Ruthless Vows

Letters of Enchantment, Book 2

By: Rebecca Ross

Narrated by: Alex Wingfield, Rebecca Norfolk

Length: 14 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books.

©2024 Rebecca Ross (P)2024 Macmillan Audio

Action packed the entire time

I finished both Divine Rivals and Ruthless Vows in about 24 hrs total time. I was super lucky in that I finished book 1 yesterday and book 2 just magically released today! 🤣 This was such a good story of a fictional war from the perspective of news journalists. Highly recommend! I had lots of butterflies in my stomach, I cried, and I feel like the ending was realistic to this world. I'm really glad I bought this series, so I can reread!

My heart!

This book is beautifully written, almost like a poem. I loved it and loved the story. The voice actors did an amazing job!

adorable romantasy

perfection, cuteness.
I still believe this is a wonderful magical retelling of You've Got Mail 📬

great naration and continuation of book 1

I swooned over this book

I loved everything about this. I laughed, I screamed, I gasped and I cried!! Beautiful ending. Beautifully written.

Beautiful Writing

The writing was so beautiful and magical! I was crying happy and sad tears along the way. ❤️

Repetition of phrases/word choices

I enjoyed the first book immensely as an audiobook. This one lives up narration wise, but story-wise I was rather disappointed. Beware, spoilers below:

I could’ve believed that Shane was unable to destroy the other typewriter. I could believe he had been secretly collecting the letters all along. I found it hard to believe he happened to search loose floorboards and stashes of letters.

It was little things like this throughout the story that frustrated me. What was the purpose of giving Roman the wrong typewriter? I feel like I missed something there.

Enva felt incredibly hands off and just mentioned, and even when she was present, she wasn’t. Not really. She felt almost pointless. A pointless god, existing merely to antagonize another god.

There is so much telling rather than showing in the author’s writing style. I was able to ignore it with the first book but given this was to wrap up the series I was surprised.

There was no acknowledgement that Val died, barely by Iris and certainly not by Dacre. Was he even aware his associate died? Why didn’t he question when the man never appeared with iris in tow? Again, did I just miss it, or was it never there?

Overall, it’s a decent story, but not worth the two books. I feel like more could have been fleshed out with the narrative across the board.

Repetition of certain phrases and words (this book it was evanescence, previously and here again, it was “startled”. I’ve seen started and startled in other books but here it was always startled, and never felt quite right when it was being used.

In a way I feel like I was cheated out of a story. Like I wasn’t being told a story about the story, rather than reading/hearing it first hand. It’s such a frustrating feeling to get as a reader. I want to experience the story with the characters. I don’t want to be told they experienced these things and then move on. I want to pause and feel just as traumatized as the characters are supposed to feel, to be left thinking about things long after I’m done reading.

And while this review may sound like I didn’t enjoy myself, I did. I finished it, which is more than can be said for other stories lately. I just feel like there could’ve been so much more than what was shown and I hope as Rebecca continues to write, she begins to dive more into showing, rather than telling the stories she has.

love the narration and story

this is a fantastic sequel and ending to an amazing first book! it is well written and they kept the same fantastic narrators.

A Stunning Work of Art!

Loved everything about this book. Once again, the narration was brilliant! One of the best books I’ve read and listened to by far! This applies to book 1 as well!

An amazing sequel!

A wonderful follow-up to Divine Rivals. Sequels often leave me disappointed, but not in this case at all. Absolutely loved the narration, the pacing of the story, the characters. It's all so, so good!

Heart wrenchingly beautiful

I really enjoyed the first book Divine Rivals. I was nervous about how this book would continue the story. I am pleased to say that Ruthless Vows was even better than the first book. At the end I cried from joy and sadness. This story will stick with my for a while.