Reviews

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

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lkat3's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

Content Warnings

karathagan's review against another edition

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fast-paced

5.0

Chosen for a Kindle challenge, I was pleased to find my first 5 star of 2024 in Divine Rivals. This book was amazing. Beautiful prose and thoughtful characters and sweet relationships, good lore and some interesting settings/environments. A poor girl working as a journalist is competing for a promotion. Her brother is off to war fighting for a resurrected god against another (angrier) resurrected god,

and her mother dies early on.

She uses a magical typewriter to write and send letters to a mysterious stranger. Eventually, the journalist quits her newspaper job and goes off to the front lines as a war correspondent. Her previous coworker and formal rival shows up. They're changing their relationship bit by bit. Placing in-world awe inspiring writing in a book is difficult, and I usually groan at the writing that other characters are amazed by. This, however, was reminiscent of Emily of New Moon - elegant, and emotional, and magical. The correspondence was enthralling, the romance enchanting. Loved it so much.

tomperignon's review against another edition

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4.0

4.25
I initially approached this novel with the expectation of encountering intense battles involving angels, demons, and gods, with the love story playing a secondary role. However, what I found was quite the opposite. To clarify, this isn't necessarily a negative aspect, but rather a case of my expectations being turned around.

In this novel, we follow the classic enemies-to-lovers scenario, a trope that many people seemingly enjoy. Iris, who comes from a humble background, and Roman Kitt, hailing from a wealthy upbringing, are engaged in a fierce competition for the position of a columnist at their local newspaper. Interestingly, despite their mutual attraction, they express their feelings through enchanted typewriters.
GRRR they hate how much they are attracted to each other and what better way to confess your feelings then through magic typewriters?

Fast forward and Iris is now a war correspondent (right, did I mention there is a war in this novel pushed to the periphery) on the front lines. Will she see action? Will her attraction to Kitt bring them together or drive them apart? What does war look like between humans, angels, and demons?

The narrative takes a rollercoaster ride for a while - there are intense moments, followed by passionate encounters, and occasionally, situations that border on the cliché. Despite my initial expectations not being met, I found myself thoroughly enjoying this novel. Rebecca Ross has a talent for crafting beautiful prose, the setting and atmosphere are exceptional, and while the romance might have been a bit too dramatic for my taste, I couldn't help but root for the characters throughout.

I eagerly anticipate the sequel, hoping for a deeper exploration of the angel and demon elements.

sasilsays's review against another edition

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medium-paced

3.0

kozsam7's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes

4.0

3mma118's review against another edition

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4.0

i thoroughly enjoyed this book. i couldn’t get into the physical book but the audiobook was just magical. the voice actors were amazing and the story was so wonderfully written. started ruthless vows immediately