A gorgeous read -- I utterly adored the characters and loved their dynamic/chemistry. The setting of the newspaper room was wonderful too, as was the WW1-inspired time period. Loved the writing and the epistolatory nature of the story as well was really special and unique.

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
3 stars!
Release Date: April 4, 2023

I’m always excited every time I get the opportunity to pick up a Rebecca Ross book. Her writing is very approachable and lyrical, and her worlds are immersive. They make me feel like I’m sinking into a hot bath, with all the time in the world to enjoy the romance of the story.

Divine Rivals lives up to that expectation.

Iris and Roman come from vastly different backgrounds and almost immediately get on each other’s bad side. Both are reporters and competitors in their field, but they’re more connected than they realize. Mysterious anonymous letters are shared between them which leads to a growing affection, but they don’t know who they’re writing to. Meanwhile, in their professional lives, their respect for each other’s integrity is what really starts to bridge the gap between them, which I loved. Meanwhile, a terrible war rages around them, threatening to tear them and everything else apart. It feels like a fantastical version of World War I, with gas bombs and masks, typewriters and gods.

With a little bit of “You’ve Got Mail” mixed in, Divine Rivals is a charming fantasy book. While at times I felt the story did linger too long before getting to the action, it was still a beautifully written story about love, loss, and the brutal nature of war.

And I desperately want one of their typewriters.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a copy for review.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. (via Netgalley)

I really enjoyed this.. also would like the next one now after that ending lol.

First off, I really enjoyed the setting. It felt like a WWII piece, but the most intriguing part is it’s in a world where Gods are present and active. The only thing I would have liked is the introduction to the God’s stories earlier on. I thought the love story was charming and the realism of some of the scenes were done fantastically in this fantasy.

Iris wants to write - to be a journalist, to put her words on paper. Her publisher has her in competition with Roman Kitt for a columnists position, but more is going on. Their country is going to war because of fighting gods pulling people to their armies, and Iris' mother is drowning her sorrows in alcohol since her brother joined up.

This sets up a fantastic fantasy/romance/war novel with a love for words and letter writing, interesting mythology, and characters a reader can root for.

This reader cannot wait for the sequel!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced review copy.

oooooooh man that ending!!!!

I fell in love with Rebecca Ross when I read her utterly enchanting book A River Enchanted. I fell in love with how she writes people and characters and entwines a glorious story that keeps you riveted to the book.

I looooved the story of Iris and Kitt, their total dislike for each other and their banter back and forth. I loved Iris and who she is as well as Kitt who is just swoon worthy and amazing.

The writing was amazing, I loved the WWII feel and setting of the book (maybe it was more WWI since it talks about trenches) the just wasn't your typical setting but it just worked for this book, that's how amazing Ross is as meshing 2 unlikely ideas and settings and making the perfect story.

Having 2 POV I think has to be difficult but again Ross made it seem so effortless, they deep separation of POV and able to maintain their voices has to be difficult but it was just perfect and I couldn't have asked for a better book.

Overall if you're craving something unique and different then I highly recommend this book and any book this author writes.

Sexual Content: moderate
Language: mild
Violence: mild/moderate
Drugs/Alcohol: mild
LGBTQ: yes

*A HUGE THANK YOU to Netgalley & Wednesday Books for this ARC*

THIS BOOK! I don’t have words for how amazing this book is. The writing is so incredibly beautiful. The characters are well developed and make you care for them and root for their happy ending. The world is immersive and intriguing. The cover? She’s a beauty! The UK cover? Absolutely stunning, love! Did I order a copy of both? We don’t need to get into that.

I adored the magical elements of the world Ross created. They were both whimsical and terrifying. The war going on between the gods, and Iris and Roman being in the front lines is so well written. The historical aspects, which fame me WW1 historical fiction vibes, incorporated with the magic and lore of the world were fantastic and added so much depth to the world!

The epistolary elements? Swoon. I’m a sucker for a good epistolary romance, add in a magical typewriter and secret identities, and you’ve got me. I did get frustrated with the secret identity aspect at times, but that’s expected with this type of trope.

There is a cliffhanger ending, and while I’d normally deduct points for that, Divine Rivals is so amazing that I don’t care. I cannot wait until the final installment is released!! It’s going to be so hard waiting.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the complimentary e-arc. All opinions are my own.

I will forever read everything by Rebecca Ross!
Divine Rivals is set in a historical/wartime setting where two Gods have awoke from their centuries long sleep and their ensuing feud soon envelopes the world around them as war breaks out and - as two young rival journalists find love through a magical connection - they also must face the depths of hell, in the war among gods, to seal their fate forever.
I loved the rivalry between Iris and Roman, and the romance. I adore how brave and fierce Iris is and how she seemed to become even stronger once she arrived at the frontlines of the war. Excited for book two!

Where to even begin writing a review of this poignant, beautiful, and heart wrenching novel? It is one of those rarest gifts - a story dropped into a world that is compelling but not arduous to enter, a story that moves quickly but isn't rushed, and a love story that is joyous but not saccharine. In short, this is the best novel I have read so far in 2023 and I cannot recommend it enough.

Iris is an aspiring writer, dreaming of using her words to tell stories that compel action. Unfortunately, her plans are derailed when her brother is called to fight in a war of the gods, leaving her adrift with her alcoholic mother and a battle for a columnist position for the infuriating and fascinating Roman. After striving for success during the day, Iris pours her heart out to a mysterious pen pal whose letters appear through magic in her wardrobe. Things quickly come to a head as Iris must decide what her priority is and examine her heart, all while facing the reality of war as the conflict creeps ever closer.

This book is just utter perfection. The balance is perfect, the prose is poetic, and the characters are fantastic. Even side characters are well-rounded; it would be so easy to brush them off but Ms. Ross chooses instead to make their arcs just as engaging as those of Iris and Roman. The tension leaps off the page and I found myself longing to leap back in as soon as possible.

I cannot recommend this enough. GO. BUY IT. READ IT. I will eagerly be waiting to preorder the second book as soon as it is announced and hope you'll join me.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Divine Rivals starts off a bit slow, but I like that it allowed me to understand this new world Rebecca Ross created. I also found the premise of the book, dueling newspaper columnists during a war of the Gods, so intriguing.

The characters development and interactions between Iris and Kitt were wonderful. I also really liked the romance aspect of the book and the banter between Iris and Kitt. I definitely recommend giving this book (and her adult books) a shot.

The author posted some content/trigger warnings for this book:

Loss of a parent
Loss of a sibling
A parent struggling with alcoholism
Profanity: mild
Depictions of PTSD
Violence: moderate to severe
Mature Scenes: present on the page, but not explicit

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

Don't know if this is the best book RR has written but I know it's best book I've read by her so far. I'm absolutely obsessed and blown away by it. Could hardly put it down, reading looooooong into the night.
It's been some time since a book's had me so hooked from the first page that it made skip meals.

The writing is yet again superb. RR knows how to evoke emotion through her writing and constantly draws on your heart strings.

The story centers around our 2 MCs, Iris and Roman, their lives and their romance, and gods, did I love them both! This is a very character driven book, and if you are not a fan of those you might find Divine Rivals slow and boring especially if you don't connect with the characters. For me, as someone who doesn't fall into this category, this book was stunning.
Roman gave me Darlington vibes and I'm obsessed, I only wish we'd gotten more of his POV towards the end.


I just loved everything about this. Yeah, maybe the world building was a little lacking, and other minor things were not fleshed out enough but did I care? Not one bit when the book made me feel the way it did.
The whole storyline with the typewriters? Brilliant, amazing, magical, loooooooved it.

The letters and the romance were my fav parts.
The book deals with topics such as poverty, abandonment, addiction, guilt, grief, and more.

"I know what it feels like to lose someone you love. To feel as if you're left behind, or like your life is in shambles and there's no guidebook to tell you how to stitch it back together."

And that ending...
am I surprised RR did that? No. Am I mad regardless? Yes.
I need Ruthless Vows yesterday


eternal gratitude to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC

I cannot begin to express how much I loved this book and how desperately I need the next in the series!!!! This is You've Got Mail meets mythology meets some weird hybrid of Victorian and modern England - it seems like it all shouldn't work when put together, but it absolutely does!

While there were some moments of the story I felt were a bit rushed, I think that this was well written with beautiful characters and I cannot wait for more.

This was a delightful historical fantasy romance that exceeded my expectations. The story follows two rivals who start exchanging letters amidst a world-threatening war. While the fantasy elements are subtle, the rich historical world created by Ross is captivating. The main characters, Iris and Roman, initially appear flawed and arrogant, but their character growth and slow-burn romance are beautifully portrayed. The book also explores themes of grief and guilt, which were integrated seamlessly into the story. Ross's writing style is lush and witty, making reading a pleasure. Despite not being plot-driven, the book has a unique charm, and the romance gave me butterflies. I highly recommend Divine Rivals for fans of historical fiction romance with a touch of fantasy and well-developed characters. The audiobook of Divine Rivals, narrated by Alex Wingfield and Rebecca Norfolk, was a captivating experience with engaging dual narration that brought the characters to life. Wingfield and Norfolk captured the nuances of the story, conveying the lush writing style of Rebecca Ross. The pacing and tone were good, making it highly recommended for fans of historical fantasy romance.

I was a little weary when I saw this had a 4.5 on Goodreads as that is extremely high. I'm happy to say that I agree and this did not disappoint. The narrative was so beautiful, Rebecca Ross has such a way with words. I loved the characters, I loved the slow burn of it all. I just wish I could live inside this book. I will be recommending Divine Rivals to any and everyone!

Divine Rivals is a book made to be CONSUMED, which is what will happen when you pick this up because once you start it, you aren’t going to want to put it down.

When Rebecca Ross sat down to write this book she must have said… let me do an enemies to lovers– but make it RIVALS instead; let’s have a war-time plot– but make it a war between the GODS; let’s have a You’ve Got Mail situation but make it MAGICAL LETTERS. Let’s set it in the late 1800s–but make it feminist and queernormative.

I see you, Rebecca. You’ve got our number.

Iris Winnow is a high school drop-out working as a paid intern-of-sorts at a local newspaper to support her family after her brother Forest goes off to war. She writes him letters but since she doesn't know where to send them, she puts them in the bottom of her wardrobe where they inexplicably disappear until one day a piece of paper returns with only 3 words on it: This isn’t Forest.

Roman C. Kitt is an aspiring columnist who isn’t going to let Iris get in the way of what he wants; though what he is sure he DOESNT want is the arranged marriage his father has set up for him in order to achieve a higher social status.

For Iris and Roman, what starts as a workplace competition will end as so much more.

This book was so beautifully written, with characters that you easily grow to love and want to root for and the slow-burn romance is so artful that you would almost be disappointed when things finally ignite if it weren't so heart-achingly sweet. There are themes of grief of loss weaved through the story but also undying HOPE. And the feelings…oh the FEELINGS, I had while on this journey with Iris and Kitt… My only mistake was going into this not realizing it was a duology so I was utterly unprepared for a cliff-hanger that is going to have me stalking upcoming release lists until I know EXACTLY when book 2 can be in my hands.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press for an advanced reader copy of this amazing book!

Iris and Roman are both competing for a promotion to columnist at the Oath Gazette. With recently awoken gods and a war raging between them, one that Iris’s brother has been away fighting for for months, there’s certainly enough to write about. But when tragedy strikes, Iris takes a job as a reporter on the frontline to try and get closer to her brother, enchanted typewriter and mysterious pen pal in tow. Thrown into the heart of the action, Iris grapples with the realities of war and whether it should encompass every other aspect of her life – or if she should follow her heart despite certain heartbreak.

Reminiscent of You’ve Got Mail/Shop Around the Corner, while the romance between Iris and Roman is formulaic and written without many surprises, it’s nevertheless quite engaging and I did find myself rooting for the couple. There’s a mixture of mature content that fades to black and new adult aged characters that act younger, so I’m not really sure what age group this is intended for – may high YA? Romance readers will likely be satisfied with the arc here.

The fantasy side of things is incredibly shaky, the world seemingly a WWII (maybe WWI?) copycat with gods thrown into the mix instead of countries. I know it’s fantasy, so the setting doesn’t necessarily have to reflect our real world, but there was a total lack of understanding of what TIME this story is set in, something (in my opinion) quite necessary when technology of any kind is involved, despite the presence of magic. Speaking of magic, despite being labeled fantasy, the only magic evident is that of the aforementioned magic typewriter. And there are gods. Whose backstory is revealed through info dumps/stories but never delved into any further. And that’s it.

I feel like this book might just be a failure in marketing for me. I was expecting a fantasy with a side of romance but was instead given a love story with mentions of gods and a few supernatural creatures. Had it been labeled more clearly, my expectations would have been more in line with the novel I read, and perhaps my experience a bit more enjoyable. Rebecca Ross is most definitely a talented writer, and the twists near story’s end certainly captured my attention so I will be continuing this series – and checking out her other books – but this novel is definitely for romance readers who might enjoy a bit of magic sprinkled in for good measure.

Fantasy purists beware.

Content warning: war, death, blood, violence, alcoholism, PTSD, death of a parent, death of a sibling.

Rebecca Ross has always drawn me in with her words, and I have found things that have wrapped my heart up in every one of her books. Thrilled that netgalley allowed me to read an advanced copy! While this one is not (in my opinion) her strongest book, she closed the story in such a brilliant and surprising way. It took me a while to be hooked by this story, but I did love it by the end, and was sufficiently gut punched by the hanging threads - I cannot wait to see how this duology continues.

Content: LGBTQ+ side characters, mention of child death and parental death, substance abuse, depression, war (very light on the gore).

Two rival journalists find that they have a secret connection and have been anonymously sending each other letters that forge their relationship through war, grief, and blossoming romance. In a world where there is war amongst the gods, eighteen year old Iris Winnow is vying for the top columnist position against her rival, the handsome but cold Roman Kitt. Iris wants to write about the war because her brother went off to fight it and has since disappeared, she’s been writing letters that magically disappear and she assumes that they are being sent to her brother, despite the fact that he never responds. Yet one day she receives a letter in turn telling her that the person isn’t her brother but would love to maintain a correspondence with her. Roman Kitt has money, education, and wants nothing more than to secure this position as top columnist to make his family proud after the devastating lost they experienced... yet his biggest distraction comes in the form of a gorgeous rival that he just can’t get out of his head. To his surprise he’s been receiving Iris’s letters but for some reason can’t help himself, he’s kept them all, he begins a secret correspondence with her and every letter between them only draws him further into her but he still hasn’t told her who he truly is and he fears that the moment she knows its him, she’ll stop seeing him for who he truly is. This was an absolutely stunning and romantic novel. The relationship between Roman and Iris was BEAUTIFUL. The way their letters, their slow opening up to one another, and their rivalry really just creates such a fantastic story, truly I fell in love with this book and can’t wait to see where the next book goes, especially with that cliff hanger. Iris and Roman are both dealing with so much, and on top of that they are living in a world that is currently at war, goodness, the things they go through, their strength, truly astounded me. Rebecca Ross has such a beautiful way of writing and she truly manages to capture grief and romance so well. I absolutely adored this one and would highly recommend it! This was simply a divine time.

*Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

(4.75/5) Okay the way I couldn't STOP with this book??? Rebecca Ross has DONE IT AGAIN; the way she builds stories -- worlds, characters, plots -- I was enthralled the whole time and now I'm anxious for the next book in the series. Break me in book one and put me back together in book two, Rebecca, please.

Iris and Roman are two rival journalists who are caught up as war correspondents in a war between gods. Iris' brother is away fighting in the war and at night, she slips letters to him under her wardrobe door. The letters always disappear, but she never receives a response until one day, a letter appears on her floor. But it's not from her brother.

Perfect for you if you're a fan of historical fantasy romances and liked The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy

What's it about (in a nutshell):
Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross is a poignant love story in a fascinating fantasy world, and I was so engrossed in the story that when it ended, I almost fell over the edge of the cliff it left me hanging on.

Iris is competing against Roman for a coveted spot as a columnist at the local paper. Sparks fly between them daily until Iris's mom dies, and Roman wins the newspaper position. Without any connections left in Oath, Iris becomes a war correspondent to find her brother, whom she hasn't heard from since he initially went to join the war of the gods. A magical connection and unexpected twists and turns moved this story in a direction I could have never seen coming.

Bullet Point Review:

I enjoyed that the love story reminded me a great deal of a fantasy version of You've Got Mail, that is, until it veered so far away from reminding me of the movie plot that I forgot all about it, and it became uniquely its own story.
The writing is so exquisite that it becomes a light in a story full of dark, just like Iris and Roman's love.

I both loved and hated that I couldn't believe the book ended where it ended. I tried to find more pages and was devastated that there weren't any.

The world-building is subtle yet extraordinarily complex and is explained to the reader through stories of myth and lore.

The characters are all so well developed with layers and complexities that they easily carry this character-driven story.

The narration is third-person, but the writing is so personal that it resembles first-person narration.

The pacing is medium. It drags a bit initially, but it really ramps up when it ramps up.

Read, if you like:
* Historical-ish fantasy stories
* Poignant love stories
* Beautiful prose and immersive world-building