True love is more divine, than any ruthless god.

Born in the firelit domain of the under realm, Matilda is the youngest goddess of her clan, blessed with humble messenger magic. But in a land where gods often kill each other to steal power and alliances break as quickly as they are forged, Matilda must come of age sooner than most. She may be known to carry words and letters through the realms, but she holds a secret she must hide from even her dearest of allies to ensure her survival. And to complicate matters . . . there is a mortal boy who dreams of her, despite the fact they have never met in the waking world.

Ten years ago, Vincent of Beckett wrote to Matilda on the darkest night of his life—begging the goddess he befriended in dreams to help him. When his request went unanswered, Vincent moved on, becoming the hardened, irreverent lord of the river who has long forgotten Matilda. That is, until she comes tumbling into his bedroom window with a letter for him.

As Fate would have it, Matilda and Vincent were destined to find each other beyond dreams. There may be a chance for Matilda to rewrite the blood-soaked ways of the gods, but at immense sacrifice. She will have to face something she fears even more than losing her magic: to be vulnerable, and to allow herself to finally be loved.

Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross

If you adored the Letters of Enchantment duet, Wild Reverence will feel like a kindred spirit and a higher power. Where Divine Rivals and Ruthless Vows featured Iris and Roman’s epic love story forged through letters, the fated love in Wild Reverence is built from dreams. It’s a vivid, magical journey exploring love, power, and identity—both heartbreakingly beautiful and deeply hopeful. Together, these books form a stunning constellation of stories, a complex tapestry woven so carefully that even Fate and Death couldn’t tear it apart.

Our heroine, Matilda, is born in the firelit domain of the under realm to Zenia, goddess of winter, fire, and cunning. Her father is a Skyward god—an enemy of the underlings—so Zenia conceals his identity to protect Matilda. To further shield her daughter from the ruthless nature of divine life, Zenia strikes a deal with Bade, god of war, to become Matilda’s salt-sworn ally. Bade will train her in combat, defend her, and always come to her aid when needed.

As a godchild, Matilda’s horoscope reveals that she will be a herald—a messenger destined to carry the words of others across the realms. As she grows, she often serves as a cupbearer for her mother’s small group of allies, filling wine glasses and secretly receiving dream scrolls to read from Alva, goddess of dreams and nightmares. Listening to her mother’s cadre, Matilda quickly learns that life as a divine is filled with deception and betrayal, and that her mother and Phelyra, goddess of revelry and coin, have been illegally selling eithral scales to the Skywards. 

Vincent, our swoon-worthy hero, is a mortal boy raised in his family’s castle built over the Wyndrift River. Haunted by nightmares, he often dreams of a mysterious girl he calls Red, who rescues him from drowning. Over time, her presence changes his dreamscape from nightmares of cold, dark water to peaceful dreams, filled with sunshine and laughter. However, each time Vincent asks Red her real name, his dream abruptly ends, leaving him curious about the identity of the brave, beautiful girl who has saved him so many times.

When the Underling Court is forced to deal with a horrible tragedy, the Underling matriarch, Orphia, goddess of death, gives Matilda a letter to deliver to the Skyward matriarch, her sister Rowena, goddess of fate. While Matilda is in the mortal realm trying to find her way Skyward, fate finally brings her and Vincent together in the waking world. Matilda notices a group of eithrals approaching on the horizon, and as she seeks cover, something grabs her ankle, knocking her to the ground. There, she comes face to face with Vincent, and they cling to each other—protect each other—during the attack. Once the danger has passed, Vincent realizes that this mysterious stranger is the girl from his dreams—his Red—and a goddess. When Vincent’s brothers come looking for him, Matilda becomes scared—being divine and alone among a group of mortal men is never advisable. Before Vincent can stop her, she kisses him and runs away.

On the journey back from the Skyward realm, Matilda stumbles upon a wasted door that calls to her magic. This door opens to a world Matilda has never seen before. She realizes she is in the wasteland, the place where the dead follow the path to the mists and where living souls go to dream. She searches for Vincent and finds him—caught in another nightmare—hanging from the side of a cliff in the pouring rain. She helps Vincent climb to the top, and as they talk, the rain stops, and the sun appears. Eventually, Vincent’s nightmare turns into a pleasant dream in his room at Wyndrift Castle. Just before Vincent’s dream takes a terrible turn, he finally learns Matilda’s real name, and then suddenly, his uncle is there holding Matilda captive. Matilda urges Vincent to wake, but he can’t move to help her until Grimald pulls her into the shadows.

Upon returning to the Under realm, Matilda’s world is shattered when Zenia and Phelyra’s black-market eithral scale dealings are uncovered, and Phelyra kills Zenia to save herself. Zenia’s dying words to Matilda reveal her Skyward father’s identity: Thile, god of dusk, oaths, and summer. Afraid of being caught and tortured by the Lord of the Underlings, Dacre, god of healing, Matilda is forced Skyward to find her father in hopes that he will accept and protect her. 

While Matilda is Skyward, she doesn’t have Alva’s dream scrolls or wasted doors to visit Vincent, so his nightmares return. He often thinks about Matilda, and one day he starts writing to her—burying his letters in the ground so they might reach her in the Under realm. But all his letters go unanswered because Matilda cannot receive buried prayers Skyward.  One terrible night, when Vincent is just sixteen, his power-hungry uncle, Grimald, seizes Wyndrift Castle in a bloody battle. Vincent is severely injured, and his father is killed, along with his two older brothers. Near death and desperate to have Matilda with him in his darkest hour, Vincent writes to her one last time: Matilda, help me. Using the last of his strength, he crawls to the garden to bury his letter, hoping against hope that Matilda will answer his prayer. Then he collapses and waits for death to come. 

Although Vincent survives his injuries, he loses all faith in the gods. Feeling abandoned and alone without Matilda, Vincent eventually retakes his family’s castle and claims his title—Lord of Wyndrift. After years of peace, Grimald appears on the riverbank with thousands of troops, ready to take Wyndrift Castle once again. While Vincent prepares to defend his home, Matilda is heralding Enva, goddess of music, to the Under realm to become Dacre’s bride. 

Finally home after thirteen long years, Matilda realizes that she no longer feels a connection to the Under realm. As she wanders the misty corridors, Matilda finds herself at the familiar door of her childhood home. Dacre has ransacked it during his search for the stolen eithral scales, and while cleaning, Matilda finds piles of untouched prayers in the cracks of the hearth. Assuming they are for her mother, she begins burning them by the handful until one catches her eye—Vincent’s last prayer: Matilda, help me.

Still reeling, Matilda is summoned to Orphia’s burrow, where Orphia reveals that years ago, she spared a mortal boy because she was curious to see what he would become. Not to be outdone by her sister, Rowena, has altered his fate in their ever-changing tapestry of life, and he is destined to die the following morning. Orphia doesn’t want to claim his soul—so she has written him a letter explaining how he can escape Death. As Matilda approaches the table to accept the letter, she already knows who it is for—Vincent of Beckett, Lord of Wyndrift. Without hesitation, Matilda leaves to help her mortal friend.

Hardened by years of grief and betrayal, Vincent has built thick walls around his heart and grown irreverent toward the gods. When Matilda quite literally stumbles into his life after thirteen years of silence, Vincent is both suspicious and elated. Promising to help him protect Wyndrift Castle, Matilda offers to pose as Vincent’s wife and stand with him in battle. With Matilda by his side, Vincent is forced to confront all the longing, fear, and unanswered questions he has carried for so many years. Matilda and Vincent don’t simply fall in love; they choose each other, time and again—two souls destined to find each other across every divide.

Wild Reverence stole my heart, slashed it with an eithral scale blade, and then slowly mended my severed fault line with found family, fate-woven tapestries—and, in the end, typewriters.

I’ll leave you with the quote that broke me so thoroughly that I still can’t read it without crying. IYKYK

She pressed down on the key marked by I, then R. The M and the V.