Book Review: Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

May 13, 2024

My only complaint about this book is that I wish it was longer. I had been putting off reading this book because I saw it everywhere on the internet, and while I love reading a book that has gotten a lot of good hype, it also makes me nervous because I don’t want to 1. be disappointed and 2. be reading it just because everyone else is. Also, I am not going to lie to you, I am someone who judges a book by its cover, and I was really not a fan of the cover ( still am not ).

This is the first in a duology about a young woman named Iris who came from a very poor family and started working for a paper in order to support her family when her older brother, Forest, went off to war. Her mother is an alcoholic, and is unable to work because of this, which means that she needs to drop out of school in order to keep a roof over their heads and food in their bellies. When she applied, there was another person that was also gunning for a permanent spot on the paper, Roman, and they become rivals - fighting for the best articles and ultimately a permeant role at the paper. She is hurt and feels betrayed by the fact that her brother chose to go to war, when he knew that it would leave her and her mother in a terrible spot and unable to support themselves, so she starts writing him letters and slipping them under her wardrobe door. One day, though, a letter comes back with three words typed on it “I’m not Forest.”

I really, deeply, enjoyed this book. I started the second book the very day that I fished this one, and am excited to see what happens to the characters. Even though I don’t feel like I have a lot in common with Iris, Rebecca Ross has done a very good job of making me feel connected to her in a way. I feel like we are friends and I am able to read this book from the perspective of her heart. There were points in the book that I didn’t love that we were able to see things from Romans point of view as well as Iris’ but there was so much going on that I do feel that it was ultimately the best choice to have his point of view also.

I laughed, I cried, I felt deeply connected to the characters. I would suggest this book.