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–Synopsis–

When two young rival journalists find love through a magical connection, they must face the depths of hell, in a war among gods, to seal their fate forever.

After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring again. But eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow just wants to hold her family together. Her mother is suffering from addiction and her brother is missing from the front lines. Her best bet is to win the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette.

To combat her worries, Iris writes letters to her brother and slips them beneath her wardrobe door, where they vanish—into the hands of Roman Kitt, her cold and handsome rival at the paper. When he anonymously writes Iris back, the two of them forge a connection that will follow Iris all the way to the front lines of battle: for her brother, the fate of mankind, and love.

Shadow and Bone meets Lore in Rebecca Ross’s Divine Rivals, an epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy novel filled with hope and heartbreak, and the unparalleled power of love.

–Review–

*Trigger Warnings* – because this book takes place during war, there is death and destruction, as well as some injury details. There is specifically death of a parent due to alcohol and drug abuse, feelings of abandonment, depression, hopelessness. There is one romantic scene, however it is written in a mature and respectful way, very clean and closed door.

I have been hearing great things about this book, so I was glad to have found the audiobook copy on Libby, and this book fit into one of my reading challenges so I figured now was as great a time as any.

Iris and Roman each have their own perspectives in the book. The authors that play them: Rebecca Norfolk and Alex Wingfield, both did such great jobs acting and playing the roles.

This book is great for those of you who enjoy some supernatural magic thrown into a world where divine beings are at war and humans are the pawns. The romance plot is quite heavy so I would recommend that you at least tolerate romance since the war plot line is still the most prevalent theme in the book.

The world of this story is an alternative WWI European-Esque landscape. The story begins in the town of Oath, where Iris and Kitt are competing at the Oath Gazette. This seems to be a bustling and yet dreary place. I got a real sense of claustrophobia and the overwhelming desire to escape this place myself. Once Iris becomes a war correspondent, she travels to the town of Avalon Bluff to stay with other correspondents in an air BNB. This was my favorite place in the book since it felt like an actual loving family home, besides the hound and ethereal attacks. After that, we get to experience the front lines which felt a lot like trench warfare in WWI. There were some pretty intense scenes here you can imagine. The book ends after one more major scene in Avalon Bluff, before Iris is on her way back to Oath. The human world, mixed in with the worlds and lore of the gods, makes this universe feel quite monstrous in scale for sure.

The magic system was pretty interesting. Buildings and objects are enchanted by magic from the gods. It was this sorcery that allowed Iris and Kitt to become connected in the first place. While I cannot say too much more without giving spoilers, I thought Rebecca did awesome on the magic in the world, leading to one of the biggest plot twists in the book.

Iris Winnow is the main female protagonist. She starts the book already down on her luck due to her brother Forest, enlisting in the war, for the Goddess Enva. Feeling isolated and alone, she continues the habit of writing notes to Forest and slipping them into their shared wardrobe. This is when she begins to get replies back, jumpstarting her relationship with her work enemy, Roman Kitt. After a last tragic event hits Iris, she decides to quit her job to become a war correspondent, with the intent of finding Forest, who has been quiet for months at this point. This starts her life in Avalon Bluff, and the beginning of her experience with actual warfare. Even with everything Iris has been through in the book, she remained steadfast and loyal to her own goals and to the support of those around her. She was always willing to turn around and save as many people as she could, even though she was never a trained soldier. She shows tremendous bravery and resourcefulness, which made the reading experience even more enjoyable since I trusted her judgment, for the most part.

Roman Kitt is the main male protagonist in the story. He was born into a wealthy and well-known family. He has been pressured by his overbearing father to fall in line and act exactly how he deems fit. Kitt has his own emotional baggage from an event that he feels responsible for in his past. This pressure has carved him into the young man that seemed willing to do anything in order to procure his promotion at the Oath Gazette. When the letters from Iris to Forest start mysteriously showing up in his room at night, he instantly figures out they are from Iris based on some incriminating information she included. Roman decides to hold off on alerting Iris of his own identification, instead using his middle name of Carver. As his feelings for Iris start popping off, she quits the Gazette, throwing Roman in an uncharacteristically aloof state. Through the letters, Roman figures out where Iris went, and decides to follow her as a correspondent to Avalone Bluff. As the book goes on and the truth comes out, he remains headstrong in protecting Iris, even following her into the front lines, and refusing to leave her side during attacks. The stubbornness and bravery of this one was strong.

The enemies-to-lovers trope is one of my favorites in romance. The at times, very sarcastic and pointed banter Roman and Iris share was so fun to read. As they began to get to know each other, pushing the boundaries of their relationship, they begin to have mutual respect for each other. Their near-death experiences just emphasized their sense of protection for each other, forcing them to disclose the true nature of their feelings. There are definitely some swoon worthy moments throughout, but they all culminate in the final romantic scene in the book that I mentioned in the trigger warning. As mentioned, I thought it was very tastefully done, and it felt right with them at that time.

My least favorite part in the book was actually the end. If you are not a fan of cliff hangers…….man, this one is a doozy! Luckily, the sequel “Ruthless Vows” has been out so if you do start this series, you are probably going to want to immediately jump into the sequel ASAP!

All in all, if you are a fan of fictional worlds full of gods-given magic, a divine war hiding an inspiring love story of forgiveness and moving on from the past, this may be a book for you. I personally found it to be difficult to put down once I started.

-About the Author-

Rebecca Ross is the #1 New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author of fantasy books for teens and adults.

She has written multiple highly acclaimed duologies, including LETTERS OF ENCHANTMENT, ELEMENTS OF CADENCE, and THE QUEEN’S RISING as well as two standalone novels: DREAMS LIE BENEATH and SISTERS OF SWORD & SONG.

When not writing, she can be found in her garden where she plants wildflowers and story ideas. She resides in Northeast Georgia with her husband and her dog.

Find her on Instagram @beccajross or online at http://www.rebeccarossauthor.com.