Book Tour: Top 5 Reasons to Read Kissed by the Gods by Caty Rogan

โ€œi know what it means to be broken into pieces and still be dangerous.”

caty rogan

Series: The Eternal Wars #1

Release Date: September 25th 2025

Publisher: Requited

Genre: Adult Romantasy

Page Count: 544

Source: I received a review copy of this book for free from the publisher via Netgalley in collaboration with Toppling Stacks Tours. Thank you!

Summary: Leina has spent a lifetime submitting. Kneeling. Enduring.

Then soldiers come for her brother, and divine fury surges through her veins. She expects execution for the bodies she left in her wake. Her people have met bloody ends for far, far less.

Instead, Ryot, a godsworn warrior born to privilege and raised in order, drags her into a world that was never meant for her. One of divine armies and death demons, winged war horses and monsters, sacred power and royal secrets.

A kiss from a goddess changes everything.

No longer a criminal, Leina is a prize. The kingdomโ€™s most powerful men want what the goddess touched. Leina wants only one thing, though: freedom for her people. And sheโ€™ll trade herself for the strength to destroy the kingdom that broke them.

Conscripted into a war she never asked for, fighting for gods she doesnโ€™t believe in, Leina must decide how far sheโ€™s willing to go and what sheโ€™s willing to lose. Because her power is more than a threat to the kingdomโ€™s buried secrets.

Itโ€™s a death sentence.

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1. The main character is a badass.

Leina is brave, determined, and protective. She fights for those she loves regardless of what it may cost her. From fighting against trained soldiers to climbing a mountain similar to Everest all by herself, Leina is a fierce main character to follow.

2. There are winged war horses that bond with their riders.

One of my favorite trends in romantasy, this book features fantasy creatures that bond with humans. The faravars are winged horses that choose their riders and slowly build a bond with them. With some faravars having special abilities, it makes the creatures even more charming to read about.

3. There are warriors with special gifts.

Not only is there an elite people with incredible enhanced abilities, there are people who have gifts. From shield makers to talented healers to a gift that hasn’t been seen in 700 years, the characters have so many things to learn about them throughout the journey.

4. There is found family.

Found family can be one of the most powerful tropes in a book. Showing readers that building your own family can create bonds just as strong, if not stronger, than those who were given to you at birth. The found family created in this book is one of its best dynamics.

5. There are twists you’ll never see coming.

From twists of political intrigue to twists about characters themselves, this book left me breathless multiple times. As a usually discerning reader, I was blindsided in the end.


About the Author:

At the seasoned age of five, Caty Rogan wrote her first storyโ€”armed with crayons, dramatic flair, and an unshakable belief that the Power Rangers were actually the bad guys. Shockingly, no publishers came calling.

So, she traded crayons for deadlines, earned a journalism degree, and started chasing stories across the globe. Somewhere along the way, she collected a few investigative journalism awards and a deeply unhealthy reliance on coffee.

These days, Caty writes the kind of spicy romance novels she used to inhale on long-haul flights. She lives for a badass heroine, swoons for a he-falls-first kind of hero, and survives almost entirely on caffeine, cheesy popcorn, and chocolate.

When sheโ€™s not neck-deep in fictional drama, sheโ€™s wrangling her two boss-girl daughters with the help of her husbandโ€”her very own he-falls-first heroโ€”in the Arizona desert.

Website | Tiktok | Instagram | Goodreads


Check out the other tour stops for this bookย here! And a very special thank you toย Toppling Stacks Toursย for hosting all of us on this tour!

Goodreads | Storygraph

Top 10 Tuesday: Books I Can’t Believe I’ve Never Read

Top Ten Tuesday was created byย The Broke and the Bookishย in June of 2010 and was moved toย That Artsy Reader Girlย in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. This weekโ€™s topic is Books I Canโ€™t Believe Iโ€™ve Never Read.

1. The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

2. The Poppy War Series by R.F. Kuang

3. East of Eden by John Steinbeck

4. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

5. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

6. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

7. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

8. The Giver by Lois Lowry

9. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

10. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak


The reactions I get when I say I’ve never read (or seen) Harry Potter makes me feel like I bring shame to the millennial generation every time TT. Do we share any books on this list?

Goodreads | Storygraph

Top 10 Tuesday: My Favorite Books by My Favorite Authors

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. This weekโ€™s topic is My Favorite Books by My Favorite Authors (Pick your ten favorite authors and your favorite book written by each one of them.) (submitted by Cathy @ WhatCathyReadNext). All of these books are 5 star reads for me.

1. Jane Austen – Pride and Prejudice

2. Danielle L. Jensen – The Bridge Kingdom (The Bridge Kingdom #1)

3. Ava Reid – Juniper & Thorn

4. Sarah J. Maas – A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses #2)

5. Rebecca Ross – Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment #1)

6. L.M. Montgomery – Anne of the Island (Anne of Green Gables #3)

7. Robin Jones Gunn – Yours Forever (Christy Miller #3)

8. Diana Gabaldon – Outlander (Outlander #1)

9. Meg Cabot – Princess in Love (The Princess Diaries #3)

10. Rachel Gillig – One Dark Window (The Shepherd King #1)


Honorable Mentions: Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before series (all 5 stars), Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles series, and Holly Black’s Folk of the Air series.

Goodreads | Storygraph

Review: Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

โ€œand Iโ€™m not afraid to be alone, but iโ€™m tired of being the one left behind.โ€

rebecca ross


Series:ย Letters of Enchantment #1

Release Date:ย April 4th 2023

Publisher:ย Wednesday Books

Genre:ย Young Adult Fiction | Historical Fiction | Fantasy | Romance

Page Count:ย 368

Source:ย Purchased

Goodreads Summary: After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring againโ€ฆ

All eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow wants to do is hold her family together. With a brother on the frontline forced to fight on behalf of the Gods now missing from the frontline and a mother drowning her sorrows, Irisโ€™s best bet is winning the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette.

But when Irisโ€™s letters to her brother fall into the wrong hands โ€“ that of the handsome but cold Roman Kitt, her rival at the paper โ€“ an unlikely magical connection forms.

Expelled into the middle of a mystical war, magical typewriters in tow, can their bond withstand the fight for the fate of mankind and, most importantly, love?

An epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy novel filled with hope and heartbreak, and the unparalleled power of love.

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Thoughts:

there are some books in this world that i’m convinced hold a touch of magic in them.ย divine rivalsย is undoubtedly one of them. with its backdrop of a war of the gods featuring recruitment reminiscent of the draft,ย divine rivalsย is thrilling from beginning to end. ross immediately draws the reader’s heart to the FMC’s woes as she struggles to make her way in a war-torn world with a brother fighting at the front and a mother who drowns her worries in alcohol. setting up a rivalry between the FMC and LI, the chemistry between the characters is palpable from the start as they both endeavor to win a columnist post at their local newspaper. but when magical typewriters create a bond between the rivals as they start to send letters anonymously to each other, their chemistry deepens into a romantic, charming tale that drowns the trials in their lives. when they both leave for the front as war correspondents, the plot propels forward, tugging at your heartstrings as the characters experience the tragedies of war. this book beautifully handles a plethora of relevant themes: the cost of war, guilt, grief, addiction, abandonment, poverty, parental disapproval, hope, love, friendship, and so much more. and its unique blend of historical fiction and fantasy romance offers so much to many types of readers. this is a solid favorite of mine and something i can see myself returning to over and over again as a comfort read.

Rating:

Goodreads | Storygraph

Top 10 Tuesday: Favorite Secondary/Minor Characters

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. This weekโ€™s topic is Favorite Secondary/Minor Characters.

1. Grey from A Curse so Dark and Lonely (Cursebreakers #1) by Brigid Kemmerer (5 stars)

Note: Grey does become a main character in the next book, but I fell in love with his character in the first installment while he was still a secondary.

2. The Horse Cloak from Once More Upon a Time by Roshani Chokshi (4 stars)

3. Minseok Moon from Once Upon a K-Prom by Kat Cho (3 stars)

4. Nina Zenik from Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) by Leigh Bardugo (5 stars)

5. Nico di Angelo from The Titan’s Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #3) by Rick Riordan (4 stars)

6. Finnick Odair from Catching Fire (The Hunger Games #2) by Suzanne Collins (4 stars)

7. Danika Fendyr from House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1) by Sarah J. Maas (5 stars)

8. Bartholomew from The Knight and the Moth (The Stonewater Kingdom #1) by Rachel Gillig (4 stars)

9. Macey McHenry from Don’t Judge a Girl by Her Cover (Gallagher Girls #3) by Ally Carter (4 stars)

10. Jane Fairfax from Emma by Jane Austen (5 stars)


Yes, the Horse Cloak from OMUAT is one of my favorite characters. Do we share any picks from this list?

Goodreads | Storygraph

10 of the Longest Books I’ve Read

I am someone who tends to avoid long novels. Without a lot of hype or assurance from other readers that a lengthy book is worth my time, I often find it hard to make the investment. And there have been several times where I’ve picked up a lengthier novel and have contemplated how many other shorter books I could be reading when I feel like the pacing is off or the book is dull. I’ve gotten a lot better at DNFing books that I’m not vibing with, but here are 10 of the longest books that I have finished in my reading career.

1. Drums of Autumn (Outlander #4) by Diana Gabaldon

Page Count: 1,070 pages

I’ve read the first four books in the Outlander series, with this installment being the longest. I own the mass market paperbacks, which automatically amplifies the page count, but this is still a lengthy book no matter the format.

Rating: 4 stars

2. House of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City #3) by Sarah J. Maas

Page Count: 853 pages

I LOVED the first book in this series, House of Earth and Blood. I loved the worldbuilding. I loved the characters. I loved the plot. And then the series took a sharp nosedive for me in book two and continued to disappoint until its ending. This installment had a bit of redemption to it with its introduction of new characters (if you know you know), but overall I felt like this 853 page book was not worth the time.

Rating: 3 stars

3. Court (Crave #4) by Tracy Wolff

Page Count: 704 pages

I binge-read this series in 2023 from the first book all the way to the fifth book. And then I never read the final installment. To be honest, the fifth book was set in a pretty strange world that just wasn’t my taste at all. After I saw how disappointed other readers were with the sixth book, I never ended up reaching for the final one. Maybe I’ll come back to it someday, but my personal favorites of the series are Crush and Covet.

Rating: 3.5 stars

4. Alchemised by Senlinyu

Page Count: 1,030 pages

This book is broken up into 3 parts, which helps to pace the novel, but at no point did I feel like I was ready for this book to end. Those one thousand pages flew for me!

Rating: 5 stars

Continue reading “10 of the Longest Books I’ve Read”

Places My Books Have Taken Me | April 2026

Places My Books Have Taken Me is a Monthly Meme hosted by Budget Tales Book Blog where we take a look at all the places that our books have taken us that month. Click on the book titles to see my reviews for each.

1. Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment #1) by Rebecca Ross

Places: Oath, Cambria & Avalon Bluff, Cambria (Fantasy)

Rating: 5 stars

2. Pride Comes Before a Fall (Miss Prentice’s Protogees #3) by Virginia Heath

Place: Regency Era Bath, England, UK & Mayfair, London, England, UK

Rating: 3.5 stars

3. Ruthless Vows ( Letters of Enchantment #2) by Rebecca Ross

Places: Avalon Bluff, Cambria; Oath, Cambria; River Down, Cambria & Hawk Shire, Cambria (Fantasy)

Rating: 4 stars

4. A Deal with a Debutante (London’s Most Eligible #1) by Chelsea Bobulski

Places: Edwardian Era Hampshire, England, UK & Mayfair, London, England, UK

Rating: 4 stars

5. Without a Clue by Melissa Ferguson

Place: Miami, Florida, USA; Luxury Cruise Boat to Barcelona, Spain

Rating: 4 stars


Have you read any of these books? What was your favorite book you read in April?

Goodreads | Storygraph