A super spoilery review about the ending to a wonderful duology by bestselling author Rebecca Ross
Hello and Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend celebrating the new year however you so chose. I spent mine at home with my wonderful family watching a Harry Potter marathon as the clock struck midnight. But now it is back to reality as the kiddos get ready to head back to school this week, and I get back into the grind.
I’m back with a review of Rebecca Ross’s second and final entry in the Letters of Enchantment series, “Ruthless Vows.” I read the first one, “Divine Rivals,” last summer and loved it, so I was (im)patiently counting down the days until this one came out. (December took forever to get here, I swear.) When it finally did, it was one of those rare moments for me where I couldn’t wait until the library had it for me to check out, so I used some of my Christmas money and bought both “Divine Rivals” and “Ruthless Vows” to enjoy at my leisure. A great choice for me; I devoured “Ruthless Vows” in two days.
I’m going to give a quick synopsis of the book, so not only will there be spoilers for “Ruthless Vows,” I’ll be talking about events that occurred in “Divine Rivals” as well, so it’s best if I put a big bold SPOILERS AHEAD warning here.
The book begins two weeks after the events of “Divine Rivals.” Bombs drop on Avalon Bluff, which is the location our main characters Roman and Iris were staying, covering the war as correspondents for their local newspaper back home. As they try to escape, Roman and Iris get separated, and as Iris manages to flee the city, Roman is believed to be dead. But Iris knows better; she and Roman are in love, and she would know if he died. Holding on to that hope, she returns home from the front and begins work on finding Roman once again.
Roman is, in fact, alive, but at a deep cost. The god Dacre found him moments from death in the fields outside of Avalon Bluff, and he saves Roman’s life. Roman is now a soldier for Dacre, using his strengths as a war correspondent to write articles that shed a good light on the god, even though there is nothing good about him. Roman does not know the severity of the war, for during Dacre’s healing, he took Roman’s memories from him – including all he knew about Iris and his love for her.
Now on opposite sides of the war, it is only a matter of time before everything comes to a head. Will the power of love reunite Roman and Iris once more, or will the war tear them apart forever?
Let me tell ya: I waited six months for this bad boy, and it delivered. The love story between Roman and Iris captivated me from the start. It also helps that I’m a sucker for the trope from which their love blossomed: enemies/rivals to lovers. The first book forced them to work together during a time of war, eventually leading to their feelings for each other growing into love. The second book tore them apart, leaving two broken hearts in its wake. (Well, one broken heart, one heart that is technically broken but doesn’t know it yet.)
The writing is lovely; beautifully written and with such poetry it made me feel the longing between these two, like it was about to burst off the page. They were each heroes in their own right, but it amazingly felt realistic in this fantasy world filled with magic and gods. They were still merely humans, caught up in a war between gods, yet they did all they could possibly do to finally end it.
I tore through the moments when Roman and Iris finally laid eyes on each other again. I’m a fast reader so in those instances I had to flip back and read them again. (Not that I minded!) I was worried about these two the entire time; I know it’s a story about war, I just knew something terrible was going to happen and I was afraid it was going to happen to Roman and Iris. In the end, they manage to survive and find each other for the last time, but there was sadness and heartbreak surrounding them in the end.
I loved how the author managed to incorporate the magic of the typewriters throughout this book, similar to the first one. While I did not enjoy the way Roman had to use his typewriter, I greatly enjoyed how Iris was able to reach him through the letters in the wardrobe, and how Roman didn’t understand what was going on, but responded anyway. His head may not have known, but his heart did.
I was stressed as all hell for these two, and that’s exactly how it was supposed to be. The ending was a balm, and I was so glad the author added an epilogue of them just living their lives; Iris tending to her garden and Roman writing his book. A dream. I was grinning so hard. (Can’t you tell I was pretty invested?)
Side Characters: Attie is my girl, and as heartbroken as I would’ve been if something happened to Roman or Iris (like, it would’ve wrecked me), I would’ve thrown hands for Attie. The author builds up this relationship between Attie and a new character, Tobias. Tobias is Iris and Attie’s driver, and he also delivers messages and packages to different towns when need be. I loved how Rebecca Ross wrote these two; it was so subtle, yet as a romance reader I saw it. There was chemistry between them the moment they met. Since the story was written in Iris and Roman’s POV, the reader didn’t get too in-depth a glimpse into Attie and Tobias’s lives and minds, but even on the outskirts you could see it. Adorable, but also dangerous in the war-torn climate they lived in. Honestly would love some sort of short story or novella about the two of them growing closer throughout the course of “Ruthless Vows.” Um, hey Rebecca…?
Forest grew on me in this book; granted he was barely in the first book since he was missing, presumed dead, he was the reason Iris and Roman separated due to Forest grabbing hold of Iris and getting her out of Avalon Bluff, leaving Roman behind. But in this book I could feel the love he had for his sister and their relationship was sweet. Plus there was yet another bonus romance between Forest and Sarah. We barely got to see it; they got together off-page and Iris only saw them together a few times before everything went to shit, but it was nice to see someone taking a chance on Forest (who obviously had extreme PTSD from the war) and helping him through things. Sarah was a sweet girl for that.
Forest and Sarah’s deaths were sad, however; I was mostly heartbroken for Iris and the loss of her brother. She went to the front in the first book to try and find him, and after everything he went through, he finally gets home only for him and his girlfriend to be killed by a bomb in the middle of his hometown. Gut-wrenching, and made me so angry at the city for not doing more for it’s people. For the Chancellor to side with the god Dacre and expect him to not murder everyone in Oath. I had to re-read that part because I was like, “Wait, no, Forest didn’t just die, did he?” Yes, past Monica, he did.
Overall, I gave this a 5 out of 5 stars. It had everything I wanted: romance, magic, tropes, pain and longing and love. My heart was full and content by the end of it. (Even if my nerves were frayed during the whole damn thing.)
“Ruthless Vows” is available now, so definitely check it out if you haven’t yet! But if you’re new to the duology, (which I hope not, since you just read this spoiler-filled blog) be sure to check out “Divine Rivals” first, otherwise you’ll be lost!
If you’ve already read “Ruthless Vows,” how was it? Loved it? Hated it? Have feelings about it? Let me know in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you! Again, Happy New Year everyone!
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