Name: Sina Meier's review of Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross
Item: Ruthless Vows
Rating: 5
Author: Sina Meier

Rebecca Ross

The epic conclusion to the intensely romantic and beautifully written story that started in Divine Rivals.

Two weeks have passed since Iris Winnow returned home bruised and heartbroken from the front, but the war is far from over. Roman is missing, and the city of Oath continues to dwell in a state of disbelief and ignorance. When Iris and Attie are given another chance to report on Dacre’s movements, they both take the opportunity and head westward once more despite the danger, knowing it’s only a matter of time before the conflict reaches a city that’s unprepared and fracturing beneath the chancellor’s reign.

Since waking below in Dacre’s realm, Roman cannot remember his past. But given the reassurance that his memories will return in time, Roman begins to write articles for Dacre, uncertain of his place in the greater scheme of the war. When a strange letter arrives by wardrobe door, Roman is first suspicious, then intrigued. As he strikes up a correspondence with his mysterious pen pal, Roman will soon have to make a decision: to stand with Dacre or betray the god who healed him. And as the days grow darker, inevitably drawing Roman and Iris closer together…the two of them will risk their very hearts and futures to change the tides of the war.

Ruthless Vows

alexys <3

And that, he had come to realize, was when his best words emerged.

Hannah Nugent

“Sometimes,” Iris began, “ I don’t think we know what we’re made of until the worst moment possible happens. Then we must decide who we truly are and what is most important to us. I think we’re often surprised by what we become.”

She was broken by what could have been. By what now would never be.

Iris stared at them as if they were strangers, unable to fathom what she was seeing Her brother, bruised almost beyond recognition. He had shielded Sarah with his body, but it hadn't been enough. The heap of rubble had killed them both, hands entwined.

They would never breathe again. They would never laugh and argue and grow old together. 

"Oh, I would betray you a hundredfold," he said, his voice rising. "I would betray you a thousandfold for her."

“I betrayed you because I love Iris Elizabeth Winnow;" Roman continued smoothly, as if he hadn't heard Dacre's taunt. "She represents all that is good in this realm, and your attack on Hawk Shire, simply put, threatened her.“

To write the story they both wanted that night.

“Write me a story where there is no ending, Kitt. Write to me and fill my empty spaces." 

"Did you think I would let him tell me when and how to touch you?" Roman's voice was hoarse as he traced her jaw with his lips. "Did you think that I would let him steal this last moment from me? When I would surrender only to you, take you in my hands, and burn with you before the end comes?"

"Will you go back for her?" he asked next, unable to hide the way his voice shook. "Will you go back for my wife?"

“Don’t worry about Miss Winnie. She’s a smart girl.”

!” Roman hissed. “My wife is in that crowd!” 

There was a flash through the windows, followed by an ear-splitting boom that Roman felt in his chest like his heart had torn free. 

He sank to his knees before her, his hands touching those tender marks on her skin. They told him she was strong and brave, but also that she was 

. Their souls weren't mirrors but complements, constellations that burned side by side. 

He wove his fingers into Iris's hair and brought his mouth down to hers.

PS.A final note written by my future self, because I know I will be feeling this as I walk away from you: gods, you looked gorgeous at tea. I would like to take you to all the places you love most in the city, and then beyond. Think about them. Make me a list. We'll go anywhere you want to. We'll go together when the war is over.

Roman heard Iris’ voice in his memory. 

I find that I am leaning more on the side of impossibility these days. l am leaning toward the edge of magic.

Her words grounded him. He envisioned Iris typing by candlelight, as if she were his gravity.

I would love to see your words catch fire with mine.

Agreed. Let us dare to change the tides. Write to me and fill my empty spaces. 

I know we are no longer rivals, but if we are keeping tally like the old days, you have far outshined* me with your wit and your courage. Which reminds me of one simple thing: how I love to lose to you. How I love to read your words and hear the thoughts that sharpen your mind. And how I would love to be on my knees before you now, surrendering to you and you alone.

Even then, may I find your soul still sworn to mine. 

A shiver coursed through him as he looked up at the moon and the stars. 

"Look at me." His voice was pitched low. Confident and compelling, the way he had sounded before the war had come between them. "I’ll find you again when the time is right. I swear it."

That hand was terribly familiar; she would have known it was him touching her, even if her eyes had been closed.

The recognition tore through him like a bullet, and Roman new he wa awake and lucid, even as he stood face-to-face with a dream.

Let me be your secret, then. Tuck my words into your pocket. Let them be your armor.

Elspeth calcraft

Sina Meier

Great for passing the time and spending seven hours deep cleaning your room because you found moths elsewhere in the house. Still convinced that the fantasy setting is because Ross, for whatever reason, did not feel confident enough or did not want to set the novel during WWI / WWII (please refer to my notes on the comparison with Katherine Arden's "The Warm Hands of Ghosts"), but whatever. The "romance" in "romantasy" comes before the "fantasy" for a reason. Also stil deeply confused by the pacing, though I am glas that at least we did not stretch this novel into two, but I still feel like there could have been a little bit more meat added to the plot. But I guess if neither of those things bothered the reader in the first one, they wouldn't bother them in this one either.

So boring I read the first half and then skipped to the last 3 chapters just to see how it ended

Ella Williams

Disappointing :(

So boring I read the first half and then skipped to the last 3 chapters just to see how it ended

A perfectly romantic tale to follow up Divine Rivals. All of the ends wrapped up nicely and I loved getting to see Iris and Roman’s story come to a conclusion. While I did enjoy the first book a bit more, this one was still a worthwhile read.

One of my favourite parts of this series has been the absolutely enchanting quality of writing. Rebecca Ross is a master of magical vibes and every word seems to be hand picked to fit the tone of the story. I love it so much because there is never a moment in these books where an odd word out throws you from the story.

What I didn’t love so much about this one was the pacing. It felt a little bit dragged out and lacked the tension that the first novel had. Still very interesting, just didn’t have me absolutely on the edge of my seat. Overall, a nice conclusion to the Letters of Enchantment

Alissa 

A perfectly romantic tale to follow up Divine Rivals. All of the ends wrapped up nicely and I loved getting to see Iris and Roman’s story come to a conclusion. While I did enjoy the first book a bit more, this one was still a worthwhile read.

One of my favourite parts of this series has been the absolutely enchanting quality of writing. Rebecca Ross is a master of magical vibes and every word seems to be hand picked to fit the tone of the story. I love it so much because there is never a moment in these books where an odd word out throws you from the story.

What I didn’t love so much about this one was the pacing. It felt a little bit dragged out and lacked the tension that the first novel had. Still very interesting, just didn’t have me absolutely on the edge of my seat. Overall, a nice conclusion to the Letters of Enchantment

౨ৎ | ’i would love to see your words catch fire with mine.’

the way roman was falling in love with her all over again even though he had no idea who she was. was so fucking cute. i almost cried. 

the ending was chefs kiss and now i want a novella of iris and roman so, SO bad

౨ৎ | ’i would love to see your words catch fire with mine.’

— ★ 5/5

the way roman was falling in love with her all over again even though he had no idea who she was. was so fucking cute. i almost cried. 

the ending was chefs kiss and now i want a novella of iris and roman so, SO bad

reread count: ll

i ate this up i need a novella of roman and iris just being together oh my god 

"I don't think we know what we're made of until the worst moment possible happens. Then we must decide who we truly are and what is most important to us. I think we're often surprised by what we become."

This book was lovely, but unfortunately a bit of a disappointment, and I am SO sad to say that. Divine Rivals was one of my top reads in 2023 - I absolutely adored that book, couldn't put it down and dreamed about it after I had finished it. But Ruthless Vows didn't hit the same way unfortunately. Maybe that's because I waited so long to read the sequel after the first one, but I refreshed my memory before starting it so I don't think that was the issue. I think the issue is that this book didn't have the same magical quality to it, I didn't feel as connected to the characters as I did in the first book and everything just felt more lacklustre than I was hoping for. The craft of the writing was still absolutely beautiful, the lyrical prose and the poetic quotes were still there in abundance, and there were moments where my heart hurt with what was happening to Iris and Roman - but the rest of the time I just felt... meh. This book took me 11 days to finish and I had to drag myself through parts which I wasn't prepared for after how I flew through Divine Rivals.

I don't want to just compare it to the first book, but I think the emotional cliff hanger we were left on at the end of Divine Rivals made me think the next book would continue on with that high strung tension, I expected to dive straight into this book still riding that wild wave but instead we were thrust back into the mundanity of Iris' life back at the Inkridden Tribune in Oath. We didn't really get to see Iris have any sort of breakdown over the trauma she experienced and the heartbreak she was feeling about their separation, I mean, she just watched Roman get attacked and gassed, and had no way of knowing if he was even alive. Her reaction to this felt a bit superficial and I think we needed more of that deep emotional internal monologue from Iris to really feel the full impact of what she went through. I also think this book was dragged out a bit too much, it took us almost 100 pages for Iris to find a way to contact Roman and then concoct a plan to get closer to him, and then another 200 pages for the real action to begin. Iris and Roman hardly got to spend any time together and I just didn't feel their desperation as vividly as I did in the first book. Then at the end, their reunion felt rushed, the time jumps to the epilogue were very cute but they were too quickly tacked on the end as if in an afterthought.

The introduction of the gods is what threw me off as well, because I wasn't expecting them to be so... human. 

>>>SPOILER: Dacre used his divine powers to create a puppet army, wiping the minds of the opponents soldiers he harmed during the war and then half-healed them to keep them subservient to him - which is an absolutely terrifying premise. But then the Dacre on page didn't live up to the terrifying powerful twisted actions he had wrought. He wasn't particularly threatening or scary, he was described as otherworldly beautiful but he didn't feel very charming or awe-inspiring, he was just sort of... there. I mean, when he got shot at in one of the towns he simply ducked out of the way behind the car and ran with his lieutenant to hide!? That sounds so... weak, I don't know. And Enva, while she sounded ethereal and kind, she had literally just killed all of the gods apart from Dacre and everyone who learned of this just shrugged and went "good for her" instead of being terrified or wowed by a divinity that is wreaking war upon the land and killing other gods in the process. The fact that her absorbing the other gods powers left her weaker instead of stronger just didn't work for me.<<<END SPOILER

 I think part of the magic in Divine Rivals was the fact that the god were this imminent unknown force that was threatening them, the eithrals were terrifying wyvern creatures from the underworld, and that tension and fear just didn't follow through into the second book, in my opinion. The gods felt so easily beatable and that disappointed me. Their backstory also didn't feel particularly fleshed out, the world building in both of these books was really the weakest part of it and I truly do think Rebecca Ross relied to heavily on the historical-esque setting, so we were expected to fill in the blanks with real world knowledge.

I've said a lot of negative things about this book but there was quite a bit to like as well. Iris' found family with Attie, Tobias, Sarah and her brother was really lovely, I enjoyed seeing the way they all worked together and had undying support for each other. It was nice to see Marisol and Keegan again and I am glad they were safely reunited. I did think the side characters were a little bit one dimensional in some ways, sadly, but it was lovely to see their adventures. The way Roman basically fell in love with Iris a second time as his memories slowly came back to him through their magical type writers was so poetic, and yet again, I am a sucker for a book that includes sending letters to each other and falling in love with someone's words. Overall, this was a nice book, it was good in a lot of ways but unfortunately felt like a let down compared to the brilliance and magic of the first book. I'm glad I read it, and I think this story is so sweet, but this didn't live up to the hype or my dreams of this being a full five star duology. But it is still worth a read, in my opinion, just don't expect too much I guess.

Genevieve 

"I don't think we know what we're made of until the worst moment possible happens. Then we must decide who we truly are and what is most important to us. I think we're often surprised by what we become."

4 ⭐

This book was lovely, but unfortunately a bit of a disappointment, and I am SO sad to say that. Divine Rivals was one of my top reads in 2023 - I absolutely adored that book, couldn't put it down and dreamed about it after I had finished it. But Ruthless Vows didn't hit the same way unfortunately. Maybe that's because I waited so long to read the sequel after the first one, but I refreshed my memory before starting it so I don't think that was the issue. I think the issue is that this book didn't have the same magical quality to it, I didn't feel as connected to the characters as I did in the first book and everything just felt more lacklustre than I was hoping for. The craft of the writing was still absolutely beautiful, the lyrical prose and the poetic quotes were still there in abundance, and there were moments where my heart hurt with what was happening to Iris and Roman - but the rest of the time I just felt... meh. This book took me 11 days to finish and I had to drag myself through parts which I wasn't prepared for after how I flew through Divine Rivals.

I don't want to just compare it to the first book, but I think the emotional cliff hanger we were left on at the end of Divine Rivals made me think the next book would continue on with that high strung tension, I expected to dive straight into this book still riding that wild wave but instead we were thrust back into the mundanity of Iris' life back at the Inkridden Tribune in Oath. We didn't really get to see Iris have any sort of breakdown over the trauma she experienced and the heartbreak she was feeling about their separation, I mean, she just watched Roman get attacked and gassed, and had no way of knowing if he was even alive. Her reaction to this felt a bit superficial and I think we needed more of that deep emotional internal monologue from Iris to really feel the full impact of what she went through. I also think this book was dragged out a bit too much, it took us almost 100 pages for Iris to find a way to contact Roman and then concoct a plan to get closer to him, and then another 200 pages for the real action to begin. Iris and Roman hardly got to spend any time together and I just didn't feel their desperation as vividly as I did in the first book. Then at the end, their reunion felt rushed, the time jumps to the epilogue were very cute but they were too quickly tacked on the end as if in an afterthought.

The introduction of the gods is what threw me off as well, because I wasn't expecting them to be so... human. 
>>>SPOILER: Dacre used his divine powers to create a puppet army, wiping the minds of the opponents soldiers he harmed during the war and then half-healed them to keep them subservient to him - which is an absolutely terrifying premise. But then the Dacre on page didn't live up to the terrifying powerful twisted actions he had wrought. He wasn't particularly threatening or scary, he was described as otherworldly beautiful but he didn't feel very charming or awe-inspiring, he was just sort of... there. I mean, when he got shot at in one of the towns he simply ducked out of the way behind the car and ran with his lieutenant to hide!? That sounds so... weak, I don't know. And Enva, while she sounded ethereal and kind, she had literally just killed all of the gods apart from Dacre and everyone who learned of this just shrugged and went "good for her" instead of being terrified or wowed by a divinity that is wreaking war upon the land and killing other gods in the process. The fact that her absorbing the other gods powers left her weaker instead of stronger just didn't work for me.<<<END SPOILER
 I think part of the magic in Divine Rivals was the fact that the god were this imminent unknown force that was threatening them, the eithrals were terrifying wyvern creatures from the underworld, and that tension and fear just didn't follow through into the second book, in my opinion. The gods felt so easily beatable and that disappointed me. Their backstory also didn't feel particularly fleshed out, the world building in both of these books was really the weakest part of it and I truly do think Rebecca Ross relied to heavily on the historical-esque setting, so we were expected to fill in the blanks with real world knowledge.

I've said a lot of negative things about this book but there was quite a bit to like as well. Iris' found family with Attie, Tobias, Sarah and her brother was really lovely, I enjoyed seeing the way they all worked together and had undying support for each other. It was nice to see Marisol and Keegan again and I am glad they were safely reunited. I did think the side characters were a little bit one dimensional in some ways, sadly, but it was lovely to see their adventures. The way Roman basically fell in love with Iris a second time as his memories slowly came back to him through their magical type writers was so poetic, and yet again, I am a sucker for a book that includes sending letters to each other and falling in love with someone's words. Overall, this was a nice book, it was good in a lot of ways but unfortunately felt like a let down compared to the brilliance and magic of the first book. I'm glad I read it, and I think this story is so sweet, but this didn't live up to the hype or my dreams of this being a full five star duology. But it is still worth a read, in my opinion, just don't expect too much I guess.

liked the first one better. this was forgettable and felt lackluster as a final book in a duology. i thought it was random that iris was the ONLY one en a wanted to kill dacre??? like that teenage girl is a writer not a fighter. it just didn’t match up honestly but it was decent 

ariana :)

Amazing (as always). Writing style that is out of this world and so poetic, literally fell in love with this world all over again but I do think that first book was definitely better. Especially from a romance perspective, the fact that the concept of the letter with one side not knowing the other's identity felt repetitive, but one another hand the way Rebecca Ross explores the mythical divines' story is so interesting and how everything surrounding works, but the ending really intrigued me and I'm curious to understand futher what this could mean for the story, but something that really annoyed me how forest's death was passed so fast, as if Iris didn't care for him even though he's the main and only reason she decided to go to the front the first time and report from there. So for his death to be passed over in a two chapters was really strange to me and it felt weird. But maybe that's just me and I guess it was the end of the book so Rebecca Ross had to end the book somehow but I still think that forest and sarah were overlooked and the whole metaphorical perspective about how this book started with Iris looking for her brother and it ends with her losing him, it's a very visible parallel to the hunger games' last book mockingjay when Prim died after being the whole reasoning for Katniss to volunteer as tribute in the first book which lead off to a big chain of event but, still ended with Prim dead, either way would I recommend this book? A hundred percent. It contributes so much to the stories and main characters along side some side characters (TOBIAS AND ATTIEE)

Salma

Amazing (as always). Writing style that is out of this world and so poetic, literally fell in love with this world all over again but I do think that first book was definitely better. Especially from a romance perspective, the fact that the concept of the letter with one side not knowing the other's identity felt repetitive, but one another hand the way Rebecca Ross explores the mythical divines' story is so interesting and how everything surrounding works, but the ending really intrigued me and I'm curious to understand futher what this could mean for the story, but something that really annoyed me how forest's death was passed so fast, as if Iris didn't care for him even though he's the main and only reason she decided to go to the front the first time and report from there. So for his death to be passed over in a two chapters was really strange to me and it felt weird. But maybe that's just me and I guess it was the end of the book so Rebecca Ross had to end the book somehow but I still think that forest and sarah were overlooked and the whole metaphorical perspective about how this book started with Iris looking for her brother and it ends with her losing him, it's a very visible parallel to the hunger games' last book mockingjay when Prim died after being the whole reasoning for Katniss to volunteer as tribute in the first book which lead off to a big chain of event but, still ended with Prim dead, either way would I recommend this book? A hundred percent. It contributes so much to the stories and main characters along side some side characters (TOBIAS AND ATTIEE)

Over all 4.5 stars read

Unpopular opinion: I prefer the second over the first book of the letters of enchantment duology.

After freshly completing the book and breathing in the acknowledgements (hidden jewels) I can only praise the author. 

Not only the storyline and the complexity of the protagonist and secondary characters but the way she puts magic in to her words. Honestly, she got me crying over a side character, who's actions i dont sympahyse with.

Furthermore, i like how the gods who symbolise good and evil aren't following the classical archetypes and the book doesn't skip to the epilogue after the great war is won. (I want to discuss the Graveyard with a fellow history-obsessed reader)

And at last, how Iris and Roman find each other again. Mr. "How I love to loose to you."

Honorable mention: The Albatross by Taylor Swift. The book was published more than 3 months before The Anthology??

Nina May

Unpopular opinion: I prefer the second over the first book of the letters of enchantment duology.

After freshly completing the book and breathing in the acknowledgements (hidden jewels) I can only praise the author. 

Not only the storyline and the complexity of the protagonist and secondary characters but the way she puts magic in to her words. Honestly, she got me crying over a side character, who's actions i dont sympahyse with.

Furthermore, i like how the gods who symbolise good and evil aren't following the classical archetypes and the book doesn't skip to the epilogue after the great war is won. (I want to discuss the Graveyard with a fellow history-obsessed reader)

And at last, how Iris and Roman find each other again. Mr. "How I love to loose to you."

Honorable mention: The Albatross by Taylor Swift. The book was published more than 3 months before The Anthology??

I’m not gonna lie i cant remember what i rated divine rival but this book for sure is a 5 star. I am so in love with iris and rowan. 

Stella 💫

Absolutely amazing book! Full of everything you could ever want. 

Charlotte Osborne 

as someone who absolutely loved DR & kittwinnow, i feel really disappointed with how this sequel turned out :( i wish i loved it just as much as i love DR but it just really fell flat for me :( i disliked how the focus was shifted from the characters to the war between gods plot (which was v weak imo), and it feels like it has lost all the magic that made me love the first book. i still love the writing; rebecca ross's words will always be dear to me. but i really feel like the enchantment and the connection and the wonder of divine rivals have been taken away from me... i feel absolutely disheartened while writing this review tbh T__T

chel

the last third of this book quite literally almost completely ruined it 

Cici Pearson

I found this book to be disappointed compared to the first and I think the climax was too quick and not satisfying.

Jeweliet Coffee

3.5 stars. I enjoyed it and the book definitely kept me on my toes, but everything just felt very predictable and easily convenient at the end.

Quinnie

I liked it but while i was reading i felt like it was a draco malfoy fan fiction from wattpad but much more better and detailed. The first one was better but it’s worth reading it!

irina

Romantic and heart breaking but in the best way possible. Truly did not think I was going to love this series but it was such a shot to the heart. Had my heart going a million miles an hour 

Monserrat Navarro 

This was a really fun duet. The writing was amazing and I think it was beautifully done. This one was a bit slower and more about the war politics than the romance from Divine Rivals. But it was still so good. I really liked the progression of the story and is crazy to think how all of this happened in such a short period of time. I really like the characters and think they were written well-rounded which only added to the story. I highly recommend this duet if you haven’t read it yet. 

Priscilla Stanfield

What a great follow up from an amazing first book. I love every character. I genuinely cared about what happened to them. The villain was so well written, and the plot was crisp to the very end. A definite reread.

Sarah Campbell

Joselly Williams 

this book broke my heart and healed it SEVERAL TIMES i wish i could experience reading this for the first time again

I liked this one more than the first! It had a great storyline and gave a lot better picture of how supernatural fit into the story. 

Amanda 

I found this book to be more entertaining than Divine Rivals.  Especially in the 2nd half of of the story, the pacing picked up, and the events became more dire, and there was more intrigue.  I enjoyed the  cast of characters and the way the tension built through to the end of the story.   I do think the duology would have been better if the relationship between Winnow and Kitt and not been so prevalent.  This is my personal bias.  If you enjoy romantacy, you will really like both of these books the way they are. 

Elspeth calcraft &
Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross

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Elspeth calcraft &Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross

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Elspeth calcraft &
Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross