Ruthless Vows

I feel like I've dreamed the beauty that was [b:Divine Rivals 62796217 Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment, #1) Rebecca Ross https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1703064662l/62796217.SY75.jpg 94100483]. So much magic of that first book is lost. The first was truly a work of the divine, a beautiful love story that touched my own heart, and the second really is ruthless in how it falls flat.Not only engages in the most egregious trope of all, it does it for nothing. There is no reason for Roman's amnesia. It is needless padding that feels like the author screaming at us, “DO YOU GUYS REMEMBER DIVINE RIVALS?” A terrible decision that made me want to put the book aside and never pick it up again.In the first book, I thought Enva & Dacre were being set up as a very clear ‘there is evil on both sides' lesson. In Ruthless Vows I expected Roman to see Dacre as the more sympathetic side while Iris has faith in Enva. This would be a wedge driven between them until the monstrous nature of both gods would be revealed at which point Roman & Iris would use their experience with writing to publish and spread the truth of the two deities.Nope. Dacre is less than one-dimensional. He's not even threatening! Enva let thousands die in her name even though should have ended his life! For some reason the book never really condemns her for her inaction. One might think this review spends too much time discussing Dacre & Enva but, well, so does the book. So much of it are chapters in which Roman & Iris barely exist as characters. They are separated and the story is needlessly continuing that separation. There were numerous instances for them to reunite yet they stupidly do not take it.Still, the prose was as good as in the first book, and I do enjoy the characters even if they are there so very little. I feel bad that Forest never got a proper arc of his own and the book discards him as a nameless tertiary character. I still love Roman & Iris.And I still feel sad that I'll never feel a love like theirs.