“When two young rival journalists find love through a magical connection,
their fate depends on their facing the depths of hell … together.
After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring again …

All eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow wants to do is hold her family together. With a brother on the frontline forced
to fight on behalf of the Gods now missing from the frontline and a mother drowning her sorrows, Iris’s best bet is winning the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette.

But when Iris’s letters to her brother fall into the wrong hands – that of the handsome but cold Roman Kitt, her rival at the paper – an unlikely magical connection forms.

Expelled into the middle of a mystical war, magical typewriters in tow, can their bond withstand the fight for the fate of mankind and, most importantly, love?
An epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy novel filled with hope and heartbreak, and the unparalleled power of love.”

This is my first book by Rebecca Ross and while I normally avoid books with any mention of World War the inclusion of Gods had me intrigued- also the cover is beautiful!

I really loved the writing style and the world building was so beautiful it’s so richly described and you get such a sense of time and place- having said that because it’s so well done I did struggle with the world because of the themes. I didn’t entirely get the full picture of the Gods and why they’re involved.

One of my favourite parts of this book is the letters I thought they were simply wonderful and I do have such a soft spot for that unknown penpal trope.

It’s so hard to go deeper in to detail as I don’t want to give any spoilers but this book has definitely made me want to go back and read Rebecca Ross’. I am so glad that I had read that this was the first part of a series because that cliffhanger!!!!!

Having adored Ross's Elements of Cadence series I went into this with super high expectations and, while I thoroughly enjoyed it, I did miss and feel a lack of the world building we got with her adult series. The God's have awoken and are now at war. Iris Winnow doesn't care about war though, she just wants her family back together again, but with a brother lost in the front lines and a mother who has taken to drinking since he left, she has been left to pick up the pieces and try to keep them afloat, and the best way she can do that is by winning the columnist position at the Oath Gazette. To assuage her worries, Iris has taken to writing to her brother and slipping the letters under their wardrobe door, only for them to be gone the next time she looks. Come in Roman Kitt, Iris's nemesis and the other person up for the position she craves, who is somehow the recipient of Iris letters. When he anonymously writes back, the two forge a connection that will take them miles away from the safety of Oath, to the front lines where the fate of their relationship, Iris brother and all mankind awaits them.

Iris and Roman are both brilliant characters. Iris, someone from the poor side of town, she has had to become the sole provider for her family after her brother left for war and her mother quit her job and started drinking. She desperately needs the position at the Oath Gazette, but knows that Roman's nepotism is more likely to get him the job than any skill she possesses. She's feisty, snarky, but also just so incredibly desperate to lead a life without pain and heartache, and she is no where near prepared for what she will see when she gets to the front lines. Roman comes from money, but while Iris's family was warm and loving, Roman's was cold and unforgiving, choosing his path in life for him without giving him any options. He'd have rather gone to university than joined the Gazette, but once he gets there and meets Iris his competitive streak arises and he can't help but get distracted by her. Roman may come across as a little haughty, but deep down he simply wants someone to love him for him, not his family or his money.

Alongside these we meet a bunch of well built side characters, my favourite being Attie and Marisol, the two friends Iris and Roman make in their time at the front. But Ross chooses to put her focus on our main POV's ensuring we spend as much time in their heads, with their thoughts, wants and dreams, as we do following their actions.

Ok, so the world building, We get some, enough to follow the story I would say, but I just desperately wanted more. Whether this was a conscious decision with this being classed as YA over adult I'm not sure, but I just felt that we got the barest amount of information possible to ensure we understood the war, but not enough to sate my appetite. How did the God's first get here? How many were there? How did magic first get into the world? Was it readily available to all or only a select few? I have lots of questions, and I just wish that we could have spent more time delving into the history of the world and how it got to where it is today. That being said, the world building we did get was fabulous, Ross interjects little stories throughout that add to the history of the world, as well as giving us multiple options as to how the battle between the God's originally started and why it stopped for so long.

The story is told in Ross's typical lyrical and prosaic writing style, though slightly less flowery than her Cadence series, and the interjections of wit, as well as the drama and romance made for a story I struggled to put down. One thing I think Ross did really well was showing the terror of war. In Oath, miles away from the fighting, it's easy for people to ignore the war, adamant that it would never reach them. But when Iris and Roman get to the front lines, they start to see the reality, the danger. The monsters that terrorise the towns day and night, the soldiers who have to live in trenches, never sure when the enemy will attack. There was a certain scene in the book that was so intense & emotional and I think captured that kind of warring incredibly well.

The romance was more rivals to lovers than enemies I would say. They never really dislike each other, rather keep each other at an arms length because they are vying for the same position. But it is wondrously slow burn, and I enjoyed the choice to have Iris not know she was writing to Rowan because it added an extra depth to the story as well as a little drama, and seeing her fall for Carver and Roman, not knowing they were both the same person was well done. Rowan falls first, obviously, and it's clear from the beginning that he has feelings for her, which is why I mentioned it's not a proper enemies to lovers arc, but despite that I still adored following their relationship, the verbal sparring, the realisation of feelings and the inevitable crashing together.

I think it's safe to say I loved this book. I know I moaned a little about the world building, but I think YA tends to have less nowadays anyway, so it might be me being picky more than anything else. If you're a fan of Ross's writing I would highly recommend this and the absolute killer cliffhanger ending has ensured I will be picking the sequel us as soon as I can get my grabby hands on it.

Thankyou to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction, Magpie for a free e-arc of Divine Rivals in exchange of an honest review.

I read this book in one sitting! I fully got swept away in the romance of it all.
Its not my usual go to as I'm not usually a fan of historical reads and this book has a WW1/WW2 kind of feel to it with a touch of magic and fantasy.
I would have liked a little more of the fantasy aspects but i do think this was a great opening book to the series and it leads into a much broader story.
The romance is so bloody sweet! The writing is beautiful! Its very fast paced and i love the love letters!
Essentially feel like a fantasy 'you've got mail' and i here for it!

Cannot wait for the next instalment!

3.75⭐️

I liked this! I think it was my first read by this author and I wasn’t sure what to expect. I liked the magic and myth, as well as the romance, it was written well. I didn’t expect it to be about literal WW2-style war/slice of life, so that bored me a bit. I liked this book by I’m not sure I liked it enough to pick up the second book, especially because I think one of the tropes I find annoying is going to be in it, based on book one’s ending! Overall, a good read but reads more historical than fantasy.

Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for this ecopy of Devine Rivals by Rebecca Ross.

After reading both River Enchanted and Fire Endless by Rebecca Ross, I knew I had to read this one.
I absolutely love the writing style this author has. The ability to pull you into a story and keep you entranced for the full novel makes me just love the stories more.
The characters she created are well rounded and created with a likeability that makes you warm to them. The world building is richly described and full of a sense of realism as you fall deeper into the story.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story and would recommend it to everyone.

I absolutely loved this! Read it in 24 hours!

Divine Rivals is a YA fantasy set in a world that has some magical elements, but is strongly reminiscent of WWII and the 1940s (a setting I love!) It's written by one of my favourite authors, Rebecca Ross, who published A River Enchanted last year.

My favourite part is that letters make up a good portion of Divine Rivals. These are brilliant and have become some of my favourite fictional letters.

I enjoyed the competitive and dynamic nature of the newspaper headquarters, and loved the journalistic rivalry between Iris and Roman. There's snark and infuriation, as well as respect, and they give each other the drive to be their best. They are simply better together. Will it be rivals to lovers? Ross writes amazing, real, characters whose vibrancy only increases as the novel goes on. I was thrilled by the trench coat and typewriter vibes.

War is deeply rooted in Divine Rivals and makes it a much deeper book. We experience life on the home front as war comes ever closer. Both Roman and Iris are dealing with loss, grief, and fear. Themes of duty and sacrifice mingle with class, prejudice, assumptions, and conflicting views on the war. The novel skilfully combines the very real: death, the fear of war, air raids, alcoholism, censorship, with magical and mythological elements. I enjoyed the mythology and how no one knows for sure how or why the war started between the gods Enva and Dacre. Intriguingly, all that is left is half-forgotten stories.

I love this duology and need the second part now! I know there is more going on then we have seen so far...

This was a beautifully written fantasy full of an interesting, unique premise although I do wish there was more world building as I would have liked more backstory to the war and the Gods. However I loved the writing and the romance was so heart-warming and I loved seeing the enemies to lovers story and how people were affected by the war, living in a grief stricken world. I was so interested and invested in all the characters I can't wait for the sequel.

I absolutely adore every one of Rebecca Ross’s books, she has made me fall in love with fantasy over and over again. Iris and Roman are both interesting and well written characters, and I loved each of their povs. The books themes of grief and war were written well and I was moved by these elements of the story. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and absolutely cannot wait for the next instalment.

did I read the same book as everyone else??? 😭😭 I came with high expectations because the rating was fairly high and some of my bookish friends loved it. I really tried to enjoy it but the story just not appealing whatsoever. I couldn't wrap around the concept of war between god of underground and goddess of sky on the surface of earth AND involved humans. And those human soldiers has ranks and stations just like regular war. like what😭 I mean can't these "gods" just settle their bad blood somewhere else????

The divinity aspect was hardly explained, I still don't know much about these gods and why are they should be called gods on the first place if they only brought chaos to humankind. It's not that they're worshipped either.

Now let's talk about the characters. First I want to point out how Rebecca named her characters, she's sure use a lot of twin consonants for whatever reason. Sarah & Attie seem like a same person from the way they act. Both Iris & Roman weren't interesting, save for a sorry backstory for Roman & a harsh life for Iris. Their romance was weak and cliche to the point that I skipped their intimate scenes because I couldn't bear them.

Overall it's not bad but nothing stood out either, for me. That's all I guess. Not sure if I'll read the sequel but that's for next-year me to decide.

This is beautifully written and a lovely story or romance in wartime- while a fictional fantasy war it bears a lot of echos of WW1/WW2. A good read

Iris and Roman are two young journalists competing for a coveted position at their newspaper. They also both happen to possess magical typewriters that allow messages to be sent between them- only they don't realise who they're writing to. Cue a You've Got Mail/Undertaking of Hart & Mercy situation.
At the same time, their world is at war - the old gods have some how been resurrected and are using humans to fight wars against each other. Iris' brother heard the call of the goddess, signed up to fight far away and has lost touch with his sister.
Iris and Roman then end up close to the front lines as war correspondents, forcing them into even closer proximity and greater danger.
Rebecca Ross has a way of creating really great relationships- not just romantic, but family and friends. Both Iris and Roman have different but difficult family lives that feel realistic- dealing with grief, guilt, expectations.
I liked the spikiness of their relationship as rivals, it didn't feel too over the top for the situation they were in and showed that there was still mutual respect, at least professionally. It also made their changing relationship much more believable than just suddenly falling in love.
The fantasy elements are relatively light, or at least aren't a main focus of the story (although we do see more as they reach the war zone) but they were well done - who wouldn't want a magical typewriter - and added to the tension and feeling of dread.
I also liked the balance between the more lighthearted elements of the romance and the magical typewriters with the darker aspects of the war and the characters suddenly being faced with the realities of that situation.
I didn't realise when I read this that it was part of a series, so when that cliffhanger appeared... rage! Obviously I'll now be waiting incredibly impatiently for the next book!

This is such a fantastic book! Not only is it the most gorgeous cover I have ever seen the story within really stands up to the hype!

I'm finding it difficult to talk about the book without completely spoiling it! and its totally worth experiencing the story all by yourself!

So I will say this story has enemies to lovers, magic, gods and war

I adored the relationship between the two main characters so much banter! My only problem is the plot twist! Now I have to wait to find out what happens next!

‘Divine Rivals’ is a fascinating mash-up of mythology, historical fiction and romance. The story feels like it is set in the mid-twentieth century, with trench warfare and war correspondents typing up their dispatches on typewriters, and yet it is a more egalitarian world where both men and women fight in the army and same-sex marriage is legal. And in this world the war they are reporting on is due to the rivalry of two ancient gods: Dacre and Enva.

When her brother goes off to fight in the war, Iris types letters to him that mysteriously disappear when she puts them in her wardrobe. She is convinced that she is communicating with him through some magic means until someone writes back and it is not her brother. As Iris exchanges letters with the mysterious ‘Carver’ she begins to open up to him and realises that she is falling in love with someone she has never met.

But, in parallel to the clash between Dacre and Enva, Iris has a nemesis of her own. Roman Kitt was her fiercest competition for the coveted columnist job at the Oath Gazette, and now he has followed her to the front lines – to show her up again as a war correspondent, Iris is convinced. But if she hates him so much, why can’t Iris stop thinking about him? And why do they keep saving each other’s lives?

I couldn’t put this book down, between the chemistry sparking between Iris and Roman, the immersive setting, and Iris herself – a wonderfully brave, resilient and compassionate character. A thrilling and intriguing new fantasy world – I can’t wait for the next book in the series.

Divine rivals

Honestly, at this point, I'm convinced Rebecca Ross could write one sentence, and I'd love it. The way she uses words is just incredible. Of course, it's a 5 star read. This book is beautiful and deals with so much. There is not a single character in our core four (iris, roman, attie, and marisol) that I wouldn't fight a hound to protect.

I received an advance review copy of this book, and this review represents my honest opinion. Thank you to netgalley, Rebecca Ross, and the publisher for the opportunity to read the book.

At first, I was a tad confused about what was happening, but once you get some information (which was done really well since most of it came through letters and myths), it makes a lot more sense.

There's a big sense of grief in this book. It's not surprising since it's set in a war, but it hits you hard every time. But it's intertwined with a love story that is so believable and sweet that one second you're crying over a war, and the next, you're crying over a love letter. If you're a fan of the protective love interest, don't worry, he's here and he's so very good at it. And if that doesn't interest you, there's an almost adoptive older sister/ mother figure who keeps replanting a garden just for her wife to see when she returns.

The ending, though, how dare the book end that way. An excellent twist that is sure to lead to a very interesting opening for the sequel, I can't wait to pick that up.

All in all, this is another book by an author who has such skill in writing fantasy that almost doesn't feel like fantasy. It's feels so real and deals so much in human emotion, but with that added touch of gods, magical typewritters and mythical beings to keep you reminded that this is not quite our world.

Below is one of my favourite quotes in the book because why not.

"pressing her upright against the wall of the trench, covering her with his body. If anything hurt her, it would have to come through him first."

Let me just start by saying that, this story was riveting. I loved it and I absolutely can’t wait for the next book!

This is the historical romance, enemies to lovers book I’ve been waiting for. Set in the backdrop of a war between gods, we have two complex characters exploring grief, loss, guilt as they navigate their lives through troubling times. Iris and Kitt were complex characters that I grew to adore throughout the book. And while they started off as enemies, mutual foes I loved how the two of them learned more about one another and grew to love and care for each other.

Also, their banter in person and in their kind of secret letter exchanges was so gooood. Please give me a chapter with just letter exchanges between them, thank you!

On paper this story plot is not one that would normally appeal to me. But I've loved everything I've read previously by Rebecca Ross, and have seen many comments on how good this new book of hers was. And I've not been disappointed. I LOVED this book. I don't know what it is, but I eat up any book Rebecca Ross writes. Her books are so hard to put down, and you just fly through them. The world in this book feels so unique whilst also drawing parallels which the history of our own world. The characters have depth and are likeable. Reading Divine Rivals has just cemented for me that Rebecca Ross will be an auto-buy author for me going forward.
I can't wait to have a physical copy of this book to add to my shelves.

Usually when I heard the term historical fiction, I run the other way. But when I read the synopsis of Divine Rivals, the title and summary itself made me want to immediately pick this up.

This story follows rivals Iris Winnow and Roman Kitt, who both work for the Gazette Newspaper, in the fictional town of Oath. Elsewhere, a war rages on, as two gods fight each other, and humans are recruited for their causes. Struck with the grief of her brother who’s joined the fight, she writes him letters, hoping they will reach him. But since she’s been writing, she’s never heard back- until now. And her correspondent isn’t her brother at all.

From the first page I was hooked. Both Iris and Roman’s POV were so distinct. Iris is dealing with her mother’s drinking since her brother left, while Roman has the weight of his father’s expectations and an arranged marriage to look forward to. Neither of them want to be at home, while at work they encounter each other, rivalling for the position of columnist. I loved both characters and found myself rooting for them to find happiness. I loved the introduction of other characters and the found family that was displayed despite such harsh circumstances. The enemies to lovers trope was done BEAUTIFULLY. I loved every single interaction between these two, and I wanted to memorise every gorgeous quote. Roman is the sweetest green flag male lead anyone can hope for- and his feelings about Iris were so well-written in his chapters.

The writing was absolutely gorgeous. It was so addictive and vivid, and kept me at the edge of my seat. The plot was both unpredictable and so twisted that by the end I found my heart breaking for these two amazing characters. They jumped off the page for me, and their flaws made them so real. The gods and the mythology was also easy to follow, and you could tell the author researched into the trenches and the different aspects of war that these characters face.

I loathe the pain I was in after finishing this book at 2am, because it’s impossible not to want the next one. If you want a book about love, hope, grief, and SO MUCH PINING AND YEARNING, this is the one! It may just be my favourite of the year! I loved it so so much and I already want to reread it!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an e-arc!

Thank you so much NetGalley & HarperCollins UK for providing this ARC.

I loved A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross (and can't wait to read A Fire Endless). I love her writing, pace and characters.

Divine Rivals was no different. I read it within two days and I am desperate to know what will happen.
The war-time setting had the feel of the World Wars, it was refreshing and different.

The characters were fun to read, and although there is tension it doesn't contain continuous painful mis-communication.

I cannot wait until I get to find out what happens...

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'Divine Rivals' by Rebecca Ross.

Rebecca Ross just keeps hitting the briefs over and over again. This concept was interesting and it definitely delivered on the concept. I love it everytime Ross uses letters in her work, the way she weaves it into her storytelling is utter perfection for me. The characters? Well written and fascinating. This book is one of those books that you need to read to experience, someone's review couldn't do it justice. I am mega excited for book 2.

Am I declaring that I’ve found one of my top 2023 reads in March? Yes, I am!

This story had me under its thumb from the very first page. Something about the characters, the plot, the magic just connected with me on another level and this book fully has me in a chokehold.

I laughed, I cried, I gripped the book with bated breath and white knuckles, I laughed more, I sobbed my heart out. This book took me through every emotion. Rebecca Ross’s writing style is so immersive and mesmerising I physically couldn’t put this down. In the moment I HAD to put it down, I found myself unable to think about anything other than Iris and Roman and where their story would go next.

This is definitely an all time favourite!