Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

The world building and magic system in this book is beautifully written. The dynamics between the each of the realms was unlike most stories I have ever read. The idea of scales being the way to kill a god. I appreciated that their deaths were treated similarly to those of mortals with the choices they receive at the end.

The relationship between Matilda and Vincent developed at a steady pace. This book did well at establishing relationships such as allies and found family even for individuals who aren’t supposed to feel those feelings.

The foreshadowing of the ending based on how Bade’s love story ended is beautiful crafted. Both love stories got their happy ending.

I haven’t felt this emotionally connected with a book in a long time; this book was a wonderful experience.

I gotta say….. I loved this even more than divine rivals. Loved that this was adult fantasy as opposed to ya. Found family and forbidden love as well as lore. Rebecca Ross has such a lyrical immersive writing style that truly pulls you in! I was hooked from page one and my god the epilogue! A must read!

**Review of *Wild Reverence* by Rebecca Ross**

In *Wild Reverence*, Matilda is an immortal destined for all realms in a world ruled by cruel gods. As the sole immortal, she navigates her journey with uncertainty, unsure of who to trust. Amidst the chaos, Bade, the god of war, emerges as her protector and the closest thing she has to a father figure. The narrative weaves a complex tapestry of fate, skillfully unraveling and reweaving the threads of Matilda's life.

I found this book captivating! Although the pacing was a bit slow at the beginning, I quickly became engrossed in the story. The world-building is rich and immersive, and several characters are irresistibly lovable. Overall, *Wild Reverence* is a beautifully crafted tale that left me eager for more.

If you’re like me and burnt out on all the recent enemies-to-lovers romantasy, then you will love this. I’m also not usually a fan of prequels, but THIS is how you do it!! While the story is set in the same world as Divine Rivals, I honestly think you could read this as a standalone and still completely in love with these characters.

Matilde is a goddess who travels through the realms carrying messages. Vincent is a mortal, who encounters the goddess when he starts having dreams about her. There’s definitely an instant spark between the two, but they’re both still teenagers and lose touch as time goes by (no insta-love, don’t worry!!) Then a decade later, as their circumstances change, fate brings them back together.

Rebecca Ross’s prose is magic in itself. The pacing is perfection, even with lots of backstory in the beginning. The romance was sweet and mature and full of so much yearning.

Wild Reverence is simply immaculate. Definitely one of my top reads of the year.

This was so good. The yearning, the world-building, Rebecca’s writing. She really knows how to write a man in love. I adored Divine Rivals but I would argue that this was even better. I could not put the book down. I was completely immersed and now I feel like I need to sit and cry for a while.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the incredibly talented Rebecca Ross for the early access to Wild Reverence — one of my most anticipated reads of the year.

I’m giving this book infinity stars — what an absolutely stunning story.

This is a prequel to the Divine Rivals and Ruthless Vows duology, Wild Reverence follows the life of Matilda, a god-child who is given the powers of being a herald. From there you follow her journey discovering her powers to exploring the realms she inhabits and uncovering the complexities of the gods and magic system, this story is an emotional and immersive experience. The way Ross weaves between the different realms, dreams/nightmares, revealing twists and secrets along the way, is nothing short of masterful.

While I adored the original duology, I felt it left some gaps in the world-building — especially regarding the gods and magic system. This prequel fills those in beautifully. Rebecca Ross truly outdid herself here, and as soon as I finished, I wanted to dive back into Divine Rivals with fresh eyes, newly aware of Matilda’s deeper significance.

Matilda herself is such a compelling character — divine yet achingly human, grappling with the weight of emotion and immortality. Her magic unfolds in such a unique, powerful way that left me breathless.

This book is for anyone who loves a slow-burning love story that spans time, high fantasy, complex magic system, poetic prose, and multiple narratives. I highly recommend it!

Absolutely loved this book, it may be set in the same world as Divine Rivals, but it is a complete shift in the world building. As a prequel it did such a good job of setting up the world building with the gods introduced in Divine Rivals, and it honestly had such a different vibe. It reminded me of Greek mythology which I greatly enjoyed, and then the romance was just *chefs kiss*, the author really did bring back men who yearn. 10/10 would definitely recommend!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
First of all I want to give a huge huge HUGE thank you to NetGalley, Rebecca Ross, and St Martins Publishing for an advanced copy of Wild Reverence, I literally screamed when I opened that email!!
This book was so beautifully written, Ive always loved how Rebecca Ross writes because her words feel like song lyrics. There’s such a nice flow and I don’t feel like I have to re-read a page like 10 times to understand what I’m reading. I’m such a Greek mythology geek so while this isn’t directly related I really enjoyed the dynamics with the Gods and Goddess’. All of the deception and betrayals and unlikely alliances was just so interesting to me (and Bade…#justiceforBade) that’s pookie).
And that epilogue…I gasped…everything is always connected!!!
“I imagined what might come from a single word. A single letter send bravely into the ether. Matilda’s magic was about to rewrite all the old myths.”

I loved this book. I loved that it expanded the world of the major Gods in Divine Rivals. I also liked the writing and worldbuilding. I loved the relationship between Malitda and Vincent. I thought that the ending was sad. I liked how this book showed that even though Gods are immortal, they do have feelings. I also loved how we explored the universe. I hope the author writes more books on the world. I would read anything by her. I think she had a solid story and great character development. I also think that the ending was done right. Overall, this is one of my favorite books of the year.

Wild Reverence is perfect for readers who crave a slow-burn romance between a secret-hoarding underworld messenger goddess and the mortal lord she once ghosted in dreams, set against a pantheon where gods murder for power and love itself becomes an act of rebellion.

This book is simply beautiful. Spellbinding. Stunning. Rebecca Ross has done it again. Set in the world of Divine Rivals, this is such a lush, atmospheric, perfectly written novel. Anyone who loves anything to do with mythology should read this one. LOVE!

When I got approved for the prequel to the Letters of Enchantment series I was beyond thrilled the @beccajross did not disappoint with the delivery of this book! Matilda is a young goodness of the underlyings who has been blessed with being the messengers to the gods. Growing up she dreams of a mortal boy (Vincent) in which nightmare haunt his young life. When Matilda’s father’s identity is revealed she learns she is also part Skyward and to protect herself from enemies below she if forced to live with him. Vincent has never forgotten the girl who saved him in his dreams and as fate would have it they are drawn back together 13 years after being separated. This book tells the epic tale of the gods and mortals and how sometimes a surprising legacy of left behind is ways we could never imagine.

Many thanks to Staurday Books and NetGalley for the preview. All opinions are my own.

OMG this was just so beautiful. It really shouldn't be a surprise at this point since Ross's prose is just so gorgeous and lyrical. This is a bit of a "quiet" book. Yes, there are action sequences that are incredibly high stakes and have you on the edge of your seat. But the real heart of the book is the quiet moments between characters and the relationships that develop.

I really did love Matilda and Vincent. Their childhood friends to allies to lovers was a beautiful arc. But I'd be lying if I said my favorite relationship was anything but the father-daughter love between Bade and Matilda. He may not be her father by blood, but he is by choice and the way he chooses her even when he doesn't have to brought tears to my eyes. I also loved the brother-sister relationship that developed between Nathaniel and Matilda. Matilda may have been raised to be cold and to protect her heart and back above all, but the relationships where she can truly be herself and be loved for herself were my favorites.

You may be asking if this is better than Divine Rivals. I won't say that it is, but it's a different creature. To me, this book is actually the most similar to A Fire Endless. So if the Elements of Cadence is your thing, you're really going to love this. (And it is far superior to Ruthless Vows).

Highly recommended!

With the Divine Rivals series being one of my all time favorite and one I often recommend to students, I was very excited to receive a copy of Wild Reverence. While I thought it was taking me a while to read, I realized that this novel was a little over 500 pages #kindleproblems. I loved Matilda's character from the beginning. The initial connection to in dreams with Vincent immediately caught my interest. I loved the backstory and world building of the two worlds, and as usual Rebecca Ross knows how to do this expertly without it being too much world building. Once again we have a strong female lead who we meet in childhood and see how she matures and lessons learns. Her connections to others, her power, her needing to constantly think critically and not blindly trust made her a great main character. Vincent was a perfect character to her as was Bade and several other major/minor characters. The second half of this greatly picked up and adrenaline high going into the end. I cannot wait for the next one and to recommend this to my students when it comes out next month.

Holy crap, this is the best book I’ve read this year. Whole DR/RV is not necessary reading to understand, the impact that background has makes this love story absolutely SOUL CRUSHING. Hands down a masterpiece, it had me sobbing at 1am finishing this book. Rebecca, you are magic.

The story was written so beautifully, and there is a lot of world building with a lot of characters introduced throughout the story. But shockingly I never got lost or confused. I think she did a great job with her pacing and keeping the story moving forward. I enjoyed the story starting as children to then adults and the differences shown between Gods and mortals.

Also not me falling in love with the relationship between Bade and Matilda. “Because she is yours, as you are hers, And she is precious to me.” It reminded me of the tv show Witcher because Bade basically is sworn to protect her and teaches her everything he knows.

The only downfall for me was I just truly was over how the characters would ALMOST get what they wanted or where they needed to be and BAM, nope, you need to do this entire thing in another realm and then that made them stuck somewhere else forever. Also I didn’t necessarily care about the romance between FMC and MMC, they had some great moments but I wish we got a little more of the MMC background.

Thanks NetGalley, St Martin’s Press for the eARC!

Thank you Rebecca and team for the ARC!

It was such a joy to return to the world of Divine Rivals (easily one of my favorite books so far this year) and experience part of the lore as it unfolded. I really loved watching Matilda's role unfold in everything and the relationships with other gods/goddesses around her knowing what I know from reading Divine Rivals. Her story was a great mix of hope, tragedy, heartbreak, and grit that I love in a main character.

Her relationship with Vincent had such a lovely foundation, and watching them come together again after ageing and how the time has shaped their personalities and perceptions made for a great point of tension and growing together.

I do with that a bit more time had been spent on developing their relationship through the plot, though I do know that the nature of her role with the gods and the ongoing plot did put a blocker on the ability for some of that to progress. I did still think their relationship was lovely, but a little more time with the two of them would have solidified things a little more. But I guess not everything can be as lovely as Kitt and Winnow.

All in all, 4/5 stars. I enjoyed the tension as everything unfolded and the aspects of heartbreak we read through in the end. I loved how the epilogue gave us a smooth transition into the world of Divine Rivals.

I received an eARC from NetGalley and this is my honest review.

I’ll start off with saying that I am a big Rebecca Ross fan. I love how she world builds and gives her characters so much life and personality, you’d be surprised that some authors have trouble not making their characters so flat, but I digress. Wild Reverence takes place in the same universe as Devine Rivals/Ruthless Vows but as a prequel of sorts. The themes, story and characters are a lot more mature than their predecessor. The story starts off slowly, but I feel like it was needed for the world building that happens and it helped me when I went back to my re-read of DR/RV to have more back story on the gods and goddesses that appear in them. I loved both our FMC, Matilda, and MMC, Vincent- their relationship and history didn’t feel forced or like an afterthought to make the story move along faster without making me feel like I was getting information overload. Overall, I really enjoyed reading Wild Reverence and can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy when it comes out on 9/2/2025.

4.5⭐️!

This review is already published on my Goodreads account. This was such a beautifully written novel. I think this book has some of the best world building i’ve ever seen, it helped that I was utterly enthralled by it as well. This puts the FORBIDDEN in forbidden romance. Against all advances, the fmc and mmc got their sweet happy ever after. Thoroughly enjoyed this one!! Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for letting me read this amazing book early!

Unfortunately this was a like and not a love for me. Although I absolutely adore Rebecca Ross’s writing and I believe she truly nailed the mythology aspects of this book - I really struggled to connect to the story and the characters. The characters themselves though were fantastic. I loved how distant and detached the gods felt from the mortal characters, which made the moments of love and vulnerability so much more powerful. I also enjoyed the romance here too. I do wish we got a bit more earlier on, so it didn’t feel so immediate once it happened, but it made sense plot wise. This feels a bit more of a melancholy read but I appreciated the journey of it all. And I want the best for Matilda 😭.

Thank you so much to Saturday Books for my ARC!

3.5/5