Reviews with content warning for Medical content - Divine Rivals

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Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

116 reviews

anastasialovesbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

Thisss one. Ugh it's been so long were a book made me smile and cry and just want to throw across the room and scream "whyyyyy??!!"

I ate up this book. I enjoyed the slight fantasy elements included in what seems like a story placed in like the 50s.

Iris was such a real character with flaws I could even see in myself. She had fears and worries that were so real to me. Roman was the same. They both annoyed me at first because they would say such mean things to each other and seem to just move past it. But that's probably were the enemies to lovers comes in. Which is one of my favorite tropes to read.

I don't want to give to much of the story away but it gave me all the feels. It has romance, travel, actions trauma, loss and so much more.

I would recommend to anyone.

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mary_do_12's review against another edition

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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? Yes

3.0

i have thought and thought how to rate and review this book and i don’t know. so the first thing i wanna say is that this is a personal review, with my opinions and how the book affected me. because i can see why so many people like it and enjoyed it and gave it 5 stars. i’ll give that to you. for me personally though, it didn’t shock me. it didn’t grip me, shake me, hold me. in fact, i was mostly unaffected.

well, if you leave out the fact that i almost started crying when lieutenant lark died.

the concept of the typewriters and the magical connection was really cool, but isabel, honey, i would’ve preferred if you didn’t convince rebecca to add roman’s pov. i felt like it kinda took away the tension. if we, along with iris, wouldn’t have known who she was writing to, i feel like it would’ve been a lot more ✨dramatic✨ (though it would’ve been really predictable).
the characters didn’t convince me, i mean, they were cool but they had nothing extraordinary about them.
calling them “enemies to lovers”? that is a discrimination to this trope. rivals i can live with, but honey, you invited him to have a sandwich with you in like, the second chapter. that isn’t very enemy-like of you.
the setting was quite interesting, i liked the historical aspect combined with the fantasy aspect. but i was confused. i have no clue what the gods are actually about and i feel like it was not explained thoroughly enough.
all in all, didn’t catch me. it was entertaining though, i finished it in nearly a day.

the end broke me.

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itsbrianascall's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

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sage_potter's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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isabeltavares's review

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adventurous emotional sad 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? No

5.0

The most difficult reviews to write are the reviews for the books that hold a special place in my heart. The Isabel from before had no idea how much space this book would take up in her mind.

This isn't another fantasy or romance story. It's a deeply sorrowful and hopeful story that explores life and the meaning we give to it. It explores those emotions we try to hide about the meaning of loving someone only to be hurt in return. Of the things that are lost in the war and we'll never be recovered. I think it also explores what journalism should be and no longer is.

Of course these are my interpretations from my readthrough. Superficially, Divine Rivals follows two rivals, Iris and Roman, and their story. Iris' brother was called into war and she discovers that the letters she writes to him in her typewriter go missing in her wardrobe. One day she gets a response, even if it's one she never expected.

Rebecca Ross's writing was impeccable. I was immediately smitten with Iris and Roman's story, with their wishes and struggles. Moreover, it felt immersive in a way every reader can hope whilst reading a story; I could almost believe I was sitting next to Iris as she typed her letters.

The war setting, the eeriness it brings was masterfully captured and gave me chills as I was reading Part 2. I can't say I enjoyed crying in the subway, but I did enjoy how it made me cry, the beautiful words that reached me and the unravelling of the story.

[Forgive me for my pun but] The story was simply divine and I wish I could read it for the first time all over again.

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hanreads__'s review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Rivals to Lovers ✔️
Forced Proximity ✔️
War ✔️
Found Family ✔️
Secret Letters ✔️

*~*~*~*~*

“𝗜 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗼𝘄. 𝗔 𝗽𝗶𝗲𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗼𝗿, 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗜 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂. 𝗔 𝗴𝗹𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗹, 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗜 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂."

I did not expect to love this book as much as others, at first I couldn’t understand the hype surrounding it, but now I understand it, and to anyone who rates it less than five stars, I think you’re crazy.

I have no clue as to what Rebecca Ross was drinking or taking while writing, but she needs to continue to do so. I am in awe of her and the masterpiece that she created.

The one thing I want to get out of the way is that this story is NOT an enemies to lovers, there is no way that Roman and Iris are enemies, they are rivals and I wish the story would stopped being described as an enemies to lovers. Neither of them hate one another, but they are competitive and are constantly trying to be better than the other.

Now onto the good stuff!

There is something beautiful about two people writing letters to one another and not knowing anything about one another, but finding safety within these letters. What’s even more beautiful is for one person to know, and yet continue to write because they want to know the other better. Roll this into a ball with the fact that they are connected by magic and family? It becomes even more beautiful, and it warmed my heart massively.

I really love the way Rebecca tackled the “found family” trope within this story because I for one have never considered what it would be like for you to up and leave everything you know to be a war correspondent, but now I feel as though I have an idea. The people you meet and spend your days with become your family, a family who rely on one another to protect each other and themselves while also trying to enjoy and hold onto the little moments that mean a lot. Marisol was such a lovely woman and definitely came across as a mother figure, and it amazes me that someone so strong and independent can continue to find the good in life day in and day out despite the things she sees. I also hope to see more of Athea in the next story, I think she’s capable of so much and it wouldn’t surprise me if she ends up fighting in the war to defend Enva.

Moving onto Roman’s family. I WANT TO PUNCH HIS DAD SO HARD IN THE FACE IT’S NOT EVEN FUNNY. Who the heck does he think he is? How dare you blame Roman for something tragic that happened, and how dare you constantly control him. He’s a piece of shit, and all he cares about is security. I do however think I’ve figured out what he was classing as security from the Little family. It filled my heart with pride when Roman went against his fathers wishes and did something for himself, it also made the story that much better in my opinion as it showed a bit of character development for Roman.

Finally, I just want to talk about the slow burn between Roman and Iris. The tension that built between them was incredibly beautiful and while the way things have currently ended is heartbreaking, I truly think they are meant to be and will over come everything. The way the fell for eachother and the way they became so in sync with one another showed just how perfect they are together, and when it was the night before things went down, their moment was precious, and one of the best intimacy scenes I have read. Sometimes you don’t need smut for something to be hot, sometimes you need just to read about the scene beginning, and it’s how it begins that makes it more remembered.

I could go on for hours about this book but I’m doing best to not spoil anything and if I continue, I will do just that. I cannot wait to purchase Ruthless Vows, and here’s to the next book ruining me more than the first.

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