"This is the beginning of the end, I thought. If heartless gods can be made soft by such love, we are all doomed."

My goodness, what a beautifully written book. The world building and pace were quite slow, especially during the first half of the book; the overall story did not need to be as long as it was. However, Ross’ very lovely, vivid, and atmospheric writing kept me going.

As someone who had already read Divine Rivals and Ruthless Vows, I loved that Wild Reverence gave us a “look behind the curtain” in regard to the gods and their magic within this universe. The added sense of fantasy and magic is what was missing for me in the Letters of Enchantment duology. Matilda is also a very likable, strong FMC. I loved the relationship dynamic between Matilda and Bade. 🥺 Overall, I enjoyed this story and the characters more than I anticipated.

"We were doomed, she and I. One day, I would perish, and she would live on, endless as the stars. But if we were doomed, then let us fully embrace it."

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC!

*A wild thank you to NetGalley, publisher & Rebecca Ross for allowing me to read early for an honest review*

“How weak I must seem. But then I realized I wanted her to see me bare. I was weak for *her* alone, and I wanted her to know it.”

This story was just as magical & wounding as the Letters of Enchantment duology. I am consistently blown away by Rebecca’s way of writing. It’s so otherworldly & exquisite.

This story follows a young goddess Matilda and her journey to grow into her magic, her power, and her love. Half Underling & half Skyward, her purpose is found throughout the story due to her love for a mortal man, as she fights for him, fights with him.

I was just in awe throughout this entire story. It is emotional, heart wrenching, and beautiful.

This was the first book I read from Rebecca Ross, and her writing really is beautiful like I've heard everyone say! Unfortunately, that was my main highlight of this book.

While I enjoyed the story overall, the pacing didn't work for me. While I was tempted to DNF because of this, I couldn't because I was simultaneously bored out of my mind yet also wanting to know how the story was going to end. Matilda and Vincent were both young at the beginning of the story, and it took so long for the time jump, I began wondering if they were going to be 12/13 for the whole novel. While I did become more interested after the time jump between parts one and two, I had a hard time getting their adolescent voices out of my head since we spent a good chunk of the novel with them at a young age. So even though we eventually meet them both as adults later on, they read young in my head for the whole book.

As for the romance... I didn't feel their connection at all. I felt like we were just being told that they loved each other but I felt nothing. They randomly kissed as kids and I was like huh? And then as adults Matilda is like "We will pretend we're married!" And to me it seemed like that should have been a way bigger deal for Matilda as a god to randomly offer to marry a mortal man. I didn't get this deep connection between them that was apparently there.

In conclusion: the writing was beautiful and I was interested enough in the plot, but I was bored most of the time and felt nothing towards the romance.

Wonderfully written with beautiful characters, everything about this book pulled me in. It has minimal ties to The Letters of Enchantment series, so don't worry if you haven't read those. This can be a standalone or part of the series. I loved every second of this book. A flawed, taught to have her guard up Goddess and her childhood friend, this is a romance for the ages. The action and problems the characters faced were well balanced with fun characters and moments between them.
Unique magic system, found family, and cunning family drama!
My favorite read of the year!
eARC *I was ecstatic to receive this early!

This is my 5th Rebecca Ross book and her way with words always wows me.

This is a standalone fantasy in the same world as Divine Rivals/Ruthless Vows but about 400 years in the future.

I really enjoyed this one and read a lot of it on audio and thoroughly enjoyed it as I felt the acting was phenomenal.

The world that Rebecca created is so intriguing and I love all the lore we get about the underlings and the skyward gods and how the their worlds collide with the mortal realm.

Also there is nothing quite like a dream meet-cute 🤭. But in all seriousness I thought the prose was beautiful, the world was fleshed out, and I’m always here for a pining main character.

Thank you to St. Martins Press Saturday books and NetGalley for the eArc and to Macmillan Audio for the sneak peek of the audio!

What an absolutely enchanting story✨⚔️✉️
This fantasy world completely drew me in and demanded my attention. This world was full of so many new magical ways and old world terminology that this was not something I could just pick up and put down in the best way possible.
Matilda is basically the message delivery got us between the underworld, the mortal world, and the world of the gods… simply put.
It’s like in the Disney movie “Hercules” when you’re in the mortal world getting the story that you keep wanting to go back to, but then there are scenes where you’re with the gods and those scenes are so important to the story that going between the different worlds was such an adventure.
While she was delivering a letter as a child, she met a young boy and saved him. With everything that happened in her world, she had to stay away from him for 13 years until they met again as adults and the way they fell in love was such a good slow burn. I really liked the way this book went into Life and death and who deserves a second chance.
Very little spice and it happened like 80% into the book but the scenes were very meaningful to the story and so I appreciated that about it.
This book wasn’t heavy on the battle action, and I thought what parts of the war that was incorporated in this book was done really well because it was entertaining, but it didn’t drag on.
Since there was a lot of world building and new terminology for me, I had a slow start at the beginning of this book trying to get my bearings in this world and kept having to use the Kindle define button because I didn’t know a lot of the vocabulary, which ended up making this book a long one.

This is actually my first book that I’ve read by this author, and I look forward to reading more. This is her first adult standalone, and I think she knocked out of the park!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC! I look forward to more opportunities to read and review wonderful books, such as this one!

Ch. 67? “ but then I realized I wanted her to see me Bair. I was weak for her alone, and I wanted her to know it. I did not want to keep anything from her.
… But if we were doomed, then let us fully embrace it.”

Ch. 80 “ What I would have given to feel time flow around me again. To watch the moon, waxing Wayne and the sunrise and set, spilling its light across the land. To lift my face to the rain and let snow gather in my hair. To draw breath. To fill someone’s hands on my skin. To aching to bleed. To hear Vincent whisper my name.
What I would have given to live again”

Epilogue: “But I think you know that the soul can be found in words, and words within the soul. The two reflect each other in the sky, do they not?”









“ I wonder what it would be like to glide through the world instead of breathing it every time I left my home”


https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/159013247

https://www.audible.com/listener/amzn1.account.AHV3NZTJTFIYXXNM6WPM3PTJTUPA

https://www.instagram.com/shirleyvogler?igsh=MWlwcW9zMHN3ZGtuOQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

You have to make it through the first 100 pages or so to truly appreciate this book. Okay, the start is slow, but the payoff is truly worth it.
A mortal/divine pairing that is truly sweet, with a great story to back it up. Memorable writing and beautiful descriptions of the mortal and divine realms.

A must-read for fans of slow building atmospheric fantasy. Oh and there's no need to have read the Divine Rivals duology beforehand.

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the e-arc.

This was so amazing to read and listen to. It was so whimsical and charming. I loved the yearning between the both of them. The fact that they got their happily ever after makes it so much better too. Ugh. I am absolutely... I can't even describe it. 5 star for sure. And now I want to go read divine rivals again because of how the ending tied it in witg Enva.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Saturday Books for the opportunity to read an eARC of Wild Reverence.

This book was beautifully written. Rebecca Ross's prose was pure magic, such that I felt like I was immersed into an entirely new world. This book elicited such a wide range of emotions from me as a reader as Matilda's story unfolded.

Having read both Divine Rivals and Ruthless Vows, I think this book could be read either before or after that duology.

Thank you, St. Martin’s Press, Saturday Books, and NetGalley for an eARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

One thing that I can say with absolute certainty is that I love about Rebecca Ross’ writing is her eloquence. She has a way with words that makes them beautiful, but still easily digestible, which can be a difficult balance to strike.

Wild Reverence being a prequel to Divine Rivals and Ruthless Vows is what initially piqued my interest in it. Upon learning that it would be a romance between an immortal god and a mortal, I was drawn to it even more. Personally, I cannot recall reading a book with that premise for the main characters, so I was very curious to see how that would play out. The overall storyline did not disappoint. Matilda and Vincent’s story was special, and I loved the way it unfolded. While I enjoyed the story as a whole, I must admit some downfalls held me back from fully loving it.

The biggest issue that I had with the book was the pacing. There were several points where I thought we might finally be picking up speed and maintaining it, and then it would fall flat again. There would be a high-stakes moment, but once it was resolved, things cooled off until we built back up to another big moment. There was a lot of information dumping, which would also slow momentum. When you have to learn more about what is going on for it to happen, that can take me out of the book. The information that was shared, while added to a specific scene, didn’t add to the full story when you zoomed out. I think if this book were more of a novella, it would have read much cleaner and steadier paced, which would have kept me more engaged, and I think we still could have gotten to the same ending that we did.

Given that this was a prequel to the Letters of Enchantment duology, I went into it expecting it to be a little more closely tied to those books than it was. That might be on me, but I'm not sure. Regardless, we really didn’t fully see how it was connected until the very end, which was nice to see, but I think the letters could have been utilized more for Matida and Vincent’s personal interactions.

Okay, now for what I absolutely loved about this book: Matilda and Vincent! From the start, their connection was fascinating. Given that Matilda first “meets” Vincent via reading his dreams, it creates an interesting dynamic for them. I was curious to see how they would impact their actual meeting, and I loved the way Ross chose for that to play out. The dynamics of a god/mortal relationship seemed complex, but Rebecca Ross wrote it flawlessly.

One of the aspects of their relationship that I loved the most was the concept of time. Given that Matilda was immortal, time could feel like a drop in the bucket for her, while for Vincent, it was significant. That is something that could have been easily overlooked, and I’m glad it wasn’t. It introduced a new layer to their personal conflict that didn’t feel forced.

Matilda was also a very humanized god, especially compared to the other gods. It felt that her disconnect from both Underlings and Skywards, and her ability to pass through the mortal world, made her unique and gave her a different perspective on her life. She could empathize with humans in a way other gods could not, which made me more likable, but also her biggest flaw for her safety. That’s the type of internal conflict that I like to see in a main character, and I think Ross did that well.

Overall, I enjoyed Wild Reverence and appreciated the story it told. I appreciated a glimpse into the origin of the typewriters we see in the duology and learning more about the god world that existed outside of Iris and Roman. While I enjoyed the story overall, I think it might have read better as a novella, but the story that was shared was still beautiful. I am always in awe of Rebecca Ross’ writing, and I am grateful I had the opportunity to read this early, and the physical book is GORGEOUS!

Would recommend this read, but go into it knowing that it will be slow at points, but worth it for the end!

This book is beautiful! I loved Divine Rivals and Ruthless Vows. This gave me the same feeling while being completely different. I enjoyed seeing a few of the prominent gods from the Letters of Enchantment books.

I think this book may be one of the most beautiful I have ever read. The lyrical and poetic writing of Rebecca Ross makes you feel as if you are entwined with the story. I had to pause multiple times because I did not want the story to end and I’m pretty sure I highlighted the majority of the book. This book is the prequel to the Letters of Enchantment duologly and gives the full circle moment I have been chasing since reading Divine Rivals.

There is love, loss, heartbreak, adventure, mystery, and hope that make you not want to put the story down and slow down so it doesn’t end. The yearning and slow burn in the book are so well done and the duel point of views give you insight to the gods and mortals. The journey the characters went through is unmatched in any other story I have read. I think this book finished me not the other way around.

This magical story follows Matilda, Herald of the Gods, who is born from two divine realms. The Underling and Skyward. She’s grown up in the under realm, surrounded by precarious and dangerous Gods, learning to be feared rather than loved. Her immortal life is forever changed when she meets a mortal boy, Vincent, in his dreams. Their love story spans time, realms, and immortal divinity. Matilda is an amazing, strong, powerful, yet kind FMC and I loved seeing her grow into her powers. I feel the best way to describe this story is just to tell you how absolutely fun and fantastical this world is. Rebecca Ross has created an intricate magic system that still feels accessible to follow and like every page is an adventure. The vivid world building came to life in my mind. From the cold, dark yet glimmering tunnels of the Underling, to the whimsical brightness of the clouds in Skyward, to the sprawling moors and rivers of the mortal realm. I was completely immersed in this story and it truly reignited my love for reading and story telling. Rebecca’s writing was simply STUNNNNINNGGG! Matilda and Vincent’s story was romantic, gentle, heartbreaking, hopeful. It was full of action, magic, invisible strings, sacrifices, friendship, found family and so much love. What I also loved about Wild Reverence, is that it exists in the same universe as Divine Rivals and Ruthless Vows by Rebecca, which I absolutely loved. Although they aren’t a prerequisite for reading this one, the connections made the reading experience all the more special!

I did not end up finishing this book. Unfortunately, it was not up my alley. Thank you for the arc as well though.

I thoroughly enjoyed Wild Reverence. I feel that the gods and goddesses resemble Greek mythology but give it a whole new twist. While a couple scenes are a little too explicit for me to include in class, I would recommend this book to older students. Parallels between the book and Greek and Roman mythology could be used as a great essay prompt.

Matilda is the youngest goddess of her clan, carrying only messenger magic in a brutal world where gods kill for power and alliances are fragile. She hides a dangerous secret while navigating the realms, and her fate becomes entangled with Vincent, a mortal boy who once dreamed of her but has long since hardened into a powerful lord. When their paths cross again, Matilda must decide if love is strong enough to challenge the blood-soaked ways of the gods. I really enjoyed this book and thought it was such a great prequel to the Divine Rivals duology. The story pulled me in from the start, and I think everyone should read it.

Thank you, St. Martin's Press and Netgalley, for a copy of this e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

This was my first book by Rebecca Ross. I did not choose to read Divine Rivals and Ruthless Vows before this. I am getting ready to read Divine Rivals, so I can get back on whether I think it would be necessary. Regardless, I can see why people love Rebecca Ross's writing style. It is very lush and descriptive. For me, the book could've been cut about 100 pages shorter. I think the plot was clever and addictive enough, but there was too much downtime, especially for a 500-page book. I think the plot and the writing could have been condensed and still would have told the same story. Despite this, I enjoyed the mystical story of the gods. I am looking forward to reading Divine Rivals!

I am a kid from the Percy Jackson era, so when I see a book about Gods, sign me up! This book had me hooked from the description, and I had high expectations; it did not disappoint! What a story, it has everything you could want in a romance book without feeling forced. A great read for spooky season and gives you fall vibes through and through!

"But have you failed to notice it, my old ally? War only makes love flame brighter, defiant."

If you loved the Divine Rivals duology by Rebecca Ross, then are you in for an absolute treat of a fantasy! Wild Reverence takes place within the universe created by Ross and beloved by readers but occurs in a time that happens well before the events of Divine Rivals.

Matilda, a young god, is set on a path where she must tread carefully amidst the deviousness that encompasses the world of the gods. Vincent is a young man who is not only intrigued by Matilda’s seemingly unusual presence in the mortal realm, but over the years as he becomes orphaned and thrust into leadership, he also becomes charmed and ultimately won over by Matilda’s selfless decisions that help his cause.

"He chose me first," I replied. "He dreamt of me before I knew of him. His soul found mine before I even knew how to look for his." 

Wild Reverence is a beautifully written fantasy, a tantalizing romance that unfurls over the mortal years of Vincent’s life, and an ode to the choices that women must make in the wake of their bound duties as well as the longings of their hearts.

Rebecca Ross has swiftly become one of my favorite fantasy authors and Wild Reverence has cemented my esteem with her prowess of prose. I was so enchanted by Matilda’s character that I couldn’t put this gorgeous story down; truly a hallmark of a stunning novel.

Available everywhere, Wild Reverence is a must-read for all fantasy readers and perfectly sets up the Divine Rivals duology. While I read the ebook, I can only imagine that the audiobook is equally as stunning. I highly recommend reading Wild Reverence as it is perfect to read as the last few days of summer bleed into the first days of autumn. Do not miss out on this enchantingly wonderful new release by Rebecca Ross!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my most anticipated read of the year. This book was everything I hoped for and more. I fell in love with the Divine Rivals universe the moment I stepped into it, and the chance to revisit it through this prequel was such a gift. Getting to see the gods up close, these beings who are at once awe-inspiring, terrifying, entitled, and cruel, added so many layers to the world I already loved.

Matilda and Vincent’s story was nothing like I expected. It surprised me in the best ways, pulling me in with raw emotion, heartbreak, and a tenderness that lingers long after the final page. Their journey felt so human, even set against the backdrop of divine conflict, and I found myself rooting for them while also mourning the weight of their choices.

What I love most about Rebecca Ross’s writing is her ability to weave beauty into devastation, and hope into despair. She has such a gift for creating stories that don’t just entertain but take root in you, becoming part of who you are. This book is one of those rare reads that feels etched into my bones, one I know I’ll carry with me for a long time.

If you loved Divine Rivals, this prequel will only deepen your connection to the world and its characters. It’s emotional, immersive, and utterly unforgettable.