Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross: a war, a reporter without his memories and letters that still find their way

The book begins with consequences, not a comfortable reset

Ruthless Vows does not restart the story from a peaceful place. The war has moved the characters and altered what is possible for them. Iris and Roman are separated by circumstances that cannot be solved by one heartfelt conversation, and the novel begins with the pressure of everything the first book left in motion.

That continuation is part of its appeal. The story treats the relationship as something affected by work, family, danger and memory, not as a romance floating above the world. Iris remains a journalist with responsibilities, and the war continues to affect ordinary people who need to understand what is happening.

Roman wakes on the other side without the story that explains him

Roman wakes with amnesia, a device that creates emotional distance between him and Iris. He no longer has the history that would explain their bond, and the novel has to make him encounter the relationship again without pretending the old version of him is waiting just beneath the surface.

That premise can be moving. It also makes the plot’s mechanism visible. The story needs to delay the moment when Roman remembers, so it gives them scenes of closeness and disconnection that can become repetitive. I wanted the story to move faster—not because I am impatient with grief, but because some turns kept returning to the same wound.

Iris and Roman meet in letters before they meet in ordinary life

The correspondence remains the best part of the book. Letters let Iris and Roman reveal differences, choose what to share and build intimacy before the world allows them to be together in a straightforward way. The magical typewriter is still a strong idea because it makes the words concrete: they travel through a channel that should not exist, but here we are.

The letters also preserve Iris’s agency. She has family, work and convictions beyond the romance. She reports on the war and has to decide what to tell people. Roman is not the only person with a story; the relationship grows through what both choose to write and what they leave unsaid.

Dacre offers protection with a very long bill

Dacre’s power and promises complicate the conflict. His offers of protection come with a cost, and the characters must decide what they are willing to trade to survive. The supernatural forces grow in scale, though the book does not always make their strategy easy to see. Some of Dacre’s moves feel more like an ominous threat than a clear plan.

That uncertainty contributes to the mood, but I wanted more explanation of how the magic and the stakes fit together. When a god is involved, I expect some scale. I do not need a diagram in the appendix; I would like to know what the danger can do and what a character’s choices might change.

Reporting on the war is a way to resist

The story treats journalism as more than a job Iris happens to have. Reporting can help people understand the danger around them and decide what to do. That makes her work part of the resistance, even when she is not on the battlefield.

The novel grows in scale while keeping that idea. Public knowledge matters because people cannot respond to a threat they are not allowed to see. I wanted the wider conflict to be more clearly developed, but I liked that Iris’s reporting contributes to the story instead of being abandoned when the romance gets dramatic.

The sequel changes scale without losing all its tenderness

The first novel made the letters and professional rivalry central. This sequel has to carry more of the war and the consequences of the gods’ involvement. It has emotional scenes, family connections and a relationship reshaped by the question of what memory does to identity.

Some supporting characters still remain subordinate to the central couple. And the ending must resolve both fantasy stakes and emotional ones. That means several passages speed up where I wanted them to breathe. I liked the general resolution; there were moments when I wanted one more scene instead of another chapter ending placed at the exact point where I would keep suffering.

What I did not like

Roman’s amnesia is effective at creating distance, but sometimes I could see the mechanism at work. Iris and Roman have already built a connection, and the story needs to delay his recovery of that history. The resulting scenes are emotional, though the frustration can become repetitive. I wanted progress, not because grief should be rushed, but because some passages insist on the same ache.

The war grows in scale without always becoming clearer. The supernatural forces and their consequences could use more explanation, and Dacre’s actions can feel like threats without a visible strategy. Supporting characters remain in the protagonists’ shadow. The duology’s ending carries many emotional and magical questions, so some scenes speed up when they could breathe. I liked the overall ending, but I sometimes wanted one more scene instead of a cut at exactly the point designed to make me suffer.

My verdict: letters survive memory

Ruthless Vows develops Iris and Roman’s relationship after war and lost memory separate them. The letters remain the book’s best device: they sustain the romance, expose differences and let each character choose what to reveal. Iris stays a protagonist with a job, family and convictions. The story expands the gods’ role and turns journalism into a tool for helping people understand the danger.

Not every piece lands equally. Memory loss can prolong the tension, the war needs more development and some magical rules stay dim. Even so, the novel closes a duology with heart and an idea I keep thinking about: loving someone is not recovering their old version but discovering who they choose to become when life has rewritten all their pages. If that person also sends letters, please appreciate the effort; these days nobody writes even “I got here” with punctuation.

Who should read it

Read it after Divine Rivals if you want to finish the story with more letters, difficult choices and romance during a war. Do not start here; the relationship and several tensions depend on the first book. If you like romantic fantasy where words have a physical weight, there is plenty to find. If you expected a military treatise on gods, the front may feel underdeveloped.

My rating

4 out of 5 stars. The correspondence, Iris’s development and Roman’s journey held me through the ending. I take off a point for the repetitive amnesia plot, a war that is less developed than promised and magical explanations that remain blurry. The letters survive memory; I wanted the wider conflict to be just as clear.