neighbors and members of the same community. Adding to this wonderful narrative switch up is the unique way this book engages with tropes and conventions within the genre. There’s something about the sunshine character who is nice to everyone except one person that I absolutely adore. It is such an ingenious trope reversal and I thank Sarah Adams for representing that in Jack Bennet (everyone else take notes please).

As a proud defender of single point of view romance, it isn’t often I concede to the dual perspective, but in the case of Jack and Emily’s love story, it really works. Both protagonists were such strong individuals and I enjoyed relishing in their perspectives and cracking open the bulk of their shared history. Emily Walker is peak eldest daughter energy and very much the representation I didn’t know I needed. She’s the one who feels like she always has to have everything together and prefers to shoulder her burdens alone while throwing all of herself into supporting her family and those she cares about. I could really feel that in connection to Rome, a small town full of people who are Emily Walker supporters who will literally embark on a campaign to shun some random man just because she said so. But on the other side of that controlled world is Jack, truly the most patient man and dare I say the person who understands Emily and her extraordinary capabilities more than anyone. There is something so profoundly HOT about someone not only believing in your competence and approach but expecting that excellence, and that’s just Jack with Emily. Jack pushing her to query her book and the scene of him bursting into her living room holding her manuscript full of his notes was giving married couple and had me rooting for him from the very start. Adams encapsulates not only the tremendous chemistry between these two but the underlying affection and understanding that makes them all the more compatible.

Beg, Borrow, or Steal matches a workplace rivalry with an unmistakable chemistry rendered perfectly against the backdrop of a small Kentucky town. Jack and Emily shifted something foundational for me, in my appreciation for this genre, the execution of the rivals to lovers storyline, and the kind of relationships I want to see represented alongside these romances. I’m especially grateful for the representation of Jack, who grew up with a narcissistic parent and worries about becoming everything he has grown up fearing. It was very gratifying to read Jack owning up to his success as a mystery writer and officially cutting his father out of his life. The reconciliation of Emily and Jack’s unique upbringings in tandem with the romantic arc is yet another reason this novel has launched to the top of my favorites for this year. Beg, Borrow, or Steal has officially shifted the standard for rivals to lover’s romance and I know this will forever be one I recommend and return to often.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Trigger warnings: parental abuse (emotional), grief

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