emara's Reviews > Divine Rivals

"but I think there is a magical link between you and me.
a bond that not even distance can break."

this book will forever be in my heart, i adore them so much. no matter how many times i reread it, i’ll always feel the same <3

"a girl who writes letters to her missing brother, and the boy who reads them."

couldn't have changed a thing about this book. it's definitely with flaws but i love them so much so i'm blind to them. the way they signed off their letters before and after, their vows, the hill & the garden, the morning runs, and them writing beside each other on their typewriters with tea.

iris, is me and i am her. i love the way she did everything- how she carried herself & how she spoke about and dealt with losing people she loved. she's brave and strong and i connected with her in more ways than one. she spoke to my soul and i love everything about her.

"i’m not afraid to be alone, but i’m tired of being the one left behind. i’m tired of having to rearrange my life after the people within it depart, as if i’m a puzzle and I’m now missing pieces and I will never feel that pure sense of completion again."

"but there’s also a small voice in the back of my mind, a voice that tells me, ‘you will miss so much by being so guarded."

she didn't let anyone pity her and i love that so much. she's me

'because i don't want your pity. because i'm holding myself together by a thread.'

roman, my sweet sweet sweet sweet husband. he's the cutest ever i just wanna squeeze him and kiss him and hug him. his kindness, his selflessness, his heart, his soul, i love all of him <3333

'their names would be entwined—roman and iris or winnow and kitt because could you truly have one without the other?'

he was so gentle and patient with her. he checked up on her when she went home randomly while they were supposedly rivals, he travelled to the front lines of war to be with her, he shielded her using his body without a moment of hesitation. like what more could you possibly ask for? he's everything.

'he didn’t want to live in a world without
her and her words.'

'she couldn’t bear to live in a world without him.'

they're so cute, so pure, so sweet, so full of love & life. they deserve each other and the best kind of happiness and that's all i'll accept in ruthless vows.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

➻ ‘i think about how effortless it is to lose oneself in words, and yet also find who you are.’

➻ ‘your grief will never fully fade; it will always be with you—a shadow you carry in your soul—but it will become fainter as your life becomes brighter.’

➻ 'sometimes she tried to mentally trace the path that had brought her to this place, but it was too difficult to relive. it stirred up half-buried feelings in her, too dangerous to unearth at the moment.'

➻ "i don’t know who i would be without you, but you have made me in all ways better than i ever was or could have ever hoped to be.”

➻ "i pray that my days will be long at your side. let me fill and satisfy every longing in your soul. may your hand be in mine, by sun and by night. let our breaths twine and our blood become one, until our bones return to dust. even then, may i find your soul still sworn to mine.”

➻ 'i want to know everything about you, iris. i want to know your hopes and your dreams. i want to know what irritates you and what makes you smile and what makes you laugh and what you long for most in this world.'

➻ "my iris,” he said, “there is no question that you are the brave one, all on your own."

➻ 'She didn’t think he could hear her, but she hoped he could feel the force of such a whisper in his chest. how deep her love was for him.'

a piece of armour, because i trust you. a glint of falling steel, because i feel safe with you.