Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

110 reviews

amy_in_the_city's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I loved the epistolary elements of this book, and the writing was absolutely beautiful! The love story felt very Pride & Prejudice-inspired. I liked the setting, but I thought there could have been a bit more worldbuilding. The fantasy elements (other than the magic typewriters and Kitt's magic house) felt too abstract. I don't feel like I got a good sense of the gods and the monsters, but I'm assuming that will be explored more in the sequel. Still, for most of the book, I felt like I was just reading a WWI historical novel instead of a different fantasy world inspired by WWI. I didn't understand the main characters' decision to

stay and defend the town even though they were not soldiers and had no fighting training or equipment. They didn't accomplish anything at all by staying, so the decision felt contrived for plot reasons.

. Another thing that seemed contrived for plot reasons is

Forest not revealing himself sooner and instead deciding that waiting to kidnap Iris during battle was the best course of action.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, War, Grief, Blood, Death of parent, Death, Classism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Car accident, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child death, and Medical content

Minor: Sexual content and Stalking

greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Grief, Sexual content, Child death, War, Vomit, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Alcohol, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

cturn's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Characters - 8
Atmosphere - 8
Writing - 8
Plot - 8
Intrigue - 10
Logic - 7
Enjoyment - 9
CAWPILE score - 8.3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Blood, War, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Child death and Sexual content

chelly_reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, War, Medical content, Addiction, Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcoholism

j_day's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Alcohol, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Grief, and War

cait's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abandonment, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Slavery, Violence, War, Alcohol, Classism, Medical content, Gore, Gun violence, Addiction, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Death, and Death of parent

lajackson's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, War, Violence, Alcoholism, Addiction, and Death

kal517's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, War, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, and Blood

Minor: Sexual content

awenya's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I didn’t realize this would be a war book. I was told it was basically You Got Mail which was the first half of the book and was absolutely lovely. The end takes a hard shift and turns into Saving Private Ryan. It was a good book, but I wasn’t prepared and I’m not sure I would have read it if I had known it would be so war-focused.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, War, and Blood

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Death of parent

not_another_ana's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

I’m writing to you but I’m also writing for me. And I don’t expect you to respond, but it helps to know someone is hearing me. Someone is reading what I pour onto a page. It helps to know that I’m not alone tonight, even as I sit in quiet darkness.

This is first and foremost a romance, you can tell that everything else was built around the concept of these two exchanging letters. Because of that I found the worldbuilding to be a bit thin, like it didn't fully know what it wanted to be. You had these references to the mythology that were exciting but never went deeper than the obvious, and for that reason I didn't care at all for the war. It was clearly a devise used to cause tension and move the plot along. I found it interesting that the author was able to write these hard hitting, detailed war scenes that showed the horrors of war seemingly as easily as she did with the romance. My only complaint there is that the two rarely managed to coalesce in an organic way. You would be leaving the front after a horrible attack only to be dragged out of that mood and contemplation of the horrors by a silly scene that felt out of place.

The romance is the strongest piece of this book. The concept of magically exchanging letters was romantic, delightful, whimsical, I just wish there had been more letters.

Iris' insistence that Roman was only her rival and out to get her plus the whole miscommunication also got on my nerves. And all that only for her to immediately forgive him for lying to her!! It made me go 🙄.

It was a bit instalove-y, I won't complain much because I knew what I was getting into but in another book I would have hated it. It did get corny near the end, once the two of them were in the same page they got on my nerves, mostly because their interactions changed too much. I enjoyed the pining and the yearning, it resolved too early for me.

I know they're about to face the enemy and they're in the middle of a horrible war etc but why are you children getting married 😭 and it was so sappy!! If this were a single book then sure but there's still a second book to go?

I generally liked the secondary characters but I wish they had been more developed. Same with the war and their work as war correspondents, I was left wanting more.

AND MY BIGGEST COMPLAINT: WHY THE FUCK DID THEY NOT EVACUATE?? I understand that the book is making them to be virtuous and heroic but what about their actual job (that the honestly barely did anything for)?? I would think that it would be far more important to get the word out that the town has been captured by the enemy. It was so silly and for what. Oh and what about the cat Attie just locks in a room at the house?? Justice for Lilac the cat!!! And another thing!!! I understand that Iris loves her brother/was in shock, but are you telling me that this young woman who lived through difficult times, went to the front, was ready to die, etc meekly followed her brother all the way to OATH without yelling at him even once?? That's not the Iris I know.

I thought I would like this more, with all the positive reviews, so I'm a bit disappointed. Maybe too much hype! Read this is you like vibes and romance and don't worry too much about the horrors of war. Or worldbuilding!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Alcoholism, and War

There is a war going on and the protagonists go to the front as war correspondents where they witness the horrors of the trenches and the fighting.