Book Review: Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross

Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross

Book title: Ruthless Vows
Author: Rebecca Ross
Genre: YA fantasy
Published: December 26, 2023
420 pages
My rating: 4/5

“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.”

Iris Winnow has returned home without her husband, Roman Kitt. Her hometown Oath continues to live in denial, unconcerned of the war between gods waging closer and closer to the city. When Iris is given the chance to return to the front, she once again heads westward despite the danger, determined to tell the truth of the war and to find Roman. On the other side of the enemy lines, Roman wakes up, healed by god Dacre but with no memories. He begins to work as a war correspondent for Dacre, but when a letter arrives beneath his wardrobe door, he is once again drawn to his mysterious pen pal.

Ruthless Vows is the second book in Rebecca Ross’s young adult fantasy duology Letters of Enchantment. I loved the first book, Divine Rivals, and I gave it four and a half stars. This book picks up a few weeks after the events of the first book. Iris and Roman are separated, and they need to find their way back together and to end the war between the gods. There’s less romance and a lot more fantasy warplot in this book. We also get a lot more scenes and chapters from Roman’s point of view. Personally, I would have preferred to see more of Iris’ point of view, and that’s one of the reasons why I didn’t like this book as much as Divine Rivals.

The second reason for the slightly lower rating was the relationship of the main characters. I loved the slow burn of the first book, but as their relationship was consummated already at the end of Divine Rivals, there was little that could happen for them in this book to further their relationship. We actually take a step backwards when Roman needed to regain his memory and fall in love with Iris again. That combined with the fact that they were apart for the majority of the novel meant that their relationship didn’t have time to grow and mature. And that meant that at some point, I began to doubt their continual avowals that they are in love. They barely knew each other, and their relationship seemed to be based on nothing more than lust and obsession.

And finally, there were a lot of little plot holes in this book. Nothing major, but little things like how and where the characters got certain information. How did Iris know what Roman was doing with Dacre? I suppose she might have learned it from a letter that simply wasn’t shared on page, but I would have preferred some mention of those letters and their contents. When Roman and Iris finally meet, why did Roman decide to stay back? It’s explained (somewhat) after the event, but his adopting the role of a double agent should have been a clear decision that he makes already before meeting Iris. As it is, it seemed to be nothing more than a convenient plot device to keep the main characters apart. Most of these plot holes could have been explained by just a few extra lines, and the fact that they aren’t, makes it seem like the publication process of this book may have been a little rushed.

If romance is what you mainly want and you aren’t interested in a fantasy war plot, you’ll probably enjoy this book less than Divine Rivals. I didn’t think Ruthless Vows was quite as good as the first book in the duology, but I still enjoyed it a lot, and I’m giving it four stars.