Reviews

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

carobatista's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

That ending… 😫!!!! NEED BOOK TWOO

The reason on why it’s not 5 stars, it’s because I expected another thing and then I didn’t feel such a strong connection. I like everything, don’t get me wrong, but my disappointment affected my reading. 

Other than that, this is beautiful. Plot, characters and writing is really really good. Very different from any fantasy I’ve read. 

Anyways, December 26 needs to come sooner. 

mollyanne624's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

livareads's review

5.0

Rebecca Ross knows how to rip out your heart and make you thank her...What an amazing book!
The worldbuilding was amazing and left me so intrigued to see where it's headed.
Iris and Roman are officially my favorite couple now, words can't express how much I want to gush about them.

sk_coco's review

dark hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

stephaniesbookreviews's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

My sister raved about this book, so I decided to give it a try, even though I'm usually not really into fantasy. It was ok for me. I like the whole mystery pen pal trope, so I could get on board with a magical typewriter since the setting didn't have e-mail or cellphones. The other fantasy elements kind of fell apart for me, though. I didn't think the magical world was explained very well, other than a few "myths" that were info-dumped in here and there. The writing was a little too flowery for me sometimes, too. However, the characters were likeable and the romance was cute. I'll probably look into trying the second book when it comes out. 

sparks2love's review

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

hckilgour's review

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I was not impressed with the plot of this book. Mostly because I didn’t feel like there was one. There was no real goal the characters were working towards. Or anything they were fighting against.

Aside from the enemies to lovers aspect, there was nothing substantial about the story.

The way it ended certainly leaves room for a much more plot based second book.

I did get a very World War II vibe from the book. And it gave this fantasy book a unique spin.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War

arpa_m's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

3.75

kbusemeyer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This book was really good, it did start off slow but I got into it as it progressed. 

Roman and Iris are great characters and I love the vulnerability that gets revealed in their letters. The twist that Roman knows who Iris is is fun and it’s wholesome to watch the feelings develop.

Spoiler

I guess we finally know what Elinor was developing for Dacre. 

I’m glad Roman was saved, but it will be interesting to see how they reunite - will it be Peeta and Katniss style? Also Iris not knowing Roman was Forest makes sense, but tbh I didn’t expect it to be Forest. I thought it was a demon clone or something and Iris was actually more important than we knew. I also am curious how Forest managed to escape.

I hope Attie, Marisol, and Keegan made it out ok.

As much as I liked this book, I think the actual devices used to move along the plot were a bit weak. Attie saying that Marisol was hiding something and then two pages later it being revealed felt a bit odd and out-of-place.

Spoiler

Also Roman breaking off his engagement and running away was convenient and romantic but not really further explained and we didn’t see consequences of it, so it felt like a weird way to introduce Elinor’s family only.

heatherbri's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0