Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for this e-ARC!

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH.

Rebecca Ross has to be my new favorite author of this year (even though it's early still).
First off the writing style is perfect not too flowery easy to understand but beautiful at the same time.
Emotions are wonderfully written.

IRIS has so much depth to her and I love her so much.
I loved Roman and Iris from the start but I know other reviewers didn't. I promise you will grow to love them by the end. Rebecca Ross just has a way.

The lore and history of this world is so fascinating to me. It's faint and there is quite a bit of historical fiction elements but it's interesting. I wish we did get more history behind the gods and the conflict aspect but I think that is just something that Ross might grow upon in the next book(s).
I cannot wait for the next book!

There are a few trigger warnings: Grief, Alcoholism, War, Trauma, Guilt.

Iris Winnow and Kitt Roman are competing for a journalist position at their local newspaper while a war between two ancient gods rages not so far away. With her brother off to fight in the war and her mother struggling with drinking and unemployment, Iris uses her grandmother’s typewriter to pen unsent letters expressing what she’s feeling. Unbeknownst to Iris, her letters do reach another’s eyes – those of Kitt Roman. They start to write back and forth and forge a connection, but Kitt does not identify himself.

In an effort to find her brother who is missing on the front lines, Iris becomes a war correspondent for a rival newspaper. While on assignment, she maintains contact with her mysterious pen pal, forms friendships, and sees what life on the front line is like firsthand. Will the relationships she’s created be strong enough to overcome the battle that is coming?

The first novel I read by this author was “A River Enchanted”, and I was so excited to be able to read this ARC knowing how much I enjoyed that book. Ross’s writing is imaginative, inclusive, relatable, and captivating. I’m looking forward to exploring this world she has created in upcoming publications!

In the beginning of this novel, I was in love with it. It had me fangirling and crying. It was slotting itself as a new favorite. That feeling continued until the ending, where many of the plotlines were left unfinished and new information was throw at us, waiting for the sequel to pick back up.

This is the story of Iris, a newbie reporter. She misses her older brother, who has left to fight in a gods' war. She tries to send him letters, but they get magically rerouted to Roman Kitt, her coworker and rival. Through letters, they start falling in love and inspiring each other to be brave and face the war.

The strength in this novel lies in the emotion. The author knows how to tug at your heartstrings, and does it with the delicacy of plucking a harp. The resulting music is astounding. Through poetic letters and shared sandwiches, it is a delight to watch this couple. The dance that is played around the anonymous letters is perfectly paced and squeal-worthy.

I loved all of the characters in this book. I was especially rooting for Iris, who is always strong -- even when she's breaking apart. Her journey in this book of finding strength and conviction is beautiful. Roman, likewise, is done nearly perfectly. He gets his own journey of finding independence and joy.

The weakness of this novel lies in the unbalance between the two narrators. In the beginning of the novel, their two perspectives trade off frequently. Both of their plotlines are rich and important, and it's the dual perspective that really makes the relationship shine. However, in the middle those chapters with Roman dry up, becoming less frequent and relevant. Roman is still present and active in the story, but we never get that obvious angst and activity from his words. It's such wasted potential that it makes me want to cry.

Then we have the ending, which I feel mixed on. We got just enough conclusion for it to be an End, but the novel is much too preoccupied with its sequel that it neglects our protagonists making decisions to cap off (and celebrate in) their own quests and arcs.

A video review including this book will be on my Youtube channel in the coming weeks, at https://www.youtube.com/chloefrizzle

Thanks to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for a copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.

My heart! What have you done to me?

The brilliant Rebecca Ross has crafted a tale so lyrical and beautiful it left me in tears.

Divine Rivals is Young Adult, Historical/Romantic Fantasy based in a World War II setting, albeit instead of allies and axis, it is warring gods. Our main character is Iris, an eighteen-year-old woman whose brother went off to war, leaving her alone with her mother, who, in his absence, has fallen into addiction.

Iris is a reporter, and after tragedy strikes, she uproots her current life and chases the story that is the war, hoping to track down her brother.

She soon discovers that the typewriter she uses to type her reports is enchanted; a part of a set that connects the writers who type on it. Unbeknownst to her, Iris ends up making herself vulnerable and opening up to the person with the other typewriter… her rival from the newspaper.

Divine Rivals has the following tropes:

- Rivals to Lovers
- Slow Burn
- Nostalgia
- Angst and Pining
- Hate to Love
- Forced Proximity
- Myths
- Found Family
- Epistolary and Prose Setting
- Love Letters
- Journalism
- Spice
- Hurt/Comfort

Divine Rivals is a lyrical and poetic masterpiece! Ross is a phenomenal, gifted writer whose words pour off the page and into your soul.

Iris and Carver’s romance is set against a solemn and heart-wrenching backdrop that is grief, war, and uncertainty. There are no guarantees they will live to see tomorrow; Iris and Carver live each day making the most of what they have.

Honestly, I didn't know how much I would love this story. Historical fiction has never taken up a significant amount of the novels I read, so I went into Divine Rivals with caution.

From the synopsis, I knew this was going to be a hit or a miss. Divine Rivals had the potential to break me down and put me back together. However, it might leave me utterly disappointed by what could have been.

I can say with glee that Divine Rivals swept past my wildest imaginations and turned my hopes into a reality more promising than truth.

That cliffhanger! No matter the reader, no one will anticipate just how hard it hits. The sequel, releasing in 2024, can not get here soon enough!

You need to add Divine Rivals to your tbr!

Divine Rivals is an unexpected, glistening mirror ball in a world filled with shades of black and white.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this ARC!

My favorite Rebecca Ross title yet! This romance is super swoony and I love the world building and wartime location. The writing is stunning too.

This book was SO GOOD, I don't even know where to start 😭

It's a workplace-rivals irl, but magical besties (this fantasy world's version of online) - their snarky banter irl and their vulnerable conversations "online" are the absolute best. I'm so in love with both the MCs.

The actual plot itself was fascinating, and some of the twists at the end - well I'm still crying about them. Like, I need book two right away 💔

And well finally, I really liked the <i>writing</i> in this book. I don't have the words to sufficiently describe it, but I loved the way the book was written, it was really comforting and melancholic and interesting.

To anyone who read this book, feel free to message me because I need to SCREAM about that ending 😭

--- ty to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

Rebecca Ross is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. The way she writes about grief in this book is so uplifting. It gives the space that grief deserves, but also leaves so much space for hope. and that is so important. This story was absolutely beautiful. Focusing on two people connecting to one another through letters that span the time during war. I loved how the characters introduced themselves to you organically through their own words and because of that you were able to relate to them more naturally. You got to see all their wonderful characteristics and their flaws. The story has mild fantasy elements, but reads more like a historical fiction. Overall, the writing sells this book itself. Rebecca’s way with words is simply breathtaking and I can’t wait to read more!

This book made my lil journalist heart sing and solidified Rebecca Ross as an auto-buy author for me.

Divine Rivals reads like a historical fiction set during WWI or WWII, but the setting is entirely fictional. This creates a very unique experience where it was slightly easier for me to imagine the world and setting because it was a little more realistic, but the story maintained a sense of fantasy which I really appreciated.

Read Divine Rivals for:
- Rivals to Lovers
- Secret penpals
- 20th century newsroom vibes
- Vengeful gods

---- 5/5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

If you loved previous books by Rebecca Ross you will love this first book of a duology. Her writing is exquisite.

Overall, I liked this book a lot. I absolutely loved the magical typewriters and the story behind them, and I really loved the main characters and their love story. The only issue for me was the gods' system. Even with the myths scattered throughout the book to help us understand them, I still really don't know what any of that is about. I love this author's writing, though, and this is a first book in a series, so we might better understand all that as the story progresses.

4.50/5 stars! The premise of this story reminded me of the written love story in 'The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy.' I have also read several other books by this author and have really enjoyed her writing style in the past. It was no different with this story. I was drawn in by the world-building and the concept of warring gods tearing the world apart. Iris was such a brave young woman and her decision to head closer to the front lines to support her brother, I was proud of her. I think the love angle of this story felt a bit rushed, but I'm eager to see how this develops in the sequel.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

This is an incredible story - filled with such sweet romance, found family, devastation of war, and the courage beyond your limitation.

This is my first story by Rebecca Ross and I love her prose and descriptive flow of the setting. I feel like I’m smelling the gunpowder with Iris, the mist and city life, like I was in that world with her every step of the way.

What is interesting about this story is that it isn’t told in the POV of the gods or even the soldiers directly in the conflict but an observer. Iris is a war reporter. She traveled to the warzone to find her brother. The last of her family. Not knowing that she is not truly alone. She makes friends and family along the way. And even love in a time of uncertainty.

What an impact this story has on me emotionally and so many quotes that I have just written down because it resonates with me.

A book I consumed in a day. I can’t wait till this comes out and everyone gets a chance to read what a gem this book is!

I'm not sure what I was expecting with this, but it was different than I expected. This is a sort of historical/fantasy-ish world. It has older vibes with the newspapers and whatnot, almost superhero world esque? But then it has this whole god storyline where theres a war going on and it has these supernatural beings in it. The supernatural part was a bit hard for me to follow. There were plenty of stories in the book explaining it but it just didn't stick with me, it felt hard to understand.
Aside from that, I really enjoyed the characters and their development. The two main characters each have their own thing going on, but then they have the typewriter thing, almost you've got mail-eque, which I loved. I especially liked as I got to the end of the book, I think it got a lot better once the plot got going, overall I'll probably read the sequel, this was pretty interesting.

Firstly, Thank you for Dear Author and NetGalley for providing me with the opportunity to read this ARC!

I just want to say how amazing this book was. From the start to finish it had me sucked in. It was such a refreshing read and actively got me out of the small reading slump I was in. Iris Winnow was such an interesting and strong Female Lead; things that have nothing to do with the LI. Her family values, her hopes and dreams. She didn't back down from a challenge and certainly wasn't afraid to do what she had to get her story. Roman Kitt, what a cutie. I thought he was the perfect LI for our main girl. Witty, smart, and interested in all things Iris Winnow.

I think the author did an amazing job at combining heartbreak, some darkness, realism, historical fantasy and a good dose of romance all together to create the perfect beginning to what I'm sure will be a series to look out for in the future.

The rival dynamic of this book was fantastic. I had such a blast following these characters throughout this fascinating story. The fantastical dynamic was such an interesting addition.

Another great book by Rebecca Ross. Divine Rivals reminds me a lot of her book A River Enchanted: two rivals who gradually fall in love. This book had me rooting for Iris to discover that the person she is magically corresponding with is actually her top competition at the newspaper she worked at. This part of the book was as I had predicted it would be. At the end though, there is a twist that I did not see coming and made the book even more enjoyable. This was an excellent read and I look forward to reading any subsequent novels in the series.

I received this book through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

While I can see how divine rivals would be someone's favorite, it just wasn't for me. Really getting into the story and I felt it was a little disjointed for me. Great writing!

Rebecca Ross has become one of my auto-read authors—The Elements of Cadence duology were some of my favorite books last year—so of course I was excited to get my hands on an arc of her upcoming novel, Divine Rivals. Imagine my surprise, then, when I turned the last page and found myself underwhelmed.

Divine Rivals is the story of two rival journalists who end up falling for one another through a series of letters. Iris, our FMC, has suffered because of the gods’ war: her brother is fighting at the front; her mother, lost in grief, has been killed in a terrible accident; and she’s lost her chance to be a columnist at the area’s most prestigious newspaper. Roman, her rival and our MMC, seemingly has a charmed life, but he’s dealing with his own grief and trying to escape the life planned out for him by his father. When the two become magical penpals, they begin falling for one another, but when Iris leaves to become a war correspondent, Roman refuses to let her go alone, and the pair must face their feelings while dealing with bombs, monsters, and the constant threat of death while on the front line.

I’m a sucker for an enemies-to-lovers romance, and while I loved the relationship between Iris and Roman, it did feel a bit like insta-love. I loved how they learned to care for one another through their letters, and yes, I understand that romances get sped up a bit during wartime, but there just didn’t seem like enough between them to have them get together so quickly. Maybe if they’d been rivals in school before being rivals at the newspaper, I could’ve believed it, but as it is, things feels as if they move very fast.

I’m also a sucker for good mythology. The Elements of Cadence duology had amazing, in-depth mythology that helped flesh out the world and the cultures on the island as well as the beliefs and motivations of the characters. Divine Rivals has the seeds of a really cool mythology, but it feels shallow. The world obviously has magic, and the “normal” world can be touched by magical things (e.g. magical typewriters, enchanted building, Enva’s siren song), but overall, the presence of the gods is more distant than it ought to.

That being said, the war itself is very well written, with major WW1 vibes. Iris and Roman’s experiences on the front lines are harrowing and heartbreaking, and I actually would’ve liked for them to have been in the trenches longer and to have developed more of a relationship during the forced proximity.

All in all, Divine Rivals feels like a step back after A River Enchanted and A Fire Endless. There are storylines that seem to drop off or to come back in ways that need more explaining (I’m looking at you, arranged marriage plot line), secondary characters feel a little one-dimensional, and while the magical typewriter aspect is a lot of fun, the romance moves too quickly and thus feels underdeveloped. I’ll still be picking up the sequel to find out what happens and to, hopefully, learn more about the world’s mythology and magic, but I was hoping for more from this read.

i blame my current mood for my ambivalence toward this book but avid readers of YA fantasy should have no problem loving this.

nothing gripped me, nothing stirred me on and made me excited to read further. divine rivals almost felt... episodic because the plot (what plot?) waywardly meanders from one mc's struggle to the next. these major events just conveniently, forcefully find our characters and then we get to shuffle through their reaction and "development". point a moving to point b to c to d as the author intentionally willed it. rinse and repeat. i almost labelled this as character-driven -- with how much the story hinges on our mcs to just... get out there and do things -- but no, that could not be further from the truth for me. these conveniences happened too many times for me to ignore them and cast them aside in the name of storytelling -- it's all plot driven and it's my least favourite thing to read about. this isn't a romcom setup, isn't it?

there was an attempt when it comes to iris and roman. the author clearly pours so much love and dedication into their characterization, you can practically see it shimmering on the page. actually, you'll get to see them literally pouring their hearts onto the page via their letters to each other -- for how tropey this appears, i rarely came across this and i can (maybe) appreciate the attempt to further establish characters and bridging the reader's connection. all of this is to say -- i still felt very little for these people. perhaps i was tired of the same recycled love-hate straight dynamic, perhaps i was disenchanted with the plot. perhaps YA is just not my genre any more. instead of relating to their heartbreaks and rooting for them to rise above their own situation, i just felt trauma-dumped.

i saved the world building for last because, whelps, i should at least expect to not vibe with this. after all, i'd read and experienced the bare bones of a river enchanted, the first in rebecca ross' lastest duology. i'd learnt about ross' reference to thrust her readers into the world with little warnings then sprinkle crumbs of world building afterwards. it is a little jarring because there's very little... world for you to work off of in the beginning, you just have to estimate that the time period is loosly based off WWII... but there are also warring gods. the city is old but not ancient because there's electricity but magic is involved somehow and you get magical-alexa-powered building? except, not every building. just the one that our mc lives in. and some buildings are only a little bit magical and don't work that way. what about the streets? i cannot tell you. i am being unnecessarily mean and nitpicky, but i think you get the idea. ross' style of worldbuilding is not for me. (okay, maybe one more thing. i get the eyerolling in the beginning when everyone blames Enva instead of the Dacre because.. misogyny (gasp!) does not die even if you're stuck in pseudo, magical WWII but if my family members are being called off to fight a stupid war and they all told me the goddess is the one compelling them to go for it -- i would hate her as well, iris. i don't know why you are so dead set on proving her righteousness from the beginning without any other proof but good on you.)

i stil blame my current mood for my ambivalence toward this book. unless some major events happen to me, it's unlikely that i will pick up this book again.

Oh man, I want the second book like now!! I really like the slow character progression and the ending had me on the edge of my seat! I also love the way the magic and mythology are woven through the story. well done and I'm eagerly awaiting book 2!