Review by hello_lovely13 - Ruthless Vows

hello_lovely13 's review for:

Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross

3.0

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: No

I didn't get the same feelings while reading this book than I did in the first book. I'm personally not the biggest fan of the amnesia trope, so I'm sure that is part of it. It is kind of cool having the parallel to the first book, in which the first book consisted of Iris and Roman exchanging letters with the former not knowing the other's identity and in the second book the opposite occurs. It was a little frustrating that a major part of Iris's motivations in the first book is surrounding her brother, but in this book he is barely in it. I didn't really like his character, so I wasn't bothered too much, but this does seem to be a pattern (I also saw it in The Book of Tea duology).

I was a bit sad when Forest and Sarah died at the end, and his letter to Iris made me emotional.

The action was fine, and the letters were still enjoyable. One of the main things that didn't sit right with me about the book is the shift into the main characters taking a more action-based role. Iris, Roman, and their friends are writers, not soldiers, and they were written this way to have a different perspective and way of navigating war, but then in this book they end up in a typical hero role where they personally face off with the main antagonist in an action sequence anyway. I don't know how they could have resolved all the problems as writers, but I am interested in what the possible outcomes could have been. I also don't think that Dacre and Enva's dynamic and presence was properly present in the first book, so this inclusion felt so new in this book that it felt like such a big shift. The scene between Iris and Enva was cool, though. Attie's romance with Tobias was sweet, but felt a bit rushed (it's in the background, so it's okay, though it was a bit out of nowhere). This was okay and entertaining enough, though it didn't live up to the hype of the first book, but it is worth reading, even if just for the first book and seeing how the couple ends up. I do like how Iris and Roman as a couple end up.

Content Warnings