rebecca ross

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Since 2020, I have read so many amazing books (as well as some absolutely unhinged ones, but that’s for another blog post). These are my absolute, not just five-star books, but I wish I could give them six, seven, ten star books. These are MUST READS!

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow

Groundhog day x King Arthur, in the most heartbreaking way. Alix E. Harrow is one of my favorite authors, and this is, in my opinion, her best work yet.
Read my review here.

The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir

I will never stop talking about The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir. I cried my way through Gideon the Ninth, and have spent every day since finishing Nona checking to see if there are any announcements for Alecto. I have reread these a few times, now, and will probably do another re-read this year!

The Broken Earth series by N.K. Jemison

The first time I read The Fifth Season, I was awestruck. Jemison’s world building is unmatched. It is a brilliant, emotional fantasy series set in a world that keeps ending. Multiple characters try to survive apocalypse after apocalypse. This series will change how you look at the fantasy genre.

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Would you like to cry? Because this might make you cry. An unlikely correspondence between two rival agents turns into something romantic and gut-wrenching. Good luck.

Sisters of the Salt Series by Erin A. Craig

A gothic retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. I am a big fan of Erin A. Craig‘s writing, and House of Salt and Sorrows was a fantastic debut novel.

Cinderella is Dead

This book made Kalynn Bayron an auto-buy author for me. I love this YA LGBTQ retelling!

The Letters of Enchantment series by Rebecca Ross

I was instantly obsessed with Iris and Roman. Rebecca Ross combined historical fiction, romance, and fantasy in this duology, and while it does not feel like we have the whole story in Divine Rivals, it’s because we don’t. There’s a whole other book, plus an incredible standalone prequel. Ross’s writing is poetic, and I will read anything she writes.

“My home is your home. My arms are a haven for you to rest. My last name is yours if you desire it. I will love you to my grave, and even beyond it, when the mists welcome me, when I am hopefully very old and gray and grouchy and have spent the seasons beside you when you are here and dreaming of you when you are gone.
I love you dearly, Red.
Come home to me. Return to me, when you can. I will be watching the skies and the river until then.”

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Divine Rivals and Ruthless Vows have remained some of my favorite books since they were released, so I was incredibly excited when it was announced Ross was writing a book in the same world.

“She was the Skyward goddess of music, and in my father’s hall, her songs had often been jubilant, powerful, cascading melodies. They stirred our blood; they made us dance and remember the old stories, the mist-laden myths from which we had emerged. They were so moving we exchanged the songs as currency. But in the mortal, realm,. Enva’s music was much different. It was sorrowful, full of yearning. It chased human hearts and their pain; it also filled the cavities that Death inspired.”

Letters of Enchantment manages to tell its own story while still building onto that world. Enva and Dacre are not the main focus, but rather Matilda, the herald of the gods. Matilda was born not a full Underling nor Skyward, with something out of place in her stars. Matilda connects with Vincent in his dreams as a child, and eventually her journey brings her to him, with a letter from the goddess of death.

Everything keeps Vincent and Matilda apart, in the mortal realm and in the divine realms. But together they are a force, complex, and relentless.

“If you asked me, I would wait for you until only my bones remained on upon the altar.”

Ross’s prose is outstanding, emotional, and brings her characters to life. I beg for another story in this world.

“I thought of her, often. I thought of her when I sat in the hall with my father and brothers, and when I practiced sparring in the courtyard. When I stood on the parapets and watched the river flow, and when I passed my uncle in the corridors, wincing when he clapped me on the shoulder with a wink of his beady eye. When I was supposed to be listening to my lectures on geography, arithmetic, poetry, warfare, alchemy. Astronomy. I thought of her when I lay down at night. Matilda, however, had vanished. She no longer met me in dreams, despite my longing to see her again.”

Thank you netgalley and SMP for an advanced e-copy of this book.