Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - Divine Rivals

Well. I really don't understand the hype. Two thirds of the book I thought I would but the last third???? Wow, I quite disliked it.

First things first, I really don't like the war-setting. This "they are entirely good and they are entirely bad", ugh. Too little nuance. Too little critical (and I mean really critical, not only "oh war is bad because good people die" of course it is, but that's not all!!) depiction of this topic.
I know this is a romantasy so I shouldn't be as surprised about it but the focus was just too much on the romance. And then it wasn't even that good! Yes, a few heartwarming sentences here and there but as a whole, oh my god, I hated it!

they skipped the whole relationship and gone straight to marriage, after confessing their love, what, the same day?????? Maybe one or two days before

I already bought the second book (while I still liked it) so maybe I will continue the series. (Or maybe I'll return it tomorrow, whoops)

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imskylow's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense fast-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? No

5.0

This book blew me away. I was hooked throughout the entire time I read it. The story was intense and heartbreaking and the romance made me squeal like I was in middle school. Generally, I’m lover of smut but even though there was nothing explicit in this book, I was enthralled by the romance and tension between the two main characters. Emotions were so palpable. Made me want to be loved in such an overwhelming and powerful way. I also loved the theme of fantasy set in WWI era world. That combination was such a treat. I highly recommend this book. It’s going to be included as one of my favorites this year.

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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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vj_thompson's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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

This was just beautiful.

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bookcheshirecat's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging medium-paced

3.75

“It takes courage to let down your armor, to welcome people to see you as you are. Sometimes I feel the same as you: I can’t risk having people behold me as I truly am. But there’s also a small voice in the back of my mind, a voice that tells me, “You will miss so much by being so guarded.”

➽ Divine Rivals is about Iris and Roman, who are competitors at the Oath Gazerre Newspaper. I liked the premise, as there is a war between two gods going on and some people - like Iris' brother - end up recruited for their cause. While cold, arrogant Roman has a wealthy family with lots of connections, Iris and her mother are struggling, especially since her brother left. Both of them are clashing at their workplace in order to get the best stories. Iris takes a chance and becomes a wartime correspondent. It's a dangerous job right at the front, but maybe she'll finally find out what happened to her brother, ever since they lost contact with him. I liked that there's also a magical typewriter involved, that Iris uses to communicate with someone - though she has no idea who it is!

➽ I debated giving this 4 stars, but the ending really put me off

1. this could have been a great slowburn romance, why did Iris and Roman have to marry in the end after being together so briefly?? Why not save that for the sequel? 2. what was up with Iris' brother suddenly appearing and him fighting for Dacre before his desertion being swept under the rug so completely? I was disappointed that Iris went along with him all the way back to Oath, especially as he was acting so possessive and she never called him out on fighting for the enemy? 3. the gods generally felt shallow and Dacre's POV didn't do itself any favors. Roman being saved by him would have been fine, but the sequel synopsis reveals that he's got a huge case of amnesia and cannot remember Iris. Why would you do that?? I just really, really hate the amnesia trope, so idk if I'll be reading the next book.

. In general, this had so much potential, but the worldbuilding felt shallow at times and the beginning felt pretty disconnected from the rest of the book, some plotlines were

such as Roman's arranged engagement

just dropped midway through the book.

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skillyillian's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Okay first things first about this book, I want to address how a lot of people are saying the romance was too fast and unrealistic: yes and no. Yes because they did move fast, I absolutely can't argue that. No because I think it is realistic. The time period is based on the WWI/WWII era. They lived like that, even without magic love letters. People fell in love and got married literally because they didn't know what was going to happen to them next. So, keeping that in mind, I'm absolutely not surprised at how quickly the MCs fall in love. It fits the setting.

Speaking of setting, holy shit I am absolutely obsessed with the dark academia vibes. The rainy city, the typewriters, the research, the outfits, the time period, all of it. Perfect vibes. I want more books just like this IMMEDIATELY.

Moving on, I absolutely adore Ross's writing style. It's very prosy and flowy and beautiful. The love letters were absolutely wonderful, they will make you wish someone talked to you like that. I ended up highlighting so many quotes that were well-written.

Iris was great, I liked her character a lot. The way she holds determination close to her chest with everything she does is really admirable. Roman being an actual sweetheart looking for his autonomy made me smile. The two of them together made me laugh.

The reason this wasn't five stars for me was mostly the war and how some of the logic of the story worked. It's not a ton but it was enough to lose points? The worldbuilding didn't feel super built out, like we have Oath, and I basically pictured old-timey New York the whole time? And the place Iris ends up was fine, if not kinda vague. But point A to point B? Was totally blank. She travels 600 kilometers and there was almost nothing between the two, at least that was memorable? And she makes the whole trip by train. How was there a great, empty swathe of land with nothing but 600 kilometers of railroad?

Now, the war and other things:

The war didn't really...make sense? Or at least it wasn't explained very well. The myths that Roman sent to Iris added some context, but it was unclear how the gods were manifesting, like if they were just powers possessing people or if they were corporeal or what. It seems like with the ending that we'll get more of the gods' side of things in the second book, so I hope that makes up for this one's lack of context. The way the town got stormed and everything also felt really fast, like "Okay we've got our happy moment, now let's fuck it up real quick so we can have the cliffhanger for the next one" and like, I don't totally hate it or anything, but it was noticeable.

Next, another reviewer pointed out that Iris just got hired for the correspondent job without any real effort or a portfolio or anything. I'd say that Helena had read her work before, except that when Iris introduced herself, Helena didn't show any sign of recognizing her name.

The most important gripe besides the gods' side of things is Iris's brother, Forest. She spends the whole book touting him as this amazing guy and then we meet him and he fucking sucks. Changed by war, so understandable, bc that shit completely alters your brain. Trauma be like that. So the plot twist of us meeting her idol and only living relative and then he turns out to suck real bad makes sense. What bothered me was his whole "deserter" deal. If Dacre stopped Forest from dying and had him under his control, why didn't Forest say something? If they rushed the trenches, why not at least try to find a way to tell someone, anyone, what happened? That he's stealing people and turning them into his soldiers, thus making Enva's people fight their own? Unless Dacre made it so they can't say anything about it, but Forest could've explained that to Iris. Anyway it also bothered me that his idea was just to,,,, go home??? Like usually deserters in the WWI/WWII era had warrants out for their arrest or were straight up put to death, soooo??? Not a great idea to just leave and go home and pretend everything is normal when you're now considered a deserter on both sides of the war.

I feel like Iris should've fought harder to get Forest to tell her what the circle in the dirt meant. Like maybe it's just me but if my husband was gone and a circle was drawn in the dirt I'd be kicking and clawing and screaming until Forest told me what it meant.

Anyway all of that being said, this book is wonderful. I enjoyed the writing style, the love letters, the characters, the suspense of the war, the rivals-to-lovers workplace romance, and the dark academia vibes. I'm absolutely reading the second one as soon as I can after it comes out.

The last thing I'm adding is a content warning that has some spoilers, but here it is:
CW: alcoholism, parental alcoholism

Iris's mom is a severe alcoholic. Literally 20-something pages in, it's revealed that Iris is late to work when the book opens bc she found her mom in a pile of vomit on the floor.

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booksalacarte's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny 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? No

5.0

5⭐️ 2.75🌶️

New adult
Mid Fantasy
Rivals to lovers
Slow burn
He falls first
Found family
🏳️‍🌈 side characters
War/WW2 vibes
Grief
Parental death
Magical beasts
Love letters
Anonymous pen palls
Secret identity

I barely came up for air as I read, it was that good.

The juxtaposition of a familiar historical setting like World War Two in Great Britton and the mid fantasy with magic, folklore and mythology guiding and reshaping was really compelling! Nothing is more visceral than knowing about how GB bombings happened, being familiar with the uniforms, sirens, military involvement and seeing it on the page with vengeful gods and mythical beasts. I’m excited to see it dive deeper into the classically fantasy side of this plot!!!

I loved Iris and Roman and how they interacted and grew. Going through their grief, battling emotions and setbacks. Their tension was well written. Their love is so sweet!!! I was giggling at them and my heart melted when things finally took off!

I can’t wait until the next book comes out and we can see how this story moves forward.

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rdmoreland0801's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring 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

I think this may be my #1 book of the year. I experienced an entire range of emotions. I caught myself - on multiple occasions - giggling like a little girl. At other times, I was shedding tears - happy and sad alike.

I am going to have to read it again just to highlight every snarky nickname Iris came up for Roman C. Kitt.

Watching the bond form between the two, and Roman’s unwavering need to protect Iris, was so beautiful. Theirs is a relationship to withstand time and distance.

I will definitely be rereading when the sequel comes out. I wish I could experience for the first time again.

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