If You Like Divine Rivals…
Have you read Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross yet? It’s a suspenseful and intricate and romantic. Two rival journalists at a newspaper in a war-torn country start exchanging letters anonymously, though one quickly figure out who the other is. It’s just like Shop Around the Corner/She Loves Me/She’s Got Mail! Really just like it except there’s a war being fought by feuding gods, and the two journalists leave to cover the battles. And look at that gorgeous cover!
If you’ve already read the series and are looking for more, check out the titles below. Some are in the vein of other fantasies that focus on war; others are in the pen pals romance vein.
Sorcery and Cecilia: Or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer (1988)
If you loved Divine Rivals for all the letters and fantastical elements but could do without the war, here’s a book for you. Written in the letters between two friends, this book is a delightful escape. Set in a 19th-century England where magic and wizards exist, the two try to solve a mystery of magic gone wrong.
The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi (2016)
Maya’s horoscope says that any marriage she enters will be cursed. She’s fine staying single, but her father arranges a marriage to Amar for his own political gain. Amar’s kingdom is full of mystery and magic. Full of Indian-influenced mythology, this is for the readers who wanted to sink further into the fantasy of Divine Rivals.
Rebel Seoul by Axie Oh and Sebastien Hue (2017)
A fast-paced sci-fi story set in a future Korea with mechs and weapons that certain kids (like mine!) will love. Jaewon has escaped his life in a gang and now wants to prove himself in the military in Neo Seoul. When he meets Tera, a lab-grown super soldier, he starts to question the goals of the unending war.
War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi (2019)
Set in Nigeria 150 years in the future, this suspenseful and brutal fantasy will capture your attention. Fighting is done by mechs and soldiers with artificial limbs. Both believing the other to be dead, two sisters grow up on either side of a civil war.
Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas (started 2020)
[CW: sex scenes] Maas’s adult series has a lot to offer fans of Divine Rivals — gods, battles, snarky dialogue. Bryce Quinlan is half-Fae and half-human. Her half-brother is a prince of the Fae, and her best friend is a wolf shape shifter. When her friend is murdered, Bryce is determined to find out why and by whom. Along the way, she falls in love with a fallen angel and learns secrets about the powerful in her world.
Lore by Alexandra Bracken (2021)
The gods of the ancient world still exist. And every seven years, there is a battle in which those descended from ancient families can fight to claim the gods’ powers. Lore has left that world behind until a friend and a goddess ask for her help before the latest battle.
The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen (2022)
[CW: sex scenes] This book is squarely in Shop-Around-the-Corner territory. Hart is a marshal tasked with keeping poachers and smugglers from stealing magic. Mercy runs her family’s funeral home. The two interact when Hart brings the bodies of lost souls to her for burial; Reader, they hate each other. That is until they start receiving anonymous letters and unknowingly strike up a pen pal friendship/romance. (Thanks to Rachel for recommending this book to me!)
Fourth Wing series by Rebecca Yarros (started 2023)
[CW: sex scenes] One of my favorite books of 2023. Violet believed she would grow up to be a scribe, like her beloved late father. But when she comes of age, her mother (the commanding general of the military) demands that she enter training to become a dragon rider. The training to be a rider leaves many dead even before graduation, and Violet must use her cunning, instincts, and alliances to survive.