A review by addieisreading
Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

5.0

“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.”

I gave it a solid 4 on storygraph a while ago. On second thought, it deserved more—but GoodReads doesn't let me give quarters so...

The writing is fascinating, whimsical and even magical sometimes (which kind of matches the plot of the book, after all) and it really sets the mood of the book for you—it's contemplative when it needs to be, hopeful when it must or fierce when it's essential.

Roman and Iris are such good characters! Their actions and feelings feel so real and understandable I could actually put myself in their shoes. And the way the author mixed their lifestyle with the magic surrounding them??? As if it was just as normal as watching the news or walking or breathing? That felt so like Howl's Moving Castle to me! (which is great, it's a lovely animated movie with an even better world-building). At first, the book gave me "Fantastic Beasts" vibes, with all the magic intertwined with their lifestyle in 1950 but, instead of magical creatures, there are magic buildings, typewriters, stores and etc. The focus, in the beginning, seemed to be the enemies-to-lovers trope orbiting a little inner drama... Until the drama got the best of the characters and the book start to get a bit too serious, realistic and not as lighthearted anymore.

“I am coming to love him, in two different ways. Face to face, and word to word.”

The best parts of the book, in my humble opinion, were the beginning and the parts near the ending of the book. Somehow, the middle of it felt a bit lost, alternating between exciting and boring constantly. The change from lighthearted to heavy was kind of subtle, but still slowly done (perfect to give the reader time to get used to the war topic before the actual war parts), but, in my opinion, the justification for the war itself was kind of... ??? At least it seemed to be more of a rumour than an actual explanation so I'm still hopeful the real motives were more serious than an angry incel (I don't like that term, but I really can't think on anything else LOL).

If you're reading for the romance, I would suggest you to lower your expectation because, even though there is a LOT of heartwarming lovely and cute scenes here (the ones that take your breath away and rethink all your standards for a romantic partner), those are not the focus and take a long while to appear (if you're a slow reader such as myself, of course, if you read in one sit only, it'll be just fine). It's a lovely reading, most people I know gave it 5 stars—maybe I'm just bitter LOL—and I would recommend to anyone (including people who aren't into romance at all, that's a good starting point, I think!!!).