[A quick note: Rebecca Ross is an auto-buy author. I will buy everything she writes because I know I’ll love it. This is her latest book and it was worth all the hype. I even got THREE editions because I love her writing so much. I mean, how gorgeous are these? The pink with typewriter is from Owlcrate. The gray with Iris and Roman is from Fairyloot, and the bottom one is the standard edition, which Becca signed and personalized herself when I got to meet her…which was AMAZING!]
“𝑰𝒕 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒐𝒓, 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆. 𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖: 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏’𝒕 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒌 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝑰 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒎. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆’𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒂 𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅, 𝒂 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒎𝒆, ‘𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒃𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐 𝒈𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒅.’”—Rebecca Ross
Enchanted typewriters bring two rival journalists together in this heartbreaking story about the deviation of war.
I’ll be completely honest: this book made me cry. Rebecca’s prose was utterly haunting and beautiful. This story was a love letter to love letters. I adore books with letter writing, and there was a lot here. Something about letter writing allows one to reveal their soul. Besides the letter writing, this story had tons to love. It had WWI vibes in a fantasy backdrop, enemies to lovers, secret identity, heartbreak, battle of the gods, journalism, friendship, and love.
The hype was 100% warranted.
Iris and Roman are journalists vying for a coveted columnist position. When Iris doesn’t get the position, she packs up and goes to the war front to find her brother. He is all the family she’s got left. Here, she can report on the events of the war and inform the people of what’s really happening. While on the warfront, she exchanges letters with the mysterious “Carver” and the two begin pouring their hearts out. Carver knows her identity and wrestles with the guilt of coming clean. Eventually, he chases her out to the warfront to be closer to her. What follows is equal parts heartwarming and heartbreaking.
I loved this story so much. It was the kind of relaxing read that builds from low stakes to heart pounding action. I found myself highlighting passage after passage, and even stopping to reread them. The writing was just so beautiful. There are some hard-to-read parts. Rebecca did wonderfully to portray the gruesome aspects of war. Showing injured soldiers in the hospital was especially, the trenches, the fear when bombs are dropped, etc. But it was all necessary to the authentic setting and created so much realism.
How about the overall mechanics?
What is it that made this book SO GOOD?? The plot is on the simpler side, sure. The characters are compelling. There are definitely secrets, but nothing overly shocking. It was easy to sink into and stay immersed. I read almost the whole book in one single sitting. I just didn’t want to put it down. If I had to put my finger on one thing, it would be the originality of the story. Journalism mixed with war and fantasy. That combination was refreshing and I wanted to soak it all in.
WARNING: This book ends on a pretty significant cliff hanger. There’s a reason why Divine Rivals readers are desperate for the second book. I’m really glad I waited to read it so long, because now I only have to wait for a couple months to read the next one.
Overall, this was a spectacular YA fantasy.
𝐌𝐘 𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆: 𝟓/𝟓⭐️