Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

97 reviews

ashley_reya's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny sad fast-paced

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

4.5

A painful story of loss threaded with such beautiful moments of joy. Iris and Rowan will charm you into their whirlwind of a story. I’ve best described it as the second act of She Loves Me but there is a war going on. And such a quick but powerful read! I felt like I blinked and 100 pages went by 😅

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Terminal illness and Vomit

reading__redhead's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

(Potential) Highlight of the year! The first book where I really wanted to annotate, but I’d love to read to English version and annotate that one!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Vomit, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Classism

emeraldrina's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

A bit slow to start but once it got going I couldn’t put it down. The setting is basically WWI but with gods and their magic creatures. I like that even with the reason for the war being divine rather than human, it still felt as pointless and stupid as WWI. It really preserved that feeling of “what is this all for” that was so quintessential to that era.

As the title implies, this is a rivals to lovers romance. The development and chemistry was very well done. I loved them both as rivals and together.

Other than the romance, the rest of the plot feels like it’s kinda talking a backseat up until the very end. It’s like the war is just a backdrop not an important event that will change their lives. Until it does, and then suddenly we get a lot of new plot puzzles laid out all at once in the cliffhanger. I kinda wanted a little more of that earlier on… like drop some mysterious hints about what Dacre’s up to, at least. It’s kinda strange that’s no one seems to have any clue how he’s operating.

But aside from that, I loved the story and the characters. It was very dark and emotional, but beautiful. I’ll definitely read the next book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Violence, Vomit, and Classism

kiwij96's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Easily one of the most captivating books I've read in a while. The story was written effortlessly and I loved the letters and the way that Iris and Carver developed their relationship without ever having met. It was also an emotional read, heavy on the grief and the war. It had me hooked as a reader for a solid 85% of the book.

However, where it eventually fell short was after that 85% mark. It got to a point where the plot - though already quite fast paced in some places - felt rushed, as if this 14-chapter-per-part aesthetic was what limited the author to progress the plot further in less time. Also, I know it is a YA, but Iris and Roman definitely felt a lot older. 18 and 19 just wasn't believable after a point, and the Young Adult genre still would have held if they were in their early to mid 20s.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Vomit, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content and Classism

tnemelce's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Genocide, Medical content, and War

Minor: Classism

sparksofkell's review against another edition

Young YA. Info dumps without enough exploration of motives. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Car accident, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Suicide, Abandonment, and War

jamiejanae_6's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

gpfot's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Gore, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Classism

abicaro17's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

Holy shit..... Well Rebecca Ross it's on sight girl! Iris is a reporter competing for a columnist spot against fellow reporter, Roman. As Iris writes letter to her brother who's away at war, she tucks them away inside her closet. These letter end up in the hands of her rival, Roman, who begins to write her back. As war tears across the country and propaganda and misinformation reigns supreme, Iris and Roman create a magical friendship through letters. I adore this story! It's just magical enough to be not realistic but not too crazy as to be hard to understand and follow. Iris is a strong and yet logical and likable character. She makes normal choices and thinks through her issues before jumping into action. Roman is adorable and this conclusion makes me mad af. Like gotta go read Ruthless Vows brb. My only issue with this book is that the start is slow and the world building isn't explained very well until later. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

purplepenning's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism