Reviews with content warning for Torture - Ruthless Vows

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross

38 reviews

howboutjane's review against another edition

adventurous 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

5.0

What's it called when a book leaves you utterly shattered & completely broken but also bursting with feel good fuzzy vibes? That's how Ruthless Vows feels. An AMAZING ending to this duology. I absolutely love love love. Read it!

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thesoulessrider's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Another rollercoaster of emotions. I was expecting a swoon-worthy romance between Iris and Roman, but instead, I got a whole lot of drama with Darce, the worst god ever. Seriously, this guy is a complete a**hole. He locked up his wife Enva and treated her like a toy, then he erased Roman’s memories and tried to keep him away from Iris. Dude, that’s not cool. That’s not how you treat your mate. You need to respect them and let them be free. Otherwise, they’ll run away from you faster than you can say ‘bye, Felicia’. And what’s up with his so-called healing powers? More like mind-control powers.😮‍💨 He’s the god of healing, but he’s hurting everyone around him. SMH.

But let’s talk about the real stars of this book: Iris and Roman. These two are so adorable and perfect for each other👩🏻‍❤️‍👨🏻. They have amazing chemistry and banter, and they never give up on each other. Even when Darce messed with Roman’s memories, they still found a way to communicate through magical letters. How cute is that?

‘Through love, all is possible.’

BTW, that quote is from Crescent City, one of the best books ever. Just saying.😉

Their love was stronger than Darce’s power, and they proved it in the end. I was so happy when they finally got their happily ever after. They deserved it after all the crap they went through.

I won’t lie, there were times when I wanted to throw this book across the room. But since I was reading it on my Kindle, I just switched to a rom-com instead. This book was too angsty for me. Like, 90% of the time, Iris and Roman were apart and suffering. It was too much. It made me cry and reminded me of my own loss. I wish they had found a cure for Roman’s condition because he suffered so much in this book. It was not fair. The only reason I gave this book 4 stars was because of Iris and Roman. The rest of the plot can go to hell, along with Darce.

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lmayfieldx's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

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

3.75

“𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭. 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐢 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐬𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞”

tw: torture, confinement, violence, war, injury, medical content, death

🗡️ gods at war

🗡️ good vs evil

🗡️ secret romance

🗡️ amnesia

🗡️ dual pov

🗡️ third person

after roman is caught by dacre, iris arrives home and is unsure how to go on. when her and attie are given the opportunity to go back to the war front as correspondents, she jumps at the chance to find her husband. iris must find roman and continue to gather information about the war that dacre is planning, all while trying to remain safe amidst the war

—

ruthless vows started at full speed & continued picking up, which i really enjoyed

when i finished divine rivals, i was left wishing that we had gotten more of the mythology aspect. ruthless vows did provide us with more dacre & enva, but they kinda overpowered the book, rather than there being a nice balance between dacre & enva, iris & roman, the war, etc

the war was much more prevalent in the plot in ruthless vows, which i liked. there was also really good character development, especially for iris. she exhibited strength in divine rivals by overcoming several challenges & being perseverant. we got to see more of her strength in ruthless vows

the amnesia trope in this was okay. i enjoyed when roman started to remember bits and pieces of iris. but i feel like he remembered very quickly & wish this had been drawn out a bit more before he started having glints of memory come back to him

some of this story became fairly repetitive & kinda just retold what happened in divine rivals. considering the time frame was just two weeks following the end of divine rivals, i feel like divine rivals could’ve just been a standalone that was a bit longer

overall i enjoyed this duology & i’m excited to read more books from rebecca ross

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bibliodiaries's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful sad 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

4.0

Roman and Iris are a ride or die couple for me. I love their love for eachother and reading the way they talk about eachother makes my heart sing. This book was not as good as the first in my opinion. The reasons why are that the solution to the war came a little too easily, I feel like the author didn't take full advantage of them needing find eachother again, the opportunity for romance/reunion felt squandered.

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blacksphinx's review against another edition

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challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

On some level it's really funny that this book had a chance to re-do the worst thing about the first book,

the instant love between our protagonists

, and then chose to do the same exact thing again but even faster. There's also some groan-worthy exposition where it really doesn't make sense that the party in question would stop and willingly monologue. Lastly, this book engages in one of my least favorite tropes,

pair the spades - NO ONE can end this book without a lover!!!111 ugh

But... I love historical fantasy and what kept me enthralled in the first book was the up-close depictions of warfare. And there's plenty of warfare, spying, and tense action scenes in this sequel to keep me turning the pages. I'm now left hankering for another book series that blends non-magical warfare with a fantasy setting.

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jonghyun4life's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Not what I expected. A total let down compared to the first installment.

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annaaugustineauthor's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

“Let me be your secret, then. Tuck my words into your pocket. Let them be your armor.”

I literally have no words. How do you explain something that totally captured your heart with its beauty and pain and held you captive until the very last page?

“Maybe that is too much to hope for. But I find that I am leaning more on the side of impossibility these days. I am leaning toward the edge of magic.”

I love how Ross wove together the fight for love and peace with the reality that it comes at a cost. That freedom is ever truly free and the only way we fight it is because we love.

“But I must remind myself that sometimes we write for ourselves and sometimes we write for others. And sometimes those lines blur when we least expect them to. Whenever such happened in my past…I remember that I have only been strengthened by it.”

Love wins. Every time, in every way. And I think that’s what makes this series so beautiful. The joy in the sorrow, the love in the pain, and the moments of peace when in the midst of chaos.

“The magic still gathers, and the pet is gilded; I see the beauty in what has been but only because I have tasted both sorrow and joy in equal measure.”

I love it. I love this series.
It’s an easy five stars for me!

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