Rivals Hardcover Hardcover – January 1, 1989

The second time I've read this book in a ten year span and I absolutely couldn't put it down. Sometimes I have a problem reading even 200 pages of a book. But I devoured all 800 and something pages chapter by chapter. It was fantastic. Love Taggie to pieces. Absolutely mad about Rupert. Cooper is an artiste. Perfect comedic timing. Description. Character development. And just pure British humour. Absolutely fantastic!

A very entertaining read. I had to order this book from Britain. It took its sweet time getting here, but it was well wroth the wait. I'm not sure Jilly Cooper has made much of a splash in the US, which is a shame, because this Brit author is a master of the arch social novel of the upper class manners and UK media. The characters are very intelligent, very cultured, and capable of being very bitchy in the way that (one imagines) only upper-class Brits can be. Though the situations are a little unfamiliar to the American reader -- the plot revolves around a battle over the license for a television network (or stations, frankly, I'm not sure) it's nothing you can't suss out, and the business details are incidental to the backstabbing, affairs, and rivalries. "Rivals" is circa 1988, but it didn't strike me as dated as a novel about contemporary American from that period might; perhaps this is one instance where unfamiliarity with the local terms of engagement helps a bit. "Rivals" is second in the 10-book Rutshire Chronicles series, which stretch from 1995 to 2016. I shall read more, even if I have to wait for the books to ship from overseas. Fun stuff.

This is one of my favorite Jilly Cooper novels as it's the one where Rupert meets Taggie. All of the other characters are great as usual, but, the O'Hara family is definitely 'dyslexic' as a whole.I met Jilly Cooper for the lst time traveling in Ireland almost 20 years ago and have been a huge fan of hers ever since. I am on my second reading through all of her books, this time on my kindle, so I can refer back to Rutshire history whenever I need to! Great writer and wonderful stories and characters. I'm eagerly awaiting another book!

I enjoyed the story, there was never a dull moment. However Jilly tends to go over the top with the number of characters in her books This one has 83. I read to relax, but trying to remember who's who gets a bit much. There is a list of characters at the start of the book, but that's slow on an e-reader. Quarter of those characters would be enough.

Still on the nightstand to be read in the coming months

My first read by Jilly Cooper was Riders, which I picked up at a used book store! Can you imagine how suprised and happy I was to have "stumbled" across this great writer? Anyway, my second read Rivals was every bit as entertaining as the first! Such outrageous characters and interesting plots.

I enjoyed Rivals very much I adore Jilly Coopers Books. the are nice and long and also have sub plots so theres lots going on in all her books.The Rupert Campbell-Black series are excellent and I would reccomend them all

Jilly Cooper brings my favorite characters to life in a way few authors can. I've been reading her novels since my late teens, in fact, this is the second time reading 'Rivals'. I simply love her work!

I decided to revisit this book after many years and was so glad I did. It is Jilly Cooper at her very best. Rupert Campbell-Black is back and this time you really get to fall in love with him, even though he never loses his rogue appeal. Now he has given up riding and is Minister for Sport, but after crossing paths with TV star Declan O'Hara the two form an unlikely friendship. The book is centred around the fight for an ITV franchise with Rupert, Declan and their pals on one side, and the truly hideous Tony Baddingham and his equally vile employee James Vereker on the other. This book can only be described as a romp from the first page until the last, and through it all we see Rupert trying not to fall in love with the lovely Taggie O'Hara, and vice versa. Rivals is full of hugely entertaining characters, my favourite being Freddie, a multi-millionaire with a heart of gold. Of course it is slightly dated (Rupert talks about football players being paid £100,000 a year) and you can marvel at how people got things done before the internet - travelling up and down the country and giving out bumper stickers seems like hard work these days when starting a campaign! Jilly's finest hour - and there have been a few contenders.......

Another gem from Jilly Cooper the second in the Rutshire Chronicles and even though we are not in the heady world of Show Jumping where Rupert Campbell Black soared to Olympic greatness we see a lot of fav characters return but they are joined with some even more decadent people and who would not love to have Declan reciting Yeats to you!!!!! As for the wicked Bas well what can one say except YUM :)This book has an excellent plot and fab character and written with Cooper's panache and excellent one liners everyone should read it!But I have a caveat - the Kindle edition is riddled with typos and sadly this does distract from the antics of the hedonists! I think that the publishers or whoever uploads books should keep a weather eye on content as it is a sad distraction from Jilly Cooper's hilarious characters and fab plot!

This is the first ever Jilly Cooper book I have read, I am a huge fan of both Freya North and Fiona Walker but having read Rivals I now intend on working my way through Jilly's novels. Walker takes a lot of inspiration from Cooper - this is especially evident in her horsey-themed books and she also writes in great depth and with fanatstically rounded characters, Jilly however makes the characters leap off the page. I don't think I have ever read a novel with such gloriously descriptive and well crafted talent in all of my 28 years!The characters are so well rounded, I love how Rupert remains a cad throughout, yet entirely loveable at the same time, the character of Tony is an utter bastard throughout, Declan and Maud are particularly intricate as a couple and to portray such a huge star as troubled I found especially refreshing. Many authors can't write so brilliantly about the ups and downs of a person's career or personality but Jilly does it marvellously. Patrick, Caitlin and Taggie were so accurately written too, Taggie I hold a special place for because of her need to please everyone around her and her immense shyness getting in the way of things most of us take for granted, the fact she couldn't read or write brilliantly and was somewhat the missing link to an otherwise talent busting family I found was handled with great care and compassion.I would recommend any readers of Fiona Walker (women my age mid-20's plus) who have not thought about picking up a JC novel to do so - you will love it and you will get to experience where writers like Fiona and Freya got their inspiration from. Fabulous!

i have the complete collection in paperback along with many other authors and series, so my husband bought me a kindle and i bought the whole collection again!! i love the characters especially R C-B and Declan O Hara and thry pop up in many of the follow-up books, though each book tells a whole new story with new lovable characters.

And I still laugh out loud. One of her best!!Great story, hilarious characters and not forgetting the sex, drugs and some rock n roll in the form of TV!