Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

 Release date: April 04, 2023

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NO GOD

NO CREATURE

NO WAR

CAN COME BETWEEN THEM

When two young rivals 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 book has taken over BookTok so much that you knew I also had to find out what the excitement was for. 

Trope: Enemies-to-Lovers

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5 stars 

hate each other, hate each other, hate each other, "lets work together." screaming!

This book follows the story of a girl who write stories to her missing brother. A guy who reads them. Who are they to each other? oh, they are just two rival journalists working at the same firm trying to get the same promotion.

When he writes back to tell her that her letters aren't going to her brother, he also doesn't tell her who he is. Even though he knows who she is. 

The two start talking over letters and he slowly falls in love with her. 

This is the classic, "he falls first, she falls harder." 

Then you get the most heart-aching moments when he wants to tell her who he is but it just is not the right time. She thinks she is falling in love with someone, but she doesn't know it is him. 

Iris and Roman were both great characters. Iris, someone who came from a poorer family background, became the sole provider for her family. She had her heart set out to find out what has happened to her brother. He hasn't wrote back for such a long time. She was worried. She needed Oath Gazette. Her only chance. She is portrayed as a very desperate but feisty character with no preparation for what she will expect of the front lines. Roman, however, comes from the wealthier side of town. Roman was set out as a cold, heartless character with his set goals in life. He wanted nothing more than to win. Seeing Iris at the frontline only turns on the emotion switch in his brain. He doesn't need money, or family. He needs her. Someone to love him. 

As much as I loved this book, I think the world-building wasn't that well done. I was still struggling to understand what was happening around me or imaging how the front line actually looked. I just needed more world-building for me to understand fully. Where were the gods from? What is the actual reason behind this war? How is there magic in this world? I had quite a lot of questions, so I would've loved to see more time spent on the history of it all. Apart from that, the rest of the world-building was amazing! I absolutely loved the Dual-POV to help with the world-building. 

Overall, I absolutely adored this book. Everyone needs their hands on this book!

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