I just finished reading this book and already want to pick it up again. The author perfectly captured the atrocities of war while also making space for wholesome romance, hope, and found family.

Rebecca Ross’ writing was SO atmospheric and I really felt immersed in the story.

The perfect rivals-to-lovers historical romantasy. Swoon. Iris and Roman’s romance will be imprinted on my heart forever!!! I can’t wait for the next book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for the ARC.

Unsurprisingly, Rebecca Ross has crafted a wholly original mythology for her new YA series unlike anything I have ever read. In "Divine Rivals," Iris is an aspiring young journalist exchanging letters with a man named Carver. Little does she know that Carver is her rival Roman at the newspaper and their correspondence is linked through their respective enchanted typewriters. Eager to find her brother lost at war, she enrolls as a war correspondent. Kitt soon follows her to the front and they both realize the war waged between the gods is far more dangerous than they could have anticipated.

As expected, the writing is perfect and well-paced. The coming of age element expected in YA books is executed with tenderness and wit. Iris and Roman are affable and strong protagonists, and I loved reading about characters who are themselves writers. The backdrop of the divine war was incredibly creative. My only reason for docking a star is the very fast moving romance. These two characters go from enemies to lovers to (*spoiler alert*) spouses in such a short amount of time. Regardless, I can't wait to read more in this series! The book ended with a great cliffhanger that I anticipate will keep readers on the hook for the sequel.

I think I would give Divine Rivals 6 stars if I could. Rebecca Ross’ writing is breathtakingly beautiful. I found myself rereading line after line because I couldn’t get enough of the lovely and profound lines in this book. The writing is so atmospheric that you feel completely immersed.

Divine Rivals has the feel of a YA fantasy mixed with a historical fiction and a rivals to lovers romance. It gave me feelings of Addie LaRue, Narnia, and WWI.

Iris and Roman are both incredible characters on their own with really heavy backstories. The emotions and in depth plot that Rebecca Ross accomplished in under 400 pages is incredible. I laughed, cried, got butterflies, felt terrified, was angered, and fell in love.

I don’t want to share any plot details because there were so many surprises and emotional moments that I believe it’s best to just dive in and experience it. There is no way I can make it until 2024 waiting for book 2.

I really enjoyed this one! I can't wait to pick up more from her backlist. I was so excited to get an arc of this book because the premise had me sold. It's a great historical fantasy -- World War I-esque but with warring gods. It's got You've Got Mail vibes, but instead of Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks communicating via slow dial-up internet, you've got the main character Iris communicating to a mystery person first from her bedroom and then from near the frontlines of the war via magical typewriters. Swoon. However, as Iris becomes more attached to her mystery penpal, she also clashes and grows closer to her work nemesis. The slow burn romance in this book was so fantastic. Ross also did a wonderful job of creating so much tension on the page in all of the war scenes, especially when Iris and Roman are at the front. It reminded me a lot of the movie 1917. I have never had such an engrossing but stressful movie-watching experience in my life. Ross did a good job replicating that in this book. I need the second book in this series now!
Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books & NetGalley for allowing me to review this ARC

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In this page turning historical fantasy we follow two rivals competing for one columnist job for a newspaper. They end up having a mysterious connection that allows them to write letters that are magically routed to each other. After losing all connections to her hometown Iris takes a job as a war correspondent on the font lines in hopes of finding her brother.

Roman and Iris are characters that I fell in love with quickly. The rivalry and banter between the two main characters was my favorite part of this book. They both have personal stories that break your heart and make you root for them to get their happy endings throughout the book.

I would have liked a little bit more time learning about the Gods and the magic of the world, and I am hoping this will be expanded in the next installment.

Overall this story pulled me in right away and didn’t let me go. I am now eagerly awaiting the publishing date for book 2.

4.5⭐️

Thank you to Wednesday Books for providing me an arc via Netgalley in exchange for and honest review.

Trigger Warnings: war, death, blood, alcoholism, mention of drowning

I wasn’t really sure what to expect going into this book and I think that’s why I enjoyed it so much. I’m not a huge historical fiction fan, and less so of book centred around war, and while this was set during the time of WWI, it was so far removed from reality that I actually tolerated the setting. That being said, it still has the horrid that accompany war so please check TWs before jumping in.

I really enjoyed the magic in this story. The history of the Gods and why the war started. The magic that mysteriously connected our two rival journalists, Iris and Roman. I thought it was a nice balance between a historical romance and historical fantasy.

I really loved Iris and Roman’s relationship. Their rivalry in the beginning was full of banter and shenanigans. But then they started writing letters back and forth (Iris was unaware who she was writing to.) I love that Roman fell first, it’s refreshing to see the MMC falling first. Their relationship kept growing and their letters were so beautiful to each other. The poetic voice behind the letters had me swooning. Why don’t we write love letters anymore? I feel like they need to make a comeback!

Anyways, this story was so good and I’m excited to read the next one. I mean, that ending?!? This book doesn’t come out until April and now I have to wait even longer for the second instalment?! I highly recommend adding this to your TBR though!

This book completely took me by surprise.

Thank you so much Wednesday books for sending me a copy of Divine Rivals, I appreciate it as always.

I've never read anything from Rebecca Ross so this was an interesting start to say the least. The premise of two rival journalists falling in love in the midst of a war between gods intrigued me enough that I wanted to give this a shot. I'm so glad I did!

This was such a nice solid romance. I loved the both Iris and Roman/Kitt individually and I loved them together which rarely happens in a romance novel for me. They made for an amazing pairing.

Iris was a strong individual with a determination to see her goals reached. Even when struck by tragedy after tragedy, she pressed on and didn't crumble from defeat. I liked that about her. She took risks and was bold, and still you could tell she was hurting—it felt very visceral and made Iris relatable.

Roman was interesting as well, and I liked how competitive he was at the start, I thought his responsibilities would get them best of him though, but I liked that he took strength from Iris and followed his heart despite what his father wanted for him.

The plot was very romantic and intriguing, though the letters being exchanged with Iris and her mysterious friend felt like emails back and forth to be so honest, and the magical type writer bit..also just reminded me of email 🤣. But the emotional impact it allowed to blossom was worth it. I will say I’m left with questions about those magic type writers, their original owners, the gods, etc. I still don’t understand how it all connects and I can’t wait to find out.

The downside of this was that the war/gods part was somehow hard to grasp for me. Like there’s a god just…walking around in some what modern day war area blowing things up and humans took sides I guess??? Idk why my brain struggled with that. I feel like if there’s literal gods on earth they’d have a bit more of an impact than just tucked away on a battlefield with soldiers. I thought they’d be more integrated in society and we’d see that in the first part. Maybe that’s just me, idk. As I said it was hard for me to grasp lol I could be missing something.

Overall, I still enjoyed this a lot. I felt the emotions the characters felt, I like the romance, and Divine Rivals wove some very unique ideas together. Also, Becca did a good job of leaving me wanting more as now I’m already marking book 2 as a to-read for next year or whenever it comes out.

Arc received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Respectfully, FUCK MY FUCKING LIFE BRO. THIS DESTROYED ME SO GOOD. How am I supposed to wait till 2024 for book 2? Please Rebecca Ross, please Netgalley and please ENVA AND DACRE GIVE ME THE ARC FOR BOOK 2.

Unsurprisingly, I loved this. Rebecca Ross is one of my favorite authors, so when I was approved for this arc I was extremely excited. One thing to note is I feel Ross' stories are all vastly different from each other. Each story us fresh and unique, and this might just be the most different I've read by her. If you weren't super into her last books, still check this out.

This is not a plot-driven book. This book focuses on the characters their lives. Throughout the book, there is a lot of commentary on poverty, grief, abandonment, addiction, guilt, and more. There were so many quotable passages in this book, and I cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy so that I can highlight the crap out of it.

Though Ross' writing is digestible, it's also lush, beautiful, witty, and flows together so well. It's always a pleasure to read a book by her because of her stunning writing style.

While this book is considered a fantasy and has gods and goddesses, it's not an action-packed one. I would almost consider this a "cozy" fantasy which is definitely gaining popularity these days.

Lastly, this has the fucking cutest, angsty, romance I have read in a good while. Holy moly, this gave me butterflies. I have all of the love for these two characters and my dying wish is for these two characters to be together because THIS BOOK KILLED ME.

Everyone pre-order this right now. You'll thank me later.

Thank you to NetGalley, St Martin’s Press, and Wednesday books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rebecca Ross has a way of crafting romances so real and so sweet that I can’t help but want to be one of the characters in her stories. I was so invested in Iris and Roman’s narrative that there were times where I had to remember to breathe because I was holding my breath in anticipation of what would happen next. There was so much of this book, this story, this world that worked for me. I love the idea of exchanging magical type written letters. I loved the perfect banter between Iris and Roman. I loved the beauty and hope that Ross weaves into this story about war and loss. I love the element of found family and the feeling of belonging. But mostly I loved that this book made me feel and care for these characters who felt like friends. I didn’t want this book to end, and I desperately want to know what happens next.

Iris and Roman are both competing for a position as columnist for a news paper. At the same time they are both struggling in their very different lives.

Iris is desperately trying to hold her life together while her brother is off fighting in a war that seems endless. Her mother is drowning her sorrows as well as their future, nightly. 

Roman is gritting his teeth and trying to stay above water as his father is deciding his whole life for him. 

Both are struggling to find the words to stand up for themselves.

In a mystical turn of events they become unknowing pen pals, seeking strength from each other. What starts off as an innocent letter becomes the spark that changes both their lives. 



Divine Rivals is a historical fantasy about the lives of two enemies(more like professional rivals) to lovers amid a war torn landscape. The gods war is this adjacent story occurring before and in parallel to the story of our two main characters. The gods war vibes as if hades and persephone used humans as pawns to fight against one another. 

It’s a very quick and compelling read. I enjoyed the correspondence between the characters and the dual perspectives. Quoting the same letters multiple times was not my favorite and felt like a misuse of valuable pages.



I would recommend this book to people that enjoyed The Hating Game and The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy.

I LOVED THIS BOOK. The romance was beautiful and so on point. The world intriguing and unique. Truly everything about this book was impeccable and its so rare for a story to make me feel the way this one did.

This was my first Rebecca Ross read and I found it truly amazing. The writing was beautiful and atmospheric and had me drawn in from the very start. It is a compelling story set in the early 1900 about rivals to lovers and these characters and their relationship, their banter was completely captivating. I loved this book and can’t wait for book 2!

Having a hard time writing this review! My emotions are in such a tangle. I love this story. I love the premise, the plot, the twist. The letters sent back and forth with the enchanted typewriters are the best part of this story. They are heart felt, meaningful, and soul baring. The rivalry is perfect and the love story is divine. The ending has killed me!! The more I think about it, the deeper it weighs on me, causing my heart to ache! It consumes my thoughts. I will be miserable waiting for the next book to see what happens next!

Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Rebecca Ross has reached the number 1 spot of my favorite author. Her writing is amazing and beautiful. I will definitely continue to read anything she writes because I am absolutely sure I will love it. Devine Rivals is set in a world in the early 1900s. The story follows two rival journalists, Iris Winnow and Roman C Kitt. Both characters are competing for the position of columnist at the newspaper company they work for. Eventually both become war correspondents in a war between Gods. Both characters have unknowingly been exchanging letters through their magical typewriters that eventually lead to a romance. I absolutely loved the magical and war aspect of the story. War against Gods have always intrigued me. I definitely can’t wait to read and learn more in book 2. I am so grateful that I was giving the opportunity to receive an early copy. Thank you so much NetGalley for giving me the opportunity. I can’t wait to have a physical copy.

Hopeful and heartfelt, Rebecca Ross has created a world that is reminiscent of our own. Filled with sorrow and the intense desire to find joy amidst the chaos.

Divine Rivals follows two rival journalists through their early careers, spanning from newsroom to war trenches. The world is one of warring god and weary soldiers,of magic typewriters and fated love.

I have fallen deeply for this authors writing style. It has an old world story tellers feel that is often threaded with otherworldly lore. If Ross is a modern day troubadour ( I suspect she is!) she is one who excels in quiet intimate moments.Fans of rivals to lovers who crave a bit more in the world building will easily fall for this particular tale.

The audio-book version of Divine Rivals is spectacular and only feeds into that storyteller feel. It's easy to play this and imagine being bellied up to a large fireplace in an old tavern with a tankard listening to only tales being spun.

I received this complimentary ARC from the publisher, courtesy of NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review

This was utterly amazing! Divine Rivals is set in what feels like WW1 era but with multiple (warring) gods and enchanted buildings and objects. While it technically is fantasy, it didn’t feel like it. The fantastical elements really take a backseat to the relationship between Iris and Roman. It’s perfect for people that are fans of enemies-to-lovers tropes and want to dip their toes into a fantasy novel. I can’t wait for the sequel!!

Divine Rivals is a Young Adult historical fantasy romance by Rebecca Ross. The gods are at war and 18 year old Iris is stuck in a rough place. She hasn’t heard from her brother in weeks after he enlisted in the military and her addict mom is not much help. She starts writing for the Oath Gazette in an attempt to get a promotion. Her rival, Roman, is the only thing standing in her way. To help pass the time and ease her fears, she begins writing letters to her brother and putting them under her wardrobe. Eventually, she starts getting return letters but they are not from her brother.

I read Ross’ Elements of Cadence duology last year and was blown away. So I was anxious to see what she was coming out with next and the only disappointing thing about this book is that now I have to wait forever for the sequel! This is beautiful written and the romance has so much yearning. With the letters going back and forth, there is kind of that “You’ve Got Mail” aspect to the story which I have a love/hate relationship with. I don’t like it when one of the people involved knows the other person’s identity and continues to lie about it. This book did have a bit of that but I feel like it was resolved well in this story.

The magic elements are there but they are very much in the background, which makes sense. When you think of war correspondents, you don’t always think of them as right in the action so I liked seeing the story unfold from the sidelines. I cried several times reading this book but particularly when the discussions of grief were happening between Iris and her mysterious pen pal.

Rebecca Ross has solidly cemented herself as one of my favorite authors with this book as I have now given three of her books five stars. She writes the atmospheric books that my soul wants. I would gladly read her grocery list because I’m sure it’s beautifully written. I’m already manifesting that netgalley and the publisher will be kind enough to grace me with an early copy of the sequel despite it not having a cover, title, or release date yet.

Rebecca Ross is fast becoming a favorite fantasy author of mine, having first been introduced to her last year with ‘A River Enchanted’. In this first installment of a new series, a historical fiction/fantasy, we deal with many difficult yet relevant issues such as alcoholism, war and death among others. The narrative intertwines a beautiful yet heart breaking story of young Iris trying her best to keep her family together in the midst of all these issues. This was a wonderful story and I am looking forward to its sequel

Rivals-to-lovers in a fantasy setting is everything I’ve always wanted! I love these characters so much. The writing is gorgeous and atmospheric. I cannot wait for the sequel, mainly because THAT ENDING KILLED ME…

*eARC provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Emotionally, it is devastating. I am not typically a fan of this gritty WWII-esque books, but I was so invested in the mental and emotional well-being of the characters.

Plot-wise, a little dull/uneventful. I hope book 2 dives more into the mythology that runs the world, cause it is confusing. Since the mythology also runs the plot (or at least the backbone of the plot), I feel like that suffers.