Review: “Divine Rivals” is the book I cannot stop thinking about and for that reason alone, I cannot recommend it enough. 

 

“Divine Rivals” follows Iris Winnow and Roman Kitt, two young rival journalists competing for a columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette. With her mother suffering from addiction and her brother missing after enlisting in a war among gods, Iris desperately needs to win if she hopes to hold her family together. To keep her worries at bay, she writes letters to her brother and slips them beneath her wardrobe door. Unbeknownst to Iris, they end up in the hands of Roman and he anonymously writes her back, sparking a connection that follows Iris to the front lines. 

 

Ross’ writing is infused with magic. Her lyrical prose and imagery contribute to her seamless world-building and instantly immersed me in the high stakes atmosphere of her world. From page one, I was sucked into the lore and mythology surrounding the gods, fascinated by their presence and role in the war. The battle is very reminiscent of both of the World Wars, so I had something familiar to cling to while reading about the front lines. The elements of realism paired very nicely with the fantastical, enriching my reading experience. 

 

The love story in Divine Rivals is one for the history books. I loved alternating between Iris and Roman’s perspectives because it allowed me to fully grasp their character motivations, discover the origin of their respective inner conflicts, and pinpoint the moment they each fell in love with one another. Their development from rivals at the Oath Gazette to lovers desperately clinging to each other on the battlefield is well paced, emotion filled, beautifully done in every other respect. 

 

I especially loved watching Iris and Roman fall in love with each other twice — in person and over letter correspondence. Ross includes the contents of each and every letter in full to forge their connection and make it more believable. With Iris in the dark about the identity of her pen pal, she falls in love with two different sides to Roman and eventually has to come to terms with the fact that her rival and correspondent are the same person. 

 

You’ll have to take my word for it that this book is AMAZING because my review barely scratches the surface. If I could read it again for the first time, I would.