Matilada was the youngest goddess of her clan in a very bloody world and blessed with messenger magic. Vincent, a mortal boy, wrote to her and asked for help. He moved on when his requested was unanswered,,,, Until one day, she tumbled into his bedroom with a letter for him....

Love the romance between the two. It's nice to revisit the wolrd of Divine Rivals. There is a lot of pining on his side and a lot of separation though... So a bit achy for me...

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

Thank you to for the ARC. This is a prequel to the Letters of Enchantment duology.

Despite the slow start, this book does eventually pack a punch by the end. I had a lump in my throat reading the epilogue.

What I liked: Of course I have to mention immortal x mortal first— bonus points because she’s a goddess—the found family, the setting, the creation of a unique world, and the history behind the divines.

What I didn’t like: The purple prose. Yes, I know Ross is known for it, but it could’ve been dialed back a lot. The overly-elaborate and verbose writing really took away from the subject matter. This is the novel’s greatest weakness in my opinion. The plot being all over the place is another one of its biggest weaknesses. While the romance is supposed to be a large part of the story, Ross pulls a Ruthless Vows and doesn’t give us many scenes that 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 the full scope of the love and devotion between characters, she merely 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘴 us that they love each other.

Do you have to read Divine Rivals before reading this book? No. Although, diving back into this world was A TREAT, let me tell you.

Thank you so much to SMP for an advanced readers copy🥰

I won’t lie, I found myself having a hard time getting into this book for the first several chapters. If you find yourself in a similar situation, I encourage you to keep going. Repeat after me, “Rebecca Ross knows what she’s doing”. Trust the process. 🤌🏼

The yearning - omgggg. This was beautiful!

En un mundo dividido entre tres reinos: el de los mortales, el de los dioses del cielo (Skywards) y el de los dioses del inframundo (Underlings) donde nace Matilda, una joven diosa hija de dos enemigos. Su madre es Zenia, diosa del invierno, fuego y astucia; su padre, un dios Skyward cuyo nombre está prohibido pronunciar. Como fruto de una unión clandestina, Matilda no pertenece del todo a ningún bando. Su destino es ser heraldo de los dioses, una figura destinada a cruzar reinos llevando mensajes, palabras y verdades que pueden cambiar el curso de las guerras y el equilibrio entre los mundos. Pero su linaje mixto y el misterio de su nacimiento la convierten en una pieza clave en un conflicto milenario entre divinidades, donde la política, la traición, los juramentos y el amor entre enemigos están siempre presentes.

__

Desde las primeras páginas, me atrapó con su atmósfera mitológica, su prosa envolvente y un mundo dividido entre dioses del cielo, del inframundo y los mortales. Matilda, hija de dos divinidades enemigas, es una protagonista que camina constantemente entre lo prohibido y lo destinado, cargando con una identidad que no puede reclamar del todo.


La parte final me mantuvo en vilo, yo sufría por los dos.


Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Thank you so much St.Martin’s Press and Rebecca Ross for letting me read this ARC! First, I’d like to mention that I read this book in ONE DAY. That is the hold it had one me. SPOILERS!!! Second, the yearning between Matilda and Vincent👏👏👏👏 A slow burn romance but damn once the fire gets going IT is worth it!!! I love the entanglements of how the gods in this story can get other gods powers. I think my favorite relationship dynamic was between Bade and Matilda, because you could tell that man loved Matilda as his daughter salt oath or not. I HIGHLY recommended this book to anyone and everyone!!

Breathtaking, refreshing and marvellous!! I love anything Rebecca writes, she can never do any wrong! I would recommend this to everyone this fall.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an arc of this book.
This book blew me away. This story is so lyrical and magical. Matilda went through so many challenges to become the goddess that she is. She led with her heart and it was so beautiful to see. Her love story with Vincent was one of trust and yearning. Rebecca Ross’ books are always so well written and this one was not exception. It gave so much more context to the world of divine rivals. I have no choice but to reread the duology! Wild reference is a must read

If you read Divine Rivals and Ruthless Vows, Wild Reverence is just another wonderful thread in the tapestry. If you have not read the two book series, this is a fantastic story to start with. Rebecca Ross creates brave, independent, vulnerable female protagonists. I found this book to be inspiring and uplifting, despite the dark tragedy and war torn pages. All three books are in my re-read pile.

“To be a lone goddess, surrounded by men, devastated from battle, was dangerous. For men are like eithrals; they are drawn to shining, quicksilvered things, keen to tame them.”

Rebecca Ross is a top tier author. Her stories, her characters, just her writing in general is just so perfect for me. She knows exactly what i want in a story, it’s like she peeked into my brain. I absolutely fell in love with this book, and it seems to have surpassed A River Enchanted as my favorite Ross book. A firm 5 star book, i ate this up.

Thank you to St. Martin's Publishing Group for the ARC in a Goodreads giveaway and for the NetGalley eBook.

Set in the world before Divine Rivals and Ruthless Vows, we get to meet the gods and goddess' before they were asleep and fighting in the mortal realm. Matilda, the herald of Gods, finds herself in between realms as she belongs to both Underling and Skyward. After receiving a letter to herald to a mortal man who she once met in his dreams, she falls in love with Vincent and vows to fight for his land. During this time, she also learns of her other magic that makes her much more powerful than she ever realized, which puts her in even more danger.

I absolutely loved this book. I loved Matilda and Vincent and the love that they shared. I also really enjoyed learning about the gods and goddess' and how their power is taken by other gods by killing or loaned for other gods to use for a set amount of time. My favorite god was for sure Bane; I loved that grumpy old man who realized just how important Matilda was to him. I loved all the hints to the original duology and the ending that brought them all together with the typewriters. Matilda's magic made it all make sense to how the letters travelled between Winnow and Roman. I am so thankful to have won this book in a giveaway.

Read This Book If…you loved Divine Rivals!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross

Genre: romantasy
Series: Letters of Enchantment # 0
Spice Level: 2/5🌶, cracked open door
Setting: fantasy world
POV: dual, 1st person, past tense
Tropes: fake marriage

My Thoughts:
I loved this story about a goddess coming into her power and the mortal man she meets along the way!

It was so special to see more of the gods we learned about in Divine Rivals. The structure and magic system are so interesting to me! These gods are ruthless and there were some amazing conflicts throughout.

The first 25% of this story recalls Matilda’s childhood and I loved seeing how Vincent fit into her world. When we see them again as adults, everything has changed.

This is told at a slower pace, but the writing was beautiful and the yearning was absolutely perfect!

Memorable Quote: “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 the publisher for my advance copy!

Wild Reverence is a lyrical ode to the world we first fell in love with in Divine Rivals. I adored Matilda — her voice, her coming of age, her passion, her love. This was a beautiful story and the prequel I didn’t know I needed.

I loved learning more about Skywards, Underlings, and their connections to the mortal realm. We learn how their magic works, the fierce competition to get and keep power, and we learn more about the order of the realms. I was wholly engaged from the first page and sobbing by the last.

This was a slow-burn, but the depth of the feeling between the characters is interwoven in every word. The world of Divine Rivals has always been about words, about writing, about fate, and about star-crossed love. Wild Relevance embodies those themes and tells us how it all came to be. Beautiful, devastating, and enchanting.

Thank you to NetGalley, Saturday Books, and St. Martin’s Press for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Such an incredibly beautifully written story!
Rebecca Ross does it again with Wild Reverence, makes you feel all the same emotions as Divine Rivals and Ruthless Vows.

Learning more about the god entities, their stories, their motivations and learning about their backstory made me need to re-read the divine rivals duology to add some missing context and make it such a more powerful story!

After this story, it solidified Rebecca Ross as an auto buy author for me!

very cool concept and magical. it's been awhile since i read a book like this, and it did not disappoint!!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the gifted eARC!

A Wild Reverence is a gorgeously written tale of love, magic, and fate, set in a richly imagined world where gods clash, secrets simmer, and dreams just might bridge the realms. Rebecca Ross’s storytelling is as lyrical and emotional as ever.

At the heart of this story is Matilda, the youngest goddess of her clan, whose quiet messenger magic conceals a powerful secret. And then there’s Vincent, a mortal lord who once called out to her in a moment of heartbreak and has since buried the memory until Matilda quite literally drops back into his life. What follows is a slow-burn, yearning-filled love story that had me wiping away actual tears. The romance scenes were tender, vulnerable, and beautifully written.

That said, the novel does take time to build momentum. The world-building is dense, with unfamiliar terms and a complex mythology that slowed down the beginning for me. But once the pieces started to click into place, I was hooked. The plot deepens, the stakes rise, and the emotional payoff is worth every bit of early confusion.

Vincent completely stole my heart with his loyalty, softness, and love for Matilda. The magic system and divine lore were fascinating, and if you’ve read Divine Rivals, you'll find extra emotional weight in the connections and especially that epilogue.

While the slow pacing at the start keeps this from being a full five stars for me, A Wild Reverence is still a beautiful, heartfelt story about love across worlds, the courage to be vulnerable, and rewriting fate. Highly recommend to fans of romantic fantasy and character-driven stories.

Thought "Divine Rivals" was the pinnacle of Ross's writing? "Wild Reverence" proves there are higher mountains to climb. This sequel elevates everything I loved about the first book while carving its own magnificent path.

Matilda's journey seized my heart from page one. Watching her gradually discover and claim her powers felt like witnessing a timid spark grow into a wildfire. Her transformation isn't just about magic—it's about her finding the courage to become the herald she was meant to be.

The romance in this book? Pure enchantment. A love that begins in dreams creates this ethereal quality that had me highlighting passages at 2 AM. There's something profoundly intimate about two souls connecting first in dreamscapes before reality, creating layers of tension that had me clutching my chest.

Ross's portrayal of the gods strikes that perfect balance between awe-inspiring and terrifyingly capricious. Their whims and machinations reminded me of Greek mythology's most compelling elements—divine beings with very human flaws wielding incomprehensible power.

Don't be discouraged by the deliberate pacing at the start. Ross is meticulously laying groundwork for revelations that left me gasping. I found myself not wanting to race ahead or predict what was coming—I wanted to discover each truth alongside Matilda, experiencing every shock and wonder through her eyes.

The prose itself is a sensory feast. Ross writes with such lyrical precision that entire worlds bloom from the page. Each sentence feels crafted to pull you deeper into this realm of gods, mortals, and the complex threads binding them.

For those craving a fantasy romance that honors both elements equally—this is your next obsession.

Massive thanks to Saturday Books and NetGalley for my advance copy. As always, the thoughts shared here are completely my own.

This was chunky and absolutely stunning.

Rebecca Ross has a prose like no one I know.

This is a prequel to Divine Rivals - exploring the relationships of the gods that existed before Enva and Dacre ruled the mortal world and war.

The new goddess Mathilda is the messenger of the gods and is torn between having parents of opposing realms. But more than that she’s been dreaming of Vincent, a human, and he’s been dreaming of her. When their paths finally converge, they may never stop.

This book made me cry. I still am processing. I think above all this book is about love. No matter who you are supposed to be, how tough you are, love knows no boundaries. And when a goddess and a mortal fall in love, some things are more important than power.

I absolutely adored getting the background of so many gods, seeing the history of messages being passed, and have this is so entwined in divine rivals. I have so many thoughts and can’t wait to discuss.

This was a tough one to review. I LOVE this world. I LOVE Rebecca Ross' work. However, the first 80% of this one was a 2 star read due to an uneven and aimless story. The final 20% was solid and takes this up to three stars, but the overall story still has issues.

The main characters interacted through dreams 13 years ago. Now, goddess Matilda shows up in moral Vincent’s room and immediately suggests they pretend to be married to help him in negotiations before a battle. He agrees. Suddenly, they’re devoted to each other, but then she disappears for about two weeks. She reappears for a night and a day, then is gone for seven years. There’s epic pining, but you really have to suspect your disbelief.

Vincent’s conflict is about defending his title against an uncle. Matilda’s conflict is…unclear. Existing. Stars/constellations are a major feature of the divine hierarchy, but the system isn't really explained.

It’s like Rebecca Ross knew where she wanted to get us, but couldn’t make the journey work. There was also a major plot hole related to Enva’s music (it made all the god sleep in Divine Rivals). There was convenient world-building at 89% and that is a sure sign of plotting issues.

If I could give it infinite stars I would and it still wouldn’t be enough.

A mortal and a goddess falling in love? Say less.

Rebecca Ross writes with the kind of lyrical beauty that feels like a spell. Every sentence is carefully placed, every emotion quietly potent. The dynamic between the mortal and the divine is explored with such tenderness and tension—it’s not just romantic, it’s reverent. The love story simmers beneath layers of myth, grief, longing, and sacrifice, until it spills over in moments that feel both epic and deeply intimate.

This book made me ache in that quiet, satisfying way Rebecca is so good at, where the magic and emotion don’t scream, they whisper. And those whispers stay with you long after the last page.

If you love slow-burn fantasy, rich atmosphere, and love stories that feel timeless and sacred, this is a must read.

Hands down my favorite read of 2025 if not of all time.

There is something about Rebecca Ross’ writing that I am drawn to. Another beautiful love story with some more insight to the gods from The Letters of Enchantment. I hope that there is another book that focuses on Dacre and Enva because I loved seeing some of their story.

“I would wait a thousands years for you…if you asked me, I would wait for you until my bones remained upon an altar. But if you must leave again, then let me follow you…”