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Divine Rivals
- Narrated by: Alex Wingfield, Rebecca Norfolk
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
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Publisher's summary
A LOVE STORY TO DEFY THE GODS
The epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy novel filled with hope and heartbreak from number one SUNDAY TIMES bestseller Rebecca Ross
A LOVE THAT CONQUERS ALL
Eighteen-year-old Iris dreams that one day her writing will make a difference. A war between gods is raging, and she’s landed a prestigious job at the Oath Gazette.
But at home, she’s barely holding it together. Her brother is missing on the frontline. Her mother is lost in a haze of addiction. And each night Iris pours her heart out in letters to her brother.
Letters that will never be answered. Or so she thinks…
RIVALS DRAWN TOGETHER BY INK AND MAGIC
Her letters have made their way into the hands of the last person Iris trusts: Roman Kitt, her cold, unforgiving rival at the paper. When he anonymously writes back, they forge a magical connection that will seal their fate forever.
NO GOD. NO CREATURE. NO WAR CAN COME BETWEEN THEM.
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Critic reviews
“Rich and romantic – if stories had scent, this one would smell like a mug of black tea, the ink ribbons of a typewriter, and that addictive spice called enemies to lovers." (Shelby Mahurin, New York Times bestselling author of Serpent & Dove)
"A sweeping start to a beautiful and romantic new series. Ross weaves her stories in such a vulnerable and delicate way, truly with a style all her own. I adored this book." (Adalyn Grace, New York Times bestselling author of Belladonna)
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A vicar with a passion for nature, the Reverend Albert Canning leads a happy existence with his naive wife, Hester, in their sleepy Berkshire village in the year 1911. But as the English summer dawns, the Cannings' lives are forever changed by two new arrivals: Cat, their new maid, a disaffected, free-spirited young woman sent down from London after entanglements with the law; and Robin Durrant, a leading expert in the occult, enticed by tales of elemental beings in the water meadows nearby.
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Great book!
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By: Katherine Webb
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The Traitor
- By: V.S. Alexander
- Narrated by: Christa Lewis
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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In the summer of 1942, as war rages across Europe, a series of anonymous leaflets appears around the University of Munich, speaking out against escalating Nazi atrocities. The leaflets are hidden in public places, or mailed to addresses selected at random from the phone book. Natalya Petrovich, a student, knows who is behind the leaflets - a secret group called the White Rose, led by siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl and their friends. As a volunteer nurse on the Russian front, Natalya witnessed the horrors of war first-hand. She willingly enters the White Rose's circle....
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Not all the Germans are guilty.
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By: V.S. Alexander
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Lord of the White Hell: Book One
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- By: Ginn Hale
- Narrated by: Jakobi Diem
- Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Kiram Kir-Zaki may be considered a mechanist prodigy among his own people, but when he becomes the first Haldiim ever admitted to the prestigious Sagrada Academy, he is thrown into a world where power, superstition and swordplay outweigh even the most scholarly of achievements. But when the intimidation from his Cadeleonian classmates turns bloody, Kiram unexpectedly finds himself befriended by Javier Tornesal, the leader of a group of cardsharps, duelists and lotharios who call themselves Hellions.
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#NarratorMotivated
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By: Ginn Hale
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Secrets of Nanreath Hall
- A Novel
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- Narrated by: Lauren Irwin, Laura Waddell
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Cornwall, 1940. Back in England after the harrowing evacuation at Dunkirk, WWII Red Cross nurse Anna Trenowyth is shocked to learn her adoptive parents, Graham and Prue Handley, have been killed in an air raid. She desperately needs their advice, as she's been assigned to the military hospital that has set up camp inside her biological mother's childhood home - Nanreath Hall. Anna was just six years old when her mother, Lady Katherine Trenowyth, died. All she has left are vague memories that tease her with clues she can't unravel.
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Well done both narrators and Author !
- By Andover Meadow on 09-17-16
By: Alix Rickloff
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The Book of Lost Names
- By: Kristin Harmel
- Narrated by: Madeleine Maby
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Lina Meisel, a retired librarian in Florida, is reading the newspaper one morning when she freezes. Her eyes lock on a photograph of a book she hasn’t seen in 65 years - a book she recognizes as The Book of Lost Names. The accompanying article discusses the looting of libraries by the Nazis across Europe during World War II - an experience Lina remembers well - and the search to reunite people with the texts stolen from them so long ago. The book in the photograph is one of the most fascinating cases.
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Another whiney female "heroine"
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By: Kristin Harmel
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Evergreen Falls
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A long-forgotten secret, a scandalous attraction and a place where two women's lives are changed forever. 1926: Violet Armstrong is one of the few remaining members of staff working at the grand Evergreen Spa Hotel as it closes down over winter. Only a handful of guests are left, including the heir to a rich grazing family, his sister and her suave suitor. When a snowstorm moves in, the hotel is cut off and they are all trapped. No-one could have predicted what would unfold.
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Soooo Boring
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The Secret Keeper
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- Narrated by: Caroline Lee
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- Unabridged
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England, 1959: Laurel Nicolson is 16 years old, dreaming alone in her childhood tree house during a family celebration at their home, Green Acres Farm. She spies a stranger coming up the long road to the farm and then observes her mother, Dorothy, speaking to him. And then she witnesses a crime.
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Kate Morton (and Caroline Lee) does it again!
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By: Kate Morton
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The Bungalow
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In the summer of 1942, 21 year-old Anne Calloway, newly engaged, sets off to serve in the Army Nurse Corps on the Pacific island of Bora Bora. More exhilarated by the adventure of a lifetime than she ever was by her predictable fiance, she is drawn to a mysterious soldier named Westry, and their friendship soon blossoms into hues as deep as the hibiscus flowers native to the island.
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I really enjoyed this story.
- By Mary on 07-30-12
By: Sarah Jio
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The Beholder
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- Narrated by: Emily Rankin
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- Unabridged
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Selah has waited her whole life for a happily ever after. As the only daughter of the leader of Potomac, she knows her duty is to find the perfect match. But after an excruciatingly public rejection, Selah’s stepmother suggests an unthinkable solution: Selah must set sail across the Atlantic to visit a series of potential suitors - and if she doesn’t come home engaged, she shouldn’t come home at all. From the gardens of England to the fjords of Norge, Selah’s quest will be the journey of a lifetime. But her stepmother’s schemes aren’t the only secrets hiding belowdecks.
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A hot mess
- By Whimsical Dragonette on 07-07-19
By: Anna Bright
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Call Me Zelda
- By: Erika Robuck
- Narrated by: Amy Landon
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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From New York to Paris, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald reigned as king and queen of the Jazz Age, seeming to float on champagne bubbles above the mundane cares of the world. But to those who truly knew them, the endless parties were only a distraction from their inner turmoil and from a love that united them with a scorching intensity.
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If you want to read about Zelda and Scott, move on
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By: Erika Robuck
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The Binding
- A Novel
- By: Bridget Collins
- Narrated by: Carl Prekopp
- Length: 15 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Young Emmett Farmer is working in the fields when a strange letter arrives summoning him away from his family. He is to begin an apprenticeship as a bookbinder - a vocation that arouses fear, superstition, and prejudice among their small community, but one neither he nor his parents can afford to refuse. For as long as he can recall, Emmett has been drawn to books, even though they are strictly forbidden. Bookbinding is a sacred calling, Seredith informs her new apprentice, and he is a binder born.
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Just wow
- By RUKiddingMee on 05-18-19
By: Bridget Collins
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The War Girls
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- Unabridged
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It's not just a thousand miles that separates Hanna Majewski from her younger sister, Stefa. There is another gulf—between the traditional Jewish ways that Hanna chose to leave behind in Warsaw, and her new, independent life in London. But as autumn of 1940 draws near, Germany begins a savage aerial bombing campaign in England, killing and displacing tens of thousands. Hanna, who narrowly escapes death, is recruited as a spy in an undercover operation that sends her back to her war-torn homeland.
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Courageous Sisters
- By Sara on 08-10-22
By: V. S. Alexander
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What listeners say about Divine Rivals
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- JUAN CARLOS MAROTO O
- 01-26-24
Goes downhill after the first half.
The first half of this book we’re introduced to this world, and characters without a lot of information.
The story has a lot of potential, and the first half shows it, however as you near the last few chapters the author doesn’t explain further the world or ideas. The second half seems rushed, the characters are thrown together without much explanation, *spoilers from here on out* and the war seems like an excuse to show “their undying love”.
We go from a nicely paced story to a quick resolution of problems going against the nature of the characters introduced to us. And the world around them is used as a device plot to further their romance, instead of the other way around.
Iris quickly falls for Roman, whereas a couple pages before she can’t forgive him for lying. Roman is shown as this knight in shinning armor, who’d do anything for Iris, without telling her.
Overall, this book pushed what was supposed to be the main plot (the war and Iris searching for Forest) aside in favor of a quick love story that doesn’t dwell too much on the resolution of the conflicts (Roman lying to Iris, and her forgiving him).
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- Kindle Customer
- 10-13-23
Overhyped BookTok
I am so tired of BookTok recommendations being so overhyped. Let me start by saying the book was fine. I would not normally be this inclined to leave a review of a book I thought was average if it were not for the mass rave reviews. I am adding mine for readers with similar taste who, like me, go through reviews to look for its worst criticism to decide whether they will enjoy the story or not. I will also not go into the performance which I thought was fine, too.
I read somewhere that someone called BookTok favourites "trope vehicles" and I completely agree. Most of the books I've disliked that I discovered on TikTok start with a good premise but don't execute. All I need from a book is really good character development and the ONLY books I have liked from BookTok were The Hating Game and Emily Henry's books which were able to build tension through the slow development or reveal of characters. Divine Rivals depends only on plot points to build tension. There is a TikTokker that makes skits about authors holding the characters hostage to make them do what she wants and I think this book falls into that because characters don't make decisions based on who they are (I still don't know who they are), but rather what the plot wants.
The romance plot was cute and I enjoy the idea of the magical letters (besides this and the gods, there is one early mention of magic in another situation, but that is it) and some of them made my heart skip a beat, they are so adorable. My gripe is with the insta-love aspect and lack of romantic tension. I adore "enemies to lovers" when it is done well. I love The Hating Game and Pride and Prejudice which add tension through their banter or make the MLI a bit unlikable at the beginning. I personally think dual POVs can remove tension because we know what the LI is thinking. I think this story could have benefitted from a single POV so that the requitedness of feelings at least has some tension (especially because the letters can give his POV). This "enemies to lovers" SAYS they are enemies but from the start, it is clear they are infatuated (they just don't know it yet). The narrator tells us they are bitter rivals but once again depends on plot (the competition for the same job) to be the only "show" (tension). But neither of them are actually invested in getting the job, so there goes that tension and with it the "enemies to lovers". Except for the characters sometimes mentioning that they are rivals, they spend more time missing each other and feeling things than being rivals. But, you know, enemies to lovers sells.
The next issue is probably tied to the world-building criticism. It is revealed early on that Roman is receiving her letters, so the tension now depends on his reveal. This is also resolved quite quickly once it comes out and is not really used otherwise (except for a moment in the trenches which was one of my favourite parts). We learn early on that his family has certain expectations but that is wiped away easily when the time comes and it is never really understood how or why they have those expectations. She experiences terrible loss but that is only used to get her to move on to the next plot point.
All this lack of tension and character development means that the MC makes certain decisions that make me want to punch her (a family trait, I think). The whole premise of why she stays behind is ruled out almost immediately and she risked everything for nothing, which you would think would be used for character development, but no, that would tarnish how good she is (someone else is blamed). I have nothing left to care about because she is so perfect and does not think she made any mistakes. I don't know why she makes certain decisions ("love for your brother" is not a character trait, it's supposed to be indicative of... what? Her empathy?). Her worst fear is realised in the end, but I am sure we won't see her character actually develop from it other than the narrator telling us it does. What exactly was I supposed to take from the story other than a few butterflies about a cute couple? I enjoy full-on romances that only focus on the relationship, but this story seems to want to be more without the legwork. War and death = sad. Period. So detached.
The war sub-plot is also a bit negligible. It's such a big topic with so many potential themes but it is clear that it is used as a backdrop for events to occur rather than adding to the story. Maybe it's a personal preference, but why include war in a story if it is not going to add something more than 1) occasions for the MCs to show how brave they are for showing up, 2) caring for the soldiers (off-screen), 3) creating the vehicle for the cliffhanger and 4) that's about it. If the theme is too heavy to explore, why use it? The detached tone around war wants to be the same as in Hunger Games, another YA novel with a war subplot, but that is a reflection of Katniss who is dissociating, and this MC is not supposed to be detached (I don't think). There are more hints that the war aspect was influenced by Hunger Games (I won't spoil), but again, Hunger Games is a really good example where war is used as a subplot but also as a vehicle to explore certain themes (pointlessness of war, what we do to survive, power, violence, etc.) which are additional vehicles for character development. I digress, but as someone who teaches about history, this seems to touch on WWI-like warfare too lightly for the sake of a story vehicle. Sidenote: Hunger Games is a completely different genre and not comparable, I use it to illustrate my point.
That being said, I found myself wanting to skip the scenes in battle. I felt myself getting annoyed with the scenes in the war with thoughts like "please don't tell me this is going to happen". And then it happens. Tropes and tropes without the build-up. I don't care about the war and the gods and even the soldiers because why should I? Please just get up, take your loved ones and get out of there. We are never shown why we should care except for a glimmer near the end when we realise how the "other side" have been fighting, but I've already dragged myself through those battle scenes. Unnecessary bad things are happening without my investment.
Not a criticism, but more an observation. There are some purity themes present, though the characters do have physical intimacy. The Bible is quoted (Song of Solomon) and looking back, the characters are pure romance coded. I love Sarah M. Eden, Julianne Donaldson and Annette K. Larsen (pure romance authors, I highly recommend Edenbrooke if you like this kind of romance) and have no problem with modest themes, I just have not seen anyone mention it so here it is; mentioned.
All in all, it is not a bad novel, it just lacks substance. I am also so sick of bad BookTok recommendations. I get that it is YA, but I don't think we should underdevelop something because people are younger. Even Winnie the Pooh has strong themes. So that is my personal analysis of why I was taken with the story initially but eventually disappointed.
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