After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring again. But eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow just wants to hold her family together. Her mother is suffering from addiction, and her brother is missing from the front lines. Her best bet is to win the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette.

To combat her worries, Iris writes letters to her brother and slips them beneath her wardrobe door, where they vanish—into the hands of Roman Kitt, her cold and handsome rival at the paper. When he anonymously writes Iris back, the two of them forge a connection that will follow Iris all the way to the front lines of battle: for her brother, the fate of mankind, and love.

4.5 stars

This book had so much hype around it that I had to pick it up to see if it lived up to all the glowing reviews. So did it? Yes and no. I think it was a bit overhyped in general for what the story is, but the romance in this book was absolutely five stars. I wish it focused more on the main couple and their romance, but it veered off into the war element a lot. Once Iris gets to the frontline, it feels more like a historical war drama than a romantasy. This story is very fantasy-light, and I wish we had a lot more fantasy elements. There was a tiny bit of magic, and I wished we had explored more of this magical system because it was very unique and interesting. For these reasons, I couldn’t give it five stars, but it was really, really close. 

The writing is beautiful, lyrical prose. It was easy to imagine this world and the story taking place. I was fully immersed from the beginning and invested in the characters. They were very easy to like and root for. The character development was done very well. There was so much depth and emotion once the relationship took off.  

The romance is a slow burn and doesn’t pick up until about halfway into the story. But once it begins, it’s very romantic, almost poetic. I loved the anonymous letter writing back and forth, where they learned more about each other, and ultimately, it’s what helped them fall in love with each other. However, I wish those parts were longer. It felt too short. I wanted more of the letter writing and bonding.

I can’t remember any language. There is one bedroom scene, but it was more of a fade-to-black scene. There were some spicy details at the start of the scene that felt like they were starting to blur the lines, but then it jumped to the next day. Personally, I don’t feel comfortable reading spice in YA books, and in this case, they are teenagers at 18 and 19 years old. That just feels a little icky to me. So I’m glad things didn’t go further in that scene. It is a clean, closed-door romance, which I appreciated. 

There are some pretty graphic war scenes, but it’s not too brutal. The depiction of the war was done very well, but it just wasn’t something I was expecting or wanting to read in a romance fantasy story. I wanted more of the pining, wooing, and romance parts of the story. I didn’t care for the parts during the war and at the frontlines. I wished it just focused on the couple in the city competing at the newspaper and writing their secret, magical letters to each other (a la You’ve Got Mail vibes). We don’t get too many details about the warring gods, so I didn’t really care about that element of the story. Maybe that will change in book two, but I thought it was just an annoying side plot that took away from the romance that I wanted to read about. 

Another huge turnoff for me was some character choices that felt like a push from a woke hand. There is a lesbian couple who are married and are side characters. It felt like forced diversity to me, but that’s modern publishing for you (*rolls eyes). It didn’t add anything to the story or play an integral role. 

But overall, I really enjoyed it. It was easy to get lost in this story and swoon over this young, budding romance. It also felt like historical drama/romance/fantasy around the early 1900s, which I enjoyed. It ends on a cliffhanger, so I’m eager to continue this duology and read the sequel. 

If you like light fantasy, war drama (WWI-esque setting), and young love, then you’ll probably enjoy this book. Highly recommend!