Divine Rivals

I'll be honest--I hated the ending of this book. But I realize it's a duology, and sometimes those are just meant to be heart-rending, awful cliffhangers. The writing is absolutely breathtaking and completely pulled me into this world. I loved the main characters so much, and their romance was just perfection (minus the ending, haha). And the love letters? THE LOVE LETTERS.

Two people joined by magical typewriters - what a premise to start with! And it was well executed too.

I particularly appreciated that this story took place with the backdrop of a look-a-like World War II Britain but the war that wages is that between two powerful gods.

I loved the uniqueness of this storyline and the combination of magic being an accepted everyday thing in a historical world. Think old-world 1940s newspaper era meets World War 2 and manipulative Gods, with threads of magic woven throughout.

I absolutely adored the idea of rare typewriters linked by magic that can send missives to each other and the beautiful and rich enemies-to-lovers trope that develops around the typewriters. Its cute You’ve Got Mail vibe was beautifully executed in a story and world that I loved to step into.

I’m a fickle fantasy reader. I like the fantastical elements light and the world-building grounded and accessible. When I picked up Divine Rivals, I wasn’t sure about a war between Gods with mythical creatures and magic typewriters. From the first chapter, I could tell this story wasn’t going to lose me in fantasy.

Iris Winnow and Roman Kitt are the classic enemies-to-lovers, at first competing for a coveted journalism position but develop into brave, emotional characters who fall madly in love. And I fell in love with them. The writing is beautiful, the characters extremely well developed, and it… show more.