Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross

Book: Ruthless Vows

Author: Rebecca Ross

Series: Letters of Enchantment, Book 2 

Rating: 4/5

Oh my gosh, what to say about this book. First, it was a bit different than my usual reads but I still ended up really enjoying it nonetheless. I was just really rooting for Iris and Roman the whole time, and I needed to know that they got back together and how. Not that they really chose to leave each other in the first place. 

We’ll start with a spoiler free review before we get into the nitty gritty:

I loved that Attie was still here, she was somebody that I had enjoyed in the first book, so I’m happy to see she made a comeback for the second one. I enjoyed seeing how her story progressed throughout the book and how her role evolved. It was great.

Iris and Roman!!! Oh my gosh, be still my heart. They are so cute together, I absolutely love them. They of course were not together in the beginning of this book, as the first one ended with Forest dragging Iris away from Roman and Dacre getting his greasy little paws on Roman. But their story continued, and boy did I love it!

I think that this was a solid end to the duology- it gave us more content and insight into the world and its inner workings but was still able to wrap up all the questions I was left with at the end of book one. I think I can safely say I know how their lives look after the end of the book and while I’m not exactly happy about everybodies future at the end of this story, I am very happy to have read these books.

If you’re thinking about reading this duology, absolutely do it! It is worth it. 

Alright, now there will be ***** SPOILERS AHEAD ***** so beware

Oh my god Forest and Sarah. I am raging for Forest and Sarah/Prindle. What the absolute hell was that ending for them???? I did not understand it one bit nor did I like it. They should have been fine, everybody else was fine, by all accounts they should have been fine. Shit, the news editor for the Inkridden Tribune was spared, but not Forest? I cried and I am still upset now writing this the day after finishing the book. The whole point of the first novel was that Forest was MIA and Iris needed to go looking for him- their mom was DEAD, her career was not looking great, and she needed her big brother who hadn’t written in the months since he’d been gone. Finding Forest was the whole point of the first book! The first book could have been titled Finding Forest and I wouldn’t have bat an eye at it. 

I just think it’s a little off beat to kill him off in the final chapters of the second book, especially since I feel like we got almost no Forest time. We heard about him a lot for sure, but the only times we really got to see him he was waiting on Prindle to get home and telling Iris that she can’t go back for Roman. And his scenes with Prindle were so bittersweet because he’s finally opening up to someone and it’s a cute little romance because he’s obviously got PTSD and issues from Dacre’s shit and he finally goes to the doctor and then BAM he’s dead. All because what? It was busy outside? And yet everyone else was able to meet at the cafe or somewhere else. He knew how much he meant to Iris and I don’t find it reasonable that he wasn’t able to get to Prindle at her own home where her dad was in time. 

And Prindle! I loved her! And she never got her fancy dinner with Iris and Attie for doing the museum heist. sniffles I’m very upset about this and I think I will be forever. To be completely honest here, this is a big thing that will keep me from rereading the duology. I can’t read these characters knowing they’ll die a death I think was unnecessary. 

But on to happier things! 

Attie, oh my Attie. I loved her. I liked how she was just a random girl Iris met but they became quick friends and she ended up invaluable to what she and Iris needed to do. She is just amazing and strong and I love her. And Tobias! They’re so cute together. The whole driving her siblings to school before taking her to work is absolutely adorable and I’ll never be over it. 

Roman and Iris were amazing. I think the regaining of memories for Roman was set on a timeline that made sense with the plot, and I loved the whole thing with him remembering everything after touching her. That was super cute and super appreciated. They were both such strong figures in this story, able to hold their own when they needed to. It was interesting to read a story like that where the characters are strong without needing to be physically fighting or strong. I think I liked it a lot more than I expected. Roman was constantly stressing me out though, because I knew if he got found out by Dacre then shit would hit the fan and it would be some of the most tense stuff I’d have to read ever, but he managed to pull through without getting caught so yay Roman(!) we love that. 

Iris was simply my poor baby in this book. Her husband is the captive of a god, Dacre, and when she breaks in to a museum to get a typewriter to be able to talk to him she finds out that he doesn’t remember who she is, her brother has been telling her that her husband will have forgotten her. Now her father in law is trying to bribe and scare her into annulling the marriage, the goddess Enva is trying to get her to kill Dacre for her, she is out on the front lines again. 

Then, if she doesn’t get Roman’s note to Keegan then she’ll feel responsible for her death (and guilty towards Marisol), she has to tell Romam that she’s his wife and then leave him behind, outrun hounds in the car with Tobias and Attie, leave behind the soldiers that can’t get in to Oath, feel bad about leaving Forest behind and decide that she’s gotta spend time with him and whatnot (foreshadowing I guess). She proceeds to meet up with Roman who has to pretend not to remember her, be involved in bombing number one, be warned about bombing number two and have to convince her boss and the printing press to run it, risk herself with those addresses, be involved in bombing number two sort of because she’s a bit busy trying to find her way into the underworld with no weapon, wait for Attie to put Dacre to sleep so that she can wield a sword for the- oh my gosh I forgot about the part where she kills Val in her apartment because he attacks Forest, yeah so add murder to her no good month- for the second time in her life to kill a literal god. 

Once that is over, she then has to convince the vigilante group not to kill her husband, only for him to be stuck in the hospital for weeks while she is searching through the rubble and finds that her brother and best friend (after Attie) are DEAD, aaaaaaand I think that’s it. Oh unless you count her having to go through the stuff in her old apartment and finding the saddest letter ever written from Forest. 

Iris went through a lot in this book, and I applaud her for it. I cried yesterday cause I took a nap when I didn’t mean to, I don’t think I would’ve lasted through all of that. But Iris made it through all that and pretty well too, the ending with the year later has her seemingly doing pretty good and I’m very happy about it. I was very excited to see that her and Roman do end up together happy and mostly healthy, so I’d say a pretty good ending overall.

Some final notes about the book, just things that I thought about while reading it. It’s not a complete fade to black romance, but I do wish there was a little more detail to the romance scenes. I also think that the switching POVs towards the end when the bombs were going off was interesting but I couldn’t really get a total feel for what everyone was actually thinking and feeling during those scenes. In the end I did really like this book and I would say I do recommend reading this duology.