Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Divine Rivals

Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

97 reviews

rylin_marie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

maybe my fav book of 2023???this might be my fav read of the year! the academic rivals to lovers trope is so perfect in this book! my heart was torn to pieces, but i was left NEEDING more !! so here i am, restlessly and anxiously waiting for ruthless vows to release.

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abby_can_read's review against another edition

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Review pending St. Martin's Press boycott.

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spaghettii's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? Yes

5.0

Any words I can find to describe this book would be an understatement. To put it simply, this was a beautiful and emotional book that reminded me why I love historical fantasy.

I found the plot endearing. It could be considered predictable, but I think the best written stories are where you know inevitably what will happen, but watch it play out anyways.

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saraverboom's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? N/A

4.5

Yet another beautifully written story by Rebecca Ross.

Here’s a few quick thoughts on the book (will update this review later for more details):
- characters are authentic and diverse. It’s easy to relate to Iris’ thoughts and emotions.
- the world is interesting but still quite vague. Not entirely sure what the role of the magic in this world is
- the mythology is also interesting but again: vague. I need to know more about the war, the gods, the monsters, etc.
- I thought the WW1 setting was original for a fantasy novel; so far I’ve mostly read fantasy novels set in medieval times.
- the romance is cute
- the writing is beautiful. It sucks you in and before you know it, you’ve read half of the book in one sitting.

Spoilers:

- I was afraid it would be a whole thing when Iris learned Roman was Carver but fortunately it wasn’t

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rayreyes's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional lighthearted sad slow-paced

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

3.5

At first, I LOVED this book. 50% of the way in I still loved this book. But as soon as the love story resolves, there’s still 25% of the book left and it feels like pushing a tertiary storyline from ground zero to go-mode. I was eating this book up, wrapped around its little pages like a phone charger around the beaterbrush of my dyson vacuum.

It slowed all the way down and then threw a curveball that I saw coming and expected me to care. Maybe the author needed more time than the deadline allowed to flesh out the end like the rest of the book. She’s an incredible writer so I’m not done with her works yet. But jeez did that pacing shift and sudden story arc shift impact the ride.

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tarnaflake's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful 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? No

4.5

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meeklovestoread's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted sad 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

4.5

My gosh! I'm honestly so happy I ended really loving this book. I was seeing it all over bookstagram and booktube and it was just always in my face that I figured I'd give in and see what people were talking about. And again, I'm so happy that I did. I loved almost everything about this book. The writing was exquisite and the love story between Iris and Kitt (Roman) is literally chef's kiss and the fact that the author was also able to showcase their individual personalities and how they contrast yet complement each other was executed very well. And THE LETTERS! Dare, I say more. They were phenomenal, I love every single one! Honestly, this book would've been 5 stars for me, but I'm not sure if it was just me but I found some of the plotics of their world to be confusing. Because of that, I found myself caring way more about the love story rather than the plot (which is still interesting, but I wish the author was more clear on how the world worked). Also, I'm confused about what time period this story is set in because there are times when it reads as an urban fantasy where everyone has jobs, electricity, there's baseball, etc, but then other times it seems like it's set in a much older time period. Like there was one time where it states that Forest was born in 1892, and I'm like, what?! So, that part was unclear to me, but other than that I loved this book! Can't wait for book two!

Oh also I feel like we should've gotten a scene where Kitt defies his father and breaks off the engagement because it seemed like such a major plot point but then gets explained away in a few sentences. I hope the author dives into the consequences of Kitt's actions.

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