Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

97 reviews

lakinglaze's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

Dear Roman C. Kitt, you are the sun, the moon, the earth, and the stars, and I thank Rebecca Ross for making you!

This book was beautiful. It grabbed my heart with the very first line and never let it go. These characters and this setting are so rich and just feel like a warm embrace. And Roman, well, Roman was perfect. 

I can’t wait to devour Ruthless Vows and see where this journey ends! 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Classism, Gore, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Abandonment, Vomit, Grief, Sexual content, War, Blood, and Death

jomjom's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Kidnapping, Classism, Medical content, Child death, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Vomit and Abandonment

I saw someone else say this but I think if this wasn't already a duology it would've worked best as a coming of age, workplace rivals to lovers, slice of life romance, with magical realism.

No *active* God war being apart of the plot, there could still be a war, but the God history could've just been them connecting over uncovering that story while their current war was happening but not having the war itself be because of Gods

claragweny's review against another edition

adventurous sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I love an epistolary novel so Divine Rivals was of immediate interest to me. Beyond the magical letter writing component of the book I really had no idea what it was about before reading. I also didn't realize it was YA which was a little bit of a bummer, if I'm honest. As someone who's nearly 30, I don't particularly reach for novels about 18/19 year olds and I pretend they're older most of the time (example: Feyre in ACOTAR) but Iris and Roman read like their age so I couldn't do that in this case. 

Rebecca Ross' writing style is very poetic and almost musical. I found myself re-reading lines because they were beautiful and powerful. However, I did find a lot lacking in this book. 

Firstly, the world building. While reading it felt like Ross was saving much of the world-building for book 2 and focused more on character development in book 1. The story between Dacre and Enva seems very inspired by Persephone and Hades which could lead me to several different conclusions but the book gave me nothing to work with. 

Second, I found the development of Iris and Roman's relationship really rushed. They both barely acknowledged their feelings but then suddenly they were in love. I think if there had been more of the story devoted to Roman and Iris actually talking about their feelings it wouldn't have felt so rushed.

I don't think the marriage feels rushed though. This would be a believable development for any couple in love on the brink of war and death. You just have to pretend that you really believe Roman and Iris are in love.

All things considered, I still enjoyed this book. It was easy to read and I enjoyed lots of things about it. I hope that Ruthless Vows delves more into the world of the gods. 

Note: I know people think the title refers to Iris and Roman being rivals-to-lovers but I think the title is actually referring to Enva and Dacre. But I also didn't go into the book thinking this would be an enemies-to-lovers or even really rivals-to-lovers so 🤷🏻‍♀️

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Alcohol, Violence, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

aelytacchan'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is a new favorite, reminding me just how much I love Rebecca Ross' writing. I can't wait until December 26th, when Ruthless Vows comes out as audiobook!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, War, Death of parent, Classism, Violence, Alcoholism, and Addiction

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.25

I absolutely loved everything about Divine Rivals. The romance, message, and characters were all beautifully done. I don’t know how I’m supposed to wait for the next one.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, Medical trauma, Death, Abandonment, Death of parent, Alcohol, War, Violence, Murder, and Grief

kayceeisbookish's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Medical content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Grief, War, and Death

emilysfullybooked's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, and War

jcrocker95's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, Death, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and War

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

celery's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Grief, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, War, Classism, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, and Violence

brandywyne's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Blood, Death, and Gun violence

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Child death, Death of parent, Genocide, Alcoholism, Addiction, and Alcohol