Book 1: Divine Rivals
This one started slow for me. I wasn't sure how I felt about it for the first part of the book. I became a little uninterested in the mundane details of Iris and Roman. Their competition for columnist seemed to slow things down and I felt it swayed the story from the main plot a little too much. As the story went on though, it did seem to be more contributing than I first gave it credit for.
I did enjoy the intensity of the story as it progressed. The relationship between Iris and Roman matured and collided with itself in ways I didn’t necessarily see coming. The romantic notes of the story shifted to the forefront, which I enjoyed. I loved watching their love story blossom. However, I felt like we then lost more of the fantasy pieces of the story. I have really enjoyed fantasy novels as of recent, so I think I was hoping for more of that. There was also a big reunion towards the end, but was not at all what I expected. In fact, I felt it was very uneventful and my heart broke because it meant Iris and Roman separating.
Stay tuned for my notes as I progress into book two of this series.
Book 2: Ruthless Vows
Ok, I’ll admit it. Rebecca did a fantastic job with this one. As I progressed into this one, I was not very excited. Book 1 did not satisfy what I was hoping for so I was hesitant to keep going. But this one was a great conclusion to the series.
There was a whole lot more fantasy ebbed into this one compared to the first book. I could easily envision many parts of this story, and I loved it. One particular part, first when Roman is in the Under World and then when Iris is, that sticks out is the smells! My own nose wrinkled at the descriptions and all I was doing was reading the way Rebecca describes it. So A+ on that part. There were so many other descriptions in this book that got me too, so I felt like I was in the world versus reading it.
Of course, there is the romance aspect of this series. In Ruthless Vows, Rebecca drags this love story across the fiery coals. There was spiciness, tenderness and passion, but Roman and Iris had moments of pure heartbreak too. They fought so hard to be together and being themselves back together during the war, but in the end, their wishes are granted and Rebecca tied it together in the sweetest of ways.
4 ⭐️s!