BOOK REVIEW: Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross

Book Reviews Books

Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross

A book review by Mina

Ruthless Vows follows the events of the first book, Divine Rivals, and is the last book in
the Letters of Enchantment Duology. Two weeks have passed since Iris has returned home from
the front. Roman is missing and Oath, the city, continues to support Dacre in the war between
gods. When Iris and Attie are given the opportunity to spy on Dacre’s whereabouts, they both
take the opportunity, knowing the risks. Roman, on the other hand, wakes in Dacre’s realm with
memory loss. All he is told to do is to write articles for Dacre, but a letter arrives by wardrobe
door. Initially suspicious, he strikes up a response. As Roman and the other writer continue to
correspond, Roman has to make a choice on whether Dacre is the right side of the war.
Having waited a year for the second book to come out, I found that Ross did a great job
of reminding her readers where her book left off. I quickly picked up the plot, even though her
world-building is a tad intricate. Initially starting out as an academic-rivals-to-lovers, I found
Iris’s and Roman’s romance to be well-developed. Ross left it off at a good point in the first book
to be able to further develop their relationship without their romance moving too fast. The
romance was gradual and well-paced. I found their love to be tender and unwavering. Besides
the romance, I found the book to be pretty well-paced until the very end. The pacing is very even
and moved very gradually with the books being pretty action-packed. The world building was
amazing and simple; it didn’t need to be overcomplicated to be magical. The magical and fantasy
aspects were focused more on the second and the first, and I enjoyed that angle, especially since
the first book was a build-up to the second one. Additionally, I loved that this series was only
two books; it was the perfect amount for the plot and the necessary character development. My
only qualms with this book were towards the end, the plot was a little messy with a lot of luck. I
found the ending to be a little anticlimactic with some wasted potential. Overall, I found this
series to be an easy read with very lovely characters. I fell in love with world-building and found
it enjoyable to pick up the second book. I would recommend this book for readers who want
fantasy read with light world-building with a romance-centered read. This book is magical and
beautiful. This book reaches a wide variety of audiences!